You may have noticed that there is a daily topic mash featured as the Topic of the Day, with a brief rationale as to why this topic is relevant today. You can see it both on the Trivia Quizzes page and as the first topic in the list of each day's duels.

The Topic of the Day team, now in its sixth year of operation, have decided to invite FunTrivia members to contribute their suggestions for topics, to help inject a wider range of creative ideas into the process. If you think there is a great topic for a particular day that we haven't selected, this is your chance! All you have to do is identify the date, the category number of the mash topic you are suggesting, and a brief rationale for choosing it on that date. If you wish, you can suggest the actual wording that players will see - but that is not necessary.

There a few requirements. Most importantly, the chosen category must have at least five quizzes (not including match quizzes and photo quizzes), so that a topic mash can be set up. If you are looking at a category that will work, you will see a link inviting players to take this hour's mixed quiz on that topic. We have been asked not to use the top level categories, as it can cause problems with the automatic generation of 15 topics for duels.

Second, we want topics to relate to the calendar date, not to something that moves around from year to year. Christmas (December 25) works, Easter (the first Sunday after the first full moon after the vernal equinox, and a different date for Orthodox churches) is not so good. Anything which happens on the same day of the week, such as the Kentucky Derby (which runs on the first Saturday in May) is also not great. The issue, of course, is that we need to remember to move it to a different date the next year. In the past, missing this has sometimes caused the topics to be a day (or even more) away from the actual date of the event. So if you find out that today is Quilting Day, and want to use that, you will find it defined as the third Saturday in March, and therefore a movable feast that is better not used.

Third, the Topic of the Day is intended to be a feature that will attract new players who visit the site, so using incredibly obscure topics, no matter how much you love them, needs to be done with caution. While there may be five quizzes on your favorite video game or manga, consider the international cross-generational perspective; possibly a more general category would be more suitable. (This is not to say that no obscure topics will be considered, just that they may not be used if a related but more accessible topic could be used for the same day.)

Once you have a date, a reason and a chosen category, please post here. We will be reviewing and recording all suggestions. If multiple suggestions for the same date are made, that's fine - only one can be used at a time, but rotation can be made in the future. The category number can be found when you are checking to make sure that a topic mash is possible - the URL of that page ends with the category number (e.g., if you are looking at Horses, it reads https://www.funtrivia.com/ql.cfm?cat=81, so that is category 81).

We look forward to hearing your suggestions, and making this aspect of the site even more attractive.

April 13 = Thomas Jefferson's birthday

World » Government » U.S. Government » U.S. Presidents
or go one deeper to Jefferson, Thomas.

Not only 3rd POTUS but also inventor of the swivel chair, principal author of the Declaration of Independence, and the first Secretary of State of the USA.

October 20 = International Sloth Day
Since this was created to draw attention to endangered animals of South America, an appropriate topic would be:
Animals » Miscellaneous Animal Trivia » Animals by Region
or
Animals » Miscellaneous Animal Trivia » Endangered Animals

To help save us time, can you please post the category numbers, not just their names? For what it's worth, that is the current focus of that date, using the category Xenarthrans (which includes sloths).

John Lennon (Category 2167) - Either October 9 (birthday) or December 8 (date of assassination). Would like to see this in 2020 as he would have turned 80 and it will be 40 years since he was shot.

21 March is World Puppetry Day - https://www.unima.org/en/projects-and-achievements/world-puppetry-day/

There are fifteen quizzes about puppets and ventriloquism in category 20726.

6 April is Elinor M. Brent-Dyer's birthday. There are 82 quizzes about her books in category 9973. But I suppose she might be deemed too obscure. :-(

Enid Blyton's birthday is 11 August, and she isn't too obscure. There are 133 quizzes about her books in category 4184.

Both Arthur Ransome and A.A. Milne were born on 18 January. There are 23 quizzes about Arthur Ransome's books in category 7219 and 13 about A.A. Milne's books in category 9762.

On 9 August 1173 the foundations of the Leaning Tower of Pisa were laid. There are quizzes about towers all around the world in category 5860.

Tower Bridge in London was opened on 30 June 1894. There are plenty of quizzes about bridges in category 5865.

On 2 June 1953 Elizabeth II was crowned. She has since become the longest reigning monarch of the United Kingdom. There are plenty of quizzes about her in category 14183.

29 May 1953 - first ascent of Mt Everest
cat=20143 Mt Everest

6 May 1954 -- Roger Bannister breaks the 4-minute mile
Category 4674 -- Track and Field

Category 10394 — Piano
Birthday of one of the world's greatest pianists:
1 October 1903 — Vladimir Horowitz
if date not available, then
28 January 1887 — Arthur Rubinstein
or
5 June 1941 — Martha Argerich

1 Oct is currently Coffee (International Coffee Day); 28 Jan is currently Elvis Presle (first tv appearance); 5 Jun is currently Gay History (LGBTQ Month starts). The last is the most obvious one to replace, since it could go anywhere in the month and be relevant, but the first two pianists are much more familiar (at least to me). Which one do you think would be the best one to change? Or what about Glenn Gould (25 Sept would replace Comics for Comic Book Day) or Sergei Rachmaninoff (1 Apr would replace Humor, Puns and Wordplay for April Fools Day)? Lots of great pianists, but really once a year is enough for the premise, I think.

December 27 - John Amos (the father on Good Times) was born.

Category 2281

December 5 - the California Gold Rush was announced in an address to Congress in 1848 by President Polk.

Category 17778

There are no votes, just opinions - if we get a sense that a number of people lean towards one option over another, then it seems likely (based on a hopelessly inadequate sample, but all we have to work on) that is the one which will be better received when it comes up in play. That said, John Lennon's birthday will definitely be there, at least for this year. There are a lot of people, and not just of my age, for whom he is an iconic figure.

The current list exists only in my spreadsheet, which has a record of all the topics that have been used over the years. (Unless another member of the team has a similar spreadsheet set up. As we work, we only see about four weeks, starting with the current day.) It really doesn't matter if suggestions are repeats - this suggests it may be a choice that can just be left as is, since more people than just the first one to make the selection thought it would work. Likewise, if one that was used in earlier years but has since been replaced in the quest for variety gets suggested again, it can be rotated in. All suggestions are being added to a new spreadsheet of possible quizzes to use, and will be considered as we plan out way past the relevant dates. Multiple suggestions for the same day can be made, as the list is not set in concrete.

One of the frustrating things about picking topics is the number of them for which we have a handful of relevant quizzes, but not enough to be in their own category with at least five quizzes. If you see some quizzes that you think could be reorganised to be in a suitable new subcategory, you might contact an editor in the category and discuss it with them. If there just aren't enough, get your friends writing!

I agree that the first two pianists are more familiar to the general public, but if the dates are taken, then Martha Argerich's birthday is the best choice since LGBTQ Pride is the whole month of June. Then again, there were many milestones in Elvis Presley's career that could be used to have a quiz about him (e.g. 1st appearance on Ed Sullivan 9 September 1956, his comeback special on 3 Dec 1968, etc.), so maybe 28 January could be used for Arthur Rubinstein's birthday.

Guess again...

He was important 50 years ago, now and in another 50 years...do you want to bet which person that you mentioned here will be remembered by the most people?

Hint...it won't be Van Ciburn.

nor Marty Stouffer :-)

Do we have anything good for July 18 at this time? 7/18/1955 was the opening day of the original Disneyland (yes, the 18th, even though Disney now celebrate on the 17th).

The Disneyland category is #2565.

And while we're on my favorite topic, Coasters and Theme Parks (#233) would fit June 26 - the Coney Island Cyclone opened on that date in 1927.

"The only Beatles song with any staying power at this point is "Yesterday", and that was by McCartney. 50 years from now, if you talk about a Lennon song, kids will say, "Lenin sang songs?""

Ha ha ha ha!

We will see.

It don't matter at all what you think, it will be the kids these days that decide what is important and what is not. And I will put all of my money on the fact that more of them hold the Beatles in higher regard than any classical composer.

Now I love classical music myself. Used to listen to Mozart when I was reading or studying for something. That kind of music is the only kind that I can listen to and not lose my concentration. And I'm getting in to Debussy more lately.

And I have no idea where you get the idea that the only Beatles song with any staying power is Yesterday?

Are you living in reality or a manufactured fantasy land?

Uhm...wasn't Reagan first elected 40 years ago? And his birthday was over 100 years ago. By your logic he's just not that important.

Besides, Feb 6 is Babe Ruth's birthday and an argument can be made that Babe Ruth was more important to a lot of people than Ronald Reagan. (After all, when told that he was asking for a salary increase and was told that was more than the president was making, he replied that he had a better year than the president.)

Babe Ruth is category 9607.

That may be true at this time, because we have preciously few relevant musicians who were primarily active before 1920 who weren't what we call classical. That's in turn due to the definition of "classical" which requires that the primary techniques and styles used have a certain age. Being relevant 100 years later is what makes you classical, not vice versa.

A century ago, no one would have called Gustav Mahler classical.

Mozart, at his time, was as much of a pop musician as was possible in the 18th century.

By 2070 or 2100, I am pretty sure that John Lennon will be listed under some sort of "classical" header.