Five Minute Trivia
Bite-sized bursts of knowledge to make you smarter. Five minutes at a time.
Episodes
Impressionism was a 19th century art movement borne out of an insult, but quickly became one of the most popular and enduring art forms in history. Legendary painters like Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Edouard Manet, and Mary Cassatt were impressionists. On today's show, we explore the history of this movement and how its artists embraced that derisive term. All of the paintings featured on today's episode can be f...
The Molotov cocktail is not a drink and the person it's named for didn't invent it. Yet there is perhaps no more iconic symbol of resistance in the world than a flaming bottle being thrown at a technologically superior opponent. Where did the Molotov cocktail come from and why is it called that? We're talking all about it on this week's show.
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If you want to turn today into tomorrow, you don't need to wait for science to invent something. You can just go west until you cross 180 degrees longitude. That's where the International Date Line is located. On today's show, we talk about what it is and why it's needed. Special appearances by Gary Cooper and The Ghostbusters.
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The 98th Academy Awards are right around the corner, so we thought we'd tackle some burning questions about the Oscars. Like who...or what...is Oscar? And has anyone named Oscar ever won an Oscar?
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For over a hundred years, Hollywood has been making movie adaptations of Wuthering Heights. And for over a hundred years, they've been controversial. The latest one starring Jacob Elordi as Heathcliff is no exception. This week, we're talking about this enduring novel that invented the genre of Gothic literature, even though the author pretended to be someone else and no one has any idea what the title means.
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This year, the Islamic month of Ramadan and the Catholic observance of Lent both started on the same day. Both faith traditions are characterized by fasting, spiritual devotion, and personal sacrifice. Both faiths also make up nearly 40% of the world's population, so that means that you probably know someone who's a little hungry right now. On this week's show, we're talking about them.
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Which mountain is the biggest on Earth? The answer is surprisingly a little complicated and it depends on what you mean by biggest. Join us this week as we go into the sky, the oceans, and to the center of the planet to find out. WARNING: There may be some math.
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Only six football teams have been to more Superbowls than Up with People. The relentlessly upbeat performing group starred in five Superbowl halftime shows as well as the Indy 500, the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade, and even a presidential inauguration. Who were they, why were they everywhere, and what happened to them?
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Sara Lee, Mr. Clean, and Mrs. Butterworth are not real people, but Ignacio Anaya, John Montagu, and Charles Boycott were. Who were they? Only the namesakes of two of the greatest foods ever invented and an oft-used kind of collective protest. On today's show, we're exploring the inspiration for nachos, sandwiches, and boycotts.
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The emu is a national symbol of Australia. The large, flightless bird appears on Australia's coat of arms and its fifty-cent piece. So why did Australia declare war against emus in 1932? And how did the emus defeat them? On this week's show, we're talking about the Great Emu War of 1932.
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Quarks are the fundamental unit of matter and make up literally everything, including you, me, and the period at the end of this sentence. How did such an important idea get such a strange name? And why is Strange literally the name of a quark? We're talking about all that on this week's show.
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The Feast of the Epiphany marks the twelfth and final day of Christmas, when the three wise men brought gifts for the baby Jesus. To celebrate this religious occasion, Shakespeare wrote a wild comedy with merriment, cross-dressing, and a love triangle so convoluted it became a love pentagon. It was one of his most popular plays ever. Join us this week as we tackle Shakespeare's Twelfth Night.
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Happy New Year to everyone who celebrates the arrival of a new year on January 1. That leaves out China, most of the Middle East, Lesotho, anyone who goes to school, and Mars. So how did we decide to make January 1 the date we change the calendar and resolve to change ourselves? We're talking all about it on this week's show.
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Everyone has heard the poem that starts off with, "'Twas the night before Christmas," but hardly anyone knows the name of the poem or the man who wrote it. It's responsible for some of the most iconic images of Christmas--stockings, Santa Claus, reindeer, gifts delivered via chimney--but it was first published anonymously in a local newspaper. On this week's' show, we're talking about A Visit From...
Gerardus Mercator had a dream. He wanted to make a map of the world that people could actually use to get from one place to another. He was so successful that we're still using it 500 years later. It's even on our smartphones. But his projection was not without controversy. While it may have made the world easier to navigate, it came at the cost of making the world look ridiculous. Have a listen. And also visit the show n...
Edsel Ford was the only son of Henry Ford, founder of Ford Motor Company. He became president of Ford but sadly died of cancer in 1943. To honor his memory, Ford Motor Company launched a new car division 17 years after his death and unveiled it in a live Sunday night event featuring Bing Crosby, Louis Armstrong, and others. Did the Ford Edsel do justice to Edsel Ford's memory? Listener, it did not. Hear all about it on this we...
It's Thanksgiving week! That means food, family, and...FOOTBALL!! If you're a fan of the Dallas Cowboys and the Detroit Lions, you'll always get to watch your team on Thanksgiving, because they always play on Thanksgiving Day. How and why did that come to be a tradition? Tune in this week to find out.
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The modernist poet TS Eliot won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1948. But before he got famous for The Waste Land and The Hollow Men, he wrote a bunch of silly poems for his godchildren and compiled them in a book called Old Possum's Guide to Practical Cats. An aspiring composer named Andrew Lloyd Webber got a hold of them and decided to turn TS Eliot's musings about Growltiger, Skimbleshanks, and Mr. Mistoffelees into ...
This week, we're taking on the human body with a show about what blood is, what it's made of, and why it's so important. We also have a special cohost who calls himself Hemo the Magnificent. Hemo premiered in a 1957 educational film produced by Frank Capra (It's a Wonderful Life, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington) but never found work again. We're pleased to welcome him back to the world of showbiz and we assur...
Ernest Hemingway was a soldier, romantic, adventurer, and...oh yeah, something of a writer. His prose was spare and direct and spoke volumes without saying much at all. The Old Man and the Sea is perhaps the best example of that. In this novella, Hemingway talks about courage, perseverance, and struggle through the story of a fisherman's struggle with the catch of a lifetime. This week, we're talking all about it.
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