City Folk (Part 2) Trivia Quiz

Answer: The Battle of Brandywine

The Battle of Brandywine was fought near Philadelphia on September 11, 1777; Lafayette fought alongside George Washigton. The battle was a victory for the British who outnumbered the Continental army, forcing them to retreat. Despite being shot through the calf, Lafayette was able to save many of his soldiers by leading an orderly retreat. Regarding his long name, (he was born Marie-Joseph-Paul-Yves-Roch-Gilbert du Motier de La Fayette) Lafayette wrote in his autobiography, "It's not my fault. I was baptized like a Spaniard, with the name of every conceivable saint who might offer me more protection in battle."

The Battle of Stockach was a battle in the French Revolution, The Battle of Chancellorsville was a battle in the American Civil War, and the The Battle of Tannenberg was a conflict fought in World War I.

Answer: New York Giants

On October 18, 1925, at the age of nine, Wellington Mara began working for the Giants as a ballboy after his father, Timothy J. Mara, bought the team. After graduating from Fordham, Wellington worked in the front office as a treasurer and assistant to his father. Wellington spent the next 80 years of his life involved with the team except for three years in the Navy during World War II, whereupon he returned to the Giants as their Vice President.

In the 1960s he took over as President and played an influential role in arranging television revenue sharing.

The Giants were a leading attraction in the NFL, but instead of exploiting that and capitalizing on it, Wellington saw the wisdom in revenue sharing which allowed teams in smaller markets to compete on a more even playing field, no pun intended.

In 1997, Wellington was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. His induction made it the first time a father and son shared the same HOF honor.

Answer: CNN

Soledad O'Brien anchored the show "Starting Point" on CNN from 2012 to 2013. The show replaced "American Morning" which Soledad had also hosted from 2003 to 2007. Soledad has founded her own production company, Soledad O'Brien Productions, and in 2010 wrote a critically-acclaimed memoir "The Next Big Story: My Journey through the Land of Possibilities."

Soledad is a city 111 miles from San Francisco, California, with a population one twentieth the size of the Soledad, Colombia's half a million people.

Answer: First to accuse Matt Lauer of personal misconduct on "The Today Show."

Savannah Guthrie has been earning a reputation as not just a purveyor of light morning show fare, but has steadily climbed the journalistic ladder to become a hard-hitting, fearless interviewer as borne out by her very tough, intelligent and well-researched interrogations of Donald Trump and former FBI director James Comey.

Savannah put herself through Georgetown Law School while working as a freelance reporter. She graduated from the Law Center in 2002, magna cum laude. Hoya Saxa Savannah! Her induction into the University of Arizona's School of Journalism Hall of Fame was fueled by her receiving the highest score on th Arizona bar exam.

Answer: Howard Hughes

Irving had conspired with author and friend Richard Suskind to write the bogus autobiography. They figured that since Mr. Hughes was such a recluse, he would never speak out publicly even if he took notice of the book. They enlisted the help of artists to imitate and forge letters written by Mr. Hughes. Irving contacted McGraw-Hill Publishers and told them he had been in ongoing contact with Hughes, for which the publishers advanced Irving $100,000.

He also took the checks intended foe Hughes in the amount of $765,000 and finagled a way of depositing them to himself as well.

But representatives of Howard Hughes heard about the book and voiced their suspicions. Even handwriting experts from a professional organization rendered their opinion that the letters were authentic. Hughes however arranged a phone conversation with journalists and claimed he never even met Irving. Things started unraveling and Irving soon confessed. eventually spending 17 months in prison.

Answer: Dolley Madison was the first to serve ice cream in the White House.

That ice cream myth was probably fueled by the fact that a Dolley Madison bakery, a national brand, was founded in 1937. But Thomas Jefferson was known to serve ice cream at his presidential dinners before James Madison's presidency. And it is believed that Abigail Adams did as well.

The commemorative coin honoring Dolley Madison was a silver dollar coin, issued in 1999. The SS Dolley Madison was a "Liberty ship" which is a type of cargo ship popular during World War II. The Dolley Madison was launched September 27, 1943.

Samuel Morse unveiled his telegraph in 1844 by sending the message "What hath God wrought" from the Capitol to a Baltimore railroad station. Dolley Madison was amongst the small group present to witness it. Morse then invited Dolley Madison to send the first personal one on one telegraph. She obliged, sending one to her cousin, Mrs. John Weathered in Baltimore.

Answer: Janet Reno

Reno, Nevada, nicknamed "The Biggest Little City in the World" is the city that shares it name with Janet Reno, the first woman U.S. Attorney General. Ms.Reno was born in Miami, Florida on July 21, 1938. Her career in law and politics began with her position as staff director of the Judiciary Committee of the Florida House of Representatives. By 1993, Clinton had actually named two previous candidates for the Attorney General position but they were both rejected. Only when Janet Reno was nominated did the Senate approve.

Answer: Died in 1978, seven years after a gunshot wound received during a speech.

Colombo was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1923, and died in Newburgh, New York. He founded the Italian-American Civil Rights League in 1970 as a smoke screen to distract government investigators from his criminal activities, such as loansharking, sports gambling, hijacking, and the fencing of stolen goods. Colombo embarked on an anti-FBI campaign of his own, speaking publicly about the harassment he said his family was being subjected to.

In 1971, while making one of his protest speeches at Columbus Circle in NYC, he was shot by a young man, who in turn was killed. Colombo survived but was paralyzed and eventually slipped into a coma.

He died seven years later in 1978.

Answer: Rhode Island

Lincoln Chafee is a Rhode Island native and served as that state's governor from 2011 to 2015, after running on the Independent ticket. When he was sworn in on January 4, 2011, he was the only governor not to belong to a major party. In the middle of his gubernatorial tenure, on May 30, 2013, Chafee switched his party affiliation to becoming a Democrat. Prior to all that, Chafee served as a Republican U.S. Senator from 1999 to 2007.

Lincoln is the capitol of the state of Nebraska. It was named after Abraham Lincoln.

Answer: He is the last man to have set foot on the Moon.

Cernan was actually the second American to walk in space--Al Worden was the first. Astronaut Bill Shepherd was the first American to work with cosmonauts Yuri Gidzenko and Sergei Krikalev as a crew on board the station. Richard Truly became the first astronaut to become NASA administrator. Eugene Cernan was the commander of Apollo 17 in 1972--Harrison Schmitt and Ronald Evans were his crew mates.

It was the final mission of the Apollo Moon program. In 1999 Eugene Cernan cowrote (with journalist Don Davis) The Last Man on the Moon, detailing his career including his being the last man to have walked on the lunar surface.