Dates You Really Should Know, Part 2 Quiz

Answer: 1974

A native of California, the Republican Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the USA. He was the first, and only, incumbent to resign from the office. He won the 1968 presidential election and won a second term four years later. However, his presidency became mired in controversy after the Democratic Party headquarters at the Watergate Hotel in Washington DC were burgled. Nixon was ultimately implicated and quit on August 9, 1974.

He was succeeded by Gerald Ford, who issued a presidential pardon for any crimes Nixon had committed. In a press conference in November 1963 Nixon said: "People have got to know whether or not their president is a crook. Well, I'm not a crook. I've earned everything I've got."

Answer: 1940

In the early years of WWII, Hitler's armies swept all before them in Europe. As country after country fell, only Britain remained defiant. After the British were forced to withdraw from France, Winston Churchill, the Prime Minister, declared "The Battle of France is over. I expect the Battle of Britain is about to begin".

Historians date the start of the Battle of Britain to July 1940. The Battle of Britain became associated with the German Luftwaffe's attempts to wipe out the Royal Air Force in aerial battles over the south of England, London and other cities.

This phase of the war lasted until October 1940. Around 500 British aircrew died. The Germans lost around 2,500. The Germans had twice as many aircraft as the RAF. Churchill is said to have uttered the famous phrase: 'Never in the field of human conflict has so much been owed by so many to so few' after visiting an RAF control centre in August 1940.

Answer: 1941

The quote in the question was by US President Franklin D. Roosevelt after Japanese planes launched a no-warning attack on the US fleet anchored at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. It was a shocking single event that propelled an until then reluctant America into WW2. The date was December 7th, 1941.

Answer: 1912

"Dance band on the Titanic
Sing "Nearer, my God, to Thee"
The iceberg's on the starboard bow
Won't you dance with me..."
That was Harry Chapin's take on the sinking of the RMS Titanic when she struck an iceberg on her maiden voyage in April 1912. (Let's not get tangled up in the controversy over whether or not 'Nearer My God To Thee' was the last music played as the giant ship went down, taking with her more than 1,500 of her passengers and crew.)

Answer: 1955

"If you miss me at the back of the bus
You can't find me nowhere
Oh, come on over to the front of the bus
Because I'll be riding up there
I'll be riding up there, I'll be riding up there
Come on over to the front of the bus
Because I'll be riding up there"
Lyrics by Carver Neblet
In may parts of the southern USA until the mid 1960s, segregation applied to many aspects of life - including buses. African-American people were confined to the seats at the back of the bus and were supposed to give up seats to whites. On December 1, 1955 in Montgomery, Alabama, Rosa Parks, a coloured woman refused to give up her seat, and while she was not the first to do so, her actions were to spark a massive upsurge in the demand of civil rights.

Answer: 1990

A leader of the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa, Nelson Mandela was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1964. He spent 27 years in jail until he was released on February 2, 1990. He subsequently became the first elected non-white President of the Republic of South Africa. He published his autobiography, 'Long Walk to Freedom', in 1994.

Answer: 1916

The short-lived Easter Rising began on Easter Monday, April 24, 1916 when militant Irishmen rose up against British colonial rule. They seized a number of locations in Dublin, including the General Post Office, but the rebellion was crushed within a week.

Many of the leaders were tried and sentenced to death. Irish comedian Dara O'Briain claimed in one of his stand-up routines that the rebels timed the rising for Easter Monday so that it would take the holidaymaking British rulers longer to find out about it.

Answer: 1876

The second telephone conversation was probably: "Hello, sir, would you like to buy some double glazing?"
There was a flurry of invention and rivalry to "invent' a means of transmitting sound over electrical wires. Alexander Graham Bell filed his papers with the US Patent Office on March 7, 1876. Three days later that famous sentence was uttered by Bell to his associate, Watson, who was in the next room.

Answer: 1907

Wayne's birth name was Marion Robert Morrison (doesn't everyone on Funtrivia know that?). He was born in Iowa, but his family moved to California. Wayne had a varied early working career - and wouldn't things have been so different had he not been rejected by the US Navy? A summer job at movie studios led to bit parts, and then a long-time friendship with the director John Ford and one of the most glittering of movie careers. Wayne played all-action heroes, whether they were cowboys or soldiers.

The quote "Don't apologize - it's a sign of weakness" came from the 1949 western "She Wore A Yellow Ribbon". Wayne became an icon and was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal in 1979. Despite his huge number of movies, he won only one Oscar, for "True Grit" in 1969.

Answer: 1954

For decades, athletes dreamed of running a mile in under four minutes. That feat was achieved by the British runner Roger Bannister at Iffley Road Track, Oxford, on May 6th 1954. He recorded a time of 3mins 59.4 seconds.

Answer: 1903

Steering clear of all the controversy that disputes the claim the Wilbur and Orville were the first to achieve powered heavier-than-air flight, it is a fact that they did take to the air in a powered machine at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, in December 1903. They are officially credited with inventing "three-axis control", the means by which a machine could take off, be steered and land.

Answer: 1964

Muhammad Ali's birth name was Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr. (doesn't everyone on Funtrivia know that?). He was born in Louisville, Kentucky in 1942, After winning an Olympic boxing gold at Rome in 1960 he subsequently turned professional, and won the world heavyweight titles for the first of three times when he defeated the holder Sonny Liston in February 1964. During his career, he won 56 and lost five of his 61 bouts. Ali was known for the way he would verbally antagonise his opponents outside the ring.

Answer: 1892

Situated on the Hudson River outside New York City, Ellis Island was for more than 60 years the main point of entry for immigrants to the USA. It is estimated that between 1892 and 1954 (when it closed) 12 million people passed though Ellis Island. "The new structure on Ellis Island, built of "Georgia pine", opened on January 1, 1892; Annie Moore, a 15 year-old Irish girl, accompanied by her two brothers entered history and a new country as she was the very first immigrant to be processed at Ellis Island on January 2." [www.ellisisland.org]

Answer: 1989

"The Simpsons" first appeared as an animated sketch "The Tracey Ullman Show" in April 1987. The dysfunctional yellow family living in the fictional Springfield, subsequently got their own half-hour TV show on Fox Broadcasting - and then went on to conquer the world.

Answer: 1963

In 1963, Britain was transfixed by the Profumo scandal when it transpired that the Secretary of State for War, John Profumo, had an affair with a "showgirl" called Christine Keeler, who was the mistress of a Soviet spy. Profumo was asked about it in the House of Commons, and lied: he said he had not had an affair with Keeler. When that lie was exposed, he had to resign. The quote in the question was made by Keeler's friend and fellow "showgirl", Mandy Rice-Davies. In a court case against a man charged with living off the immoral earnings of Keeler and Rice-Davies, it was put to Rice-Davies that Lord Astor would deny having an affair with her. She replied: " "Well he would, wouldn't he?".
All of which gives me the chance to quote from the song written by Phil Ochs about the affair.
"Christine Keeler and Mandy Rice-Davies,
You're the gals for me.
Christine Keeler and Mandy Rice-Davies,
I'll keep you company.

You can have your Marilyn, your Carolyn, your Jacqueline.
Grace Kelly never meant that much to me-
Just give me
Christine Keeler and Mandy Rice-Davies,
You're the gals for me. (I'll give you secrets)
And you're the gals for me..."