By Paula Green

January marks the New Year - welcome to 2009!  This is a milestone year for Northern Connection magazine – it is our 10th year of connecting you to the community.  In honor of this special occasion, this month’s trivia is dedicated to the number 10. 

The Roman numeral for ten is X.   Ten years is referred at as a decade.  A decade is also a division of the rosary consisting of 10 Hail Marys. 

A few movies have the number 10 in their title.  Charlton Heston captivated audiences with his portrayal of Moses in The Ten Commandments.  This 1956 blockbuster also starred Yul Brynner, Anne Baxter, Edward G. Robinson, Vincent Price and Yvonne DeCarlo. 

The murder-mystery film Ten Little Indians was released in 1965.  In 1979 the romantic comedy “10” appeared in theatres.  This film, directed by Blake Edwards, starred Bo Derek and Dudley Moore.  In 1977 a short documentary called Powers of 10 depicted the relative scale of the universe in factors of ten.

On television the number 10 appears nightly on The Late Show with David Letterman in his “Top Ten List.”   It is adapted from Letterman’s NBC show Late Night.  On Sept. 18, 1985, the first list, “The Top Ten Things That Almost Rhyme with Peas,” was broadcast.

The TV sitcom Just the Ten of Us ran from 1988-1990.  It starred comedian Bill Kirchenbauer as Coach Graham Lubbock, a teacher and the head of a large Catholic family with eight children.   A current children’s show with the number ten is Ben 10.  This animated series premiered on Dec. 27, 2005, and centers around character Ben Tennyson.

HBO aired a situation comedy from 1984-1991, called 1st & Ten.  The series followed the on-and off-field antics of the California Bulls, a team that played in the fictional North American Football League.

Speaking of football – there is the Big Ten Conference.  This is the oldest NCAA Division I college athletic conference.  Its members are located primarily in the Midwestern United States, stretching from Iowa and Minnesota in the west to Pennsylvania in the east.  These colleges also play in the Big Ten basketball conference.  During a baseball game, there can be ten players at play during an inning– nine on the field plus the designated hitter. 

There is a British rock band named TEN.  Network Ten, or Channel Ten, is one of Australia’s three major commercial television networks.

From down under to outer space, in the early 70s, NASA launched a spacecraft called Mariner 10.  Since we have enlightened you on this two-digit number, we must now see how you fare on a scale of one to ten.  So get set to answer these numeric questions, because it is time to get a little trivial...

1.  Who directed the movie The Ten Commandments?

2.  What actress portrayed Dudley Moore’s girlfriend in the film “10?”

3.  In 1993 David Letterman switched from NBC to this network.

4.  The pilot for Just the Ten of Us debuted on which TV sitcom?

5.  What network airs the animated program Ben 10?

6.  Who was the female lead in HBO’s 1st & Ten series?

7.  What year did Joe Paterno start coaching the Penn State Nittany Lions, a member of the Big Ten?

8.  The main campus of Ohio State University (another Big Ten member) is located in what city?

9.  This 2007 comedy film was based on The Ten Commandments?

10.  In 1991 this rock bands debut studio album was called Ten.

11.  In 1977, this musician released an album entitled Decade.

12.  Mariner 10 was the first spacecraft to visit this planet.

13.  On July 29, 2005, astronomers came up with this new discovery.

14.  Who was the tenth president of the United States?

15.  Northern Connection magazine debuted in which month of 2000? 

Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org

http://www.funtrivia.com

http://nssdc.gsfc.nasan.gov/nmc

Answers:

1. Cecil B. DeMille,  2. Julie Andrews,  3.  CBS  4. Growing Pains,  5. The Cartoon Network,  6. Delta Burke,  7. 1966,   8. Columbus,  9. The Ten,  10.  Pearl Jam,  11.  Neil Young,  12.  Mercury,  13.  The 10th Planet,  14.  John Tyler,  15.  April

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