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50 free November trivia questions with answers — history quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
41 free November trivia questions with answers. November is the month of turkey, poppies, bonfires and moustaches. It opens with All Saints' Day and the Day of the Dead, runs through Bonfire Night, Veterans Day and Election Day, and finishes with Thanksgiving, Black Friday and St Andrew's Day. This quiz covers all of it, plus the birthstone, the birth flower and why a month called 'nine' sits eleventh in the year. It also digs into the things that happened to happen in November: the fall of the Berlin Wall, Tutankhamun's tomb, the Gettysburg Address, Laika's launch, the first hot-air balloon flight, and the premieres of Sesame Street, Steamboat Willie and The Mousetrap. Questions range from easy ones you can use at a family dinner or a seniors' activity hour to a few that will stump a pub quiz team. Every answer has been checked against a primary source, mostly the relevant Wikipedia article, and the citation is attached to each question.
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Q 01November's name comes from the Latin word for which number?
Nine
Nine: November comes from Latin novem, 'nine', because it was the ninth month of the early Roman calendar, which began in March; it kept the name after January and February were placed at the start of the year.
Q 02Which gemstone is November's traditional birthstone, said to symbolise friendship?
Topaz
Topaz is November's traditional birthstone; the golden-yellow 'imperial' topaz is the classic November gem, and birthstone lore makes it a token of friendship and affection.
Q 03What is the birth flower of November?
Chrysanthemum
The chrysanthemum is November's birth flower. It blooms in late autumn, and in Japan the flower is the emblem of the imperial family, whose throne is called the Chrysanthemum Throne.
Q 04A person born on November 10 falls under which Western zodiac sign?
Scorpio
Scorpio covers birthdays from about October 23 to November 21, so November 10 is a Scorpio; the sign is symbolised by the scorpion.
Q 05US Thanksgiving is celebrated on which day of November?
The fourth Thursday
Franklin Roosevelt broke with the last-Thursday tradition in 1939 to lengthen the shopping season, and Congress settled on the fourth Thursday in 1941. Some years the two are the same day; some years they are not.
Q 06Which president did editor Sarah Josepha Hale finally persuade to proclaim an annual national Thanksgiving?
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a national Thanksgiving for the last Thursday of November on 3 October 1863, after years of lobbying by Sarah Josepha Hale, editor of Godey's Lady's Book, starting the unbroken annual tradition.
Q 07The Pilgrims' 1621 harvest celebration at Plymouth, often called the first Thanksgiving, lasted how long?
Three days
Three days: colonist Edward Winslow wrote that the 1621 gathering of about 50 colonists and 90 Wampanoag lasted three days, with venison the Wampanoag brought and wildfowl the colonists shot; turkey is not specifically recorded.
Q 08The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York has been held since which year?
1924
1924: the first parade, billed as the Macy's Christmas Parade, marched on 27 November 1924 with live animals from the Central Park Zoo; giant balloons arrived in 1927, and wartime shortages suspended it from 1942 to 1944.
Q 09Who always arrives at the very end of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade?
Santa Claus
Santa Claus rides the final float; his arrival at Macy's Herald Square store is treated as the start of the Christmas season, a tradition dating to the first parade in 1924.
Q 10Canada also celebrates Thanksgiving, but in which month?
October
It falls on the second Monday of October, six weeks before the American holiday, reflecting Canada's earlier harvest.
Q 11Black Friday got its name from police in which US city describing the traffic chaos?
Philadelphia
Philadelphia police coined 'Black Friday' in the 1950s and 1960s for the traffic and crowds that jammed the city the day after Thanksgiving; the 'retailers go into the black' story came later, in the 1980s.
Q 12Which US holiday is observed every year on November 11?
Veterans Day
Veterans Day falls on November 11 because the First World War ceasefire took effect at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918; Memorial Day, in May, honours those who died in service.
Q 13Before 1954, the US federal holiday on November 11 was known by what name?
Armistice Day
Q 21Which Christian feast falls on November 1, with Halloween as its eve?
All Saints' Day
All Saints' Day, also called All Hallows' Day, falls on November 1, which is why October 31 is All Hallows' Eve, contracted to Halloween; All Souls' Day follows on November 2.
Q 22The Berlin Wall was opened on the night of which date in 1989?
9 November
9 November 1989: at an evening press conference East German spokesman Günter Schabowski, asked when the new travel rules took effect, fumbled 'immediately, without delay', and crowds forced the checkpoints open that night.
Q 23Between which dates of November can US Election Day fall?
2nd and 8th
Armistice Day: Congress renamed the November 11 holiday Veterans Day in June 1954 so it would honour those who served in every war, not only the First World War; Britain and the Commonwealth know the date as Remembrance Day.
Q 14The red poppy worn in November for Remembrance Day was inspired by which First World War poem?
In Flanders Fields
'In Flanders Fields', written by Canadian army doctor John McCrae on 3 May 1915 after a friend's burial, opens with poppies blowing between the crosses; its imagery led to the first British Poppy Day on 11 November 1921.
Q 15Guy Fawkes was arrested guarding explosives beneath which building?
The House of Lords
The House of Lords: Fawkes was found in the undercroft beneath the Lords chamber early on 5 November 1605 with 36 barrels of gunpowder, meant to kill James I at the state opening of Parliament.
Q 16Which English town's bonfire societies stage the country's most extravagant 5 November celebrations?
Lewes
Lewes in East Sussex: its bonfire societies parade with flaming torches and burn effigies, and the town also commemorates the 17 Protestant martyrs burned there under Mary I in the 1550s.
Q 17Movember, the moustache-growing charity campaign, started with 30 men in which country?
Australia
Australia: Movember started in Melbourne, where 30 men grew moustaches in 2003; 'mo' is Australian slang for a moustache, and the foundation raised its first prostate-cancer funds in 2004.
Q 18Mexico's Day of the Dead is traditionally celebrated on which two dates?
November 1 and 2
November 1 and 2: families build ofrendas and visit graves, November 1 (Día de los Angelitos) honouring dead children and November 2 honouring adults; UNESCO inscribed the tradition as intangible heritage in 2008.
Q 19Which orange flower, cempasúchil in Mexico, is thought to draw souls of the dead to Day of the Dead altars?
Marigold
The marigold, cempasúchil in Mexico, is the Day of the Dead flower; its bright orange petals and strong scent are believed to guide souls to the ofrenda, so families scatter them in paths from the street.
Q 20Mexico City's huge Day of the Dead parade only began in 2016, after being invented for the opening of which film?
Spectre
Spectre (2015) opened with a Day of the Dead parade staged for the film; no such parade existed, so Mexico City held its first real one in October 2016, and it became an annual event.
2nd and 8th: Election Day is the Tuesday after November's first Monday, which can fall on the 1st to the 7th, so the vote lands between November 2 and 8; the 1845 law's wording kept it off All Saints' Day.
Q 24Which year's presidential election produced the first Republican president and triggered Southern secession?
1860
1860: Abraham Lincoln won the November 1860 election as the first Republican president, and seven Southern states, starting with South Carolina on 20 December 1860, seceded before his inauguration in March 1861.
Q 25The Gettysburg Address, delivered on November 19, 1863, was how long?
About 270 words
About 270 words: Lincoln spoke for under two minutes after Edward Everett's two-hour oration; Everett wrote to him afterwards that Lincoln had come nearer the day's central idea in two minutes than he had in two hours.
Q 26On 4 November 1922 Howard Carter's team uncovered the first step leading down to whose tomb?
Tutankhamun
Tutankhamun: the step found on 4 November 1922 led to tomb KV62 in the Valley of the Kings; Carter peered into the antechamber on 26 November and reported seeing 'wonderful things', with patron Lord Carnarvon beside him.
Q 27Which children's television show premiered on public television on November 10, 1969?
Sesame Street
Sesame Street premiered on 10 November 1969 on NET, the forerunner of PBS; it was created by Joan Ganz Cooney and Lloyd Morrisett, with Jim Henson's Muppets as its stars.
Q 28Mickey Mouse's official 'birthday' is November 18, marking the 1928 premiere of which cartoon?
Steamboat Willie
Steamboat Willie opened at New York's Colony Theatre on 18 November 1928, the first Mickey Mouse cartoon released with a synchronised soundtrack; Plane Crazy and The Gallopin' Gaucho had been made earlier but were released later with sound.
Q 29Which landmark science book, published 24 November 1859, sold out its 1,250-copy first printing before release?
On the Origin of Species
On the Origin of Species: John Murray printed 1,250 copies priced at fifteen shillings, and booksellers ordered more than that at his trade sale on 22 November 1859, two days before publication.
Q 30Laika, the first animal to orbit Earth, was launched aboard Sputnik 2 on 3 November of which year?
1957
1957: Sputnik 2 lifted off on 3 November 1957, a month after Sputnik 1; Laika, a stray from the streets of Moscow, died of overheating within hours, a fact the Soviet Union concealed until 2002.