If you've watched enough Jeopardy over the years (let's say, more than 100 episodes), you'll a.) probably feel pretty stupid about some of the clues you have no knowledge about, or b.) feel pretty smart about the clues you DO know that you didn't even know you knew, hidden somewhere in the back of your mind in the inner vaults, just waiting to be accessed when the time was right. There are so many things watching the show religiously over the past year that wooshed over my head during my time growing up in the U.S. as an adult, whether it's a movie that everyone else watched and I declined to (the whole Star Wars series for me) or the existence of certain bands (who knew there was a group called Public Enemy with Flava Flav and Chuck D?) and various aspects of history that I didn't make connections about....like who knew that Henry VIII and Ann Boleyn (wife No. 2) gave birth to Elizabeth I, one of the most famous rules of England ever? Also certain people that I've known their face my entire life but just never put a name to the face, like Christopher Plummer, the oldest person ever nominated for an Oscar in the acting category. I didn't grow up with any pets nor in a religious family, so everything about the Bible (New Testament, Old Testament, etc.) and dog breeds is all news to me. I've also mixed up the names of Elaine Page and Ellen Page, Jane Grey and Jane Seymour, the Princess Dairies with the Princess Bride, etc., etc. All very obvious mistakes to make for trivia nerds or even people from general society, but crucial for me to correct those slips of the tongue (I also realized I've the king of name fails, having an idea of what something's name is but when it comes out of my mouth it's wrong! I blame it on inheriting it from my dad, who called "avocados" Colorados, dark suits as "Duck suits," etc., etc.
But if you've watched Jeopardy over and over, you'll see that certain bits of trivia come along ALL THE TIME, almost every 8th or 9th game, it'll turn up in a clue, maybe because that piece of knowledge is crucial in linking a lot of other parts of history or the world, that person has a special quark that satisfies a ton of categries (like Ben Franklin was a writer, inventor, and political figure), or that thing is just so famous. Or, for some specific clues, I just think the Jeopardy writers really like that clue so they use it over and over again in different forms.
1.) Mutiny on the Bounty- a mutiny on an English ship the HMS Bounty by crewman Fletcher Christian against its captain William Bligh, I don't think this was one of the more important events in world history, but mutiny is such a juicy word or event, and this was one of the most famous, so much so that it was turned into a movie.
2.) Haile Selassie- the former of Ethiopia, he is linked to the Rastafari movement (popular in Jamaica, across the Atlantic) as well as believing he was a messiah of the Bible, and he was involved in various wars in Africa including parts of World War II. Whenever someone things of a leader of Africa, his name emerges......and then maybe Idi Amin.
3.) Yangtze River.....According to Jeopardy writers, the only geographic features worth knowing in China are the Yangtze and the Yellow (Huang He), appaently.
4.) Leo Tolstoy: know his picture, his works, his farm animals, everything about him, as Jeopardy writers like to test extreme details of the most famous writers in literary history like Checkhov, Hawthorne, Faulkner, Dickens, etc.
5.) Shakespeare.......I thought I knew Shakespeare after sophomore year of high school when my British Literature teacher (a man who appropriately resembled pictures of Shakespeare) guided us through Hamlet, MacBeth, King Lear, etc., but Jeopardy covers every single Shakespeare play, even the obscure ones like Titus Andronicus, Twelfth Night, A Comedy of Errors, A Winter's Tale, and even when asking about the major plays of the First Folio the answer usually isn't a major character like Lady MacBeth or Julius Caesar, but a bit character like Laertes (from Hamlet) or Regan/Gonerei (the other daughters other than Cordelia) of King Lear.
6.) astronomy......I've learned quite a lot about astronomy, learning that Alpha Centuri is the closest star to the Milky Way. And it has a fancy name.
7.) the sciatic nerve........ Jeopardy is an excellent way to learn about the human body even if you're not a doctor or nurse (and also a great way to learn about non-Covid diseases like pleural effusion aka water on the lungs. And they love things that are the longest or shortest or any superlative thing, so the sciatic nerve is perfect for that.
8.) Doctor Who.....I've never delved into British shows, but apparently that's the UK's version of "Lost" or "Game of Thrones," one of the most popular shows with their Time Lords. Also "Monty Python and the Holy Grail."
9.) Hannibal Hamlin.......was the vice-president of Abraham Lincoln. So many different obscure facts of US Presidents, including their vice presidents, who they beat in their respective elections, the First Ladies' names, and their birthplaces/ home states. Hannibal Hamlin just sticks out because it's a unique name, better than "George Clinton" or "Nelson Rockefeller" or "Aaron Burr" or Samuel Tilden.
10.) Abel and Cain.....all kinds of Bible stories abound, but the story of Abel and Cain is rather unique, plus it is recreated in the John Steinbeck novel "East of Eden," and it was depicted in art works including one by Peter Paul Rubens, so it can come up in various scenarios, sometimes surprisingly so even if the category is like "famous artwork" or something.
Fantasize on,
Robert Yan
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