First Day of Spring Trivia Quiz

Answer: 1925

Signed into law by governor Austin Peay on 21 March 1925, the provisions of the Butler Act were tested less than two months later, in May of that year, in what came to be known as the Scopes Monkey Trial. John Scopes was the teacher who was tried for - and found guilty of - teaching evolution to his students.

He was fined $100, a small amount, but the Butler Act was thereby upheld. The trial featured the skills of lawyers Clarence Darrow and William Jennings Bryan, and inspired the play and later movie "Inherit the Wind".

Answer: 1970

Although it has normally been observed on 22 April in the United States, the original proposal by newspaper publisher John McConnell, was for Earth Day to be marked on or about the 21st of March. This is the vernal equinox in the northern hemisphere and the autumnal equinox in the antipodes, a day when day and night are of equal length.

The very first Earth Day was celebrated on 21 March 1970, and a year later the United Nations adopted the vernal equinox as International Earth Day.

Answer: 1871

By the time he became chancellor of the newly formed German Empire on 21 March 1871, Bismarck had already been minister president of Prussia for nine years, and had just successfully waged the Franco-Prussian War. He had been instrumental in the formation of the empire, and retained his position as chancellor for almost exactly 19 years, being removed from office by Kaiser Wilhelm II on 20 March 1890. Bismarck was then 75 years of age, having been born in 1815.

He died in 1898 aged 83.

Answer: 1945

During World War II, the city of Mandalay, Burma (now Myanmar) was occupied by the Japanese beginning in May 1942, before which it had suffered extensive damage from air raids. After several days of fighting in March 1945, the Japanese forces abandoned their positions on the 21st and elements of the 19th Indian Division of the British 14th Army were able to move in and liberate the city.

Answer: 1990

After World War I, what had been known as German South West Africa dropped the "German" from its name and became a mandate of South Africa, under the League of Nations. Following a long and bloody war, which began in 1966 and was known variously as the South African Border War, the Namibian War for Independence and the Angolan Bush War, Namibian independence was achieved on 21st March 1990, with Sam Nujoma becoming its first democratically elected president.

Answer: 1952

Kwame Nkrumah (1909-1972) achieved several political 'firsts' during his lifetime, following becoming the Gold Coast's first prime minister, with "first prime minister of Ghana" in 1957 when the Gold Coast achieved full independence under the new name. Three years later he became the first president of Ghana when it became a republic, remaining in office until 1966.

Answer: 1980

The issue involved was the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, and its failure to withdraw troops therefrom by the deadline set by the US president. On 21 March 1980, President Carter informed a group of athletes gathered at the White House, that no US athletes would participate in the Summer Olympics held in Moscow that year.

A number of other countries, including Canada, West Germany and Japan joined in the boycott.

Answer: 1918

Launched in the early hours of the first day of spring 1918, Operation Michael was at first devastatingly successful, overrunning Allied positions and taking almost the entire Somme battlefield in a matter of days. Fresh French troops, a new Allied commander and the exhaustion of German troops combined to halt the advance by early April, and the German army launched a new offensive in Flanders. By August it was the Allied armies that were on the offensive, culminating in the Armistice in November.

Answer: 1935

On what was, in fact, the Persian New Year (21 March 1935), at the request of Reza Shah Pahlavi, the government of the country replaced the name Persia with that of Iran, asking that the League of Nations and foreign countries also do so. Iran, meaning "Land of the Aryans", had long been the name used within the country, while outsiders (especially Westerners) used the word Persia, though that name in reality belonged to only one province of the whole.

Answer: 1962

Glen Bell (1923-2010) had been in the food business since 1948, when the WWII veteran of the US Marine Corps opened a hot dog stand in San Bernardino. Throughout the fifties he continued in the business, selling one, starting another and expanding to include hamburgers and eventually tacos.

In 1962 he sold his interest in some restaurants known as El Tacos to a partner, and opened the first Taco Bell in Downey, California.