The 1900 block Euitaw Place
The 1900 block Euitaw Place. Credit: Dan Rodricks

Hold it right there! If you’re coming here before reading the original post, make sure to first view all the multiple choice options for the Dan Rodricks’ Baltimore Winter Doldrums Quiz.

Once you’ve made your educated guesses, click each question below to reveal its answer.

Question 1. How many steps are there to the top of the Washington Monument in Mount Vernon Place?

Answer: b. 227

Baltimore's Washington Monument in Mount Vernon Place. Photo courtesy Mount Vernon Place Conservancy.
Baltimore’s Washington Monument in Mount Vernon Place. Photo courtesy Mount Vernon Place Conservancy.

Question 2. Name the Baltimore County executive who went on to become Vice President of the United States.

Answer: Spiro T. Agnew

Spiro Agnew, the 39th Vice President of the United States and the 55th Governor of Maryland. Photo via Wikimedia Commons.
Spiro Agnew, the 39th Vice President of the United States and the 55th Governor of Maryland. Photo via Wikimedia Commons.

Question 3. How long is the Baltimore Beltway (Interstate 695)?

Answer: 51.46 miles

Interstate 695 encircles Baltimore. Image via Google Maps.
Interstate 695 encircles Baltimore. Image via Google Maps.

Question 4. The Great Baltimore Fire that destroyed much of downtown occurred in February of what year?

Answer: 1904

An image depicts the aftermath of the Great Baltimore Fire of 1904. Image credit: Fred Pridham via Wikimedia Commons.
An image depicts the aftermath of the Great Baltimore Fire of 1904. Image credit: Fred Pridham via Wikimedia Commons.

Question 5. What college did Orioles shortstop Gunnar Henderson attend?

Answer: None of the above; he did not go to college.

Baltimore Orioles shortstop Gunnar Henderson. Photo courtesy Baltimore Orioles.
Baltimore Orioles shortstop Gunnar Henderson. Photo courtesy Baltimore Orioles.

Question 6. In 1920, the famous journalist H.L. Mencken co-founded a pulp magazine, Black Mask, that serialized “The Maltese Falcon” by this Baltimore private eye.

Answer: Dashiell Hammet

Writer Dashiell Hammet, author of "The Maltese Falcon" and other mysteries. Photo via Wikimedia Commons.
Writer Dashiell Hammet, author of “The Maltese Falcon” and other mysteries. Photo via Wikimedia Commons.

Question 7. What’s the connection between Mar-A-Lago and Columbia’s outdoor concert pavilion?

Answer: Marjorie Merriweather Post owned one; the other was named in her honor.

Marjorie Merriweather Post. Photo credit: C. M. Stieglitz, World Telegram staff photographer, via Wikimedia Commons.
Marjorie Merriweather Post. Photo credit: C. M. Stieglitz, World Telegram staff photographer, via Wikimedia Commons.

Question 8. “I got really fat and hooked up with disgusting people. Basically I lived off crab dip and pretzel dogs.” Who shared that reminiscence of college days in Maryland?

Answer: Comedian Amy Schumer on undergraduate days at Towson University.

Towson University alumna and comedian Amy Schumer. Photo credit: Mario Santor via Wikimedia Commons.
Towson University alumna and comedian Amy Schumer. Photo credit: Mario Santor via Wikimedia Commons.

Question 9. As a teenager and student at the Baltimore School for the Arts in 1988, she got a role in a Center Stage production of an August Wilson play. Who was she?

Answer: Jada Pinkett Smith

Baltimore native actress Jada Pinkett Smith. Photo courtesy Jada Pinkett Smith/Facebook.
Baltimore native, Baltimore School for the Arts alumna, and actress Jada Pinkett Smith. Photo courtesy Jada Pinkett Smith/Facebook.

Question 10. “By the time I reached the second grade, I got tired of spelling all that out and had shortened it.” Who said that?

Answer: The late Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, on changing his first name from Thoroughgood.

Former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall. Photo credit: Robert S. Oakes.
Former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall. Photo credit: Robert S. Oakes.

Question 11. Michael Phelps, the great swimmer from Rodgers Forge, won more Olympic medals than any other athlete. A Baltimorean is supposed to know the count. How many did Michael win? Subquestion: How many of his medals were gold?

Answer: 28 total, 23 of them gold.

Baltimore native and U.S. swimmer Michael Phelps (center) shows off his Olympic gold medal as he stands on the victory podium alongside his teammate and bronze medalist Ryan Lochte (left) and silver medalist Hungary's Laszlo Cseh at the National Aquatics Center in Beijing during the 2018 Olympics. White House photo by Eric Draper.
Baltimore native and U.S. swimmer Michael Phelps (center) shows off his Olympic gold medal as he stands on the victory podium alongside his teammate and bronze medalist Ryan Lochte (left) and silver medalist Hungary’s Laszlo Cseh at the National Aquatics Center in Beijing during the 2018 Olympics. White House photo by Eric Draper.

Question 12. What is Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson’s regular pregame meal?

Answer: Shrimp alfredo pasta

Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson. Photo courtesy Baltimore Ravens via Facebook.
Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson. Photo courtesy Baltimore Ravens via Facebook.

Question 13. “I came to Baltimore when I was 22. Drove my red Cutlass up from Nashville and … I had no idea that this was going to be the greatest growing period of my adult life.” Who said that?

Answer: Oprah Winfrey, on coming to WJZ-TV in 1976.

Oprah Winfrey anchors a news broadcast for WJZ-TV Channel 13 in Baltimore. Image courtesy WJZ.
Oprah Winfrey anchors a news broadcast for WJZ-TV Channel 13 in Baltimore. Image courtesy WJZ.

Question 14. Author and Baltimorean Anne Tyler won a Pulitzer Prize for which one of her many novels?

Answer: Breathing Lessons, in 1989.

The cover of Baltimore author Anne Tyler's novel "Breathing Lessons," which won a Pulitzer Prize in 1989.
The cover of Baltimore author Anne Tyler’s novel “Breathing Lessons,” which won a Pulitzer Prize in 1989.

Question 15. What was the name of the wife of the late Theodore R. McKeldin, Baltimore mayor and Maryland governor?

Answer: Honolulu

Honolulu Manzer McKeldin, wife of former Maryland Gov. Theodore R. McKeldin. Photo courtesy Maryland State Archives.
Honolulu Manzer McKeldin, wife of former Maryland Gov. Theodore R. McKeldin. Photo courtesy Maryland State Archives.

How’d ya do? Let us know in the comments.

Dan Rodricks was a long-time columnist for The Baltimore Sun and a former local radio and television host who has won several national and regional journalism awards over a reporting, writing and broadcast...

8 replies on “Answers to Dan Rodricks’ Baltimore Winter Doldrums Quiz”

  2. 10 out of 15! I’m shocked. Not a native I thought I’d blow it. But I’ve been here since 1984, so must have picked some things up!

  4. 6/10 Terrible! I love trivia and will remember these answers to impress at future social outings. I look forward to more.

  5. Ten out of fifteen, blew all three related to sports. That’s what I get for being a football, uh, I mean soccer fan!

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