Rey and his wife were the creators of the Curious George series of children’s books. George, an impish monkey, first appeared in Rey’s little-remembered Cecily G. and the Nine Monkeys and was so well received that the Reys decided to write an entire book about him. Their work was interrupted by the outbreak of WWII, however, and the Reys, who were Jews, fled Paris hours before it fell to the Nazis, taking with them the illustrated manuscript of Curious George. How did they escape? Discuss
Source: The Free Dictionary
Sponges are sessile, mostly marine animals from the phylum Porifera. Until the 18th century, scientists classified them as plants because they demonstrated so little movement. More than 4,500 living species, which reproduce through both sexual and asexual means, have been documented. Sponges are colonial in nature, living in groups that may grow to 5 feet (150 cm) in diameter. In common usage, the term “sponge” refers to what part of this aquatic animal? 
In 1830, festivities were held to mark the opening of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, the world’s first inter-city passenger railway. Unfortunately, the celebration turned tragic when William Huskisson, the Member of Parliament for Liverpool, got off the train to speak with the Duke of Wellington during a temporary stop and was fatally injured by an oncoming train. He thus became the world’s first railway passenger to be killed by a train. How fast did these trains initially travel? 
The state opening of 
Oates was an Anglican priest whose whole career was marked with intrigue and scandal. In 1678, he invented the story of the Popish Plot, a fictitious Jesuit conspiracy to kill Charles II and place his Catholic brother James—later James II—on the throne. Oates’s testimony resulted in a frenzy of anti-Catholic hatred throughout England, and caused more than 30 people to be executed. He was finally convicted of perjury and imprisoned in 1685. Who conspired with Oates to invent the plot? 
In 2003, political conflict between Darfur’s government and rebel groups erupted when rebels killed 75 military personnel in a surprise raid. The government-backed Janjaweed have since destroyed countless villages and murdered their civilian inhabitants. One UN observer team reported that non-Arab villages were attacked, while Arab villages were unharmed. The mass media has termed the events in Darfur “genocide.” Most NGOs report 400,000 deaths in the region; how many people have been displaced? 
Described in Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace, the Battle of Borodino was the largest and bloodiest single-day action of the Napoleonic Wars. An estimated 100,000 people died in the battle between the Russian forces of General Mikhail Kutuzov and Napoleon’s Grande Armée. After severely battering but not totally defeating the Russians, Napoleon’s forces marched the 70 miles (110 km) to Moscow and entered the city. As the population evacuated, fires engulfed much of the city. Who caused them? 
This autumn festival in Japan, observed in the hope that it will bring a good harvest, provides an excellent display of traditional Japanese arts. There is a Shishi Odori dance, performed to the accompaniment of