The Post Quiz: Historical Trivia in Context

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Don't know much about history? You'd be surprised.

The Post Quiz: Historical Trivia in Context

A re-enactment of soldiers fighting for King Harold at Hastings.

Thanks to bored history teachers, many of us grew up with the idea that history, as a subject, was a matter of memorising dates and unrelated factoids in a vacuum. Taking a test was rather like reciting the New York telephone directory by heart, when you lived in, say, Bucharest. Not very stimulating, and a strain on the brain.

Rejoice, history students. The educators have learned a few new tricks since you were in school. Now, they teach 'historical skills'. What are those, you ask? As well you might. One historical skill is argument: the Prof would be good at that one. There's Argument 1, understanding historical arguments, and Argument 2, reconciling opposing arguments, etc. Pretty cool, huh? No? Well, once you get past Arguments and Evidence and PAT (Patterns of Continuity and Change over Time, naturally), it actually gets interesting. That's when you get to Contextualisation.

Guess what? After hundreds of years since Herodotus, it has occurred to historians that history doesn't take place in a vacuum. Historians, being easily excited – we usually recommend they lie down for an hour every day – get terribly worked up about this context business. But it's really very useful, this skill: like detective work. You apply what you already know about the world to a historical fact, and bob's yer uncle, you've figured out why. See if you can do it. We bet you'll enjoy this one, honest. It's not like taking a test at all. More like second-guessing your favourite Sherlock.

Guess the meaning in context. Short answers, please. The grader is tired.

  1. William Shakespeare and Miguel de Cervantes died on the same date – but not on the same day. How did this happen?
  2. In the 19th Century, Turkish men were ordered to stop wearing turbans and switch to fezzes. They resisted this 'modern' change. Why?
  3. Fezzes were hats. Why didn't they have brims?
  4. In 1860, newly elected US President Abraham Lincoln grew a beard. The suggestion came from an eleven-year-old girl, Grace Bedell. Why did she think he'd look better in a beard, and how does this story fit in the context of 1860?
  5. In 1861, Lincoln had to move to Washington. The Pinkerton Detective Agency was charged with getting Lincoln to his inauguration safely. Why was this necessary?
  6. In 1865, alas, John Wilkes Booth shot and killed Abraham Lincoln. Police were looking for the fugitive assassin everywhere, but he wasn't too hard to spot. You see, Booth's face was almost as
    famous as Lincoln's. Why?
  7. Enough about Lincoln. Actress and writer Ruth Gordon was born in 1896, so she never met him. In 1920, when she was already a successful stage actress, Gordon voluntarily underwent a painful procedure to cure her hereditary bowleggedness. Why then?
  8. Actor Cameron Mitchell was born in 1918 in Pennsylvania. But at that time, his name was 'Mitzel'. His mentors, the famous Lunts, suggested that he change it when he started acting in the years between the world wars. Why?
  9. The US president who decided to drop atomic bombs on Japan didn't even know the weapon existed four months before. How come?
  10. During the 2003 Iraq war, reporter Anne Garrels sent in her reports from a Baghdad hotel room. She was naked at the time. Why?

How many of these did you know? Could you guess the rest? We suspect you were more historically knowledgeable than you ever dreamed. To check it all out, click the picture below.

A man considers the Marxist and Feminist viewpoints of history.
Post Quiz and Oddities Archive

Dmitri Gheorgheni

04.08.14 Front Page

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