# A bit of a trivia test..

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-bit-of-a-trivia-test/20661>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [May 27, 2000, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-bit-of-a-trivia-test/20661 "2000-05-27T04:17:19Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Asmodeus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@Asmodeus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asmodeus)\
**Post date:** [May 27, 2000, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-bit-of-a-trivia-test/20661/1 "2000-05-27T04:17:19Z")

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No cheating please…no search engines!!

My name is Francis Church.

I wrote something famous…What did I write?

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**Author:** ![Asmodeus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@Asmodeus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asmodeus)\
**Post date:** [May 27, 2000, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-bit-of-a-trivia-test/20661/2 "2000-05-27T04:20:11Z")

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Should give some clues…

Not a book…

Not a treaty…

No a poem…

Just a response.

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**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\
**Post date:** [May 27, 2000, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-bit-of-a-trivia-test/20661/3 "2000-05-27T04:58:51Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> **Just a response.**

I don’t suppose he was the laconic ephor who wrote “If” to Philip of Macedon. No, I didn’t think so.

No search engines, you said. Am I allowed to use books? You know what they are, papery sorts of things with hard covers, formerly used to store information…

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**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\
**Post date:** [May 27, 2000, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-bit-of-a-trivia-test/20661/4 "2000-05-27T13:48:23Z")

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It’s MAy, at hot outside, so it took me a while to think of this… but Francis Church wrote the famous editorial “Yes, Virginia, there IS a Santa Claus.”

In a piece of VERY odd casting, Charles BRONSON played Mr. CHurch in a TV movie once!

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**Author:** ![Asmodeus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@Asmodeus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asmodeus)\
**Post date:** [May 28, 2000, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-bit-of-a-trivia-test/20661/5 "2000-05-28T00:45:26Z")

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Very well done!

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**Author:** ![DRY](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a87d85/32.png) [@DRY](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DRY)\
**Post date:** [May 28, 2000, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-bit-of-a-trivia-test/20661/6 "2000-05-28T04:09:34Z")

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Very good question, and very astute on the part of Astorian.

I’m a bit pissed off that I didn’t get this. I knew the name sounded familiar (was going to guess that Francis Church was the real name of Francis Scott Key, but that didn’t “sound” right, and besides, the post said it was a _response_).

I’m certainly familiar with the “Yes, Virginia” editorial. It’s truly one of the most touching things ever written!