top of page

True Or False - Part 2 🧐



Here is another 'True Or False Quiz'. It's main aim is to stimulate discussion and debate within the group, with people making guesses, taking 'hands up who thinks T or F' votes and saying "I don't believe it!" when the answers are revealed.


I hope you have fun with it.


As usual, if you click on the first photo a slide show will open, or you can take screen shots and print off handouts.

Some songs and video clips are included along the way to break things up a bit.




Round 1. Famous People



​T or F. When Pope Julius 11 commissioned Michelangelo to paint the ceiling of the 'Sistine Chapel' he secretly rebelled by giving Adam (the first man) a belly button?



​T or F. William Shakespeare is credited with adding more than 3,000 words to the English dictionary?


​T or F. George Washington died of a throat infection?


​T or F. Agatha Christie was an accomplished surfer and the first Western female to surf standing on her board?


​T or F. Winston Churchill suffered periods of severe depression, which he called his 'Black Dog'?


​T or F. In the 1960s the Mocambo night club in Los Angeles refused to book Ella Fitzgerald due to her race?


​T or F. Roger Moore invented the 'Magnum' ice cream?


​T or F. Rod Stewart is an avid collector of 'Marvel Comics'?


​T or F. Mick Jagger's youngest son is actually younger than his great grandchild?



​T or F. Vincent Van Gogh only sold one painting in his lifetime?



Video clip - 'Doctor Who' (Matt Smith) takes Vincent Van Gogh to his exhibition in Paris to prove that his life had great worth - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubTJI_UphPk




Song Break. 'Vincent', by Don McLean (- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxHnRfhDmrk (Lyric video)





Round 2. Places & History


​T or F. Vatican City is the smallest city and country in the world?


​T or F. In the 'Great Fire Of London' in 1666, about 16,666 people died?


​T or F. The last guillotine execution in France was in 1977?


​T or F. Only 45% of stations on the tube network are underground, with the remaining 55% above ground?



​T or F. Americans purchased the wrong London Bridge in 1968 (they thought they bought 'Tower Bridge')?


​T or F. Parts of the South Pacific are so remote that sometimes the nearest humans are the astronauts passing over it on the 'International Space Station', 408km overhead?


​T or F. The Eiffel Tower can grow by more than six inches during the summer?


​T or F. Water goes down the plug hole anti-clockwise in Australia?


​T or F. 24 wild rabbits were released in Australia 150 years ago for hunting. Within 50 years the rabbit population swelled to 10 billion?



​T or F. The 'Mona Lisa' is the most valuable painting in the world?




Song break - 'Mona Lisa', Nat King Cole' - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIDX18Xl16s





Round 3. Food & Drink



​T or F. Most adult humans are lactose intolerant, with only about 30% possessing the lactase enzyme needed to digest milk?


​ T or F. In 1957 'Panorama' broadcast an 'April Fools' joke about the bumper spaghetti crop being picked from trees in Switzerland?



​T or F. Wagon Wheels are a third smaller than they were in the 1970s?



​T or F. The cheese used in Nachos is softened with sodium citrate. It's formula is Na3C6H5O7, hence the name 'NACHO'?


​T or F. There is more vitamin C in broccoli than in lemons?


​T or F. 30% of people have a genetic variation which causes coriander to taste like soap?


T or F. Carrots improve your night vision?



​T or F. There are no words in the English language that rhyme with 'Lemon' or 'Orange'?


​T or F. An Ostrich egg is equal to 10 chicken eggs?


​T or F. Honey found in Tutankhamen's tomb is still edible?



Song break - 'Sugar, Sugar', The Archies - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eX28cgKHHyc





Round 4. Games



​​T or F. When the two numbers on opposite sides of a dice are added together it always equals seven?



​T or F. The Gilbert U-238 Atomic Energy Lab was a 1950s toy laboratory marketed at American children. It came with a Geiger counter, a cloud chamber and some uranium?


​T or F. In 1963, 'Mattel' released a 'Birds' version of 'Barbie' to celebrate the Hitchcock horror movie?


​T or F. 'Parker Games' released an 'Escape From Colditz' game, to celebrate the 30 POWs who got clean away from the high security castle?


​T or F. In 1985, Hasbro released an empty box version of 'Action Man' called 'The Deserter'. The box contained a map of the Sahara desert and a compass?


​T or F. The most expensive properties on the 'Monopoly' board are 'Old Kent Road' & 'Whitechapel Road'?


​T or F. In the game 'Operation' there are body parts including 'Adam's Apple', 'Broken Heart' & 'Funny Bone'?


​T or F. In the newest version of the game 'Cluedo', the character 'Mrs White' has been replaced by 'Dr Orchid', who looks to be of Asian descent?


​T or F. In the newest version of 'Trivial Pursuit' there is a new black 'Time & Space' question category?


​T or F. In a standard deck of cards, the King Of Hearts has no moustache?



Song break - 'Solitaire', The Carpenters - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_vhtrdxwrI





Round 5. Surprising Facts


​T or F. The 'Morse Code' phrase 'S.O.S.' means "Save Our Souls"?


​T or F. The word 'Hello' was invented for the telephone by its inventor Thomas Edison. Originally the phrase was "Hello To You"?


​T or F. The iPhone in your pocket has over 100,000 times the processing power of the computer system that landed man on the Moon 53 years ago?


​T or F. The most children born to any woman in the world is 69?


​T or F. Seahorses can change their sex and males can give birth?


​T or F. In 1995 a man covered his face in lemon juice and robbed two Pittsburgh banks, thinking he would be invisible?


​T or F. The polar explorer ship 'RSS Sir David Attenborough', launched in 2018, was originally called 'Boaty McBoat Face'?


​T or F. The butterfly, until the early 18th century was called a 'Flutterby'?


​T or F. The oldest person to have ever lived is a French lady Jeanne Calment, who reached the grand old age of 122 years and 164 days in 1997?



​T or F. In 1898, years before the 1912 'Titanic' disaster, Morgan Robertson wrote a novel called 'Futility, or the Wreck of the Titan' about a ship which hit an iceberg on an April night and sank in the Atlantic?



Song break - 'My Heart Will Go On', Celine Dion - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmbw8OycJrE





Round 6. Movies


​T or F. Taking into account inflation, the 1939 movie 'Gone With The Wind' is the highest grossing movie of all time?


T or F. While filming the 1939 movie 'The Wizard Of Oz', Judy Garland was subjected to a diet of chicken soup, black coffee, 80 cigarettes a day and amphetamines and barbiturates, to which she became addicted?


​T or F. 'Pinocchio' was the first feature length animated movie ever released?


​T or F. Alfred Hitchcock made cameo appearances in most of his thriller movies?


​T or F. Julie Andrews won only one 'Oscar', for her lead role in the 1964 movie 'Mary Poppins'?


​T or F. A trauma surgeon reviewed the injuries inflicted upon the 'Water Bandits' in the 1987 movie 'Home Alone' and concluded that 23 of them would likely have resulted in death?


​T or F. The derogatory term 'Bunny Boiler' comes from the 'Fatal Attraction' movie?



​T or F. The 1991 movie 'Silence Of The Lambs' is one of only three movies to win 'The Big Five' - 'Oscars' for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Actor and Best Actress?


​T or F. Oliver Reed died during the filming of the 2000 movie 'Gladiator', forcing Ridley Scott to to finish his scenes by recreating him with CGI?


​T or F. In the 1999 movie 'Notting Hill' the character Anna Scott says that she makes $15m to star in a movie. This is the actual amount Julia Roberts was paid to appear in 'Notting Hill'?



Song break - 'She', Elvis Costello - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O040xuq2FR0





Round 7. Music


​T or F. Elvis Presley wrote or composed more than half of his 600 songs?


​T or F. In 1968 Stevie Wonder released an instrumental album titled 'Rednow Eivets', which is “Stevie Wonder” spelled backwards?



​T or F. Michael Jackson's 1972 hit song 'Ben' was about his pet rat?


​T or F. Barry Manilow's 1974 hit song 'Mandy' was actually written for his dog Brandy?



​T or F. Mike Oldfield's 1973 album 'Tubular Bells' provided the theme music for the horror movie 'The Exorcist'?


​T or F. There is actually no 'Year Of The Cat' in the Chinese calendar?


​T or F. Dolly Parton wrote Whitney Houston's 1992 hit song 'I Will Always Love You'?


​T or F. There are 54 deceased musicians in what has been called 'The 27 Club', meaning they all died aged twenty-seven. They include Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix & Amy Winehouse?


​T or F. Kate Bush broke a record recently for the longest time for a hit single to reach number one in the UK charts?


​T or F. Paul McCartney is a devout Catholic, which is why in the lyrics to 'Let It Be' he wrote "Mother Mary comes to me, speaking words of wisdom ..."?



Song break - 'Let It Be', The Beatles - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIV73iG_e5I





Round 8. Rude


CAUTION. You might want to withhold some or all of these questions?

I included them because they are funny or interesting & after all, we are all grown ups.


​T or F. In Paris there are many streets named after human excrement or poo, e.g. 'Rue De Merde'. Before sewers were invented people would throw their waste out the window and the streets were filthy?


​T or F. To help prostitutes get more business during the 16th century, officials in Venice designated a bridge where they could stand and show their breasts. It was called 'The Bridge Of Tits'?


​T or F. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart composed a song titled "Leck mir den Arsch fein recht schon sauber", which is about somebody licking his bottom?



​T or F. Thomas Crapper designed the first flushing toilet in the 1860s. American troops when based in the UK in WW2 started referring to the toilet as "The Crapper" because of the name on the cistern?


​T or F. British spies used semen as invisible ink during WWI, a method invented by Captain Sir Mansfield Cumming?


​T or F. Stick insects have to have sex very carefully in case of fire?


​T or F. In the 1980s, the Navy launched a witch hunt for a woman named Dorothy when they first heard the slang term "Friend of Dorothy", used by gay men to identify one another privately?


​T or F. Astronomers have confirmed that Uranus smells like farts?


​T or F. There is in fact a statistically proven link between shoe size and penis length?



T or F. Gary Lineker accidentally pooed himself during a 1990 'World Cup' game against Ireland?







Round 1. Famous People Answers



TRUE. When Pope Julius 11 commissioned Michelangelo to paint the ceiling of the 'Sistine Chapel' he secretly rebelled by giving Adam (the first man) a belly button?



TRUE. William Shakespeare is credited with adding more than 3,000 words to the English dictionary?


FALSE. George Washington died WHEN he had a throat infection, but the real cause of his death was doctors draining more than 40% of his blood to treat the infection?


TRUE. Agatha Christie was an accomplished surfer and the first Western female to surf standing on her board?


TRUE. Winston Churchill suffered periods of severe depression, which he called his 'Black Dog'?


TRUE. In the 1960s the Mocambo night club in Los Angeles refused to book Ella Fitzgerald due to her race? Marilyn Monroe convinced managers to do otherwise by saying she would attend every night to watch her perform.


SORT OF TRUE. Roger Moore invented the 'Magnum' ice cream? Well, rather he suggested 'Wall's' insert a wooden stick into choc ices to make them easier to eat.



FALSE. Rod Stewart is an avid collector of 'Marvel Comics'? Rather, he is an avid model railway enthusiast.


TRUE. Mick Jagger's youngest son is actually younger than his great grandchild? Ezra, his great grandson is two years older than Deveraux, his youngest son.



TRUE. Vincent Van Gogh only sold one painting in his lifetime? It was this painting, 'Red Vineyard at Arles'.



Round 2. Places & History Answers


TRUE. Vatican City is the smallest city and country in the world?


FALSE. In the 'Great Fire Of London' in 1666, about 16,666 people died? In fact, only 6 people died.



TRUE. The last guillotine execution in France was in 1977? The criminal was Hamida Danjoubi, who was a Tunisian man who moved to Marseilles and later kidnapped, tortured and murded a 22 year old woman.


TRUE. Only 45% of stations on the tube network are underground, with the remaining 55% above ground?



TRUE. Americans purchased the wrong London Bridge in 1968 (they thought they bought 'Tower Bridge')? In 1968, an American tycoon bought London Bridge—all 10,000 tons of it—and moved it brick-by-brick to the desert town of Lake Havasu City, Arizona


TRUE. Parts of the South Pacific are so remote that sometimes the nearest humans are the astronauts passing over it on the 'International Space Station', 408km overhead?


TRUE. The Eiffel Tower can grow by more than six inches during the summer? This is a natural physical phenomenon called thermal expansion.


TRUE. Water goes down the plug hole anti-clockwise in Australia? Cyclones also rotate anti-clockwise, whereas Hurricanes in the Northern hemisphere rotate clockwise (and water goes down the plug hole clockwise).


TRUE. 24 wild rabbits were released in Australia 150 years ago for hunting. Within 50 years the rabbit population swelled to 10 billion? They bred like rabbits!



​FALSE. The 'Mona Lisa' is the most valuable painting in the world? Actually, the 'Salvator Mundi', also by Leonardo Da Vinci, is the most valuable painting in the world. It sold at auction for $450 in 2005.BUT 'The Mona Lisa' is INSURED for $1bn!



Round 3. Food & Drink Answers



TRUE. Most adult humans are lactose intolerant, with only about 30% possessing the lactase enzyme needed to digest milk?


TRUE. In 1957 'Panorama' broadcast an 'April Fools' joke about the bumper spaghetti crop being picked from trees in Switzerland? Here is the link - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8scpGwbvxvI



FALSE. Wagon Wheels are a third smaller than they were in the 1970s? 'Burton' insists they are the same size as when we were young, it's just that our hands got bigger!



TRUE. The cheese used in Nachos is softened with sodium citrate. It's formula is Na3C6H5O7, hence the name 'NACHO'?


TRUE. There is more vitamin C in broccoli than in lemons? Broccoli contains 89 mg of vitamin C per 100 grams, while lemons contain only 77 mg of vitamin C per 100 grams.


TRUE. 30% of people have a genetic variation which causes coriander to taste like soap?


FALSE. Carrots improve your night vision? The Vitamin A in beta-carotene is good for eye health, but this myth is propaganda spread by the 'Ministry Of Defence' in WW2 as a cover story for the accuracy of hits following the invention of radar.



FALSE. There are no words in the English language that rhyme with 'Lemon' or 'Orange'? There is no word that rhymes with 'Orange', but 'Yemen' rhymes with 'Lemon'.


FALSE. An Ostrich egg is equal to 10 chicken eggs? An Ostrich egg is in fact equivalent to 24 chicken eggs.


TRUE. Honey found in Tutankhamen's tomb is still edible? Honey never goes off because bacteria can't grow in it.



Round 4. Games Answers



​​TRUE. When the two numbers on opposite sides of a dice are added together it always equals seven? Try it!



TRUE. The Gilbert U-238 Atomic Energy Lab was a 1950s toy laboratory marketed at American children. It came with a Geiger counter, a cloud chamber and some uranium? It was called 'Uranium Rush'.


FALSE, ISH. In 1963, 'Mattel' released a 'Birds' version of 'Barbie' to celebrate the Hitchcock horror movie? TRUE, but it wasn't released until 2008, as a special edition.


TRUE. 'Parker Games' released an 'Escape From Colditz' game, to celebrate the 30 POWs who got clean away from the high security castle? I had it!


FALSE. In 1985, Hasbro released an empty box version of 'Action Man' called 'The Deserter'. The box contained a map of the Sahara desert and a compass?


​FALSE. The most expensive properties on the 'Monopoly' board are 'Old Kent Road' & 'Whitechapel Road'? The two most expensive streets are 'Mayfair' & 'Park Lane'.


​TRUE. In the game 'Operation' there are body parts including 'Adam's Apple', 'Broken Heart' & 'Funny Bone'?



TRUE. In the newest version of the game 'Cluedo', the character 'Mrs White' has been replaced by 'Dr Orchid', who looks to be of Asian descent?


FALSE. In the newest version of 'Trivial Pursuit' there is a new black 'Time & Space' question category?



​TRUE. In a standard deck of cards, the King Of Hearts has no moustache?



Round 5. Surprising Facts Answers


FALSE. The 'Morse Code' phrase 'S.O.S.' means "Save Our Souls"? It doesn't actually have a meaning. It was just a distinctive 'Morse Code' signal.


TRUE, ISH. The word 'Hello' was invented for the telephone by its inventor Thomas Edison. Originally the phrase was "Hello To You"? Thomas Edison suggested "Hello' be said at the start of each call to signify connection.


TRUE. The iPhone in your pocket has over 100,000 times the processing power of the computer system that landed man on the Moon 53 years ago?



TRUE. The most children born to any woman in the world is 69? A Russian woman Valentina Vassilyeva and her husband Feodor Vassilyev produced – 16 pairs of twins, 7 sets of triplets and 4 sets of quadruplets – between 1725 and 1765, a total of 27 births.


HALF TRUE. Seahorses can change their sex and males can give birth? Male seahorses do carry eggs and give birth.


TRUE,ISH. In 1995 a man covered his face in lemon juice and robbed two Pittsburgh banks, thinking he would be invisible? Here he is. He thought he would be invisible to the security camera rather than the bank staff.


​TRUE. The polar explorer ship 'RSS Sir David Attenborough', launched in 2018, was originally called 'Boaty McBoat Face'? The moral of this tale is never ask the British public to name anything.


FALSE. The butterfly, until the early 18th century was called a 'Flutterby'? It's a nice story, but it isn't true.


​TRUE. The oldest person to have ever lived is a French lady Jeanne Calment, who reached the grand old age of 122 years and 164 days in 1997? She put her longevity down to an occasional glass of Port vine and a diet rich in olive oil, as well as an ability never to get stressed.



TRUE. In 1898, years before the 1912 'Titanic' disaster, Morgan Robertson wrote a novel called 'Futility, or the Wreck of the Titan' about a ship which hit an iceberg on an April night and sank in the Atlantic? How creepy is that?


Round 6. Movies Answers


​TRUE. Taking into account inflation, the 1939 movie 'Gone With The Wind' is the highest grossing movie of all time? Though without taking inflation into account 'Avatar' is the highest grossing movie of all time.


SADLY TRUE. While filming the 1939 movie 'The Wizard Of Oz', Judy Garland was subjected to a diet of chicken soup, black coffee, 80 cigarettes a day and amphetamines and barbiturates, to which she became addicted?



FALSE. 'Pinocchio' was the first feature length animated movie ever released? It was 'Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs' in 1937.


​TRUE. Alfred Hitchcock made cameo appearances in most of his thriller movies? He appeared in 46 of his 50+ movies.


​TRUE. Julie Andrews won only one 'Oscar', for her lead role in the 1964 movie 'Mary Poppins'? She was nominated for 'The Sound Of Music'.


TRUE. A trauma surgeon reviewed the injuries inflicted upon the 'Water Bandits' in the 1987 movie 'Home Alone' and concluded that 23 of them would likely have resulted in death? OUCH!


TRUE. The derogatory term 'Bunny Boiler' comes from the 'Fatal Attraction' movie? Poor rabbit!



TRUE. The 1991 movie 'Silence Of The Lambs' is one of only three movies to win 'The Big Five' - 'Oscars' for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Actor and Best Actress? The other two were 'It Happened One Night' (1934) & 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest' (1975)


​TRUE. Oliver Reed died during the filming of the 2000 movie 'Gladiator', forcing Ridley Scott to to finish his scenes by recreating him with CGI? He suffered a heart attack whilst drinking in a bar.


​TRUE. In the 1999 movie 'Notting Hill' the character Anna Scott says that she makes $15m to star in a movie. This is the actual amount Julia Roberts was paid to appear in 'Notting Hill'? Nice work if you can get it!


Round 7. Music Answer


FALSE. Elvis Presley wrote or composed more than half of his 600 songs? He didn't write or compose any of them!


​TRUE. In 1968 Stevie Wonder released an instrumental album titled 'Rednow Eivets', which is “Stevie Wonder” spelled backwards?



TRUE. Michael Jackson's 1972 hit song 'Ben' was about his pet rat?


TRUE. Barry Manilow's 1974 hit song 'Mandy' was actually written for his dog Brandy?



​TRUE. Mike Oldfield's 1973 album 'Tubular Bells' provided the theme music for the horror movie 'The Exorcist'? It was also the album that launched the 'Virgin Records' label.


TRUE. There is actually no 'Year Of The Cat' in the Chinese calendar? Which is probably why Al Stewart wrote about falling in love during it.


TRUE. Dolly Parton wrote Whitney Houston's 1992 hit song 'I Will Always Love You'? & Dolly's version really is worth a listen.


SADLY TRUE. There are 54 deceased musicians in what has been called 'The 27 Club', meaning they all died aged twenty-seven. They include Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix & Amy Winehouse?