1960s UK Trivia Quiz

Answer: Wolfgang Weber

Weber was a central defender who played his club football for F.C. Koln who managed to poke the ball home as the West Germans had everybody forward in search of the equaliser. With less than a minute to go, English fans were heartbroken but the feelings of despair were soon forgotten as Geoff Hurst scored twice in extra time to complete his hat trick and secure the trophy for England. Of the other answers, Gottfried Dienst was the Swiss referee for the match, while Karol Galba was the linesman from Czechoslovakia. Kenneth Wolstenholme was the TV commentator who famously uttered the words, "some people are on the pitch...they think it's all over....it is now!", as Hurst scored the fourth England goal.

Answer: Eddie Cochran

Cochran was just 21, when the taxi he was travelling in following a concert in Bristol, suffered a blow out, causing the driver to lose control and collide with a lamp post. As Cochran threw himself over his fiancee, Sharon Sheeley, to protect her from the impact, the car door flew open and Cochran was flung out of the vehicle, sustaining severe head injuries from which he died the following day in hospital in Bath.

Answer: Bamber Gascoigne

Gascoigne was question master on the ITV show from episode one in 1962, right through to it being dropped by the network in 1987. He has written many books on a variety of subjects including Chinese dynasties, the first and second world wars and a history of Christianity as well as children's books and novels. "University Challenge" was revived by BBC in 1994 with Jeremy Paxman as question master and is based on the American show "College Bowl".

Answer: Ronnie Biggs

Following the Great Train Robbery in 1963, Biggs was sentenced to 30 years in prison for his part in the heist. He served just 15 months of this before escaping from Wandsworth prison and fleeing to Brussels, then making his way to Paris where he was joined by his wife and family. Having bought a new identity in Paris and undergone facial plastic surgery, Biggs moved the family to Sydney, Australia to start a new life in 1966, but by 1967, Interpol had received a tip off he was in the area, so he moved to Melbourne. From there he abandoned his family and headed to Rio de Janeiro where he lived openly from 1970 to 2001 on account of UK having no extradition treaty with Brazil and the fact he had fathered a child and under Brazilian law of the time, the parent of a Brazilian child could not be extradited.

In 2001, suffering from failing health, he returned to UK as he wished to "buy a pint of bitter in a Margate pub" before he died. He was immediately arrested on his entry to the country and served eight years of his remaining 28 years before being released on compassionate grounds aged 79. Biggs died aged 84 in 2013.

Answer: Trumpton

Amazingly, there were only ever 13 episodes of kid's show "Trumpton" made, but every child of my generation remembers this roll call of the firemen, along with characters such as carpenter Chippy Minton and his son Nibs and Miss Lovelace with her dogs, Mitzi, Daphne and Lulu.

The narrator for the show was Brian Cant, one of the great children's TV presenters who also presented "Play School" for 21 years.

Answer: Christine Keeler

Profumo was introduced to Keeler while at a party with his wife. An affair soon began, which may not have been so shocking in the "swinging sixties" but this was at the height of the Cold War and Keeler was also involved in a sexual relationship with Soviet naval attaché, Captain Yevgeny Ivanov, creating a possible security risk. Profumo resigned from his government post of Secretary of State for War and with confidence in the government severely shaken, prime minister Harold Macmillan resigned in October of the same year.

Answer: Daihatsu

The Daihatsu Compagno was available as a two door or four door sedan and was only the company's second four wheeled vehicle, as their initial area of expertise was three wheeled delivery vans. Reviews of the time asserted that the Campagno was well made but ten years out of date, and between its UK launch in 1964 and production ending in 1970, Daihatsu sold just six cars.

Answer: Torrey Canyon

The tanker first became grounded and after several days of being buffeted by the seas, began to break apart. In an attempt to minimise the oil spill, the UK government decided to set fire to the wreck and its cargo. With this aim, the ship was bombed by air strike forces, followed by the Royal Air Force (RAF) dropping cans of jet fuel to intensify the blaze.

Unfortunately, the blaze was put out by the sea water and the wreck had to endure more bombing and jet fuel along with napalm the next day before it finally sank.

In total, 161 bombs, 1,500 tons of napalm and 44,500 litres of kerosene were used to avert disaster.

Answer: Seven

There have been several special editions of the 50p, including minting's to celebrate the 50th anniversary of D-Day in 1994, Olympic minting's celebrating London 2012 and Rio 2016 and in 1973 a minting celebrating the UK entering the European Economic Community.

There are also series depicting Paddington Bear and characters from Beatrix Potter children's stories such as Peter Rabbit and Miss Tiggywinkle.

Answer: Mary Bell

Bell was just ten years old when she murdered four year old Martin Brown and had just turned eleven when she murdered, also by strangulation, three year old Brian Howe. According to police reports, she later returned to Howe's body and mutilated it with a pair of scissors as well as carving a letter M into his flesh.

She was sentenced to life imprisonment and served 12 years before being released with a new identity aged 23 in 1980. As she now has a daughter herself, Bell won a court case in 2003, to have her anonymity remain in place for the duration of her daughter's life, in order to protect her.