Eponym of the week: Charles Grey, who was British prime minister from 1830 to 1834. As the 2nd Earl Grey, the Earl Grey variety of tea (containing oil from the rind of the bergamot orange) was named for him. But it's not known for sure exactly why. Several stories are "out there," from Grey providing the recipe to a tea merchant, to the son of an Indian raja being rescued from a tiger by one of Grey's servants.

Your humble Brooklyn-born trivia author remembers the dinosaur-logo Sinclair gas stations of his youth, and has long thought the brand went the way of the dinosaur. But on a recent trip to Denver, we were surprised to see a Sinclair station with the old logo. Through Web research, we found out that over 2,000 Sinclair stations exist today in the West and Midwest, with a new corporate owner.

During the Middle Ages, the principal textile from which fabrics were made was:
A) Wool
B) Cotton
C) Silk
D) Linen

Previous answer: According to the latest available statistics, three of the 10 most populous cities in Africa are in Nigeria: Lagos (#1), Kano (#9) and Ibadan (#10). All three cities have over 3 million people.

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.

Stanley Newman is the editor of the Newsday Crossword and author/editor of more than 125 books on crosswords, word games and trivia, including "15,003 Answers: The Ultimate Trivia Encyclopedia" (Random House). To find out more about Stanley Newman visit StanXwords.com, or e-mail him at StanTrivia@aol.com.
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