Important Texts of History Trivia Quiz

Answer: Merry Christmas

Neil Papworth, a British software architect, studied at the University of West London. Papworth, who worked for Sema Group, helped develop the short message system, in an effort to provide an alternative service for Vodafone customers. One of the heads of Vodafone, Richard Jarvis, received the first text message ever through an Orbitel handset, and it was sent by Papworth from a computer. "Merry Christmas" was the first message sent, in December of 1992.

Answer: September 11 attacks

Wikileaks disclosed several messages that were supposedly sent during the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. The attacks, orchestrated by the terrorist organization of Al-Qaeda and its leader Osama Bin Laden, crashed two airplanes into the World Trade Center in New York, one to the Pentagon, and another one to a Pennsylvania field, allegedly headed to the White House.

Answer: Joe Biden

The Democratic senator from Delaware, Joe Biden, was chosen by Barack Obama to run with him for the presidential elections. In August 2008, via text message and e-mail, Obama informed his supporters that he would be running with Biden for the elections. Eventually, the pair would become president and vice president of the United States, and win their second election in 2012.

Answer: Australia

The Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex is a NASA station in the capital of Australia, Canberra. More than 25,000 text messages were sent to space by users of the Hello From Earth system, in an attempt to try to communicate with extraterrestrial beings, should they exist of course!

The Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex is one of NASA's Deep Space Network facilities, just as the Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex in California and the Madrid Deep Space Communications Complex in Spain.

Answer: Tiger Woods

Tiger Woods is widely recognized as one of the best golfers in the world, having won his eighteenth World Golf Championship in 2013. In 2010, he was forced to temporarily leave golf after it was revealed that he cheated on his wife, model Elin Nordegren, with several other women.

Answer: Amy Winehouse

Amy Winehouse was a recognized English musician, known for songs like "Back to Black", "You Know I'm No Good" and "Rehab", which was based on the fact that she refused to go to a rehabilitation clinic. Winehouse was found dead in her house, in July 23, 2011, joining a group of musicians, like Kurt Cobain, Jim Morrison and Janis Joplin, who passed away at the age of 27.

Answer: Norway

On July 22, 2011, Anders Behring Breivik first placed a car bomb in front of government buildings, such as the prime minister's office, and then travelled to Utøya island dressed as a police officer, and started a mass shooting against approximately 600 people.

In Utøya, there was a Labor Party camp taking place, an ideology Breivik opposed. He was captured and placed under arrest the same days, and convicted of killing 77 people.

Answer: Jeremy Hunt

MP Jeremy Hunt served as Culture Secretary of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2012, and was involved in the government's offer for News Corporation's BSkyB. Allegedly, Hunt sent a congratulatory message to James Murdoch, then chief executive officer of News Corp.

Answer: David Cameron

Chief Executive Officer of News International Rebekah Brooks faced accusations of hacking phones of members of the royal family, which drove her to resign in 2011. Brooks faced another scandal in 2012 when she told Prime Minister Cameron that she cried twice during one of his speeches, which raised suspicions.

Answer: Break a Guinness World Record

Brazilian teenager Marcel Fernandes Filho broke a Guinness World Record in May 2014 when he typed the entire text message shown in the question in only 18.19 seconds. Fernandes achieved this while using the Fleksy keyboard, developed by the company Syntellia.