150 November Trivia Questions (With Answers!)

November is one of the busiest months in history, and Australia gets a big share of it. Qantas was founded in the outback town of Winton. Apollo 12 flew to the Moon after being hit by lightning twice. A muddled press conference brought down the Berlin Wall. A bridge shook itself apart in Washington State and the only casualty was a dog called Tubby. And on the first Tuesday, half of Australia stops work to watch a horse race.

This list has 150 questions across 10 categories, with the odd stories, the “wait, really?” facts and the things most people have never been asked. It works for trivia nights, classrooms, family dinners and group chats.

Read the question aloud, give everyone ten seconds, then reveal the answer.

150 November Trivia Questions (With Answers!)

The strange calendar of November

1. November comes from the Latin word for which number, even though it’s now the eleventh month?
Answer: Nine (novem). The old Roman calendar started in March, which made November the ninth month.

2. The Roman year began in March. Which two months were added to the start of the year later?
Answer: January and February. That is why September to December still carry the Latin numbers seven to ten.

3. In a non-leap year, November starts on the same day of the week as which two other months?
Answer: February and March. In 2026, all three began on a Sunday.

4. November has two birthstones. What are they?
Answer: Topaz and citrine.

5. Which flower is November’s birth flower, and is so important in Japan that the imperial throne is named after it?
Answer: The chrysanthemum. Japan’s imperial family uses it as their crest, so it’s known as the Chrysanthemum Throne.

6. November is split between two star signs. Which ones?
Answer: Scorpio, which runs until about 21 November, and Sagittarius, which starts around the 22nd.

7. Why isn’t November an autumn month in Australia?
Answer: Because the seasons are flipped in the Southern Hemisphere. November is the last month of spring here, and summer starts on 1 December.

8. In the United States, clocks go back on which Sunday in November?
Answer: The first Sunday, which was 1 November in 2026.

9. What’s the time difference between Brisbane and Sydney in November, and why?
Answer: Sydney is one hour ahead. New South Wales moves its clocks forward for daylight saving, but Queensland doesn’t.

10. Besides Queensland, which two other Australian mainland jurisdictions skip daylight saving?
Answer: Western Australia and the Northern Territory.

11. Movember began in 2003 in a bar in which Melbourne suburb, and how many men did the founders talk into growing a moustache that first year?
Answer: Fitzroy, and 30 men. Travis Garone and Luke Slattery started it over a beer, joking that the moustache was due for a comeback.

12. Beaujolais Nouveau is released on which day of November, just weeks after the grapes are picked?
Answer: The third Thursday. It’s made from Gamay grapes and is meant to be drunk young.

13. 11 November is an enormous online shopping day that began with university students in China. What’s it called?
Answer: Singles’ Day, also known as 11.11, because the date is four ones. Alibaba later turned it into a giant sale.

14. Advent starts on the Sunday closest to the feast day of which saint, who is also the patron saint of Scotland?
Answer: St Andrew, whose day is 30 November.

15. What is the traditional name for the November full moon?
Answer: The Beaver Moon, said to be named for the time of year when beavers get ready for winter.

Melbourne Cup and the race that stops a nation

16. On which day of the week is the Melbourne Cup always run?
Answer: The first Tuesday of November, at Flemington Racecourse.

17. How long is the Melbourne Cup?
Answer: 3,200 metres. When it started it was two miles, and it switched to metric in 1972.

18. Which horse won the very first Melbourne Cup in 1861, and what famous story is told about his trip to the race?
Answer: Archer. The story goes that he walked about 800 kilometres from Nowra to Melbourne, and he won again the following year.

19. Phar Lap’s heart, skeleton and hide are all in different places. Where are they?
Answer: The heart is at the National Museum of Australia in Canberra, the skeleton is at Te Papa in New Zealand, and the hide is at Melbourne Museum.

20. In which country did Phar Lap die in 1932?
Answer: The United States, in California, shortly after winning a big race in Mexico.

21. Which horse is the only one to win three Melbourne Cups in a row?
Answer: Makybe Diva, in 2003, 2004 and 2005.

22. Which jockey rode Makybe Diva to all three of her Cup wins?
Answer: Glen Boss.

23. In 2015, who became the first woman to win the Melbourne Cup, and on which horse?
Answer: Michelle Payne, on Prince of Penzance, who started at odds of 100 to 1. Her brother Stevie, who has Down syndrome, was the horse’s strapper.

24. Which trainer won the Melbourne Cup a record 12 times and was nicknamed the “Cups King”?
Answer: Bart Cummings.

25. Which jockey holds the record for the most Melbourne Cup wins?
Answer: Bobby Lewis, with four.

26. Is Melbourne Cup Day a national public holiday?
Answer: No. It’s a public holiday in metropolitan Melbourne and some regional Victorian towns, but the rest of the country just stops to watch.

27. What’s the Saturday before Cup Day called?
Answer: Derby Day, when the Victoria Derby is run at Flemington.

28. What’s the famous nickname for the Melbourne Cup?
Answer: “The race that stops a nation.”

29. What’s the fashion competition held at the Cup carnival called?
Answer: Fashions on the Field.

30. What do offices, pubs and schools all over Australia traditionally run on Cup Day?
Answer: A sweep. Everyone puts a few dollars in, names are drawn from a hat, and each person gets a horse.

Australia in November

31. On 11 November 1975, who dismissed Prime Minister Gough Whitlam?
Answer: Governor-General Sir John Kerr, after the Senate blocked the budget and left the government unable to pay its bills.

32. Who was sworn in as caretaker Prime Minister after the dismissal?
Answer: Malcolm Fraser, who then won the election the following month.

33. What did Australians vote on in the referendum held on 6 November 1999?
Answer: Whether to become a republic. The answer was no, and not a single state voted yes.

34. Which party won the federal election on 24 November 2007, and what happened to the sitting Prime Minister’s own seat?
Answer: Labor, led by Kevin Rudd. John Howard lost his seat of Bennelong, which is very rare for a Prime Minister.

35. Qantas was founded on 16 November 1920 in which Queensland town?
Answer: Winton, in the outback.

36. What does QANTAS stand for?
Answer: Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services.

37. On 22 November 1956, which Australian city opened the first Olympic Games held in the Southern Hemisphere?
Answer: Melbourne.

38. Why were the 1956 equestrian events held in Stockholm, not Melbourne?
Answer: Australia’s strict quarantine laws for horses.

39. Which 19-year-old runner lit the cauldron at the 1956 Opening Ceremony?
Answer: Ron Clarke, who later became a world-record-setting distance runner.

40. Which Australian sprinter won three golds in Melbourne and was nicknamed the “Golden Girl”?
Answer: Betty Cuthbert, in the 100 m, 200 m and 4×100 m relay.

41. Which 17-year-old Australian swimmer won three golds at the 1956 Games?
Answer: Murray Rose, in the 400 m, 1500 m and 4×200 m relay.

42. The tradition of athletes mingling at the closing ceremony came from a letter written by a teenager in 1956. What was his name?
Answer: John Ian Wing, a 17-year-old Melbourne apprentice, who suggested athletes march together as one rather than by country.

43. Which northern New South Wales town has held a Jacaranda Festival since 1935?
Answer: Grafton, in late October and early November.

44. Are jacarandas native to Australia?
Answer: No. They come from South America, and were planted in Australian towns and cities from the 1800s.

45. Which Australian bird is famous for swooping people between roughly August and November?
Answer: The magpie, defending its nest during breeding season.

World history in November

46. What mistake at a press conference led to the Berlin Wall opening on 9 November 1989?
Answer: East German spokesman Günter Schabowski announced new travel rules and said they applied “immediately”, when they were meant to start the next day. Crowds rushed the checkpoints that night.

47. On 4 November 1922, a team led by which archaeologist found the first step down to Tutankhamun’s tomb?
Answer: Howard Carter’s.

48. On 26 November 1922, Carter peered into the tomb. When asked if he could see anything, what did he reportedly say?
Answer: “Wonderful things.”

49. How many barrels of gunpowder were found in the cellar under Parliament in the Gunpowder Plot of 5 November 1605?
Answer: 36.

50. Guy Fawkes used a Spanish version of his first name while he fought in Europe. What was it?
Answer: Guido.

51. Who was the actual leader of the Gunpowder Plot?
Answer: Robert Catesby. Fawkes was the explosives man who got caught in the cellar.

52. Who gave the main speech at the Gettysburg battlefield dedication on 19 November 1863, speaking for about two hours before Lincoln’s two-minute address?
Answer: Edward Everett.

53. Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel ceiling was first shown to the public on 1 November 1512. Roughly how long had he spent painting it?
Answer: About four years, from 1508 to 1512, for Pope Julius II.

54. On 1 November 1755, which European capital was struck by an earthquake, a tsunami and fires on All Saints’ Day?
Answer: Lisbon.

55. On 10 November 1871, journalist Henry Morton Stanley found the missing explorer Dr Livingstone at Ujiji. What line did Stanley supposedly say?
Answer: “Dr Livingstone, I presume?”

56. Which canal opened on 17 November 1869, shortening the journey between Europe and Asia?
Answer: The Suez Canal, built under Ferdinand de Lesseps.

57. On 28 November 1520, Ferdinand Magellan entered a new ocean and named it “Pacific”. What does that word mean?
Answer: Peaceful, because the seas were calm compared to the storms he’d just battled.

58. Which two famous writers died on the same day as JFK, 22 November 1963?
Answer: C. S. Lewis and Aldous Huxley.

59. Howard Hughes flew his enormous H-4 Hercules on 2 November 1947. What was its nickname, and what was odd about it?
Answer: The Spruce Goose, although it was mostly built from birch. It flew about a mile at roughly 70 feet up and never flew again.

60. Which American president called for a national day of thanks in 1863, in the middle of the Civil War?
Answer: Abraham Lincoln.

War and remembrance

61. At what time did the First World War armistice take effect on 11 November 1918?
Answer: 11 am.

62. Where was the armistice signed?
Answer: In a railway carriage in the Compiègne Forest in France.

63. The armistice was signed around dawn but only took effect at 11. What happened in the hours in between?
Answer: Fighting carried on, and soldiers were still being killed right up until 11 am.

64. Which leader made France sign its surrender in the same railway carriage in 1940?
Answer: Adolf Hitler.

65. Which 1915 poem about poppies in Belgium helped make the red poppy a symbol of remembrance?
Answer: “In Flanders Fields” by John McCrae.

66. Why are poppies the flower of remembrance?
Answer: They grew across the churned-up battlefields of France and Belgium where so many soldiers were buried.

67. How long is the silence observed at 11 am on Remembrance Day in Australia?
Answer: One minute.

68. What’s the phrase “Lest we forget” borrowed from?
Answer: Rudyard Kipling’s 1897 poem “Recessional”.

69. What instrument is used to play the Last Post?
Answer: The bugle.

70. What time is the daily Last Post Ceremony at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra?
Answer: 4:45 pm.

71. What was entombed at the Australian War Memorial on 11 November 1993?
Answer: The Unknown Australian Soldier.

72. On 9 November 1914, which Australian warship sank the German raider SMS Emden?
Answer: HMAS Sydney, near the Cocos (Keeling) Islands, in the Royal Australian Navy’s first ship-to-ship victory.

73. The Australian War Memorial was officially opened on 11 November of which year?
Answer: 1941.

74. What is 11 November called in the United States?
Answer: Veterans Day. It was originally called Armistice Day.

75. In Britain, which day do the main Remembrance services take place?
Answer: Remembrance Sunday, held on the Sunday closest to 11 November.

Space and the sky

76. What happened to Apollo 12 shortly after it launched on 14 November 1969?
Answer: It was struck by lightning twice, knocking out much of the power in the spacecraft.

77. Which young flight controller called out “SCE to AUX” and saved the mission?
Answer: John Aaron, who remembered an obscure switch setting from a test he’d seen.

78. Which two astronauts walked on the Moon during Apollo 12?
Answer: Pete Conrad and Alan Bean.

79. When Pete Conrad stepped onto the Moon, what cheeky joke did he make about Neil Armstrong’s famous step?
Answer: He said it might have been a small step for Neil but it was a long one for him, because he was shorter.

80. What did Alan Bean do after he left NASA?
Answer: He became a painter, mostly painting the Moon.

81. What did the Apollo 12 astronauts collect from the Moon that had been left there in 1967?
Answer: Parts of the Surveyor 3 probe, which scientists wanted to study after its time on the lunar surface.

82. What has been going on aboard the International Space Station without a break since 2 November 2000?
Answer: Humans have been living there.

83. What was the first module of the ISS, launched in November 1998, and what does its Russian name mean?
Answer: Zarya, which means “dawn”.

84. What did the Philae lander do on 12 November 2014?
Answer: It landed on a comet, the first time a probe had ever done that.

85. What went wrong with that landing?
Answer: Philae bounced twice before coming to rest in the shade of a cliff, where its solar panels got little sun.

86. Which dog was sent into orbit on Sputnik 2 on 3 November 1957?
Answer: Laika.

87. Which meteor shower peaks in the middle of November, and which comet does it come from?
Answer: The Leonids, from Comet Tempel–Tuttle.

88. In 1833, the Leonids put on a show so big it was called a meteor storm. Roughly how many shooting stars were people seeing?
Answer: Tens of thousands an hour.

89. Which early-November meteor shower is nicknamed the “Halloween fireballs”?
Answer: The Taurids.

90. The Leonids shower is named after the constellation it appears to come from. Which one?
Answer: Leo.

Science and inventions

91. In 1895, Wilhelm Röntgen discovered new rays and called them by a letter because he didn’t know what they were. Which letter?
Answer: X, as in X-rays.

92. What was Röntgen’s most famous early X-ray photo?
Answer: His wife’s hand, with her wedding ring visible.

93. Marie Curie was born on 7 November 1867. How many Nobel Prizes did she win, and in which subjects?
Answer: Two, in physics and chemistry.

94. On 25 November 1915, who presented the final equations of general relativity?
Answer: Albert Einstein, to the Prussian Academy of Sciences in Berlin.

95. Which book went on sale on 24 November 1859?
Answer: Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species.

96. How many copies were in the first print run, and how long did it take to sell out?
Answer: 1,250 copies, and they were gone on the first day.

97. Who was the only casualty of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge collapse on 7 November 1940?
Answer: A dog called Tubby, who was left behind in a car.

98. What was the Tacoma Narrows Bridge nicknamed because of the way it moved in the wind?
Answer: “Galloping Gertie”.

99. Before humans flew in a balloon in 1783, three animals went up first at Versailles. Name them.
Answer: A sheep, a rooster and a duck.

100. Which brothers built the balloon that carried the first people on 21 November 1783?
Answer: The Montgolfier brothers, with the flight made by Pilâtre de Rozier and the Marquis d’Arlandes.

101. Which broadcaster launched the world’s first regular high-definition television service on 2 November 1936?
Answer: The BBC, from Alexandra Palace in London.

102. What was announced on the first scheduled radio broadcast on 2 November 1920 in Pittsburgh?
Answer: US presidential election results.

103. Alfred Nobel signed his will on 27 November 1895. What invention had made him rich?
Answer: Dynamite.

104. How many Nobel Prize categories did Nobel’s will originally set up?
Answer: Five: physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature and peace.

105. In 1903 Marie Curie became the first woman to win a Nobel Prize. Which prize was it?
Answer: Physics, which she shared with her husband Pierre Curie and Henri Becquerel.

Film, TV, music and famous birthdays

106. Which cartoon, released on 18 November 1928, is celebrated as Mickey Mouse’s birthday?
Answer: Steamboat Willie.

107. Was Steamboat Willie the first Mickey Mouse cartoon ever made?
Answer: No. Plane Crazy and Gallopin’ Gaucho were made first, but Steamboat Willie was the first released with synchronised sound.

108. Which Pixar film, released on 22 November 1995, was the first fully computer-animated feature film?
Answer: Toy Story.

109. Which Disney film, released on 27 November 2013, features the song “Let It Go”?
Answer: Frozen.

110. Which comedy released on 16 November 1990 left an eight-year-old to defend his house from burglars?
Answer: Home Alone, starring Macaulay Culkin.

111. Which Pixar film about Día de Muertos came out on 22 November 2017?
Answer: Coco.

112. Which Hollywood classic premiered in New York on 26 November 1942?
Answer: Casablanca.

113. Which children’s TV show first aired on 10 November 1969 and introduced the world to Big Bird?
Answer: Sesame Street.

114. Which Michael Jackson album was released on 30 November 1982 and is one of the best-selling albums ever?
Answer: Thriller.

115. Which guitar legend was born in Seattle on 27 November 1942?
Answer: Jimi Hendrix.

116. Which martial arts star was born in San Francisco on 27 November 1940?
Answer: Bruce Lee.

117. Which actor, born on 11 November 1974, finally won an Oscar for The Revenant?
Answer: Leonardo DiCaprio.

118. Which Australian singer-songwriter and The Voice coach was born on 9 November 1984?
Answer: Delta Goodrem.

119. Which Avengers star was born on 22 November 1984?
Answer: Scarlett Johansson.

120. Which two Hollywood stars, Anne Hathaway and Ryan Gosling, share the same birthday?
Answer: 12 November. She was born in 1982 and he was born in 1980.

Games, gaming and sport

121. In November 1998, a physicist who never speaks grabbed a crowbar and started fighting aliens. What was the game?
Answer: Half-Life, with Gordon Freeman as the silent hero.

122. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time came out in November 1998 on which console, and what instrument is in the title?
Answer: The Nintendo 64, and the ocarina, a small wind instrument.

123. In November 1999 Pokémon fans in Japan got which two new games?
Answer: Gold and Silver.

124. In November 2011, a game about punching trees and building dirt houses left beta. What was it?
Answer: Minecraft, with its 1.0 release.

125. Which Microsoft console launched in North America on 15 November 2001?
Answer: The original Xbox.

126. Which game launched alongside the Xbox and became its biggest hit?
Answer: Halo: Combat Evolved.

127. Which game, released on 29 November 1972, helped kick off the video game industry?
Answer: Pong, made by Atari. Its prototype was tested in a bar called Andy Capp’s Tavern in California.

128. Which country hosted the 2022 men’s World Cup, which started on 20 November?
Answer: Qatar.

129. Why was that World Cup unusual for the calendar?
Answer: It was played in November and December instead of the usual northern summer, because Qatar is too hot in June and July.

130. Who scored the goal that beat Denmark for the Socceroos at the 2022 World Cup?
Answer: Mathew Leckie.

131. Who scored the winner against Tunisia?
Answer: Mitchell Duke.

132. Which team knocked the Socceroos out in the round of 16 in 2022?
Answer: Argentina, 2–1, with Lionel Messi among the scorers.

133. Which football great died on 25 November 2020 at the age of 60?
Answer: Diego Maradona.

134. What was the result of the first-ever international football match, played in Glasgow on 30 November 1872?
Answer: Scotland 0, England 0.

135. Which two teams played the first game in what became the NBA, on 1 November 1946?
Answer: The Toronto Huskies and the New York Knicks, with the Knicks winning 68–66.

Thanksgiving, bonfires and other traditions

136. American Thanksgiving is always on a Thursday. Which Thursday of November?
Answer: The fourth, locked in by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1941.

137. Which year was the first Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade?
Answer: 1924.

138. There were no giant balloons in that first Macy’s parade. What did it have instead?
Answer: Animals from the Central Park Zoo, including elephants and camels.

139. Which US president made the annual turkey pardon an official tradition in 1989?
Answer: George H. W. Bush.

140. Where does the name “Black Friday” come from?
Answer: Philadelphia police, who used it to describe the traffic jams and crowds the day after Thanksgiving.

141. The Monday after Thanksgiving was given a made-up name for online shopping in 2005. What is it?
Answer: Cyber Monday.

142. Canada also has a Thanksgiving. In which month?
Answer: October.

143. Diwali is known as the festival of what?
Answer: Lights, celebrating the victory of light over darkness. It falls in October or November, depending on the lunar calendar.

144. On 5 November, people in Britain set fire to a dummy on a bonfire. Who is it meant to be?
Answer: Guy Fawkes, and children traditionally ask for a “penny for the Guy” to pay for fireworks.

145. On which two days of November is Día de Muertos celebrated in Mexico?
Answer: 1 and 2 November. The first honours children and the second honours adults.

146. Which bright orange flower is piled onto Día de Muertos altars to help guide spirits home?
Answer: The marigold.

147. What are the sugar skulls made for Día de Muertos called?
Answer: Calaveras.

148. In Britain there’s a Sunday when everyone takes a turn stirring the Christmas pudding and makes a wish. What’s it called?
Answer: Stir-up Sunday, held on the last Sunday before Advent.

149. Which direction is the Christmas pudding traditionally stirred on Stir-up Sunday?
Answer: East to west, to honour the journey of the Three Wise Men.

150. How does the traditional British rhyme about the Gunpowder Plot begin?
Answer: “Remember, remember, the fifth of November.” It goes on to mention gunpowder, treason and plot.

More trivia to try

If you got through all 150, the Melbourne Cup trivia goes further on the Cup section above, and the Australian history trivia covers the Dismissal and the republic referendum in more detail. Once December arrives there are also the 70 Australian Christmas trivia questions, the 200 Australia trivia questions for a bigger mixed quiz, and the full trivia category.