Riddles With Answers

Who wrote the book, music, and lyrics for the Broadway musical Hamilton?

Mel Brooks
Stephen Schwartz
Andrew Lloyd Webber
Lin-Manuel Miranda

Fact: Lin-Manuel Miranda wrote the book, music, and lyrics for Hamilton and played Alexander Hamilton in the original Broadway cast. He got the idea while reading Ron Chernow’s biography of Hamilton on vacation. Miranda saw a parallel between the young immigrant’s rise in a new country and the stories hip-hop artists tell about making a name for themselves through their words. He used rap to turn debates over the new nation’s finances into cabinet battles and duels into songs with their own rules, such as “Ten Duel Commandments.”

Correct Answer: Lin-Manuel Miranda

Which classic American patriotic song shares its melody with a national anthem in three countries?

“You’re a Grand Old Flag”
“America the Beautiful”
“Yankee Doodle Dandy”
“My Country ‘Tis of Thee”

Fact: “My Country, ’Tis of Thee,” also known as “America,” shares its melody with national anthems used by three countries today. The United Kingdom sings it as “God Save the King,” which is also one of New Zealand’s two official national anthems. Liechtenstein sings the same tune with different lyrics as “Oben am jungen Rhein.” Samuel Francis Smith discovered the tune in a German school music book and set his own lyrics to it in 1831. By then, according to the Smithsonian, the melody was already in use in at least seven European national anthems.

Correct Answer: “My Country ‘Tis of Thee”

What is the closest planet to the sun?

Earth
Mars
Mercury
Jupiter

Fact: Mercury is the closest planet to the Sun, orbiting at an average distance of about 36 million miles. It completes one orbit in just 88 Earth days, giving it the shortest year of any planet in our solar system. Mercury spins so slowly that, from a spot on its surface, about 176 Earth days pass between one sunrise and the next. Its sunlit side gets extremely hot, while its night side plunges far below freezing. Venus, the second planet from the Sun, is hotter overall because its thick, carbon dioxide-rich atmosphere traps heat.

Correct Answer: Mercury

Which Hollywood star reportedly inspired the way Bugs Bunny munches on carrots?

Cary Grant
James Stewart
Clark Gable
Humphrey Bogart

Fact: Bugs Bunny’s signature carrot chomping reportedly traces back to Clark Gable’s performance in the 1934 comedy It Happened One Night. In one scene, Gable’s character, Peter Warne, leans against a fence and casually munches on a carrot as he talks to Claudette Colbert’s character. Warner Bros. animator Bob Clampett later cited the scene as the inspiration for Bugs’s carrot-chewing style. While 1940s moviegoers instantly recognized the spoof of the film, the reference faded over time, leaving the habit as Bugs’s own iconic trait.

Correct Answer: Clark Gable

Which actor played King Mongkut of Siam in the 1956 film The King and I?

Gordon MacRae
Rossano Brazzi
Yul Brynner
Christopher Plummer

Fact: Yul Brynner first played King Mongkut of Siam in the 1951 Broadway production of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s The King and I, earning a Tony Award for the role. He returned as the king in the 1956 film adaptation, opposite Deborah Kerr. The film won five Academy Awards, including Best Actor for Brynner. The role became a hallmark of his career, and he returned to Broadway to play the king in 1985. He played the role 4,625 times onstage and kept his shaved head as a personal trademark long after adopting it for The King and I.

Correct Answer: Yul Brynner

Which group put a $25,000 bounty on Eleanor Roosevelt in the 1950s?

KGB
Mafia
Ku Klux Klan
American Nazi Party

Fact: Eleanor Roosevelt’s outspoken support for civil rights made her a target of the Ku Klux Klan, which put a $25,000 bounty on her in the 1950s. She had long used her public platform to speak out against racial violence and push for federal legislation against lynching. In 1958, the Klan threatened her after learning that she planned to speak at the racially integrated Highlander Folk School in Monteagle, Tennessee. The former first lady went ahead with the visit and addressed about 300 people on voting rights and voter education.

Correct Answer: Ku Klux Klan

Which seven-book fantasy series was written by C. S. Lewis?

Twilight
His Dark Materials
The Lord of the Rings
The Chronicles of Narnia

Fact: C. S. Lewis published the seven Narnia novels between 1950 and 1956. The first to appear, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, follows four siblings who discover a magical land through a wardrobe. There they meet Aslan, a lion who helps them challenge the White Witch, whose spell has plunged Narnia into perpetual winter. The series spans the history of that world, from its creation in The Magician’s Nephew to its final days in The Last Battle. Although The Magician’s Nephew comes first in the story’s chronology, it was the sixth book published.

Correct Answer: The Chronicles of Narnia

The television sitcom I Love Lucy was based on which 1940s radio comedy?

The Life of Riley
Our Miss Brooks
My Favorite Husband
Take It or Leave It

Fact: Before she played Lucy Ricardo, Lucille Ball starred as Liz in My Favorite Husband, a CBS radio comedy that ran from 1948 to 1951. Richard Denning played her husband, George, and the show found humor in the couple’s everyday married life. When CBS considered adapting the radio hit for television, Ball wanted her real-life husband, Desi Arnaz, to co-star. The result was I Love Lucy, with Ball as Lucy Ricardo, and Arnaz as Ricky Ricardo, a nightclub bandleader. It premiered on October 15, 1951, the year My Favorite Husband ended.

Correct Answer: My Favorite Husband

Which celebrity was the first to have a Barbie doll made in her likeness?

Twiggy
Diana Ross
Farrah Fawcett
Audrey Hepburn

Fact: In 1967, Twiggy became the first celebrity to have a Barbie doll made in her likeness, according to Mattel. Born Lesley Hornby, she began modeling as a teenager and became one of the most recognizable faces of London’s Swinging Sixties, known for her sleek blond pixie cut, bold eye makeup, and dramatic lashes. Mattel captured her signature Mod look in miniature, giving the doll rooted eyelashes, bendable legs, a twisting waist, and a stand for striking runway-style poses. A newspaper ad that year listed the doll at $6.

Correct Answer: Twiggy

The Today Show was created by the father of which famous person?

Richard Dreyfuss
Matthew Broderick
Sigourney Weaver
Woody Harrelson

Fact: The Today Show, which debuted on January 14, 1952, was the brainchild of television executive Sylvester Weaver. His daughter, actress Sigourney Weaver, is best known for playing Ellen Ripley in the Alien franchise. Weaver served as president of NBC from 1953 to 1955, during which time Today’s late-night companion, The Tonight Show, premiered. The Today Show was the first television program of its kind, and more than seven decades after its debut, it remains one of the longest-running programs in American television.

Correct Answer: Sigourney Weaver