Trivia Bits 28 January

 

• Singer Bonnie Anderson was the first winner of the TV show Australia’s Got Talent which commenced in 2007 with the judges being Tom Burlinson, Red Symons and Dannii Minogue.
• The West Gate Bridge in Melbourne, Australia, was officially opened in November 1978 with a span of 336 metres (1,102 ft) in length, and height above the water 58 metres. The total length of the bridge is 2,582.6 metres (8,473.1 ft).
• Marie Byrd Land is an unclaimed territory on the continent of Antarctica.
• The 2013 Man Booker Prize for Fiction for the best original full-length novel, written in the English language, by a citizen of the Commonwealth of Nations, the Republic of Ireland, or Zimbabwe was won by New Zealand author Eleanor Catton for her novel The Luminaries.
• Wiley Post was the first man to fly solo around the world. Fifty thousand people greeted him on his return on July 22, 1933 after 7 days, 18 hours, 49 minutes - 21 hours less than his previous record, and he was given a ticker-tape parade in New York.
• The world’s cheapest car the Nano is made by Tata Motors multinational automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India.
• The Sydney Harbour Bridge, nicknamed The Coat Hanger, can rise or fall 18cm due to heating or cooling.
• Polish painter born in 1782 in Austria of ethnic Italian background Franciszek Ksawery Lampi specialized in Romantic depictions of attractive women.
• Alcoholic drink Cognac is a type of brandy that is named after the town of Cognac in France and typically has characteristics combining nuts, fruit, caramel, honey, vanilla, and/or other spices.
• In gridiron, Sack is the term used when a player is tackled behind the line of scrimmage.