Thanks to intrepid trivia detective Sue Douglass of Albany, Calif., who searched for states that had towns named both for a country and the capital of the same country. She found Egypt and Cairo in Georgia, Poland and Warsaw in both New York and Ohio, Peru and Lima in Illinois, and England and London in Arkansas.

Who was James Murray Spangler, and why should you care about him? A janitor from Canton, Ohio, in 1907 he invented the upright vacuum cleaner (patented the next year), using a fan, a soap box, a broom handle, a pillowcase and a rotating brush. You've probably never heard of him because, lacking the funds who exploit his invention, he sold the patent to W.H. Hoover.

"Wuthering Heights" was the only novel written by Emily Bronte, originally published in 1847 under the pseudonym of Ellis Bell. The title refers to the Yorkshire manor that is the setting for the novel, but what is "Wuthering"?
A) The name of the family that built the residence
B) A regional word meaning "stormy"
C) The village where the residence is located
D) An archaic spelling of "withering"

Previous answer: In a letter to his friend and colleague F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway called letter writing "a swell way to keep from working and yet feel you've done something."

TRIVIA FANS: Send the trivia questions you've always wanted answered, or original TriviaBits ideas of your own, with your full name and hometown, to Stan Newman at StanTrivia@aol.com or on a postcard to P.O. Box 69, Massapequa Park, NY 11762.

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