Getting your questions ready
Getting your questions ready
Beat the crowd
10 questions No timer
50 free The Lone Ranger trivia questions with answers — entertainment quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
A masked ex-Texas Ranger, a Native American companion, a white stallion named Silver and a theme stolen from Rossini: the Lone Ranger began as a 1933 Detroit radio serial and became one of the most recognisable characters in American popular culture. These 50 questions cover the character's creation by George Trendle and Fran Striker at WXYZ, the Bryant's Gap ambush and the Cavendish gang, the strict moral code, Tonto's origins and the meaning of Kemo Sabe, the horses Silver and Scout, the classical theme music, the radio voices from Earle Graser to Brace Beemer, the Green Hornet family link, the Republic serials, Clayton Moore and Jay Silverheels on television, Moore's sunglasses protest, the 1966 cartoon, the 1981 and 2013 films and the Fran Striker novels. Every answer is cited to a page we checked and each explanation adds one more detail. Play it solo or print it for a classic-TV quiz night.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01On which Detroit radio station did The Lone Ranger first air in 1933?
WXYZ
Test episodes had aired earlier on WEBR in Buffalo.
Q 02Who was the writer credited, along with station owner George Trendle, with creating the character?
Fran Striker
Striker also wrote most of the 18 Lone Ranger novels published between 1936 and 1956.
Q 03On what date did the first of the 2,956 radio episodes premiere?
January 31, 1933
Detroit papers did not even list the show in their radio logs at first.
Q 04The Lone Ranger is the sole survivor of an ambush on how many Texas Rangers?
Six
Tonto dug a sixth grave so the gang would believe every Ranger had died.
Q 05At which canyon were the Rangers ambushed?
Bryant's Gap
A civilian guide secretly working for the outlaws led them into the trap.
Q 06Who led the outlaw gang that ambushed the Rangers?
Butch Cavendish
On radio the villain was voiced by Bill Saunders, who played many of the show's badmen.
Q 07Who was the captain of the ambushed Ranger posse?
Dan Reid, the hero's brother
The hero fashioned his mask from cloth cut from his dead brother's vest.
Q 08From what did the Lone Ranger make his black domino mask?
His dead brother's vest
The disguise honoured his fallen brother while hiding that one Ranger had survived.
Q 09What does Tonto call the Lone Ranger?
Kemo Sabe
In the TV series it is said to mean "trusty scout"; it probably derives from an Anishinaabe word.
Q 10Where did director James Jewell get the word "Kemosabe"?
A summer camp owned by his father-in-law
Jewell also named Tonto; in the local Native language the name meant "wild one".
Q 11In which episode of the radio show did Tonto first appear?
The 11th
Striker told his son Tonto was added so the hero would have someone to talk to.
Q 12Why is the Ranger's companion renamed "Toro" or "Ponto" for Latin American audiences?
His name means "stupid" in Spanish
"Ponto" is the other substitute name used.
Q 13What is the name of the Lone Ranger's horse?
Silver
Before acquiring him, the Ranger rode a chestnut mare called Dusty.
How did the Lone Ranger win the loyalty of his white stallion?
Q 21Which deep-voiced announcer took over the radio role in April 1941 and kept it to the end?
Brace Beemer
Fred Foy filled in for one 1954 broadcast when Beemer had laryngitis.
Q 22Which actor played Tonto for essentially the whole radio run?
John Todd
Todd later played Dan Reid on The Green Hornet.
Q 23Roughly how many Americans were listening to the radio show by 1939?
20 million
Although aimed at children, at least half the audience was adult.
Q 24Which of these was one of the creators' rules for the character?
He saved it from an enraged buffalo
In gratitude the horse gave up its wild life to carry him.
Q 15What is the name of Tonto's paint horse?
Scout
Tonto earlier rode a white horse called White Feller; Victor belonged to Dan Reid Jr.
Q 16Which carmaker borrowed Tonto's cry "Git-um up, Scout!" to advertise a utility vehicle?
International Harvester
The 1970s campaign promoted its Scout vehicle.
Q 17The Lone Ranger's theme comes from the finale of which overture?
William Tell
Rossini's March of the Swiss Soldiers was public domain, which kept production costs low.
Q 18Softer passages of the theme were taken from which composer's Die Moldau?
Smetana
Other incidental music included Wagner, Bizet, Mendelssohn, Liszt, Tchaikovsky and Schubert.
Q 19Why was classical music originally used on the radio show?
It was in the public domain
It gave a wide range of music without the cost of hiring a composer.
Q 20Who voiced the Lone Ranger on radio for some 1,300 episodes until his death in 1941?
Earle Graser
After his car accident the Ranger could only whisper for five episodes while Tonto carried the action.
He never shot to kill
He tried to disarm opponents as painlessly as possible, and never drank or smoked.
Q 25How did the Lone Ranger typically confirm his identity when suspicions were aroused?
By presenting a silver bullet
He rarely referred to himself by name; others would attest for him.
Q 26How were saloons usually depicted on the show to fit the hero's clean image?
As cafes serving food
Waiters and food replaced bartenders and liquor.
Q 27Which Mexican leader did the Lone Ranger help against French troops in 1939 radio episodes?
Benito Juárez
It was a rare case of the show naming a foreign adversary, Emperor Maximilian's forces.
Q 28What question did someone ask at the end of most episodes as the hero rode away?
"Who was that masked man?"
The answer, "Oh, he's the Lone Ranger!", was followed by "Hi-Yo, Silver! Away!"
Q 29Which crime-fighting radio hero was written as the Lone Ranger's great-nephew?
The Green Hornet
Britt Reid is the son of the Ranger's nephew Dan Reid; the rights are now held separately.
Q 30Which studio released two Lone Ranger serials in 1938 and 1939?
Republic Pictures
A feature cut of the first serial was released in 1940 as Hi-Yo Silver.