A Look Back at 1985 Trivia Quiz

Answer: We can do business together

Mrs. Thatcher met with Gorbachev, the second-in-command at the Kremlin, in December 1984. "We can do business together," she told the press after the meeting in London, writing later in her memoirs "I hoped that I had been talking to the next Soviet leader." Gorbachev assumed leadership of the Soviet Union on March 11, the day after the death of Konstantin Chernenko.

Although a committed Communist, he offered the Soviet people more freedom and access to the West than they'd had for most of the century.

The Soviet Union collapsed and gave way to free and democratic republics in 1991.

Answer: 1990

New Coke had been a huge success in Coca Cola's marketing tests, and was less expensive to make as well. But upon its introduction, Coca Cola ceased North American sales of their established cola product, setting off an immediate backlash that lasted until "Old Coke" was reintroduced on July 11, under the name "Coca Cola Classic." The new product continued to be sold under the "New Coke" name until 1990, when it became "Coke II."

Answer: Pete Rose of the Cincinnati Reds passed Ty Cobb to become baseball's all-time hit leader, with 4,192 hits

All the events listed above happened in 1985: The 17-day ordeal of Flight 847 began on June 14. The Japan Airlines crash was on August 12. Rock Hudson died of AIDS on October 2, after announcing in July that he had the disease.

Answer: Phil Collins

The Live Aid concerts were held on Saturday July 17 and were 16 straight hours of music from London and Philadelphia. The show began at noon London time, with the first 90 minutes exclusively from Wembley Stadium. The next eight hours interspersed acts from Wembley with ones from JFK Stadium in Philadelphia, and the remainder of the show was from the US. Phil Collins memorably played in London at 3:30 in the afternoon local time, took the Concorde to the US, and played around 10:00 in the evening Philadelphia time.

The concerts raised more than $100 million for African famine relief.

Answer: Drank too much, then told Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor "Loosen up Sanday baby, you're too tight!" before passing out on the floor under the table

This occurred at the January 31 "Salute to Congress" dinner sponsored by the National Press Club. There were more than 1,000 top U.S. journalists and political leaders in the room, including Vice President George Bush, with whom Riggins was photographed before he began imbibing. Riggins later sent O'Connor flowers to apologize; several years later, she presented HIM with flowers after he made his acting debut in a suburban Maryland theatrical production. "You're going to be on my tombstone," she once told him.

Answer: CEO of Apple Computer

John Sculley is best known as a Pepsi executive lured to Apple Computer by the company's co-founder Steve Jobs. Sculley and Jobs worked together on the marketing campaign for the first Macintosh (including the famous "1984" Super Bowl commercial), but their relationship deteriorated after that. Sculley won a power struggle between the two, forcing Jobs out of the company. Jobs eventually returned to Apple in 1997.

Answer: Senator Jake Garn

Senator Garn, who was in charge of the committee overseeing NASA's budget, was a payload specialist for the Space Shuttle Discovery, which launched on April 12 and returned a week later. Garn, a former Naval aviator and retired National Guard general, performed medical tests and photographed the mission. Bill Nelson, a Florida representative, was the next US legislator to fly in space in early 1986, two weeks before the Challenger explosion. Senator Glenn has flown in space twice, but one trip came before he was a senator and the other came after his retirement.

Answer: They made 79% of their field goal attempts

The defending champion Hoyas were considered to be even better in 1985 than they'd been the year before. They had only two regular-season losses, both narrow ones, to Big East opponents Syracuse and St. John's. When Georgetown defeated both of those teams to win the Big East tournament, then beat St. John's again in the semifinals, they looked like they could sleepwalk to another title.

But Villanova shot 78.5% for the game, including nine of ten in the second half, and won the game 64-62. Georgetown itself shot 29 of 53 for the game (54.7%), but there was nothing they could do to stop a team that just couldn't miss that night.

Answer: Port Said

The ship was traveling from Alexandria to Port Said when highjacked on October 7 while carrying hundreds of mostly elderly passengers. Unaware that the highjackers had killed American passenger Leon Klinghoffer, the Egyptian government arranged for them to surrender and be turned over to Palestinian authorities.

The US intercepted the flight carrying the highjackers, however, and handed them to the Italian government for trial and conviction. The mastermind of the highjacking, Abu Abas, was arrested in Iraq in 2003.

The Achille Lauro continued to sail until catching fire near South Africa in 1994 and sinking.

Answer: The remains of the Titanic

Dr. Ballard, a naval researcher, used a robot-controlled camera to search the ocean floor for evidence of the Titanic. On September 1, they first located a boiler from the ship, then the wreckage of the liner itself, off the coast of Newfoundland. The following year, he returned with better equipment to examine it more closely.

He has since used is techniques to locate and explore wreckage of the Lusitania, the Bismarck, and John Kennedy's PT-109.