Back to the 1950s Trivia Quiz

Answer: Uruguay

The tournament winner was decided by the last four teams playing in a final round-robin which was contested by Brazil, Spain, Sweden and Uruguay. Uruguay's 2-1 win against Brazil enabled them to finish top of the group on points. The 1950 World Cup "final" was held in the Estadio do Maracana, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (the game was actually the last round-robin game and, coincidentally, determined the winner and runner-up). Uruguay beat Brazil 2-1 in their match, which enabled them to win the World Cup for the second time.

The first World Cup competition was held in the Estadio Centenario, Montevideo, Uruguay, in 1930.

Answer: Richard M. Nixon

Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower won a landslide victory over democratic candidate Adlai Stevenson in 1952 to become the 34th President of the USA. Richard Milhous Nixon was President Dwight D. Eisenhower's vice president from 1953 to 1961. He then stood as the republican candidate for president in 1960. He was narrowly beaten by democratic candidate John F. Kennedy, who at 43 years old became the youngest person to be elected as president.

Nixon again stood as the republican candidate for president in 1968. He won the election by beating the democratic candidate Hubert Humphrey. Nixon resigned the presidency in 1974 to avoid the possibility of impeachment and removal from office, becoming the first US President to do so. His Vice President and successor as President Gerald Ford, later pardoned him for all offenses against the United States of America.

Answer: Australia

Peter William Thomson was born in Brunswick, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, in 1929. He won the British Open golf championship in 1954, 1955, 1956, 1958 and 1965. He is the only golfer to have won the British Open Championship in three consecutive years in the 20th century. He also won the New Zealand Open Championship nine times.

He never won the U.S. Open Championship and many of the top American players did not play in many of the British Open Championship's that he won. He did however beat American's Tony Lema, Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer in his last British Open Championship win in 1965.

Answer: Sir Anthony Eden

Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill was born at Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire, England, in 1874. He was the son of Lord Randolph Churchill, who was the third son of John Spencer-Churchill, the 7th Duke of Marlborough. Winston Churchill first became a member of parliament in 1900. In 1940, after numerous government posts he became the United Kingdom's Prime Minister in a coalition government during WWII. In the general election of 1945 he stood for parliament as leader of the Conservative party. Although Churchill won his own seat of Woodford in Essex, the Labour party won the election and Clement Attlee became Prime Minister.

In the third post WWII UK general election, the Conservative party led by Winston Churchill won with an overall majority of 17. In 1953, he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II and awarded the Nobel Prize in literature. After a stroke he resigned the office of Prime Minister in April 1955 and nominated Sir Anthony Eden to replace him as leader of the Conservative party and Prime Minister. In 1963 President John F. Kennedy proclaimed Churchill an Honorary Citizen of the United States and although he remained as a member of parliament until standing down at the 1964 general election, he was unable to attend the ceremony. In 1965 he suffered a severe stroke and died aged 90, he was given a state funeral.

Answer: 1

James Byron Dean was born in Marion, Indiana, USA, on February 8, 1931. He was killed instantly aged 24 when his car, a Porsche 550 Spyder hit a 1950 Ford Tudor near Cholame, California, on U.S. Route 466 (now route 46) on September 30 1955.

"East Of Eden" in which Dean played Cal Trask, was released on March 5, 1955. It starred Julie Harris as Abra and Raymond Massey as Adam Trask, it was directed by Elia Kazan. "Rebel Without A Cause" in which Dean played Jim Stark, was released on October 27, 1955. It starred Natalie Wood as Judy and Sal Mineo as John "Plato" Crawford, it was directed by Nicholas Ray. "Giant" in which Dean Played Jett Rink, was released on October 10, 1956. It starred Elizabeth Taylor as Leslie Lynnton Benedict and Rock Hudson as Jordan "Bick" Benedict Jr, it was directed by George Stevens.

James Dean was posthumously nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor in both "East Of Eden" and "Giant".

Answer: Blackboard Jungle

The movie "Blackboard Jungle" (1955) starred Glenn Ford as teacher Richard Dadier in an inner-city school, fighting apathy and anti-social behaviour. With Sydney Poitier as Gregory Miller , Vic Morrow as Artie West, Louis Calhern as Jim Murdock and Anne Francis as Anne Dadier. Also appearing was an unknown actor named Jameel Farah, later known as Jamie Farr who gained international fame as Corporal (later Sergeant) Maxwell Q. Klinger in the CBS TV sitcom M*A*S*H. "Blackboard Jungle" was directed by Richard Brooks.

"Rock Around The Clock" was written by Max C. Freedman/Jimmy De Knight (a pseudonym for James E. Myers) in 1952. There have been other songs with the same title but they are not related to this song. It does however bare some resemblance to a 1947 Hank William's song "Move It On Over" which itself is similar to a 1929 Charley Patton song "Going To Move To Alabama". We should give thanks to Glenn Ford's son Peter for buying "(We're Gonna) Rock Around The Clock" in 1954, as it was his copy that director Richard Brooks who also wrote the screenplay for "Blackboard Jungle" heard at Ford's house. It was subsequently used in the movie and became a world wide hit in 1955.

Answer: Melbourne

The voting to decide who would hold the 1956 Olympic games was held by the International Olympic Committee in Rome, Italy, in 1949. Melbourne, Australia, was the winner by one vote over Buenos Aires, Argentina. The equestrian events could not be held in Australia due to the quarantine regulations so they were held five months earlier in Stockholm, Sweden.

Egypt, Iraq and Lebanon boycotted the games because of the Suez canal crisis. The Netherlands, Spain and Switzerland withdrew in protest at the Soviet Union crushing the Hungarian revolution. Shortly before the games opened, The People's Republic of China (China) also withdrew from the event because the Republic of China (Taiwan) were being allowed to compete.

Answer: All Shook Up

"All Shook Up" was written by Otis Blackwell/Elvis Presley. It was number one for nine weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 and number one for seven weeks on the UK singles chart in 1957. It was his seventh US number one hit and his first UK number one hit and the only one of his number one hits on which he shared a writing credit.

There are a couple of different stories about the origin of the song. One is that Otis Blackwell wrote the song while working at Shalimar Music in 1956 when one of Shalimar's owners Al Stanton, shaking a bottle of Pepsi suggested "All Shook Up" would make a good basis for a song. Another story is that Elvis had a dream and after waking up all shook up, phoned a friend who then came up with the song.

Singer/actor David Hess under the name David Hill, recorded and released the song as "I'm All Shook Up" a few weeks before Elvis, on Aladdin Records which was founded in 1945 by brothers Eddie, Ira and Leo Mesner.

Answer: Juan Manuel Fangio

After setting the fastest time in practice for the 1958 Cuban Grand Prix, Fangio was kidnapped by two gunmen of Fidel Castro's 26th of July Movement in the Hotel Lincoln in Havana, Cuba. The motive for the kidnapping was to force the cancellation of the race (which did take place) and embarrass the regime of the then Cuban leader, President Batista. After being allowed by the kidnappers to listen to the race on the radio, Fangio was released unharmed 29 hours after being kidnapped.

Born Juan Manuel Fangio Déramo in Balcarce, Argentina in 1911, he was nicknamed El Chueco (The bowlegged one). He made his racing debut in 1938. Driving for four different teams (Alfa Romeo, Ferrari, Mercedes-Benz and Maserati), he won the drivers world championship five times. This record stood for 47 years until beaten by German driver Michael Schumacher. Fangio died of kidney failure and pneumonia in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 1995 aged 84.

The other three alternative choices in this question were all Italian born racing drivers.

Answer: Raymond Chandler

Raymond Chandler was born Raymond Thornton Chandler in Chicago, Illinois, USA, in 1888. He lost his job as an oil company executive during the great depression of the '30s. Alcoholism, absenteeism, suicide threats and his dalliances with female employees all contributed to his dismissal. After losing his job he decided to write detective fiction and had his first short story, "Blackmailers Don't Shoot", published in 1933. Chandler died of pneumonial peripheral vascular shock and prerenal uremia, at Scripps Memorial Hospital, La Jolla, California, USA, in 1959 aged 70.

Raymond Chandler created private eye Philip Marlowe who was introduced in Chandler's first novel "The Big Sleep", which was published in 1939. Marlowe was played by Humphrey Bogart in the 1946 movie version of the "The Big Sleep". Marlowe was portrayed two years earlier by Dick Powell in the 1944 movie "Murder My Sweet", adapted from Chandler's second novel featuring Philip Marlowe "Farewell My Lovely".

Dasheill Hammett created private detective Sam Spade, played by Humphrey Bogart in the best known, best loved third version of "The Maltese Falcon" (1941). Mickey Spillane created private detective Mike Hammer who has been played by various actors in movies including Spillane himself in "The Girl Hunters" (1963). He was played by Stacy Keach in the TV series "Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer" (1984-1987). S. S. Van Dine created private detective Philo Vance played by various actors on film including William Powell, Wilfrid Hyde-White and Basil Rathbone (before he became Sherlock Holmes in a series of 14 movies from 1939 and 1946).