13th March Quiz Medium
- 20 questions
- about 25 minutes to run
- published 8 Sep 2025
- updated
1. On 13 March 1781, William Herschel discovered the planet Uranus with a telescope in the garden of his home. In which English city?
2. Tsar Alexander II was assassinated in St Petersburg on 13 March 1881, by the modern calendar. Which great reform of 1861 earned him the nickname "the Liberator"?
3. On 13 March 1938, Germany passed a law annexing Austria. Which Austrian chancellor had been forced to resign two days earlier?
4. On 13 March 2013, Jorge Mario Bergoglio was elected Pope Francis. He was the first pope from the Americas, and the first from which religious order?
5. The discovery of Pluto was announced on 13 March 1930. Its name was suggested by an 11-year-old girl from which English city?
6. On 13 March 1997, thousands of people reported seeing a huge V-shaped formation of lights over the city of Phoenix. In which US state is Phoenix?
7. On 13 March 1986, a software company went public on the stock market, soon making its 30-year-old co-founder a billionaire. Which company?
8. The Battle of Dien Bien Phu began on 13 March 1954 and ended with a French defeat. Which Vietnamese general commanded the Viet Minh?
9. On 13 March 1988, the Seikan Tunnel, then the world's longest rail tunnel, opened in Japan. It links the main island of Honshu with which island?
10. The Siege of Khartoum began on 13 March 1884. Which British general was killed when the city fell in January 1885?
11. On 13 March 1639, a college in Massachusetts was named after a young clergyman who had left it his library and half his estate. What was his name?
12. Felix Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto in E minor was first performed on 13 March 1845 by which famous Leipzig orchestra?
13. An English chemist born on 13 March 1733 is credited with discovering oxygen. Which fizzy drink did he invent in 1767?
14. A Prussian architect born on 13 March 1781 designed the Altes Museum and the Schauspielhaus in Berlin. Who was he?
15. A musician born in Oxfordshire on 13 March 1960 is the bassist of which Irish rock band?
16. An American actor born on 13 March 1950 played the hapless car salesman Jerry Lundegaard in which 1996 Coen brothers film?
17. An American singer-songwriter born on 13 March 1939 had hits with "Oh! Carol" and "Breaking Up Is Hard to Do". Who is he?
18. An American campaigner for women's suffrage died on 13 March 1906. In 1979, she became the first real woman to appear on a circulating US coin. Which coin?
19. On 13 March 1943, German officers smuggled a bomb disguised as bottles of brandy onto Hitler's plane, but it failed to explode. Which orange liqueur was the bomb supposedly disguised as?
20. An American science-fiction writer born on 13 March 1911 founded which religious movement in the 1950s?
ANSWERS
1. Bath
Herschel wanted to call the planet "Georgium Sidus" ("George's Star") after George III. The name Uranus, suggested by the German astronomer Johann Bode, was only generally accepted in the mid-19th century.
2. The emancipation of the serfs
The assassination took place on 1 March 1881 by the Julian calendar then used in Russia.
3. Kurt Schuschnigg
4. The Jesuits (Society of Jesus)
5. Oxford (Venetia Burney)
6. Arizona
7. Microsoft (Bill Gates)
8. Võ Nguyên Giáp
9. Hokkaido
10. Charles Gordon ("Chinese Gordon", Gordon of Khartoum)
11. John Harvard
12. The Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra
13. Soda water (carbonated water) (Joseph Priestley)
Priestley's claim to oxygen is shared: the Swedish chemist Carl Wilhelm Scheele found it earlier but published later, and Antoine Lavoisier named it.
14. Karl Friedrich Schinkel
15. U2 (Adam Clayton)
16. Fargo (William H. Macy)
17. Neil Sedaka
18. The dollar coin (the Susan B. Anthony dollar)
19. Cointreau
The plot, by Henning von Tresckow and Fabian von Schlabrendorff, failed probably because the detonator froze in the cold hold. Schlabrendorff retrieved the parcel the next day before it was discovered.
20. Scientology (L. Ron Hubbard)
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Thank you, that helps Paul balance future quizzes.