How did your March knowledge stack up?

Don't you love history tests? 'In the War of Jenkins' Ear, was it Jenkins' right ear or left ear?' No? Oh, well. We hope you liked this one, anyway. (And by the way, we still don't have a Guide Entry on the War of Jenkins' Ear.)

Multiple guess, as my teachers used to say.

1. March was a good month for government. What amazingly important document was ratified by the Continental Congress in Philadelphia on 1 March 1781?
   
   • The Pure Food and Drug Act
   • The Articles of Confederation. (They were important to our civics classes, so lay off.)
   • Magna Carta
   • The Guano Islands Act
2. March was also a bad month for government. Who was indicted for conspiring to obstruct justice on 1 March 1974?
   
   • Tony Blair
   • Henry Kissinger
   • Margaret Thatcher
   • The Watergate conspirators The others? You may just wish.
3. Texas phenom Sam Houston was born on 2 March 1793. Why was he removed as governor of Texas in 1861?
   
   • He had joined the Cherokee tribe. (He did, but no.)
   • He fought with Mexico. (He did, but that made him popular.)
   • He refused to swear allegiance to the Confederacy. Nailed it: the CSA was a bridge too far for Sam.
   • He had a town named after him. (Nah, they all did that.)
4. Why did the US Secretary of War have to call out troops to quell a riot on 3 March 1913?
   
   • One word: suffragettes Amen. Spitting at ladies with signs is not gentlemanly. Call the troops.
   • Two words: angry peaceniks (They didn't have anything to complain about until four years later.)
   • Three words: The Ku Klux Klan (Painful though they were, they weren't the problem this time.)
   • Two people: Eugene V Debs and Emma Goldman (Ditto.)
5. Telephone inventor Alexander Graham Bell was born in March. Where did he hail from?
   
   • Philadelphia
   • Edinburgh (It takes a Scot.)
   • Berlin
   • Trenton, New Jersey
6. How did Charles II pay off a huge debt on 4 March 1681?
   
   • He auctioned off his spaniels.
   • He sent all his creditors to Carolina Colony.
   • He gave William Penn huge tracts of land. It's called Pennsylvania for a reason. They didn't want to call it 'The Only Colony That Doesn't Have a Law Against Importing Quakers'.
   • He sold his snuffboxes to France.
7. 5 March 1770 was the date of the infamous Boston Massacre. What started this ill-advised police action?
   
   • A snowball Football hooligans, take warning.
   • A bomb
   • Name calling
   • Paul Revere's horse
8. On 4 March 1946, Winston Churchill complained about something that had gone up in Europe. What was it?
   
   • The Berlin Wall
   • An 'Iron Curtain' And it didn't go with the wallpaper.
   • The Eiffel Tower
   • Euro Disney
9. Yuri Gagarin was born 9 March 1934 in Gzhatsk, Russia. How long did his historic orbital flight in 1961 last?
   
   • 108 minutes That's one short trip for man. (Good thing, I don't think there was a loo.)
   • 3 hours
   • 3 days
   • 5 days
10. Harold Wilson was born on 11 March 1916. Where?
    
    • London
    • Capetown, South Africa
    • Huddersfield Garden spot of Yorkshire, Huddersfield.
    • Brightling

Of course you got them all. Now go and share that erudition. And write some Guide Entries!

Dmitri Gheorgheni

07.03.16 Front Page

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