In the Fair Month of July Trivia Quiz

Answer: the bikini bathing suit

On that date, French designer Louis Reard introduced the two-piece bathing suit at a swimming pool in Paris, France. He gave it the name bikini after hearing a news report about a U.S. atomic bomb test earlier that week at Bikini Atoll in the Pacific Ocean.

Answer: Julius Caesar

Julius Caesar was a Roman general, statesman and one of those responsible for the overthrow of the Roman Republic and the rise of the Roman Empire. He held enormous power and after his assassination in 44 B.C. his birth month, Quintillis, was renamed July in his honor.

Answer: Rosetta Stone

In July, 1799, French soldier Pierre-Francois Bouchard, of the French expedition to Egypt found a large stone near Rashid (Rosetta), Egypt. It had inscriptions in three languages, including Egyptian hieroglyphs. In 1801, British soldiers defeated the French in Egypt and the Rosetta Stone was taken to London.

After examining the stone for years it was determined that there were entries in hieroglyphs, Demotic (ancient Egyptian script) and Ancient Greek. It was then determined that all three texts were essentially the same. Similar stones have since been found, but the Rosetta Stone is how hieroglyphs were finally decoded. Suddenly, scholars had the ability to read like an Egyptian.

Answer: first official TV commercial

July 1, 1941 marked the date of the first official commercial shown on television. It was a 10-second advertisement for Bulova watches on WNBT (now WNBC) in New York City. Some might say it's all been downhill from there.

Answer: sank a Japanese prisoner of war ship

On July 1, 1942, the USS Sturgeon torpedoed and sunk the Japanese freighter Montevideo Maru near Luzon in the Philippines. The freighter, which was not marked as a POW ship, was carrying over 1,000 captured Australian soldiers and civilians. Most of the prisoners and many in the crew were lost when the ship sank.

Answer: first atomic explosion

The first atomic explosion took place near Alamogordo, New Mexico, U.S.A., on July 16, 1945. None of the scientists involved were sure exactly what would happen during the test but it went according to optimistic predictions. Even before the test, the U.S. military had shipped a second atomic bomb to Pacific theater forces to use in an attack on Hiroshima, Japan.

Answer: Amelia Earhart

Amelia Earhart was the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean (1932). She became a celebrity and in 1937 announced a plan to fly around the world eastward. She and her navigator, Fred Noonan, had flown from Oakland, California eastward to Miami FL, South America, Africa, India and then to Lae, New Guinea.

Their next stop was to be Howland Island about midway between New Guinea and Hawaii. Somewhere near Howland Island they crashed. No wreckage has ever been found although searches still continue randomly.

Answer: Machu Picchu

The Incas built Machu Picchu in the mountains of Peru around 1450 but abandoned it a hundred years later when the Spanish arrived. American historian Hiram Bingham announced on July 24, 1911, that he had found the mostly intact site. It may have been the estate of Inca emperor Pachacuti. It was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1983.

Answer: Bob Dylan played an electric guitar

The Newport Folk Festival was the biggest event on the folk music calendar each year. When Bob Dylan appeared on stage with an electric guitar, and started playing it, the crowd voiced its displeasure. Regardless, folk rock was born that day.

Answer: Bugs Bunny

Though there had been characterizations of a rabbit character in earlier Warner Brothers cartoons, the first official Bugs Bunny cartoon was "A Wild Hare", first seen on July 27, 1940.