Did you know today is National Trivia Day? Trivia, from Latin “trivialis” meaning found everywhere, commonplace. In the 1960’s nostalgic college students began to informally trade questions and answers about popular culture of their youth. According to Wikipedia, the first known documented labeling of this casual parlor game as "trivia” was in a Columbia Daily Spectator column published in 1965. The game (Trivial Pursuit) was invented by Chris Haney, a rumpled Canadian high school dropout, joined with journeyman journalist Scott Abbott to create a phenomenon—a board game that evaluates a players grasp of wickedly inconsequential trivia. In the 1980’s Trivial Pursuit was outselling the ever-popular Parker Brother’s Monopoly. Here are three favorites of our Mafi Rugs Marketing Team:
Q: What is the longest running Broadway show?
A: Phantom of the Opera. The Phantom of the Opera is a musical with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, lyrics by Charles Hart, and a libretto by Lloyd Webber and Richard Stilgoe. Its premiere was October 9, 1986 (36 years ago) at Her Majesty’s Theater in London and premiered on Broadway in 1988, celebrating their 10,000th Broadway performance on February 11, 2012.
Q: Which country won the first ever FIFA World Cup in 1930?
A: Uruguay. The 1930 FIFA World Cup was the inaugural FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men’s national futbol (soccer) teams. Argentina, Uruguay, the United States, and former Yugoslavia won their respective groups to qualify for the semi-finals. In the final, hosts and pre-tournament favorites Uruguay defeated Argentina 4-2 in front of 68,346 people to become the first nation to win the World Cup.
Q: What is the smallest adult bed available in the United States?
A: Twin. Thomas Sheraton invented twin beds, in the late 1700’s, but they did not get popular in the United States until the 1920’s. What made them popular? According to L.M. Lloyd of the Orlando Sentinel, The Hollywood censorship regime known as the Hays Office. After it was set up in 1922, no two people could be filmed in the same bed (how about that), so movie makers furnished their bedroom sets with twins, and so did moviegoers. Mariah, a top designer from Selden’s Home Furnishings said there is a “cot in a chair” that’s even smaller than a twin. How about that?
