A molecular biologist from Madurai, our quizmaster enjoys trivia and music, and is working on a rock ballad called ‘Coffee is a Drink, Kaapi is an Emotion’. @bertyashleyQuiz: Easy like Sunday morning – What has March 23 ever given us?‘Ever Given’ sailing along Egypt’s central city of Ismailia. What happened to the 2,00,000-tonne container vessel during a sandstorm on March 23, 2021?START THE QUIZ
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On March 23, 1857, American inventor Elisha Otis installed his latest invention at E.V.Haughwout & Co., a store at 488 Broadway New York City. He had come up with the idea while working out a way to hoist heavy equipment to the upper floor at a bedstead factory. What invention was this that is now found everywhere?

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Born this day in 1881, Hermann Staudinger was a German chemist who won the Nobel Prize in 1953. He was the first to propose that rubber and starch were actually long chains of repeating molecules. What did he call these, which meant ‘many parts’ in Greek?

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Born this day in 1893, Cedric Gibbons was an art director who was nominated a record 39 times for the Academy Award for Best Production Design, of which he won 11. In 1928, he was responsible for designing something that is now immediately recognisable the world over. What did he design, which made his wins fitting?

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Born this day in 1893, Gopalswamy Doraiswamy Naidu was an engineer and businessman who is credited with manufacturing the first electric motor in India and his own version of the internal combustion engine. Starting out as a server in a hotel he went on to be responsible for the growth of the city he called home. Which city is this, now the second largest in Tamil Nadu?

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Born this day in 1910, Akira Kurosawa became one of the most influential filmmakers of all time. In his movie, Rashomon, he had a shot, which was the first of its kind in history. It had never been done before for fear of the celluloid film catching fire. What did he point the camera at?

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Born this day in 1924, Bette Nesmith Graham was a typist whose son became the guitarist of the band The Monkeys. Drawing inspiration from watching painters covering up imperfections with a fresh layer of paint, she came up with a white, water-based tempera paint. What had she invented, which soon became a huge hit?

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Born this day in 1929, Roger Bannister was an athlete, later neurologist, who was the first to achieve a certain record. What did he achieve by running at an average speed of 15 miles per hour at Oxford University?
Answer : Ran a mile in under four minutes
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8 / 10 |
Born this day in 1953, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw started off her life as a student of Zoology and studied to be a brewmaster. She eventually went on to found a biotech company based in Bengaluru, which became the first worldwide to develop human insulin on a bacterial system. Which company is this, that crossed $1 billion on the first day of issuing an IPO?

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Born this day in 1962, Steve Redgrave was an English athlete who was the only man to have won gold medals at five consecutive Olympic Games in an endurance sport. His sport is the only one where athletes move backwards. Which sport is this?

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On this day in 2021, container ship Ever Given ran aground and held up traffic for six days. The estimated loss was around US$9 billion per day. Following this event, the Egyptian government has started work to ensure the issue doesn’t happen again. Where did this take place?
Published – March 20, 2025 09:01 am IST