All the million-dollar-winning questions from Who Wants to be a Millionaire?
Feel free to skip this if quizzes aren’t your thing
In 1999, John Carpenter, a contestant on Who Wants to be a Millionaire?, reached the final million-dollar question:
Which of these U.S. presidents appeared on the television series ‘Laugh-In’?
His options were:
a) Lyndon Johnson
b) Richard Nixon
c) Jimmy Carter
d) Gerald Ford
(Do you know it?)
After a few pensive moments of thought, John Carpenter asked to use his Phone-a-Friend lifeline to call his dad. But unbeknownst to everyone, he already knew the answer (Richard Nixon) and he only rang his dad to tell him he was about to win $1,000,000.
It’s all the more amazing because Carpenter was the first person in the world to win the top prize—and without using any of his lifelines!
It really is a masterstroke of unexpected TV drama. And well worth a watch if you haven’t already seen it.
This inspired me to make a list of all the million-dollar questions that have been correctly answered. Maybe you think it’s dumb. Or maybe you wanna know how many millions you could have won—without any lifelines too!
Yes this post is random, but that’s what’s so good about having your own blog. You see a hole and you dive down it. And the next thing, you’ve spent two hours in cuckoo land making something the world definitely doesn’t need. Sometimes there’s glory in that.
So, here are the questions that have made millionaires out of 14 Americans. If you’re nice, I might do a UK one too (joking). Don’t worry, trivia nuts! The answers are all at the back.
All the million-dollar-winning questions from Who Wants to be a Millionaire?
1. The Earth is approximately how many miles away from the Sun?
a) 9.3 million
b) 39 million
c) 93 million
d) 193 million
2. Which insect shorted out an early supercomputer and inspired the term "computer bug"?
a) Moth
b) Roach
c) Fly
d) Japanese beetle
3. Which of the following men does not have a chemical element named for him?
a) Albert Einstein
b) Niels Bohr
c) Isaac Newton
d) Enrico Fermi
4. Which of the following landlocked countries is entirely contained within another country?
a) Lesotho
b) Burkina Faso
c) Mongolia
d) Luxembourg
5. In the children's book series, where is Paddington Bear originally from?
a) India
b) Peru
c) Canada
d) Iceland
6. Who is credited with inventing the first mass-produced helicopter?
a) Igor Sikorsky
b) Elmer Sperry
c) Ferdinand von Zeppelin
d) Gottlieb Daimler
7. What letter must appear at the beginning of the registration number of all non-military aircraft in the U.S.?
a) N
b) A
c) U
d) L
8. During WWII, U.S. soldiers used the first commercial aerosol cans to hold what?
a) Cleaning fluid
b) Antiseptic
c) Insecticide
d) Shaving cream
9. The U.S. icon "Uncle Sam" was based on Samuel Wilson, who worked during the War of 1812 as a what?
a) Meat inspector
b) Mail deliverer
c) Historian
d) Weapons mechanic
10. Who did artist Grant Wood use as the model for the farmer in his classic painting "American Gothic"?
a) Traveling salesman
b) Local sheriff
c) His dentist
d) His butcher
11. For ordering his favorite beverages on demand, LBJ had four buttons installed in the Oval Office labeled "coffee," "tea," "Coke" and what?
a) Fresca
b) V8
c) Yoo-hoo
d) A&W
12. According to the Population Reference Bureau, what is the approximate number of people who have ever lived on earth?
a) 50 billion
b) 100 billion
c) 1 trillion
d) 5 trillion
13. In addition to his career as an astrologer and "prophet," Nostradamus published a 1555 treatise that included a section on what?
a) Training parrots to talk
b) Cheating at card games
c) Digging graves
d) Making jams and jellies
14. Although he and his wife never touched a light switch for fear of being shocked, who was the first president to have electricity in the White House?
a) Ulysses S. Grant
b) Benjamin Harrison
c) Chester A. Arthur
d) Andrew Johnson
The answers
1. The Earth is approximately how many miles away from the Sun?
c) 93 million
2. Which insect shorted out an early supercomputer and inspired the term "computer bug"?
a) Moth
3. Which of the following men does not have a chemical element named for him?
c) Isaac Newton
4. Which of the following landlocked countries is entirely contained within another country?
a) Lesotho
5. In the children's book series, where is Paddington Bear originally from?
b) Peru
6. Who is credited with inventing the first mass-produced helicopter?
a) Igor Sikorsky
7. What letter must appear at the beginning of the registration number of all non-military aircraft in the U.S.?
a) N
8. During WWII, U.S. soldiers used the first commercial aerosol cans to hold what?
c) Insecticide
9. The U.S. icon "Uncle Sam" was based on Samuel Wilson, who worked during the War of 1812 as a what?
a) Meat inspector
10. Who did artist Grant Wood use as the model for the farmer in his classic painting "American Gothic"?
c) His dentist
11. For ordering his favorite beverages on demand, LBJ had four buttons installed in the Oval Office labeled "coffee," "tea," "Coke" and what?
a) Fresca
12. According to the Population Reference Bureau, what is the approximate number of people who have ever lived on earth?
b) 100 billion
13. In addition to his career as an astrologer and "prophet," Nostradamus published a 1555 treatise that included a section on what?
d) Making jams and jellies
14. Although he and his wife never touched a light switch for fear of being shocked, who was the first president to have electricity in the White House?
b) Benjamin Harrison
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Love this. I've never seen the WWTBAM clip before, what a guy!
Incidentally, I got 5, 6 and 12 right 😀, but 12 was a guess!
100 billion people! That's amazing. But it makes me wonder if you believe in reincarnation how many total souls that amounts to? Like does God recycle?