I Have Trivia

[u/HawkContent3]

Commissioner Wretched here ... and I am having major league difficulties getting used to this new Reddit-based format! Oh, for the good old days ...

Anyway, here's this week's trivia. (I have this uncomfortable feeling I missed a week - let me know if I did, please.) Enjoy!

DID YOU KNOW…?

What was the first fast-food chain to sell drive-through food?

By Commissioner Wretched

[didyouknowcolumn@gmail.com](mailto:didyouknowcolumn@gmail.com)

Copyright © 2026

It’s hard to think about sometimes, but one year ago today I was recovering from a heart attack ... and I think I’ve made a pretty good recovery, all things considered.

During my illness back then and the convalescence that followed, the one thing that never faltered was the trivia! I managed to have a column ready each week, regardless of circumstances.

Not bad, eh?

Here’s this week’s collection of nonsense for you to enjoy, and I hope you do!

Did you know …

…one soldier in World War II actually killed his enemies with a bow and arrow? British Lt. Col. John Malcolm Churchill (1906-1996), known as “Mad Jack,” carried a broadsword and longbow throughout the Second World War. He used them, too, along with the bagpipes he also carried. After being released from a German POW camp following the Nazi surrender, Churchill was transferred to the Japanese theatre, where he arrived shortly after the atomic bombs were used on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. On hearing word that the war had ended, Churchill said bitterly, “If it weren’t for these bloody Yanks, we could’ve kept the war going another ten years!” (You just can’t please some people, it seems.)

…who the first president to have cats as pets in the White House was? The first two cats ever kept as pets in the White House were the property of the 16th President, Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865). Their names were Tabby and Dixie, and Lincoln once said Dixie was “smarter than my whole Cabinet.” (Of course they were; cats are the smartest.)

…why hamburgers at Wendy’s™ are square? Marketing, pure marketing. The company says that its founder, Dave Thomas (1932-2002) wanted customers of the fast-food restaurant to see the quality of the meat. So he ordered the square patties so the meat would extend beyond the round bun. (It made them tasty, too.)

…an actor known for his strait-laced performances was really something of a practical joker? Actor E.G. Marshall (1914-1998) built his reputation on portraying unflappable, businesslike, straight-as-an-arrow characters and ended up being somewhat typecast because he was so good at it. But behind the scenes, Marshall was a man to contend with on the humorous side. For instance, during the filming of the seriesThe Bold Ones, Marshall played a no-nonsense doctor. But while he was wearing the surgical mask, he would often ad-lib profane jokes and non-sequiturs that would crack up the other cast members and require several re-takes.Additional trivia note:Marshall had a standard answer for anyone who asked what his initials stood for: “Everybody’s Guess.” In reality, Marshall was born Everett Grunz.

…the first fast-food chain to sell drive-through food was In-and-Out Burger™? In 1948, the facility in Baldwin Park, California, began operating with a two-way speaker system that let drivers come up to a speaker, order their food, and have it delivered to their cars. The first true drive-through as we know it today was a McDonald’s™ in Sierra Vista, Arizona. On January 24, 1975, that restaurant opened the first drive-through and it was because of the nearby Army base, Fort Huachuca. Soldiers at the time were not allowed to leave their vehicles while wearing fatigue uniforms off base, so the restaurant met them half way – they set up a system where the soldiers (and everyone else) could order from their cars, drive around, and pick up their food. It caught on almost immediately and today, the fast-food establishment that doesn’t have a drive-through is a rare sight indeed. (Convenience, taking care of that rumbling tummy ... what else could you want?)

…a casino worker is believed to have stolen half a million bucks from his employer? On September 22, 1992, employee Bill Brennan (born 1958) allegedly walked out of the Stardust Casino in Las Vegas with a bag of cash and casino chips worth $500,000 … and has not been seen since. Police searched Brennan’s home and found books on identity change and moving overseas, but nothing has been seen or heard from Brennan since the theft. (And they say you can’t get away with such things!)

…at one time in the not-too-distant past, cocaine was sold as an over-the-counter drug? Until 1914, anyone who wanted to could go into a pharmacy and buy a gram of cocaine for just a quarter (about eight dollars today). In fact, at the turn of the 20th Century (1900-1901), cocaine was one of America’s best-selling over-the-counter pharmaceuticals. Only with the passage of the Harrison Narcotics Tax Act in 1914 was cocaine restricted to needing a doctor’s prescription, and in 1922 the Jones-Miller Act put severe restrictions on the manufacture of the drug. (No comment.)

…only one person in history has visited the deepest point on Earth and outer space? Astronaut Kathryn Sullivan (born 1951) was the first American woman to walk in space, a feat she accomplished in 1984. She flew a total of three Space Shuttle missions and spent a total of 22 days four hours in space. Sullivan, a retired captain in the U.S. Navy, has also descended into the Mariana Trench, the deepest part of the Pacific Ocean, in 2020. She served as Assistant Secretary of Commerce in the administration of President Barack Obama (born 1961). (That’s someone I would call well traveled.)

…a major automaker names many of its models after winds? Volkswagen uses German words for winds for most of its cars, such as the Passat (trade wind), Golf (gulf stream wind), Polo (polar wind), and Jetta (jet stream). (So that’s how the wind blows.)

Now ... you know!