57 history questions for your home pub quiz

1. Which queen had the shortest reign of Henry VIII’s six wives?
2. In 16th-century Japan, who was Yasuke?
3. Who wrote the 12th-century account Historia regum Britanniae (The History of the Kings of Britain), which is often credited with making the legend of King Arthur popular?
4. It is thought that Harriet Tubman directly rescued around 300 people from slavery and gave instructions to help dozens more. But in which conflict did she become the first woman to lead an armed assault?
5. In which country is the Bay of Pigs?
6. Which medieval queen was married to both Louis VII of France and Henry II of England?
7. Who was the first human to journey into space?
8. Whose body was exhumed from Westminster Abbey, more than two years after his death, to be ‘executed’ for treason?
9. Who ultimately succeeded King Alfred the Great as ‘king of the Anglo-Saxons’?
10. By what nickname is Edward Teach better known?
11. Julius Caesar was assassinated on 15 March 44 BC, a date now often known by what term?
12. Where did the Great Fire of London begin, on 2 September 1666?
13. What German dance, which sees partners spinning together in close contact, was condemned as depraved when it was first seen in Regency society?
14. Which king preceded Queen Victoria?
15. Guy Bailey, Roy Hackett and Paul Stephenson made history in 1963, as part of a protest against a bus company that refused to employ black and Asian drivers in which UK city?
16. Who famously duelled Alexander Hamilton on 11 July 1804, resulting in the founding father’s death?
17. What, in the 16th and 17th centuries, was a ‘drunkard’s cloak’?
18. What is considered the world’s oldest writing system?
19. Who was the mother of Emperor Nero and the wife of Emperor Claudius?
20. Which pioneer of hair products became America’s first black female millionaire?
21. What was Mary Anning (1799–1847) famous for?
22. Who gave Queen Elizabeth I the soubriquet ‘Gloriana’?
23. Although never taking her seat, who was the first woman to be elected to the houses of parliament?
24. Where was Napoleon Bonaparte born?
25. Can you name the five beach codenames used by Allied forces on D-Day?
26. Where was the first British colony in the Americas?
27. In August 1819, around 60,000 peaceful pro-democracy protestors were attacked in an open square in Manchester. This event was known as...
28. Which rock band formed in 1994 takes its name from a term used by the Allies in the Second World War to describe various UFOs?
29. In which year did Emily Wilding Davison die as a result of a collision with King George V’s horse during the Epsom Derby?
30. In medieval history, what was a 'schiltron'?
31. Which English king died in 1066, leaving no heir to the throne?
32. Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and…? Who was the third astronaut involved in the Apollo 11 mission that landed on the moon?
33. What was Matthew Hopkins famous for in the 17th century?
34. In what century did the Peasants’ Revolt take place?
35. During the US civil rights movement in the 1960s, who said: “We declare our right on this earth...to be a human being...by any means necessary”?
36. Who was the wife of the future Henry VIII’s older brother, Arthur?
37. What is trepanning?
38. In which decade did the potato famine strike Ireland?
39. Who led the Scottish army to victory over the English at the battle of Bannockburn in 1314?
40. What were the four humours that the ancient Greeks believed made up the body and determined illness?
41. Who sent the Spanish Armada to England in 1588?
42. Which English king built castles in the 13th century to help conquer Wales?
43. The Chinese Exclusion Act was signed into law by which US president in 1882?
44. Which 19th-century Englishwoman became the first qualified medical doctor?
45. Which part of Berlin was enclosed by the wall?
46. Which prominent Kurd, born in Tikrit, united Muslim forces against the crusaders in the 12th century?
47. Which rebellious leader of the Catuvellauni tribe was caught and taken to Rome in AD 50, then pardoned by Emperor Claudius?
48. Which American president was in power during the 'Black Thursday' Wall Street crash?
49. At what famous French landmark was the document signed which set out the terms of ‘peace’ following the First World War?
50. Where were Charles I’s headquarters during the Civil War?
51. Who assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria in 1914?
52. Who was the last king of the Plantagenet line of monarchs?
53. The controversial film Birth of a Nation, which was released in 1915, was used as a recruiting tool for which organisation?
54. What was Eleanor Roosevelt’s maiden name?
55. Who was the last tsar of Russia?
56. During 1963, in Washington DC, Martin Luther King Jr gave his famous ‘I have a dream’ speech on the steps of which famous landmark?
57. Which monarch appointed Pitt the Younger to the office of prime minister in December 1783?

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