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Questions:

1. What series of instructional books carries the subtitle “A Reference for the Rest of Us!”?
2. That series of books began in 1991 with what computing-related title?
3. Which regime is largely reponsible for the present negative connotations of the word “propaganda”?
4. Which real Soviet counter-intelligence agency, featured in fictional form in early James Bond novels, is an acronym for the Russian phrase meaning “death to spies”?
5. Leo Tolstoy’s last letter before his death was sent to which independence and civil rights activist?
6. Which of the following is not part of the full name of Otto von Habsburg, the last Crown Prince of Austria-Hungary: Felix, Franz, Hubert, Ludwig, Maria, or Xavier?
7. Which Asian country’s monarch is the world’s longest-serving current head of state?
8. Which European country’s king was, in 1931, the only head of state in modern history to exchange fire with a potential assassin?
9. In 2010, the high council of Russian bikers unanimously voted to elevate Vladimir Putin into the Hells Angels with what nickname: Abaddon, Azazel, Baal, Beelzebub, Lucifer, Mammon, or Moloch?
10. Which African nation, colonised in 1820 by freed American slaves, has its capital named after US President James Monroe?
11. From 1878 to 1980, politics in that country were dominated by which party: the Bourbon Democrats, Federalist Party, Liberty Party, New Deal Movement, or the True Whig Party?
12. Which of the following was not one of Mao Zedong’s siblings: Mao Zeguo, Mao Zejian, Mao Zemin, or Mao Zetan?
13. According to the 2000 US Census, how many people live in Central Park: 0, 9, 18, 36, or 72?
14. Which of the following people is not an official honorary Harlem Globetrotter: Henry Kissinger, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Martin Luther King Jr, Nelson Mandela, Pope John Paul II, or Whoopi Goldberg?
15. Bevin Boys were British men conscripted during World War II to work in what industry?
16. What is produced from the plant species Camellia sinensis?
17. Which of the following is not a day celebrated in Sweden: October 4, Cinnamon Roll Day; November 30, Cabbage Roll Day; or December 12, Lye Roll Day?
18. Which of the following varieties of Capsicum / pepper, native to the Americas, does not come from the same species: bell peppers, cayenne, habanero, or jalapeño?
19. Which of the following vegetables does not come from the species Brassica oleracea: broccoli, brussels sprouts, bok choy, cauliflower, or cabbage?
20. Which blend of tea has a distinctive aroma derived from bergamot oil?

Answers:

1. For Dummies.
2. DOS for Dummies. (To date, over 1600 For Dummies titles have been published.)
3. Nazi Germany.
4. SMERSH.
5. Mohandas Gandhi.
6. Hubert. (In full: Franz Joseph Otto Robert Maria Anton Karl Max Heinrich Sixtus Xavier Felix Renatus Ludwig Gaetan Pius Ignatius von Habsburg.)
7. Thailand. (King Rama IX has reigned since 1946.)
8. Albania. (King Zog was attacked while he was getting into his car, and he survived by firing back with his pistol.)
9. Abaddon. (Abaddon, meaning “the destroyer” or “the depths of Hell”, is the king of tormenting locusts and the angel of the bottomless pit in the Book of Revelation.)
10. Liberia. (Along with Ethiopia, Liberia is one of only two modern countries in Sub-Saharan Africa without roots in the European Scramble for Africa. Americo-Liberians today make up around 2.5% of the population.)
11. True Whig Party.
12. Mao Zeguo.
13. 18.
14. Martin Luther King, Jr.
15. Coal mining. (Many of them were not released until years after the war.)
16. Tea.
17. Lye Roll Day.
18. Habanero. (Habanero is Capsicum chinense; the rest are C. annuum. Both species evolved from a single common ancester, along with the species C. frutescens, which includes piri piri and tabasco peppers.)
19. Bok choy. (Bok choy comes from the species B. rapa, as do turnips.)
20. Earl Grey tea.