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Born this day in 1770, this English poet is regarded as one of the founding fathers of the Romantic movement. He and his sister Dorothy used to go for long walks in the beautiful Lake District, Dorothy’s journal entry inspiring him to write poems about a host of golden flowers. Who was this poet, whose name aptly describes what he is famous for?

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On this day in 1795, the French First Republic adopted the metric system, which led to the prevalence of two particular measuring units in the modern world. The first was thousand times the mass of 1cc of water, and the second was one ten-millionth of the distance from the North Pole to the equator. What are these two, which are also known as SI units?

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On this day in 1827, English chemist John Walker started selling his invention in packs of 100. While trying to develop a combustible paste to be used in guns, he discovered that the stick used to mix the paste sparked when it brushed against a brick. What is his invention, which gets its name from the phenomenon that causes the spark?

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Born on this day in 1860, Will Keith _______ was an American businessman who started out selling brooms. Soon, along with his brother, he pioneered the process of making maize into flakes and offered it as a breakfast option at the sanatorium they worked at. This eventually led to the global company it is now. What was Will’s family name?

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Born on this day in 1891, Ole Kirk Christiansen was a Danish carpenter who founded a company to sell household products made in his woodworking shop. After the Great Depression, he let go of all his workers and started making toys, eventually becoming the largest company in the world to do this. What is the name of the company, which comes from the Danish phrase ‘play well’?

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Born this day in 1920, this artist started off his career as a dancer in his brother’s troupe, picking up his signature musical instrument only at the age of 18. He became an icon after playing a midnight set at Woodstock that inspired the Beatles, and eventually went on to win four Grammy Awards. Who is this legendary musician, whose daughters are also winners of multiple awards?

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On this day in 1948, the United Nations established a specialised agency that incorporated the work of the Office International d’Hygiène Publique, which maintained the ‘International Classification of Diseases’. Over the years, it has been responsible for eradicating life-threatening diseases, and developing research for the benefit of all mankind. Which organisation is this, usually known by its acronym?

Answer : WHO (World Health Organization)

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8 / 10 |
Born this day in 1954 in Hong Kong, Chan Kong-sang started off his career as a construction worker in Australia, where he got his now popular English name. He eventually became an actor, singer, producer, director and professor of tourism management. When he made it big in Hollywood, he couldn’t find a company to insure him as he always did his own stunts, even injuring his skull in one attempt. Who is this popular martial artist?

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Born this day in 1946, Stan Winston was an American make-up and special effects artist who won four Oscars for his work. The movies you can see his work in include Aliens, Predator, Terminator and Batman Returns. His most famous contribution though was to a movie franchise, where he brought to life central characters from a Michael Crichton novel for Steven Spielberg. Which blockbuster movie series was this?

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On this day, a particular beverage is celebrated in the United States, to commemorate President Franklin D. Roosevelt signing the Cullen-Harrison Act into law. The law was to change the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution, to raise ethanol percentage by weight, from 0.5% to 3.2%. If the original law concerned Prohibition, what day is this in the US?