A Look Back at 1982 Trivia Quiz

Answer: James Brown

Probably the most famous Eddie Murphy James Brown sketch was the "James Brown Celebrity Hot Tub Party," first broadcast on November 5, 1983. But the first time Murphy played James Brown on the show was the April 24, 1982 episode hosted by Robert Culp. All the other characters mentioned here were first shown in 1981.

Answer: Bear Bryant

Legendary football coach Paul "Bear" Bryant died on January 26, 1983, five weeks after coaching his last football game. All the others died in 1982: Paul Lynde (January 10), Murray the K (February 22), John Belushi (March 5).

Answer: Microsoft Corporation went public

Microsoft went public in 1986. Compaq was founded in early 1982, with its original mission to make portable computers compatible with the IBM standard. Lotus 1-2-3 was first introduced in 1982, and by the following year had become the standard on which computer spreadsheets were based. And at the end of the year, "Time" named the personal computer its "Man of the Year."

Answer: Mel Gray

Mel Gray of the St. Louis Cardinals failed to catch a pass on December 5, ending a record streak of 121 consecutive games with receptions.

Answer: The death of Princess Grace and a plane crash in Spain

"USA Today", the first American daily newspaper with a national circulation, was launched in selected markets on September 15. There were three big news stories that day: (1) The death of Monaco's Princess Grace in a car crash, (2) A plane crash in Spain that killed 50 people, (3) The assassination of newly-elected Lebanese President Bashir Gemayel.

The paper made a small single-paragraph reference to (3) on its front page, made (1) the major story, and gave significant coverage to (2). In deference to the airline industry, which had made large bulk purchases of the paper to hand out free to passengers, "USA Today" covered the plane crash with a headline saying "It's a Miracle!" - focusing on the 327 passengers who survived, rather than the 50 who died.

Answer: Toronto

"The Who's" "final" concert was at Toronto's Maple Leaf Gardens on Friday December 17. It was televised worldwide on a pay-per-view basis, and broadcast live on FM radio stations. Their five-song encore consisted of "Naked Eye," "Squeeze Box," "Young Man Blues," "Twist and Shout," and "See Me, Feel Me." The concert turned out to be far from their final appearance though - they played 3.5 years later at the Live Aid concert and then resumed touring regularly in the late 1990s.

Answer: 770

The DJIA reached a low of 769.98 midday on August 9, 1982. For the year 1982 as a whole, it was up 19.6%. It has never been below 1000 since 1982 and has never been below 5000 since 1995.

Answer: Alexander Haig

Alexander Haig resigned as Secretary of State in June, reputedly in a dispute over the role the US would take in a Middle East conflict involving Lebanon and Israel. James Baker, later Secretary of State under George H.W. Bush, was President Reagan's chief of staff in his first term, and treasury secretary in his second term. Caspar Weinberger and Frank Carlucci were both defense secretaries under Reagan.

Answer: 74 days

Argentina seized the Falklands Islands (called the Malvinas Islands by the Argentinians) on April 2; Great Britain began attacking later in the month, and Argentina surrendered on June 14.

Answer: Patrick Ewing

This thriller of a game, won 63-62 by NC, was the first one-point NCAA final since 1959. Incredibly, Carolina did not score a basket on its own for the first 8 1/2 minutes. Their first four field goals were on goaltending calls against freshman Georgetown center Patrick Ewing. Georgetown coach John Thompson had told him to make his presence known and stop anything going toward the net without worrying about goaltending. Ewing wound up the night with 23 points, 11 rebounds... and FIVE goaltending calls against him!