John Bernhisel

Questions:

1. Name the five American women who have won 10 or more Grand Slam tennis singles titles.

2. What ancient civilization built Machu Picchu?

3. Who composed the violin concertos known as “The Four Seasons?”

4. Name the four U.S. states whose largest cities begin with the letter L.

5. Which continents contain the Volga, Yangtze, Murray and Onyx rivers, as their longest rivers?

Fun Facts:

When General Mills released a new cereal in 1941, it was called “CheeriOats,” but after a trademark dispute with Quaker Oats, the name was shortened to “Cheerios” in 1945.

One hundred fifty years ago, on May 30, 1876, Russian Tsar Alexander II signed a ban aimed at stopping the printing and distribution of Ukrainian-language publications throughout the Russian Empire. The attempt to suppress the Ukrainian language ultimately failed.

A typical strawberry has about 200 seeds on the outside.

The “Friends” sequel “Joey” lasted two seasons and was canceled 20 years ago. None of the other “Friends” cast members ever appeared alongside Matt LeBlanc in the series.

If summer is measured as the time between Memorial Day and Labor Day, the summer of 2026 is as long as it can possibly be. Memorial Day fell on its earliest possible date, May 25, while Labor Day will fall on its latest possible date, Sept. 7, creating a 105-day summer.

All five vowels appear in the word “sequoia.” The word facetious has all five in order. Mozambique is the only single word country name with them all. 

Blake Shelton, Garth Brooks, Reba McEntire, Carrie Underwood, Toby Keith and Vince Gill were all born in Oklahoma.

On the night of May 30, 1942, the Royal Air Force launched a “Thousand Bomber Raid” on Cologne, Germany. Most of the planes were British, though 58 were Polish. The raid dropped 3.3 million pounds of explosives on the city, destroyed 13,000 buildings and killed thousands of people. Forty-three planes were lost, roughly a 4% loss rate.

Answers:

1. Serena Williams — 23; Helen Wills Moody — 19; Chris Evert — 18; Martina Navratilova — 18 (14 as an American citizen); Billie Jean King — 12.

2. The Inca civilization. (Machu Picchu was abandoned around 1550 and rediscovered in 1911.)

3. Antonio Vivaldi, in Italy, in 1725.

4. Nevada (Las Vegas), Arkansas (Little Rock), California (Los Angeles) and Kentucky (Louisville).

5. Volga — Europe; Yangtze — Asia; Murray — Australia; Onyx — Antarctica.