Detective Dingo vs. the Crime of the Century Quiz

Answer: "My fiance was travelling from New York to London on the Titanic when it sank."

The sinking of the ocean liner Titanic was a prominent disaster of the 1910s, 1912 to be precise, but Miss 1910s has an important detail wrong. The Titanic sank on her maiden voyage, travelling from England to New York (not the other way round as claimed by Miss 1910s), taking the lives of over two-thirds of the roughly 2,200 people on board. The event shocked people at the time both because of the sheer scale of the catastrophe and because the ship had been declared unsinkable, only to be lost on her first voyage.
The WWI battles at Gallipoli and Passchendaele both claimed the lives of many soldiers, so her claims about these events could be true.
The Spanish Flu pandemic shook the world in the years 1918-9, claiming tens of millions of lives worldwide.

Answer: "Gone With the Wind" by Margaret Mitchell

It seems unlikely that anyone could read all four of these books in one night, but even if the professor were a speed reader, his alibi still has a problem. "Gone With the Wind" was not published until 1936, so if Professor 1920s really had never left his own decade, he couldn't have read it. "Ulysses" was first published in its entirety in 1922, and is considered one of the most important works of Modernist literature. "The Velveteen Rabbit", a children's classic, was also published in 1922. "The Great Gatsby", a novel which captures the 1920s 'Jazz Age', was first published in 1925.

Answer: Atomic Bombs

Although research into nuclear fission was in progress during the 1930s, the first atomic bomb was not detonated until 1945. Scientists involved in the Manhattan Project conducted a test detonation of the first atomic bomb on July 16, 1945, in New Mexico. Before this test was even commenced, another bomb was already on its way to the Pacific in anticipation of the attack on Hiroshima.

Answer: "Little Suzy was playing with her brand new Barbie Doll."

The Barbie Doll was launched in 1959 and immediately became hugely popular. Over the years Barbie has copped a lot of flack for doing damage to young girls' conceptions of body image, but a lesser known fact is that Ruth Handler, who had a pivotal role in developing Barbie, later did something to help make some women feel much better about their bodies: following a mastectomy, Handler invented and marketed a prosthetic breast that was more realistic than anything else available at the time.

Answer: Trivial Pursuit

Trivial Pursuit is now a fixture of board game cupboards in many parts of the world, but it wasn't around in the 1950s. The game first went on sale in 1982 and since then dozens of different versions have been released. Although the game of Yahtzee owes much to earlier dice games, it was officially patented in 1954, so it is a true game of the 1950s. Monopoly and Scrabble are older, (created in 1935 and 1938 respectively) but were still popular during the 1950s, as they are today.

Answer: Satisfaction

The song's full title is '(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction', and it was performed by the Rolling Stones. Though the Rolling Stones, like the Beatles, were a British band, the single of 'Satisfaction' was actually released in the USA before the UK. 'Something' is a beautiful song written by George Harrison. 'Revolution' and 'Yesterday' are both credited as Lennon/McCartney songs, but all Beatles fans will know that 'Revolution' is primarily a John Lennon song and 'Yesterday' is a Paul McCartney classic.

Answer: The Macarena

Just about every decade of the twentieth century is associated with dance crazes of various kinds. While 'The Hustle', 'The Time Warp' and 'The Nutbush' were all big in the 1970s, 'The Macarena' was a fad of the 1990s. 'The Macarena' is associated with a song of the same name which was originally performed in Spanish but later had English lyrics added to increase its worldwide appeal.

Answer: The Sims

'Donkey Kong', 'Frogger' and 'Pacman' have now been superseded by computer games employing more sophisticated technology, but these older games claim a fond place in many people's hearts and are often referenced in popular culture. For example, 'The Frogger' is the title of a 1998 episode of "Seinfeld" in which George becomes obsessed with preserving his high score on a 'Frogger' machine scheduled to be turned off.

Answer: "I just couldn't take my eyes off Bruce Willis's powerful performance in 'Schindler's List'."

All four of these movies won the Best Picture Oscar during the 1990s: 'The Silence of the Lambs' 1991; 'Schindler's List' 1993; 'Forrest Gump' 1994; 'American Beauty' 1999. Although Bruce Willis has proven his acting ability extends somewhat beyond the action packed thrillers for which he is most known, he did not appear in 'Schindler's List'; the title character was played by Liam Neeson.

Answer: No: there is no death penalty in Australia in the year 2008.

The last person to be executed in Australia was Ronald Ryan, who was hanged in 1967. In 1973 the Federal government abolished the death penalty and in 1985 New South Wales, the last state whose laws still allowed for execution, amended their law to remove this. In the year 2008, there is no crime under Australian law which carries the death penalty.

Detective Dingo's solution:
Detective Dingo calls all of his suspects to the murder scene to make his accusation.
Dingo: "Having spoken with all of you, I know that each of you has something you wish to conceal from me, and I have good reason to believe that many of you are illicitly leaving your decades through these time warp doors, but for now I am concerned only with the murder. It was but one small word that gave it away. I suppose it is understandable that most of you assumed the murdered security guard was a man, but you, 1960s Dude, knew she was a woman, and this, I think, shows you to be the culprit."
Dingo is tense, for he knows such an accusation is hardly enough for an arrest. Luckily, 1960s Dude panics and confesses.
1960s Dude: "Yes, it's true. It was a crime of passion. You probably know Miss 1910s never had a fiance on the Titanic. She and I have been in love for some time."
Dingo: "But how has it been possible for you to see each other?"
Mrs 1940s: "I believe I should answer that question. Desperate for something new to entertain my rambunctious children, I stepped through my time warp door hoping to find a future decade with the perfect toy. I ran straight into a security guard who smiled at me and said he would happily look the other way if I would first just fetch him a stiff drink. Good old Bill, I think he's helped us all out over the years. He did tell me he was retiring. I guess the new lady wasn't so accommodating."
1960s Dude: "It's true. I knew Bill was retiring and I had planned to escape from my decade and stay permanently in the 1910s. Unfortunately I got my dates mixed up - that sort of thing gets very complicated when time travel is involved you know, and I've never been good at maths - so I came face to face with this unknown woman. She threatened to seal off my door to prevent me from escaping my decade. At the thought of never seeing my love again, a fury overcame me. I grabbed the guard's gun and shot her. I'm sorry for what I've done and I'm ready to pay the price."
Another job well done, Detective Dingo.