Dates You Really Should Know, Part 3 Quiz

Answer: 1918

The 'War To End All Wars' was fought between 1914 and 1918. An armistice came into force at 11am on November 11th, 1918. The main belligerents were the 'Entente Powers', which comprised Russia, France, the British Empire, Italy, Japan and the United States; and the 'Central Powers', which comprised Germany, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and Bulgaria.

The Entente powers lost 5,525,000 dead, while the Central Powers lost 4,400,000. The war was fought in many parts of the world, but the main focus was the Western Front in France.

There, the two sides fought a bitter trench warfare, with ground being fought over, lost, won, regained and lost again many times. In the end, the entry of the USA into the war (in 1917) was probably the turning point. Faced with a seemingly unlimited supply of young soldiers - and with Germany virtually cut off from the outside world - the Central Powers agreed to what some historians regard as a humiliating armistice.

Answer: 1945

The first bomb, nicknamed "Little Boy", was dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima on August 6th, 1945. Three days later, "Fat Man" exploded over Nagasaki. By the end of that year, an estimated 220,000 people had died. The Allied authorities justified the attacks by saying that the number of military and civilian casualties would have been higher in a prolonged and bitterly opposed invasion of the main Japanese islands.

Answer: 2001

Almost 3,000 people died on September 11th, 2001 when terrorists hijacked four planes in US airspace. Two were crashed into the twin towers of the World Trade Centre in New York City and a third into the Pentagon building in Washington DC. The fourth crashed in farmland in Pennsylvania, after, it is thought, passengers fought with the hijackers.

Answer: 1908

The Model-T Ford is credited as being the first successfully mass-produced automobile. An estimated 15 million were made between 1908 and 1927 in a variety of body styles.

Answer: 1929

(Frequently used alternative to "Buddy" is "Brother"). October of 1929 saw the start of a series of disastrous trading days on Wall Street. The American economy - and the world's economy - had risen steadily throughout the 1920s. There was mini slump in September, but stock prices rallied, until, on October 28th, a slump began that was not to bottom out until 1932.

In that intervening period, 89 per cent was wiped off the value of shares in the US. Fortunes were lost throughout the world, and lives changed and ruined - some for ever.

Answer: 1989

The dysfunctional yellow family first appeared in short animated inserts on "The Tracey Ullman Show" in 1987. Fox TV thought they were worth more, and the first show of their very own aired on December 17, 1989. It went on to set a new record as the longest-running American sitcom and won a clutch of awards.

Answer: 1892

Between January 1st 1892 and its closure on November 12th 1954, Ellis Island, New York City, was the main point of entry for immigrants to the USA. It is thought that more than 12 million people entered through this portal.

Answer: 1964

Muhammad Ali (birth name Cassius Clay Jr) defeated Sonny Liston in 1964 to take the title for the first time. In a 61-fight career, Ali was defeated just five times, and was World Heavyweight champion on three occasions.

Answer: 1989

Almost immediately following the Allied victory over the Nazis that ended WW2, Germany was a divided land. There were various zones of influence that crystalized into Communist East Germany and the democratic West Germany. The Soviet dominance of East Germany meant that travel between the two 'sides' was restricted.

In 1961, work began to build a physical barrier that was nowhere more apparent than in Berlin were a huge wall was constructed. The barrier did not stop the attempts to escape from East to West, and many people died.

By the late 1980s, though, change was afoot in the Soviet Union and her communist neighbours. Glasnost had arrived and with it a lessening of the authoritarianism. In August 1989, Hungary removed the barrier to travel. Protests began in East Berlin.

Many people thought they would be repressed. Instead, the Government gave in and by November free travel was permitted. In June of 1990, the physical work of dismantling the Wall was complete.

Answer: 2008

The Large Hadron Collider was part of the biggest international physics experiment ever attempted. The aim, the scientists said, was to learn more about 'The Big Bang" that had created the universe. The experiment took place in a huge circular 17-mile tunnel on the border between France and Switzerland.

The idea was to collide particle beams in opposite directions and see what happened when they met. The switch was thrown on 10th September 2008, but the experiments were halted eight days later when a fault was diagnosed.

Answer: 1608

Quebec City is one of the oldest European settlements in North America and was founded by a Frenchman, Samuel de Champlain, in 1608, though there was a temporary settlement there as far back as 1535. The French and British fought over the city several times in the 1700s, and France eventually gave up their claims to the city in 1763.

Answer: 1973

The first plans for the new opera house were laid in the late 1940s, but the winning design wasn't accepted until 1957. Work began in 1958. It was completed in a series of stages and was officially opened on 20th October 1973 by Queen Elizabeth II. The first performance, later that day, was of Beethoven's Symphony No. 9.

The design was inspirational and innovative and required more than a few technical hurdles to be overcome. In 2007, it was recognised as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Answer: 1979

"The Iron Lady", as she was to become known, was a powerful politician who was Conservative Prime Minister for 11 years. Known for her tough economic policies, Mrs. Thatcher was credited with breaking the powers of several trades unions. Her finest hour, it was said, was when she refused to accept the Argentinian invasion of the Falkland Islands and ordered them to be retaken in one of the most remarkable military conflicts of the 20th century.

Answer: 1989

Pro-reform protests, largely by students, had been simmering in China for some time before they took over the square in the centre of Beijing. The unrest continued throughout April and May and it seemed the authorities were playing a waiting game, as the world looked on.

In early June, the Army moved in to clear the square and did so violently. Many students were reported shot dead, others wounded and many arrested. The number to die has always been disputed and estimates varied, with anything up to 10,000 suggested.

The true figure may never be known.

Answer: 1968

Dr Martin Luther King was the eloquent and charismatic leader of the Civil Rights movement in the USA. A Baptist minister by following, he worked tirelessly to achieve rights for Black people and was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize in 1964. He believed in working for change peacefully, and many people - black and white - flocked to his cause. On April 4th 1968 he was shot and killed in Memphis, Tennessee.

His "I have a dream" speech of on August 28th, 1963 has been hailed as one of the greatest addresses in America's history.