General Knowledge Quiz Questions

General Knowledge trivia questions with answers

A sample from the general knowledge bank — tap any question to reveal the answer. Good for quiz nights, classrooms, or settling arguments.

1. What do American Presidents John Quincy Adams, Rutherford B. Hayes, Benjamin Harrison and George W. Bush all have in common?

   They won the electoral vote but not the popular vote.

2. What do we call a horizontal beam used usually for support and walling over a window?

   Lintel

3. Which character from J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of The Rings: The Two Towers was also known as Fangorn and was the oldest of his kind?

   Treebeard

4. King Richard III killed his two nephews, which were later reported to have been seen as ghosts. What were their names?

   Edward V of England and Richard of Shrewsbury

5. What do you add to steel to make it stainless?

   Chromium

6. Which part of the body contains the most gold?

   toe nails

7. Where does the oldest known ink come from?

   China and India

8. Upon hearing my screams, my husband stepped out of the shower to make sure I was alright, causing me recoil due to my gymnophobia. What was I afraid of?

   Nudity

9. How many bones does the human spine have?

   33

10. What is the Sun line of the human palm associated with in palmistry?

    Fame

11. In terms of population of the city proper, which is the first capital city with over 10,000,000 people?

    Moscow

12. Periander of Corinth, Pittacus of Mitylene and Thales of Miletus have something in common. What is it?

    They are three of the Seven Sages of Greece.

13. It was one of the first TV shows for children. It featured one human and many puppets, all worked by one man, Burr Tillstrom. What was its name ?

    Kukla, Fran and Ollie

14. Which of these is not among the reasons for which most pencils are yellow?

    To copy the style of the first pencils made in the USA

15. 1919 saw the first general, city-wide strike in the USA. It involved about 35,000 workers. In which city did this strike occur?

    Seattle, Washington

16. Helminthophobia is the fear of what?

    of being infested with worms

17. What are the only two landlocked countries in South America ?

    Bolivia and Paraguay

18. In this 2005 documentary film a large number of famous comedians show how they tell one particular dirty joke.

    The Aristocrats

19. This soul singer and songwriter, often called Silky Smooth because of his rich baritone, is famous for his hits Rainy Night in Georgia, Fools Rush In, This Time of the Year.

    Brook Benton

20. Finish the nursery rhyme: Peter Piper picked a peck of .........

    pickled peppers

21. What did H. Taylor Howard invent in 1976?

    Satellite dish

22. Berkeley Universitys, Search For Extraterrestrial Intelligences project , SETI@Home, is an experiment open for everyone to join. What is SETI@Homes aim?

    To use free processing time in volunteers computers to analyze radio data

23. Who was the first female Attorney General of the United States?

    Janet Reno

24. This is the reason why Maori women tattoo their faces.

    To conceal age wrinkles

25. How many are in a Bakers Dozen?

    13

26. Which of the following is the correct name of an African nation?

    Republic of South Africa

27. In what year did Capt. John Alcock and Lt. A.W. Brown make the first nonstop transatlantic flight?

    1919

28. Name the author of The Asian Saga, a series of six epic novels centering on Europeans in Asia.

    James Clavell

29. This town, situated in Hawaii County, is the southernmost town in the United States.

    Naalehu

30. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1972, that capital punishment was unconstitutional. What was the name of the case?

    Gregg v. Georgia

31. During the Cold War, which city was the capital of West Germany?

    Bonn

32. From which language do we get the word tattoo?

    Tahitian

33. What is the mathematical term for the shape of a footballs path, when thrown form one player to another?

    Parabola

34. What is the longest river in Asia Minor?

    Euphrates

35. What did Wilhelm Schickard invent?

    the first automatic calculator

36. The Persian Empire was divided into 20 provinces, each called this.

    Satrapy

37. Which of these statements is true about the Pan Am Flight 759 disaster that happened on July 9, 1982?

    All of these

38. What is the real name of the American female artist known as Pink?

    Alecia

39. Steve Rogers is the alter ego of this character.

    Cpt America

40. What is the fourth amendment to the US Constitution?

    The right to not be subject to unreasonable searches and seizures