TRIVIA BITS

The principality of Liechtenstein has won nine Winter Olympics medals, all in what sport?

A) Alpine skiing

B) Biathlon

C) Luge

D) Ski jumping

Roger Williams came to North America from England as a Puritan minister in 1631 then separated from the church and formed a more religiously tolerant colony that became Rhode Island. There are no known portraits of him made while he was alive, which created a dilemma for sculptor Armand LaMontagne in 1997, when he was commissioned to make a bronze sculpture of Williams for the campus of Rhode Island’s Roger Williams University. So LaMontagne gave his statue the face of Boston Red Sox legend Ted Williams instead.

The permanent collections of both the British Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London contain knitted wool socks from Egypt and Rome as far back as the 3rd century. Some still retain their bright red color from more than 1,000 years ago. One pair is knitted in rainbow stripes. Most are two-toed, with room for the big toe on one side and the rest of the toes on the other — like foot-mittens. Even our ancient ancestors hated having cold feet.

The highest order of chivalry in Denmark is the Order of the Elephant, typically given to royals or foreign heads of state, and on rare occasions to commoners such as Nobel Prize-winning Danish physicist Niels Bohr. For his role in World War II, General Dwight D. Eisenhower was awarded the Order of the Elephant in 1945. To date, Eisenhower is the only American to be so honored. His decoration — a small jeweled elephant on a pale blue sash — is in the collection of the Eisenhower Presidential Library in Abilene, Kans.

Answer: All of Liechtenstein’s nine Winter Olympics medals were for alpine skiing, including Hanni Wenzel’s two golds at Lake Placid in 1980.