2021’s Famous Firsts Trivia Quiz

On Sunday, July 11, 2021, billionaire Richard Branson became the first person to blast off in his own spaceship, V.S.S. Unity, beating Jeff Bezos, the richest person on the planet, by nine days.

Billionaires in Space Fun Fact:

Bezos. Screenshot: Blue Origin on YouTube

The London-born founder of Virgin Atlantic Airways assigned himself to the flight after Bezos announced plans to ride his own rocket into space from Texas on July 20.  Bezos sent his congratulations, adding: “Can’t wait to join the club!”

President Joe Biden addressed congress for the first time on Wednesday, April 28, 2021. Also, for the first time, a female vice president, Kamala Harris, was seated behind the chief executive, next to another woman, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. As Biden greeted “Madam Vice President,” He added, “No president has ever said those words from this podium, and it’s about time.“

What else did President Biden say?

President Biden also pointed to the nation’s emergence from the coronavirus, warned that “Gun violence has become an epidemic in America,” and told “all the transgender Americans watching at home” that “your president has your back.”

On Saturday, June 12, 2021, Kamala Harris became the first sitting vice president to march in a Pride parade. The 56-year-old VP attended Capital Pride in Washington D.C. with her husband, second gentleman Doug Emhoff.

Karate, sport climbing, skateboarding, and surfing are all sports that made their Olympic debut in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics (held in July 2021).

Olympic skateboarding news fact:

Yuto Horigome, the 22-year-old son of a Tokyo taxi driver, won the first-ever gold medal for men’s street skateboarding on Sunday, July 25, 2021, in an empty, sun-drenched skatepark about eight miles from where he grew up. In Japan, authorities discourage skateboarding in the streets, and it is sometimes considered a lawbreaking activity.

Le Parisien newspaper reported Sunday, Aug. 22, 2021, that singer, dancer, actress, civil rights activist, and perhaps most notable, French Resistance agent, Josephine Baker, will be reburied at the Pantheon monument Paris. Baker is the first Black woman to get France’s highest honor. French President Emmanuel Macron decided on a Nov. 30, 2021, ceremony at the Paris monument, which houses the remains of scientist Marie Curie, the French philosopher Voltaire, writer Victor Hugo, and other French greats.

In a video posted Thursday, Mar. 4, 2021, on the Twitter account, BurntBanksy, a member of an art group, burns a 2006 print titled Morons, reportedly purchased for $33,000 at Christie’s in December. The BurntBanksy member explains to the camera: “By removing the physical piece from existence and only having the NFT, we will ensure that no one can alter the piece and it is the true piece that exists in the world. By doing this, the value of the physical piece will then be moved onto the NFT.” The video piece is on auction at the Opensea website.

What’s NFT again?

A non-fungible token (NFT) is a particular type of cryptographic token which represents something unique. NFTs create digital ownership for several specific purposes that require individual digital identities like crypto art, digital collectibles, and online gaming.

The 2021 COP26 UN climate talks ended Nov. 13, 2021, with a deal that targeted fossil fuels as the key driver of global warming for the first time. India, backed by China and other coal-dependent developing nations, rejected a clause calling to “phase out” coal-fired power, which was amended to “phase down” coal use.

 What other significant agreements did COP26 reach?

Leaders of more than 100 countries, including Brazil, China, Russia, and the United States, vowed to end deforestation by 2030. The agreement covers about 85 percent of the world’s forests. More than 100 countries agreed to cut methane emissions by 30 percent by the end of this decade.

What were India’s and China’s big COP26 announcements?

India joined the growing number of nations pledging to reach “net zero” emissions, setting a 2070 deadline, and China committed to developing a plan to reduce methane emissions for the first time.

The Crown’s season four received the best drama award on the Sunday, Sept. 19, 2021, Emmy Awards. It’s the first time the streaming service won the prestigious trophy. “The Crown” also took all four dramatic acting categories at the 2021 ceremony. Netflix’s The Queen’s Gambit picked the Best Limited Series / Mini-Series award.

How many Emmy Awards did Netflix win in 2021?

Netflix won a leading total of 44 Emmy awards in 2021, meeting the record set in 1974 by CBS.

Naftali Bennett is the first Israeli Prime Minister who wears a yarmulke – which in Israel means he’s practicing Orthodox Judaism: Keeps kosher, visits a synagogue at least once a week, and avoids work on Saturdays, the Jewish Sabbath (except for vital assignments). This is the first time a religious Prime Minister governs Israel, as most of the country’s population considers itself secular (only practice significant holidays) or conservative/masortim (keeping kosher, but generally not very strict about the Sabbath).

Does Naftali Bennett support the two-state solution?

As part of the religious Zionism stream of ideology, Bennett is a strong opposer of the two-state solution for the Israeli-Palestinean conflict. All his predecessors, since 1992, at one point or another, supported a demilitarized Palestinean State.

The world’s “first publicly accessible art storage facility” is Rotterdam’s Boijmans Museum Depot. The Depot showcases all of its 151,000 collection items, from Van Goghs to Magrittes and Dalís, on permanent display to the public. The works, including more than 63,000 paintings, photographs, films, pre-industrial and design objects, contemporary art installations, sculptures, and 88,000 prints and drawings, are being stored, organized, and displayed based on their size and conservation requirements rather than theme or artist.

You’re looking at the first and only steel 3D-printed pedestrian bridge over a canal in the heart of Amsterdam’s red-light district. The 12-meter (40-foot) bridge was created using a 3D printing technique that combines robotics with welding. Dutch Queen Maxima teamed up with a small robot Thursday, July 17, 2021, to unveil the 3D-printed bridge.

Amsterdam’s 3D-Printed Bridge News Facts

The 6-ton structure will be loaded with sensors that researchers at Imperial College London will use to monitor the bridge in real-time and measure how it reacts to being used by pedestrians. It will remain in place for two years while the bridge that previously crossed the canal is renovated.

Crew-1 commander Michael Hopkins, NASA astronauts Victor Glover and Shannon Walker, and Japanese astronaut Soichi Noguchi were the astronauts on the first operational flight of SpaceX’s space taxi SpaceX Crew Dragon Resilience.

News Fact

Crew Dragon safely returned to Earth, settling to a gentle splashdown south of Panama City, Florida, on Sunday, May 2, 2021, at 2:56 a.m., wrapping up a mission spanning 2,688 orbits over 168 days since launch last November.

When did the last pre-dawn splashdown happen?

The SpaceX Crew Dragon return was the first nighttime splashdown for a crewed U.S. spacecraft since the Apollo 8 returned to Earth in 1968, nearly 45 years before the SpaceX Dragon Crew return.

Korean American Ji-Young, the newest muppet resident of “Sesame Street,” is the first Asian American muppet on “Sesame Street.”

When is the new Ji-Young puppet introduced?

Ji-Young will be introduced in “See Us Coming Together: A Sesame Street Special.” Simu Liu, Padma Lakshmi, and Naomi Osaka appear in the special, launching Thanksgiving Day on HBO Max, “Sesame Street” social media platforms, and local PBS stations.

What’s the meaning of Ji-Young in Korean?

Ji means intelligent or wise, and Young means heroic (among other things). Ji also means sesame.

Bidens’ dog Major is the first animal shelter dog to live in the White House. He’s ten years younger than Champ, the other Bidens’ dog. It is the second German Shepherd named Major to live in the White House, as Franklin D. Roosevelt also owned a German Shepherd named Major.

In the news:

Major “injured” someone at the White House, White House press secretary said on Monday, Mar. 8, 2021. Major and Champ, the older presidential dog, were soon sent to Delaware for a “previously planned” trip to be cared for by family friends and promptly returned to the White House.

The Bank of England began circulating its new £50 banknotes featuring World War II codebreaker Alan Turing on Wednesday, June 23, 2021, the pioneering math genius’s 109th birthday. Turing is the first gay man on a British banknote.