January 16 Birthdays Quiz | January Birthdays

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. Born in 1908, this songstress could really belt 'em out. Her first autobiography, published in 1955, was "Who Could Ask for Anything More?" Who was this award winner for performances in, among others, "Annie Get Your Gun" and "Gypsy"?

Answer: Ethel Merman

Born in Queens as Ethel Agnes Zimmerman, Merman's roles in 1950's "Call Me Madam" won her the 1951 Tony for Best Actress in a Musical, and then the Golden Globe for Best Actress in the 1953 film version. A leading figure of stage, screen, and TV, Merman was a dominant force in musical theater from 1930 to 1970.

The 1984 Academy Awards ended with a tribute to her with the performance of "There's No Business Like Show Business."

2. This Hall of Fame pitcher delighted baseball fans after retiring from the game with colorful and ungrammatical language as a commentator in baseball radio and television broadcasts. His use of expressions such as "He slud into third" and "He shouldn't hadn't ought-a swang!" were classics. Who was this career 150-game winner who, combined with his brother, won 49 games for the 1934 St. Louis Cardinal "Gashouse Gang"?

Answer: Jerome "Dizzy" Dean

Born Jerome Herman Dean in 1910, Diz was two years older than his brother Paul, who was called "Daffy" as Dizzy's teammate on the Gashouse Gang. Before the 1934 season Dizzy predicted that he and his brother would win 45 games that season. Of course, Dizzy won 30 of them to become the last National League pitcher of the Twentieth Century to win that many.

What was looking to be a career for the ages was sadly shortened as the result of being hit on the big toe by a line drive in the 1937 All Star Game. When told the toe was fractured, Dean reportedly replied, "Fractured, hell, the damn thing's broken!" When he tried to return to the game too early, he changed his delivery to protect the toe and his blazing fastball was gone.

For four straight years, Dean had led the NL in complete games and strikeouts and played in the All Star Game.

3. Born in 1932, who was the American primatologist who became well known for her study of mountain gorillas in Rwanda from 1966 until her murder in 1985?

Answer: Dian Fossey

Along with two other primatologists, Fossey was dubbed a Trimate. The other two scientists were Jane Goodall, who studied chimpanzees, and Birute Galdikes, who studied orangutans. All three studied their subjects in their natural habitats.

Fossey was the author of the best-selling "Gorillas in the Mist," which was adapted into a film in 1988. Fossey is buried in the Karisoke Research Center, which she had established in the Volcanoes National Park of Rwanda, where she had done her research. Her remains lie in a gorilla graveyard that she had designed and built.

4. Our next subject was a political activist, critic, film maker, and writer who won National Book Awards for "On Photography" and "In America." Born in 1933, who was this courageous woman who visited and wrote about war zones from Vietnam to Sarajevo?

Answer: Susan Sontag

Other topics of Ms. Sontag included communism and the Left, AIDS, and human rights. In a 1967 article in the "Partisan Review," Sontag wrote that "the white race is the cancer of human history...." Later she backed away from the statement, but it serves to show how controversial she could be. Her writing also earned her awards in Germany, Israel, Spain, and Italy.

5. Our next Capricorn is a country singer born in 1943. Despite being almost blind from birth, he has recorded 40 Number 1 hits, including 1985's Song of the Year, "Lost in the Fifties Tonight." Who is this North Carolina native whose "Please Don't Tell Me How the Story Ends" helped him win CMA Male Vocalist of the Year?

Answer: Ronnie Milsap

The Country Music Association has also awarded Milsap three Male Vocalist of the Year awards, five Country Albums of the Year, and the 1977 Entertainer of the Year. He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2014 and has won five five Best Male Country Vocal Performance awards.

6. Born in 1948 (my birth year, also!), this composer is a noted film director, editor, producer, screenwriter, and musician. Among his highest grossing directorial efforts are "Halloween", "Starman", "Escape from New York" and 1980's "The Fog", all of which he also composed the music for. Who is this director of so many cult classic films?

Answer: John Carpenter

Carpenter's filmography lists him as Director in 19 films, producer of 11, and writer of 14. He is also listed as the composer of the music in 19 movies and is credited as an actor in 14 as well. As a matter of fact, in three of those films ("Dark Star", "Assault on Precinct 13", and 1978's "Halloween"), he is credited for all five roles, and for four roles in three more.

7. Super Bowl XLVII was played on 3 February, 2013, just 18 days after the winning quarterback and game MVP's 28th birthday. Who is this former Delaware Fightin' Blue Hen and architect of the Baltimore Ravens' 34-31 Super Bowl win over the San Francisco 49'ers?

Answer: Joe Flacco

As a collegian, Flacco played his first football season at Pittsburgh after a red-shirt year before moving on to Delaware and setting 20 school records in two seasons for the Fightin' Blue Hens. In his senior year Delaware lost the DII National Title Game to Appalachian State.

By the end of the 2017 season, Flacco held over 20 Baltimore Raven quarterback records, including passing completions, touchdowns, and yards, as well as regular season and postseason wins.

The three incorrect choices are already in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. They each led their teams to multiple world championships, with Unitas winning three pre-Super Bowl NFL titles and one Super Bowl with the Baltimore Colts, Elway winning two Super Bowls with the Denver Broncos, and Montana winning four Super Bowls with the San Francisco 49ers.

8. Born in (Greater) London in 1974, our quiz' last lady is a model who was associated with the "heroin chic" fashion look of the mid-1990s. At the end of that decade, however, "Maxim" magazine ranked her 9th among their "50 Sexiest Women of 1999," and in 2007 she won the "New Musical Express Sexiest Woman Award." Who is this model who appeared as herself in "Zoolander 2" in 2016?

Answer: Kate Moss

Moss was "discovered" in New York's JFK Airport at the tender age of 14 by the founder of the modeling agency Storm Model Management, Sarah Doukas. Moss is typical of the Size Zero fashion style and has her own clothing range. In addition to modeling, she is also a contributor to "British Vogue."

9. Born in Florida in 1969, this former boxer who became a rapper and actor, having won 17 boxing titles from middleweight to heavyweight, including a Silver Olympic Boxing medal in 1988. His rap singles include "Ya'll Must've Forgot" and film appearances include "The Matrix Reloaded." Who is this six-time world champion pugilist in four different weight classes?

Answer: Roy Jones, Jr.

After meeting with Vladimir Putin in 2015, Jones was able to obtain dual American-Russian citizenship, due to business activities he pursued in Russia.

In compiling an overall 66-9 professional boxing record, including 47 knockouts, Jones held world titles at middleweight, super middleweight, light heavyweight and heavyweight, in weight classes from 154 pounds (70 kg) on up. In winning the heavyweight title in 2003 he became the first boxer to have won middleweight and heavyweight championships in 106 years.

Liddell and Silva were mixed martial artists, not boxers.

10. Our final Capricorn was born in the Dominican Republic in 1980. The National League Rookie of the Year in 2001 for the Cardinals, he appeared in 10 All Star Games between 2001 and 2015 and was named the Best Player in MLB four times by ESPN. Who is this sure-fire future Hall of Famer who was traded to the Angels in 2012?

Answer: Albert Pujols

Pujols played in his first major-league game at age 21. In the next 17 years he would climb into the all-time top 10 for MLB players for homeruns, runs-batted-in, and total bases.

In 1998 he became a Christian and in 2005 he and his wife founded the Pujols Family Foundation, which promotes awareness of Down syndrome, aids the poor in the Dominican Republic, and supports people with disabilities and life-threatening illnesses.

Source: Author shvdotr

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor bloomsby before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.

January 16 Birthdays Trivia Quiz

You've probably seen these folks throughout FunTrivia, but we bring them together here because they share the same birthdate (but not the same year). Have fun!

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