Fun in the... Trivia Quiz

Answer: 1990s

Dwayne "The Rock" Douglas Johnson was born on May 2, 1972, in Hayward, California, USA. Johnson grew up in a family of wrestlers as he was part of the Anoa'i family, professional tag team wrestlers. His father, Rocky Johnson, was a professional wrestler from 1964 to 1991.

Johnson wanted to play professional football with the NFL. He played college ball with the University of Miami and was on the 1991 national championship team, but he never got drafted by the National Football League. So, his father helped get him a contract with the WWF to become a professional wrestler. Johnson is also a professional actor.

Answer: 1990s

It's not often a murder trial produces a catchphrase in America, but the OJ Simpson trial did exactly that.

On June 12, 1994, Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman were stabbed to death outside Nicole Brown Simpson's home in Brentwood, Los Angeles, CA. OJ Simpson was a prime suspect; he was formerly married to her, and it was known that he was an abusive husband. They had a warrant for his arrest, and he was supposed to turn himself in on June 17th, but instead was involved in a low-speed police chase. OJ was the white Ford Bronco passenger and had his good friend, Al Cowlings, do the driving. Cowlings were being forced to drive at gunpoint.

Finally, the trial started on November 9, 1994, with Judge Lance Ito as judge. The trial was televised every day on multiple stations and lasted eleven months. It was a court circus with the lawyers insulting each other (at one point, Marcia Clark (one of the lawyers for the prosecuting side, said, "Objection, counsel is being an idiot.").

On June 15, 1995, OJ tried on the gloves that were found near where the murders occurred. The gloves were too tight. When they got to the closing arguments, one of OJ's lawyers, Johnny Cochran, told the jury, "If the glove doesn't fit, you must acquit."

Answer: 1980s

Laurence Tureaud was born on May 21, 1952, in Chicago, Illinois, USA, the youngest of twelve children. In 1970, he legally changed his name to "Mr. T." because of the lack of respect he saw his father and other black men in his neighborhood get when he was growing up. He said, "I self-ordained myself, Mr. T, so the first word out of everybody's mouth is 'Mr."'

In 1975, he enlisted in the United States Army and served in the Military Police Corps. He also worked as a bouncer at a club. This is where he began his gold chain wearing that he was well-known for because when he would be someone in a fight and they would leave their gold chains behind, he started wearing them, and more often than not, they would not come back and ask for them.

In 1985, Mr. T began his career as a professional wrestler tag-teaming with Hulk Hogan in the WWF's "WrestleMania I", against "Rowdy" Roddy Piper and "Mr. Wonderful" Paul Orndoff. Mr. T and Hogan won the event. Mr. T almost didn't do it because he found out that Piper didn't, and others didn't like him since he was an actor and had not been in the ring as long as they had as a professional wrestler before he got to do "WrestleMania I".

Answer: 1980s

The scrunchie was actually invented in the 1960s; however, it did not receive its patent until 1987. It was also during the 1980s that the scrunchy trend became popular. A scrunchy is a cloth hair tie, which as a child in the 80s with long hair I was grateful for. They did not get as tangled up in the longer hair and were not as painful to take back out. Also, they were fashionable.

Answer: 1990s

Revlon Fire and Ice perfume came out in 1994. It smells like a combination of citrus, magnolias, trees, musk, and spices. It came in three different sizes all in spray form.

Answer: 1990s

"Bear in the Big Blue House" was a children's TV show that first aired on October 20, 1997. Bear is a big orange bear who lives in a big blue house. He takes care of his friends Ojo, a bear cub; Tutter, a mouse; Treelo, a lemur, Pip and Pop, the otters; and Shadow who tells stories. Together they have adventures, solve problems, and develop the skills that preschoolers need to develop in life.

Answer: 1980s

"The Princess Bride" novel was written in 1973 by William Goldman. It then became a motion picture in 1987, directed by Rob Reiner and starring Robin Wright as Buttercup and Cary Elwes as Westley. The movie starts with The Grandson (note: this is capitalized as this is the actual name of the character) (played by Fred Savage), being sick in bed. His grandfather (played by Peter Falk) comes over to read him a story, and the story is "The Princess Bride." The Grandson is not happy when he realizes it's "a kissing book" after Westley and Buttercup kiss early on in the story.

But then the story continues and the Dread Pirate Roberts (also Elwes) is introduced. There are also Vizzini (played by Wallace Shawn), who wants to start a war, and his crew Inigo Montoya (who also wants to find the six-fingered man to avenge his father's death), and Fezzik (Andre the Giant) who is got a kind heart, but a bit slow and just wants to please others.

Princess Buttercup is going to marry Prince Humperdinck of Florin (played by Chris Sarandon) but she does not love him. However, Westley has gone overseas to find his fortune and everyone assumes he is dead. Vizzini kidnaps her to start a war. The Dread Pirate Roberts appears and rescues Buttercup, but she is not happy as she figures out who he is, and that he is the one who killed her dear Westley. She guessed partially right, and when they get into an argument she pushes him down the hill. As he is falling he responds to her, "As you wish!"

"As you wish!" is how Westley always told her that he loved her, so she now realizes that Westley is the Dread Pirate Roberts and rolls down the hill after the love of her life.

Answer: 1990s

"Jumanji" was a 1981 children's picture book by Chris Van Allsburg. He also illustrated the book, and it won the Caldecott Medal, which is an award for children's book illustrations.

The movie "Jumanji" came out in 1995 and was directed by Joe Johnston. The movie is about a board game that comes to life. Alan (played by Adam Hann-Byrd) and his friend Sarah (played by Laura Bell Bundy) start playing the game, but the pieces move independently. Soon Alan is sucked inside the game after the game tells him he has to wait in the jungle until someone rolls a five or an eight. Bats then appear and chase Sarah out of the mansion where the two kids were playing the game.

Time goes by and a new family moves in who also start playing it, and the only way to stop weird things from happening, is to finish playing the game.

Answer: 1980s

Muffy Mouse was a puppet on a Canadian children's show called "Today's Special" that ran from 1981 to 1987. She was operated and voiced by puppeteer Nina Keogh. Muffy talked in rhyme, all the time.

The premise of "Today's Special" was a mannequin named Jeff (played by Jeff Hyslop) who came to life at night when the department store was closed. After everyone was gone, Jodie (played by Nerene Virgin) arrived at work and brought him upstairs. He had to have his hat on, and then Muffy would say the words, "hocus pocus alimagocus!" These words brought Jeff to life, as long as he had his hat on. Also at the store was Sam, who was also a puppet, puppeteered and voiced by Bob Dermer, who was an older man, and the security guard.

Answer: 1980s

Ecto Cooler first came out in 1989. The drink featured Slimer from the "Ghostbusters" movies on the container. It was put out by Hi-C a subdivision of the Coca-Cola company. It was actually more of a marketing ploy as it was a rebranding of the already existing Citrus Cooler Drink. However, because the "Ghostbusters" franchise was so popular everyone wanted a part of the "Slimer Drink."