Anniversaries and Dates of Interest - March Quiz

Answer: Bikini Atoll

Bikini Atoll is a group of small islands in the Pacific Ocean. Between 1946 and 1953, the United States carried out 23 nuclear bomb test explosions. These were the first nuclear explosions since the World War Two attacks on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Answer: St David

Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch is the longest place name in the United Kingdom. (I would have put the full 58 characters in the wrong answer box, but I did not think it would fit.)
Saint David was a Welsh bishop during the 6th century. Like many early Christian saints, much of what we 'know' about St David is at best uncertain and, at worst, disputed. He is known as a teacher and a founder of monasteries.

Answer: Miners

By the early 1980s, mineworkers had one of the strongest Trade Unions in the UK. The prelude to the strike was the Government's plans to close mines. The strike turned, analysts say, into a a power struggle between the National Union of Mineworkers and the British Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher. Thatcher, it was said, was keen for political reasons to break the power of the unions once and for all.

Some miners - denounced by the strikers as 'blacklegs' - continued to work and had to be escorted into the pits by police officers. Violent clashes between strikers and the police ensued.

Answer: Tibet

Dalai Lama is Buddist honorific title meaning "teacher" or "guru". Until 1959 the Dalai Lama was also the Tibeten head of state. In 1951, China invaded and seized control. After an uprising of Tibetan people failed in 1959, the Dalai Lama fled into exile, fearing incarceration by the Chinese.

Answer: South Africa

South African police shot dead 19 townspeople in Utinhage on what was the 25th anniversary of the Sharpeville Massacre, in which 69 people died. The townspeople at Sharpeville had been part of protests against laws that discriminated against the majority black population. The people were shot when they took their protest to the police station.

Answer: England and Scotland

When Queen Elizabeth I of England died on March 24th 1603, she had no offspring. Her closest relation was her cousin, King James VI of Scotland. Initially, the two countries remained separate, albeit with the same monarch. The Acts of Union of 1707 were to join the two nations as one.

Answer: Spain

Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA) was a terrorist movement that used violent means in a bid to secure independence of the Basque region from Spanish rule. The campaign started in 1958. Several ceasefires were declared and broken by ETA. The principle targets were members of the Spanish police and military.

In the 50-year period after the campaign began, more than 800 people were killed. Valentin Lasarte was one of ETA's leaders and had been wanted for murder before his arrest in San Sebastian. A psychologist's report branded him as a "psychopathic, cold-blooded murderer".

He was jailed for 82 years after this arrest: he had previously been jailed for 25 years for other offences.

Answer: London

On that date, 10,000 people gathered in London to protest against US involvement in the war. The Embassy was protected by 1,000 police officers. In the trouble that ensued, 86 people were injured and over 200 arrested.
The quote is from the Phil Ochs song "Draft Dodger's Rag".

Answer: Israel and Egypt

Bringing these long-time enemies to the peace table may well be seen as the greatest legacy of US President Jimmy Carter. He witnessed the signing of the 1978 Camp David Accords. The treaty was signed by Egyptian President Anwar El Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin. The two nations had been formally at war since 1948.

Answer: Britain

Malta is a small but strategically placed island in the Mediterranean Sea. In its history it has been ruled by many nations and races, including the Greeks, Norman, Romans and Phoenicians. In 1530 Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor, gave the islands to the Knights Hospitaller.

It then came under French rule, conquered by Napoleon, until the British took it as part of the 1814 Treaty of Paris. It became an independent state in 1964, though still with Queen Elizabeth II as its monarch. Britain retained a military base on the island, and March 31st was the date on which the last British troops withdrew.