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Quiz about Wrong Predictions
Quiz about Wrong Predictions

Wrong Predictions Trivia Quiz


Predictions can be dangerous. They may come back to bite you!

A multiple-choice quiz by root17. Estimated time: 6 mins.
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Author
root17
Time
6 mins
Type
Multiple Choice
Quiz #
313,148
Updated
Dec 03 21
# Qns
10
Difficulty
Average
Avg Score
8 / 10
Plays
1432
Awards
Top 20% Quiz
- -
Question 1 of 10
1. Who is the speaker or publisher of this quote?
1954 -- "You ought to go back to driving a truck."
(Hint: The subject of this quote spent much of his adult life in Memphis, Tennessee.)
Hint


Question 2 of 10
2. Who is the speaker or publisher of this quote?
1931 -- "Ears too big, balding, can't sing - dances a little."
(Hint: The subject of this quote was in many movies with Ginger Rogers.)
Hint


Question 3 of 10
3. Who is this quote attributed to?
1943 -- "I think there is a world market for maybe five computers."
(Hint: The company this alleged speaker worked for is known by the nickname "Big Blue.")
Hint


Question 4 of 10
4. Who is the speaker or publisher of this quote?
1938 -- "Gone with the Wind is going to be the biggest flop in Hollywood history."
(Hint: This speaker was associated with the movie "High Noon.")
Hint


Question 5 of 10
5. Who is the speaker or publisher of this quote?
1929 -- "Stocks have reached what looks like a permanently high plateau."
(The college this professor taught at has two nicknames: Bulldogs and Elis.)
Hint


Question 6 of 10
6. Who is the speaker or publisher of this quote?
1962 -- "We don't like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out."
(Hint: The musical group in question had at least one member from England.)
Hint


Question 7 of 10
7. Who is the speaker or publisher of this quote?
1911 -- "Airplanes are interesting toys but of no military value."
(Hint: The speaker became Supreme Commander of the Allied armies in World War I.)
Hint


Question 8 of 10
8. Who is the speaker or publisher of this quote?
1977 -- "There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home."
(Hint: The company this speaker worked at was for many years headquartered just outside Boston, Massachusetts.)
Hint


Question 9 of 10
9. Who is the speaker or publisher of this quote?
"You'd have a decent book if you'd get rid of that Gatsby character."
(Hint: The author this quote was directed to had a wife named Zelda.)
Hint


Question 10 of 10
10. Who is the speaker or publisher of this quote?
1946 -- "... people will get tired of staring at a plywood box every night."
(Hint: This movie producer has a son named Richard, who is also a movie producer. He won an Academy Award in 1990 for "Driving Miss Daisy" and was nominated for Academy Awards in 1983 for "The Verdict" and in 1976 for "Jaws.")
Hint



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Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. Who is the speaker or publisher of this quote? 1954 -- "You ought to go back to driving a truck." (Hint: The subject of this quote spent much of his adult life in Memphis, Tennessee.)

Answer: A concert manager, on firing Elvis Presley

This quote is by Jim Denny, Grand Ole Opry manager, on firing Elvis Presley on 2 October 1954 after one performance (his full quote was "You ain't goin' nowhere son. You ought to go back to driving a truck"). Fortunately, Elvis disregarded this advice and went on to earn Gold or Platinum status for 81 albums, 53 singles, and 16 extended play singles. Presley died 16 August 1977 at his home Graceland in Memphis, TN. His only daughter, Lisa Marie, was married to Michael Jackson on 26 May 1994, but that marriage lasted not quite two years.
2. Who is the speaker or publisher of this quote? 1931 -- "Ears too big, balding, can't sing - dances a little." (Hint: The subject of this quote was in many movies with Ginger Rogers.)

Answer: An executive at Columbia Pictures, after Fred Astaire came to Hollywood and made several screen tests

Fred Astaire went on to make more than 50 movies, many with dancer Ginger Rogers. He won an Honorary Academy Award in 1950 and was nominated for a second one in 1975 (for Best Supporting Actor for "The Towering Inferno" (1974)). The scene in the movie "The Green Mile" showing death row prisoner John Coffey watching Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers dancing (in the 1935 movie "Top Hat") to the song "Cheek to Cheek" and the line "I'm in Heaven?" is a real tearjerker.
3. Who is this quote attributed to? 1943 -- "I think there is a world market for maybe five computers." (Hint: The company this alleged speaker worked for is known by the nickname "Big Blue.")

Answer: Thomas Watson, Sr., former chairman of IBM

Although this quote is widely attributed to Thomas Watson, Sr. (108,000 Google hits), there seems to be no concrete record to definitely prove he ever said this. After spending umpteen hours researching this, I am reminded of the famous quote from the 1962 movie "The Man who Shot Liberty Valance" (starring John Wayne and Jimmy Stewart). Newspaperman Maxwell Scott said (after listening to a long-concealed story), "This is the west, sir.

When the legend becomes fact, print the legend."
4. Who is the speaker or publisher of this quote? 1938 -- "Gone with the Wind is going to be the biggest flop in Hollywood history." (Hint: This speaker was associated with the movie "High Noon.")

Answer: Gary Cooper, on his decision not to take the role of Rhett Butler in "Gone with the Wind" (played by Clark Gable)

Gary Cooper turned down the role of Rhett Butler (played by Clark Gable) saying, "I'm just glad it'll be Clark Gable who's falling on his face and not Gary Cooper." In the 1940 Academy Awards, "Gone with the Wind" won nine Oscars, including Best Picture, Vivien Leigh for Best Actress in a Leading Role, and Hattie McDaniel for Best Actress in a Supporting Role. Clark Gable and Olivia de Havilland were nominated for Oscars but did not win. "High Noon" (1952) starred Gary Cooper and Grace Kelly.

It won four Academy Awards and was nominated for Best Picture (but lost to "The Greatest Show on Earth").
5. Who is the speaker or publisher of this quote? 1929 -- "Stocks have reached what looks like a permanently high plateau." (The college this professor taught at has two nicknames: Bulldogs and Elis.)

Answer: Irving Fisher, Professor of Economics, Yale University

A famous Irving Berlin song of that era (just before the stock market crash of 1929) went, "Blue skies, smiling at me, Nothing but blue skies do I see, Bluebirds singing a song, Nothing but bluebirds all day long, Never saw the sun shining so bright, Never saw things going so right, ..." The Great Depression that followed the stock market crash of 1929 was not totally cured (unemployment and financial dysfunction) until World War II. Princeton has the nickname Tigers, Arkansas is Razorbacks, and Notre Dame is Fighting Irish.

The three wrong answers in this question are all famous college football coaches (but not at the colleges in the wrong answers!).
6. Who is the speaker or publisher of this quote? 1962 -- "We don't like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out." (Hint: The musical group in question had at least one member from England.)

Answer: An executive at Decca Recording Co., rejecting the Beatles

The Beatles went on to earn 54 Gold, 27 Platinum, and 8 Multi-Platinum singles. Many people think their appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show on 9 February 1964 (which was watched by an estimated 73 million viewers) was their first American TV appearance. In actuality, they were on the Jack Parr Show on 3 January 1964.
7. Who is the speaker or publisher of this quote? 1911 -- "Airplanes are interesting toys but of no military value." (Hint: The speaker became Supreme Commander of the Allied armies in World War I.)

Answer: Marechal Ferdinand Foch, Professor of Strategy, Ecole Superieure de Guerre

Marshal Ferdinand Foch became a commander of French forces in World War I (and was strongly criticized for his tactics and the heavy casualties that were suffered by Allied armies in the Battle of the Somme). Despite this, he was appointed supreme commander of the Allied armies on 26 March 1918. German pilot Manfred von Richthofen (commonly known as The Red Baron) flying a Fokker DR-I triplane (painted all red) became the top ace of WWI, with 80 victories.

He was finally killed 21 April 1918 (by either Canadian flyer Arthur "Roy" Brown or by Australian Sergeant Cedric Popkin from the ground). One thing Foch did get right: Commenting on the Treaty of Versailles (ending WWI) he said, "This is not peace.

It is an armistice for 20 years." Most historians think World War II was caused in large part by the harsh terms of the Treaty of Versailles.

Although Charles de Gaulle was a veteran of World War I, he is perhaps best known as a French military commander and leader of the Free French in World War II.
8. Who is the speaker or publisher of this quote? 1977 -- "There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home." (Hint: The company this speaker worked at was for many years headquartered just outside Boston, Massachusetts.)

Answer: Ken Olsen, co-founder, former president, and former CEO of Digital Equipment Corp. (DEC)

Olsen said this in a 1977 talk at the World Future Society in Boston, MA. The home personal computer became affordable to the general public in the late 1970s, with models like the Radio Shack TRS-80, the Commodore PET and the Apple II. IBM became a late player in this market with its introduction of the PC in 1981 (with a famous ad campaign featuring a Charlie Chaplin look-alike).

The home market then grew rapidly with clones, with entries from many other companies. This in turn gave rise to the operating systems and other software from Microsoft Corporation (Bill Gates and Paul Allen).

The Apple Macintosh computer (Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak) was introduced with a TV ad during the Super Bowl in 1984 (it showed a girl in red running shorts flinging a sledgehammer at a screen showing an IBM-type "Big Brother") The ad was inspired by George Orwell's novel "1984." It cost $1.6 million to produce, and Apple Corporation paid $500,000 for the one-minute time slot in which it ran.
9. Who is the speaker or publisher of this quote? "You'd have a decent book if you'd get rid of that Gatsby character." (Hint: The author this quote was directed to had a wife named Zelda.)

Answer: An editor to author F. Scott Fitzgerald

This seems to be a quote that everyone has heard of (2,140 Google hits) but nobody has documentation on. This reminds me of the 1994 movie "The Usual Suspects" (starring Kevin Spacey) and the mysterious, unseen criminal named Keyser Soze. The term "Keyser Soze" has come to mean someone who everyone has heard about, but no one has ever met in person.
10. Who is the speaker or publisher of this quote? 1946 -- "... people will get tired of staring at a plywood box every night." (Hint: This movie producer has a son named Richard, who is also a movie producer. He won an Academy Award in 1990 for "Driving Miss Daisy" and was nominated for Academy Awards in 1983 for "The Verdict" and in 1976 for "Jaws.")

Answer: Movie producer Darryl Zanuck, co-founder of 20th Century Fox

Soon after television was made commercially available to the public, its demise in less than six months was predicted by Darryl Zanuck with this quote. Ten years later, the Hollywood worry was that television would ruin the movie business. Happily, both industries seem to be doing quite nicely!
Source: Author root17

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor Snowman before going online.
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