WAMC's Ian Pickus and resident quizzer Mike Nothnagel get up on the soapbox for a show about speeches.
Last week's challenge
I'll read a sentence with two blanks. Remove the letters BO from the word that goes in the first blank to get the word that goes in the second blank: The restaurant had a steady stream of customers waiting for tables, which kept the ____ ____ all night.
Answer: The words are BUSBOY and BUSY.
THIS WEEK'S CATEGORY: FAMOUS SPEECHES
On-air questions: On March 7, 1850, Senator Daniel Webster gave a speech to the U. S. Senate that is commonly known as (perhaps not surprisingly) the Seventh of March Speech. He spoke in favor of the Compromise of 1850, a series of bills regarding territory the U. S. acquired in the Mexican-American war. Hopefully we won't make too many compromises during this week's quiz, which is about famous speeches.
1. After being arrested for voting in the 1872 presidential election, what advocate for women's suffrage gave a speech titled "Is It a Crime for a Citizen of the United States to Vote?"
2. During a 1987 speech in front of the Brandenburg Gate, what four-word challenge did Ronald Reagan pose to Mikhail Gorbachev, believing it would "advance dramatically the cause of freedom and peace"?
3. During his retirement speech in July of 1939, what New York Yankees first baseman declared himself "the luckiest man on the face of the earth"?
4. In a 1961 speech, Newton Minow advocated for programs in the public interest, saying, "when television is bad, nothing is worse." At the time, Minow was the chairman of what government agency, responsible for overseeing broadcast television standards?
5. In what 1976 film does newsman Howard Beale give an on-air speech that includes the lines, "I want you to get up right now and go to the window. Open it, and stick your head out, and yell, 'I'm as mad as hell, and I’m not going to take this anymore!'"
Extra credit
1. Sometimes called the Fund Speech, what is the more common name for the 1952 speech that includes the line "We did get something, a gift, after the election. A man down in Texas heard Pat on the radio mention the fact that our two youngsters would like to have a dog."
2. What author said in his 1950 Nobel Prize acceptance speech, "It will not be difficult to find a dedication for the money part of it commensurate with the purpose and significance of its origin," a statement later realized by the establishment of a foundation which gives out an award bearing his name?
This week's challenge
Start with the phrase FEAR ITSELF. Rearrange the letters to spell a two-word phrase (four letters in the first word, six letters in the second) for something you hope a cold remedy will provide. What is it?
ANSWERS
On-air questions
1. Susan B. Anthony
2. "Tear down this wall!"
3. Lou Gehrig
4. Federal Communications Commission
5. Network
Extra credit
1. The Checkers speech
2. William Faulkner
