Final Jeopardy: 20th Century History (3-12-19)

Today’s Final Jeopardy question (3/12/2019) in the category “20th Century History” was:

Constructed in the 1930s, it extended from La Ferté to the Rhine River, though it also had sections along the Italian frontier

New champ Elaine Wilson, a layout artist from Manassas, VA, won $15,100 yesterday. In Game 2, she takes on these two players: Evan Sroka, a business executive from Santa Monica, CA; and Barton Wong, a senior trading associate from Toronto, Ontario.

Click here to leave well wishes and prayers for Alex Trebek. There’s also a link to where you can make a donation to pancreatic cancer research in his honor.

Round 1 Categories: Exit Through the Gift Shop – Colorful Bands – That Was The Year That Was – Fruit Salad – CIA World Factbook No. 1s – Feelings

Barton found the Jeopardy! round Daily Double in “That Was The Year That Was” under the $600 clue on the 11th pick of the round. He was in third place with $200, $1,200 less than Evan’s lead. He bet the $1,000 allowance and guessed 1603. That was WRONG.

It’s carved on Plymouth Rock. show

Elaine finished in the lead with $4,600. Evan was second with $4,200 and Barton was last with $3,600.

Round 2 Categories: From the Mermaid’s Locker – Friend of the Court – TV Role, Movie Role – Women Authors – A Hole in the Ground – The Right to Remain Silent “P”

Evan found the first Daily Double in “Friend of the Court” under the $1,200 clue on the 14th pick. He was in second place with $5,000 at this point, $3,600 less than Elaine’s lead. He bet $3,000 and he was RIGHT.

P.J. O’Rourke weighed in on a case about whether an Ohio law criminalizing false statements violated this amendment. show

5 clues later, Barton landed on the last Daily Double in “Women Authors” under the $2,000 clue. In third place with $6,400, he had $2,200 less than Elaine’s lead. He bet $4,000 and he was RIGHT.

Born in Paris in 1804, she’s known for her novels, her lovers & writing under a masculine name. show

Elaine finished in the lead with $13,800. Evan was next with $12,400 and Barton was in third place with $11,600.

Only ONE of the contestants got Final Jeopardy! right.

WHAT IS THE MAGINOT LINE?

France’s minister of war (from 1922-24) Andre Maginot came up with the idea of building a heavily fortified defensive line along the French frontier to deter German invasions after France was shattered in WWI. The idea was “that the Line would impede any German attack long enough to fully mobilise the French army, fighting would be restricted to line … and the Ardennes would act as a natural extension of the Line,” according to History Hit’s article, with 3 graphics to help explain the Maginot Line.

From 2014: MY DINNER WITH ANDRE ($1200) We drew the “line” at a dinner with this French minister of war whose ideas didn’t fly in WWII vs. Germany



Barton got it right. He bet it all and doubled his score to $23,200.

Evan came up with “deutsche bahn.” He lost $11,000 leaving him with $1,400.

Elaine was on the bahn wavelength, too, with autobahn. She only lost $1,000, dropping her score down to $12,800. That made Barton Wong the new Jeopardy! champ.

Final Jeopardy (3/12/2019) Elaine Wilson, Evan Sroka, Barton Wong

A triple stumper from each round:

EXIT THROUGH THE GIFT SHOP ($1000) The Eric Carle Museum has temporary tattoos of some of the animals in Carle’s first book, the ones who ask this creature “What do you see?”

WOMEN AUTHORS ($1600) Delia Owens used the marshes of North Carolina as the setting for her bestseller “Where” these, aka crayfish “Sing”

2 years ago: ALL of the players got this FJ in “Capital Cities”

This is the most populous city on the world’s most populous island; both begin with the same letter. show

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16 Responses

  1. Albert says:

    What is more prestigious, The Maginot Line or Hadrian’s Wall?

    • VJ says:

      Albert, what do you mean by prestigious? More important? More impressive? More well-known?

    • John says:

      @Albert
      Imo Hadrian’s Wall was a superior technical feat, especially when you consider when it was built and no machines were available. It also pretty much served it’s purpose and to any historian it is a “must know”.
      The Maginot Line was a “nice tr”, but failed and is usually known to people who are interested in WWII. So I guess it is an individual toss-up.
      I myself consider Hadrian’s Wall built with more foresight and it was also more effective, not to mention the manual labor. But that’s me.

      • John says:

        @Albert
        PS
        Not to mention that H.W. sealed Scotland from England, while Hitler just went around the M.L. in the north through the Benelux countries. Hence the proverbial expression in Europe when something is futile or ineffective:” you are building a M.L.”….since France did not expect this and thus the whole thing was a “bust”.

  2. rhonda says:

    Grape Nut, one of your varieties came up in Fruit Salad!

    • JJ says:

      I saw that! Good ole cousin Zin strikes again… He’s such a saucy guy; I could just squeeze him to death! 😁

    • VJ says:

      I put that category on the extra clues 😀

      • JJ says:

        @VJ – Suh-weet! Cousin Zin will be plump w/ excitement that he hit the “big-time” by appearing on the FF website!

  3. John Christian Ambion says:

    Oh, well. I guess he’s up for something.

  4. VJ says:

    Here’s another link I wanted to include to a blog that has a few articles with pictures on places to visit on the Maginot Line, one is about Villy-La Ferté

    LINK: 11 more clues from the match

  5. Lou says:

    So, the leader curse resumes and yet one for three. Two daily doubles nailed. Chances are Barton could build a streak here. The autobahn wasn’t even close though. If these guys know about the first world war or about the triple entente and triple alliance, that should have pointed them to the maginot line right John and VJ?

    • John B./I. says:

      @Lou
      Provided they knew about WWII….. Hitler already built the “Autobahnen”, primarily so the tanks would be able to move fast and without obstacles. Only France was on the other side…..
      Being Canadian- as I said- gave Barton the win.(Being Canadian also explains the miss on the DD “1620”). Maginot was the French minister of war. Unfortunately Hitler circumvented the M.L. by going north through the “Lowlands” (Belgium, Netherlands.) And again, the irony: Paris fell on June 6, 1940. The invasion of Normandy started exactly 4 years later, June 6, 1944…..
      Being European and having studied history it was easy for me, and the expression”Maginot Line ” is a proverbial synonym in Europe for any undertaking that fails or is hopeless…. Missing the meaning of “frontier” did Eileen and Evan in imo, provided they knew the right response in the first place. This was after all almost 80 years ago and if you don’t learn it in school then the chances of getting it are rather slim, especially when you are that young and possibly have not seen many WWII movies (where most of them concentrate either on Pearl Harbor or the Normandy invasion anyway…)

  6. John B./I. says:

    When I read the clue yesterday, I said to Doris that some player(s) will think of a road or Autobahn. Sure enough. 2 did and those two also made some strange wagers and apparently not getting the last word of the clue, “frontier”. I have a friend in Calgary, his grandson is in HS and Canada has much closer relations – today and in the past- with France. The Maginot Line is covered in HS in Canada when they teach about WWII,(even in the west, where French is not as present as in the east of Canada) and that’s why Barton won AND he wagered all. As Canadian he also did not get “1620”… mais:FELICITATIONS! I wonder how long he will last, I don’t remember a 5 or more game winner from Canada, at least not in the last 2 or 3 years….BUT: who knows?? Bonne chance, Barton!!

    • John Christian Ambion says:

      Well, have you seen or played Hearts of Iron 4? Because one of the features was the Maginot Line, and its hypothetical scenarios.

      • John B./I. says:

        @JCA
        No, I am at an age where I play chess, bridge and from time to time poker. But the old 5 stud version…..

    • Lou says:

      Hmm, Let’s see john. The last Canadian that won 5 games was Andrew Haringer back in 2015 before being defeated by the Urban Planner from Rhode Island. That should ring a bell for you since it was 4 years ago. I do think Barton actually could make it to 5 games if he doesn’t crash next week!