Pursuit of Trivia : Just the Questions to Stop Party Conversation

In trivial pursuit of bright questions guaranteed to stop the conversation at any cocktail party.

Beginners in the art of conversation-stopping should try to imitate the “dumb blonde” style of Carol Channing, star of “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes”--obviously, a difficult task. Those who feel unequal to the chore are advised to try the wide-eyed innocence of J.J. Bullock of TV’s “Too Close for Comfort.”

“How many of you can remember exactly where you were and what you were doing,” the first question goes, “the day Paul Anderson of Toccoa, Ga., bench-pressed 627 pounds?”

Or, how many know that . . .

--The greatest weight ever raised by a woman is 3,564 pounds with a hip and harness lift by Mrs. Josephine Blatt at the Bijou Theatre in Hoboken, N. J,, April 15, 1895?

--The highest projectile speed in any moving ball game is 188 m.p.h. in pelota. The questioner pauses at this point to wait for some dumbfounded listener to ask, “What’s pelota?” The answer, of course, is “Jai alai, you dope.”

--The largest field upon which any game is played is 25 square miles--at the parish of St. Columb Major in Cornwall, Eng., where twice a year a game called hurling is played.

--The largest trophy in sports is the Bangalore Limited Handicap Polo tournament Trophy which is six feet tall and was presented in 1936 by the Raja of Kolanka?

--Badminton is believed to have been played in China in the second millennium, B.C?

--The word toboggan comes from the Micmac American Indian word, “Tobbakan?”

--The mathematical odds against dealing 13 cards of one suit are 158,753,389,899 to 1 and that the odds of dealing a perfect suit to each player are 2,235,197,406,895,-366,368,301,599,999 to 1?

--According to the Elo System, the greatest grandmaster of all time in chess was Bobby Fischer of the United States with a 2,785 rating?

--Sumotori (sumo wrestlers, of course) attain their great weight (between 350 and 430 pounds) by overeating a high-protein stew called chankonabe?

--The world record average motorcycle speed for two runs over 1 kilometer from a standing start is 16.68 seconds by Henk Vink of the Netherlands at Yorkshire, England, July 4, 1977? At which time, a reporter coined the phrase, “quick as a Vink.”

--The toughest bull who ever participated in a rodeo was Honky Tonk, an 11-year-old Brahma of the International Rodeo Assn., who unseated 187 riders in an undefeated eight-year career?

--Darlene Blume of the Matraville RSL Youth Club, N.S.W., Australia once kept bouncing on a trampoline for 240 consecutive hours?

(Source: Guinness Book of Sports Records, Winners and Champions).