• Gout, rickets, kidney stones, colic, anemia, scurvy and the all-encompassing melancholy — Daffy’s Elixir cured them all, according to Anthony Daffy of Nottingham, England, who started marketing his secret formula around 1673. The concoction was distilled alcohol infused with licorice root, aniseed, caraway and other plants. It most certainly did not cure diseases, but it was wildly popular, leading Daffy’s family into a highly publicized legal battle over the rights to his business when he died intestate in 1684.

• When England’s King Charles II appointed John Dryden poet laureate in 1668, the annual salary for the post was 300 pounds and “a butt of canary.” (That’s a large barrel of fortified wine from the Canary Islands.) Henry James Pye, a poet with little renown and enormous financial debt, asked for cash instead of the wine when he became poet laureate in 1790. The custom of providing the poet laureate with wine, as well as cash, revived with John Betjeman in 1972 and continues today.

1. Paul Dee “Daffy” Dean and his brother Jay Hanna “Dizzy” Dean were pitchers for what team, which won the 1934 World Series?

A) Detroit Tigers

B) New York Giants

C) Pittsburgh Pirates

D) St. Louis Cardinals

2. The 17th-century poet known as Basho was famous for writing what form of poetry?

A) Ghazal

B) Haiku

C) Limerick

C) Sonnet

3. In which U.S. state does the Golden Spike National Historic Site commemorate the joining of the Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroads?

A) Colorado

B) Illinois

C) Oklahoma

D) Utah

4. Former beauty pageant winners Lynda Carter and Gal Gadot are known for playing what role on TV and in films?

A) Catwoman

B) Cinderella

C) Sleeping Beauty

D) Wonder Woman

5. In the 19th century, knygnesiai were people who defied Russian laws by smuggling what into Lithuania?

A) Arms

B) Bicycles

C) Books

D) Priests

6. The classic mocktail made with ginger ale and grenadine garnished with a maraschino cherry is named for what film star?

A) Fred Astaire

B) Judy Garland

C) Mickey Rooney

D) Shirley Temple

Answers

1) The Dean brothers won two games apiece for the St. Louis Cardinals in the 1934 World Series.

2) The 17th-century Japanese poet known as Basho was a master of haiku poetry.

3) Golden Spike National Historic Site is in Utah.

4) Lynda Carter and Gal Gadot are known for playing Wonder Woman on TV and in films.

5) Knygnesiai smuggled books into Lithuania.

6) The nonalcoholic Shirley Temple mocktail is made with ginger ale and grenadine, garnished with a maraschino cherry.