20th Century - The First 50 Years Quiz

Answer: Heston

Heston was operational between 1929 and 1946. The remains of the layout can still be seen in the roads of the now mainly built up area. It began its life as an aerodrome for flying clubs and private owners. The main London airport at the time was Croydon.

When new airlines began to appear in the 1930s several chose Heston as their base. British Airways Ltd followed them in 1938 because its base at Gatwick suffered waterlogging. In 1938 Heathrow was a privately owned airfield used for building and testing of aircraft by the Fairey Corporation.

Answer: 1901

The world's first Fingerprint Bureau was opened in Calcutta in 1897 although scientific papers had been published on the subject as far back as 1684. The Fingerprint Bureau opened in Scotland Yard using the same classification system as that devised in India.

Answer: Syphilis

Ehrlich was a German scientist working in the fields of immunology and haematology. He was the first person to use the term 'chemotherapy' and he developed the concept of the 'magic bullet'.
In his work to combat syphilis he was assisted by the Japanese bacteriologist Hata Sahachiro, and between them they developed the drug Arsphenamine.

Answer: John Buchan

Buchan was born in Perth, Scotland, in 1875 and was educated in both Glasgow and Oxford where he studied Greek and Latin. After graduation he entered the colonial service and was sent to South Africa. At the outbreak of the First World War Buchan worked for the War Propaganda Bureau before enlisting in the Intelligence Corps as a speech writer for Sir Douglas Haig.

After the war he returned to Oxford and held a variety of posts before being appointed Governor General of Canada in 1935, the same year his most famous work, 'The Thirty Nine Steps' was made into a film.

He died in Canada in 1940.

Answer: Coal

In the mid 1920s the British coal industry was facing an economic crisis due to a combination of falling production, a drop in exports, falling prices and high interest rates. In 1925 Britain reintroduced the Gold Standard which made British exports more expensive so countries bought from other, cheaper, producers. On top of all this, mine owners wanted to maintain profit margins and tried to do so by reducing wages and increasing working hours.
On May 3rd 1926 the General Council of the Trades Union Congress called the strike in support of the miners. Only key industries were called to strike, these were mainly dockworkers, railwaymen, public transport and workers in the iron and steel industry.
The strike lasted for ten days and did not achieve its objectives.

Answer: Chicago

The very first meeting of a Rotary Club took place on February 23rd 1905 in Beverley Hills, Chicago. The club was formed by Paul P. Harris and three friends, Silvester Schiele, Gustave E. Loehr and Hiram E. Shorey. The name Rotary Club came from the fact that they rotated the meetings between each ones offices.

In 1922 the name was changed to Rotary International because clubs had been formed in several countries on all continents. The organisations main motto is "Service Above Self".

Answer: False

Originally called the Type 1, Beetle production began in 1938. The car was designed by Ferdinand Porsche on instructions from Adolf Hitler. The specification, drawn up in 1933, called for a car that could transport two adults and three children at a top speed of 100km/hour.

The outbreak of the Second World War forced production to concentrate on military vehicles and civilian production was effectively put on hold until 1945. The car was produced in various countries, with very few changes, up until 2003 making it the longest production run of a single design.

Answer: The unknown soldier

Many countries have tombs to the numerous unidentified soldiers who fell in the service of their country and who have no known grave. In the UK the tomb is in Westminster Abbey, the burial place of many of monarchs. The fact that the buried corpse is unidentifiable is central to the symbolism that the tomb could be the resting place of any of the fallen who do not have a marked grave.

Answer: Attlee

India gained independence in 1947. Clement Atlee became Prime Minister on July 26th 1945 and remained in office until October 26th 1951 when Churchill entered Downing Street for the third and final time. Attlee was only the second Labour Prime Minister, the first being Ramsay MacDonald who had last held the post, as Labour Prime Minister, in 1924 and again in 1929-1931. (He continued to serve as Prime Minister from 1931-1935, but as the head of a "National" coalition government which was overwhelmingly Conservative.

He was expelled from the Labour Party in 1931).

Answer: Spanish flu

The 1918 outbreak was a particularly virulent strain of the H1N1 virus. The total death toll has been estimated as anywhere between 20 million and 100 million people worldwide with some smaller countries losing up to 22% of their population. This particular outbreak was unusual in that it mostly affected young adults rather than the more usual very young and old.
The name 'Spanish flu' came about because when the disease moved from France into Spain the uncensored Spanish press (Spain was not involved in WW1) gave it more coverage.