The Daily Teaser …

Hmmm …

You know, I’ve got to admit, I’ve just opened up my copy of Safari, to start writing this post.

And instead of opening Wikipedia … ?

Opened up Wolfram|Alpha, so I could through in its entry on video.

Handy little site, actually. Wolfram|Alpha calls itself a Computational engine, rather than a search engine: when you feed in a term, instead of giving you tons of links to sites that mention your term, it’ll give you lots of facts about it.

See what I mean about handy … ?

Back when I was running pub quizzes, something like that would’ve been useful: Wolfram|Alpha’s spare summing up of the basic statistics involved would have helped me accurately write questions.

Still …

It’s nice to know it’s around, now. Well, you never know when you’ll need these things …

»»•««

Lets get moving on, shall we … ?

Yes, lets … !

Yesterday’s Teaser saw just Debbi putting in her answers: as well as bagging 6 out of 6, she also managed to plonk World Storytelling Day into her long-range calendar.

Lets see how she — and you — do with today’s questions: here they are, along with the ‘How To’, License and video …

Q1) 22nd March, 1630, saw the Massachusetts Bay Colony ban … what … ?

Q2) 22nd March, 2006, saw which group declare a permanent ceasefire … ?

Q3) 22nd March, 1979, saw Sir Richard Sykes, assassinated outside his home: where was he British Ambassador to, at the time … ?

Q4) 22nd March, 1997, saw which comet makes its closest approach to Earth … ?

Q5) And finally … 22nd March, 1931, saw the birth of which member of the cast of Star Trek … ?

And here’s yesterday’s questions and answers …

Q1) 21st March, 1152, saw the annulment of the marriage of Louis 7th of France: which famous woman had he been married to … ?

A1) Aliénor d’Aquitaine: better known — to those of us who don’t speak medieval French — as Eleanor of Aquitaine.

Q2) More to the point, which English king was her second husband … ?

Q2) Henry 2nd.

Q3) 21st March, 1874, saw Henry Morgan Stanley begin his search for which explorer … ?

A3) Dr David Livingstone. (Why on Earth was Dr Livingstone famous … ? Mostly for getting lost. Oh, and finding somewhere thousands had found before. Only they hadn’t actually put it on a map, so didn’t count.)

Q4) 21st March, 1980, saw President Jimmy Carter announce a US boycott of what … ?

A4) The 1980 Summer Olympics.

Q5) That same day — 21st March, 1980 — famously saw who get shot … ?

A5) J. R. Ewing, as played by Larry Hagman, in the famous “Who Shot J. R” season finale of that year’s series of Dallas. (The betting industry made a fortune on the back of this: additionally, the Turkish Parliament was temporarily suspended in order to allow MPs time to get home to see it.)

Q6) And finally … 21st March, 1984, saw talks in Europe collapse, over any rebate British money in the EU: which British PM was in charge of the UK’s delegation … ?

A6) Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

Enjoy those, folks: enjoy the Mike Todd quote at the end of Teaser video … !