Anniversaries & Dates of Interest - February Quiz

Answer: Franklin D. Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and Josef Stalin

A conference between the leaders of the three leading victorious nations of WW2 took place at the Black Sea resort of Yalta from February 4th to 11th, 1945. Its aim was to plan the reorganisation of Europe after the conflict ended. Neither Britain nor the USA were, in reality, satisfied by the outcome.

Some critics have said too much was demanded, and won, by the Soviet Union. Others have said that the Soviet Army was just too powerful and in control of too much territory at the time for any reasonable concessions to be obtained. You will have noticed that one set of wrong answers are fictional political leaders.

The quote in the question is from the song "The Big Ones Gert Away", by Buffy Sainte Marie.

Answer: Ceylon

Sri Lanka is an ancient place, with a history dating back over 3,000 years. The Portuguese landed there in 1505 and it became a colony. In the 1650s, Dutch rule began after victory in the Dutch-Portuguese War. In 1796, Britain seized the territory during the Napoleonic Wars.

It remained a British colony until independence on 4th February 1948. Known for much of its western history as Ceylon, the name Sri Lanka was adopted in 1972.

Answer: Iran

Ruhollah Khomeini (1902-1989) was a religious and political leader who was deeply involved in a campaign to overthrow the Shah of Iran. The campaign began in 1963 and a year later Khomeini was arrested and exiled to France. In 1979 he returned after the Shah left Iran. Khomeini held office as 1st Supreme Leader from 3rd December 1979 to 3rd June 1989.

Answer: Princess Margaret

Princess Margaret, 21st August 1930 to 9th February 2002, was the younger daughter of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth. Her elder sister, Elizabeth, became Queen in 1952. Princess Margaret had a colourful life, with its moments of controversy. Chief among these was probably the refusal of the Queen to sanction the marriage of Margaret with Group Captain Peter Townsend, who had divorced a previous wife. Margaret married Antony Armstrong-Jones (later the Earl of Snowdon) in 1960, but they divorced in 1978.

Answer: Dresden

More than 1,300 British and American bombers dropped almost 4,000 tons of high explosives and incendiaries on the capital of Saxony in four raids over those three days. A firestorm destroyed 15 square miles of the city centre.
The Allied bombing raids on German cities were, in the years following WW2, a controversial subject - none more so than the Dresden attack. Many questioned its need, given that the war seemed virtually over. At that time both the British and American forces were closing in on the Germana heartland from the west, and the Russians from the east.
The true extent of the casualties has been the subject of debate, and may never be precisely known.
The German website 'Spiegelonline' reported in 2008: "Calculations of the death-toll from the Anglo-American bombing of Dresden in February 1945 have varied widely, but never ceased to be dramatic. Figures suggested have ranged from 35,000 through 100,000, and even up to half a million at the wilder fringes of speculation."
The site noted an official report aiming to ascertain the number of deaths estimated "the likely death-toll at around 18,000 and definitely no more than 25,000."
The Allies subsequently defended their raids, claiming that Dresden was a major industrial centre in the Nazi war effort.

Answer: Rome

In modern times, St Valentine is noted as a patron of love and romance. Celebrations take place each year on February 14th, however these are based on mythology and - dare it be said - commercialisation rather than any religious support.
St Valentine's Day is mentioned by William Shakespeare in Ophelia's lament in Hamlet: "Tomorrow is Saint Valentine's day/All in the morning betime,/And I a maid at your window/To be your Valentine."
The first anonymous St Valentine's Day cards appeared in the late 1790s. However, as the "Daily Telegraph" noted in 2010: "AD1913 - If you felt cynical, you might call this date the beginning of the end for St Valentine's Day as a genuinely romantic event, and the start of its reinvention of a savagely imposed regime of sugar-coated tweeness designed to chisel spare cash out of lovers and would-be lovers worldwide." This was the year that Hallmark Cards produced their first Valentine offerings.

Answer: London

The charge applied to vehicles entering central London in peak weekday hours. The charges, and the hefty fines for non-payment or contraventions, were to be invested in the general transportation system. It was not a popular charge, even though there were exemptions or reduced fees for the more environmentally-friendly vehicles.
The quote in the question is from a song by Woody Guthrie.

Answer: Church of England

Although the Church of England licensed women to be lay preachers in 1917, there was long-term opposition from within to women being ordained as clergy. Some other parts of the Anglican Communion ordained women in 1944. In 1989 the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts ordained Barbara Harris as the first woman a bishop in the Anglican Communion.

Answer: Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND)

CND was first proposed a few months earlier, and 5,000 people attended that inaugural public meeting. The aim was to eliminate British nuclear weapons and abolish nuclear weapons worldwide. In the years that followed, CND supporters took part in marches, remonstrations and rallies against the use and storage of a range of weapons. While supporters did at times engage in public trespass and obstruction, the ethos was one of non-violence.
The quote in the question is from the song "Daily News", by Tom Paxton.

Answer: World Trade Centre

At 12.17 on a New York afternoon, a truck containing more than 1,300lbs of explosives was detonated below the North Tower. Six people, one of whom was pregnant, were killed and more than a thousand injured. The bombing was planned and carried out by a number of Middle Eastern terrorists. Seven men were convicted and jailed on charges relating to the explosion.