Fun Facts about the Year 1983 Trivia Quiz

Answer: Beirut

The devasting attack on the US Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon is considered by many to be the first use of direct attacks on US targets by radical Islamic Jihadist terrorists. The 63 dead marked the highest toll at a US Embassy attack to date. Sadly, the 1998 bombing of the US Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya (on the same day that another attack was perpetrated in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania) eclipsed the Beirut figure, as 212 peole were killed.

The 1979 Iranian Hostage Crisis occured between 1979-1981 and had a much happier ending as the hostages were returned unharmed. Embassy violence is not limited to the US.

In 2009 the Indian Embassy in Afghanistan was bombed causing 17 deaths and over 60 injuries.

Answer: Shot down over Russia by the Soviet Air Force

On September 1, 1983, a Soviet SU-15 shot down the Korean civilian 747 airliner. All 269 passengers on board perished, including US Congressman Lawrence MacDonald. Korean authorities publicly stated the plane had mistakenly strayed off its intended course by some 365 miles due to a pilot's error in programming the navigation system.

Unfortunately, the plane entered Soviet territory over the Kamchatka peninsula where submarines were located and, on the night of the flight, a secret test of an SS-25 Soviet missile was reportedly planned.

A U.S. RC-135 spy plane was in the area, and it is assumed the Soviets believed they were destroying the RC-135 or a civilian version of a spy plane. Tensions between the US and USSR were pushed to high levels by the action but, uncharacteristically, rhetoric by both Cold War parties receded without escalation.

As a result of the KAL 007 incident the US government agreed to release its new Global Positioning System (GPS) for civilian use when completed.

Answer: Adolf Hitler

The "Hitler Diaries", a series of 60 small books that were alleged to contain the writings of the reviled Nazi Germany leader were purchased by the "Stern" magazine for 9M Deutschmarks (roughly 3.5M USD at the time) from unnanmed sources. The documents were supposedly authenticated and handwriting verified by experts hired by the magazine. Within days of the diaries release questions as to authenticity were raised.

By the middle of May 1983 the German Federal Archives had declared the diaries grotesque fakes made on modern paper filled with obvious historical inaccuracies.

The scandal caused not only editors at "Stern" to resign but also editors of the UK's "Sunday Times" and US magazine "Newsweek". The hoax led to several books, movies and a multi-episode British television mini-series.

Answer: Karen Carpenter

Karen, along with her brother Richard, formed the powerhouse team the "Carpenters" and recorded many of the top easy listening pop songs of the 1970s. The Carpenters' list of hits including "They Long to Be Close to You," "We've Only Just Begun," "Rainy Days and Mondays," and "Yesterday Once More." Unbeknown to her fans, the increasingly self-concious Karen suffered from anorexia nervosa, an eating disorder, which was little known at the time.

She died at age 32 from heart failure caused by complications related to her illness. Carpenter's death led to increased visibility and awareness of eating disorders. Janis Joplin died in 1970 from a drug overdose. Motown star Mary Wells died of cancer in 1992; Mama Cass Elliot of the "Mamas and the Papas" died also at 32 from heart failure in 1974.

Answer: Sean Connery

"Never Say Never" was essentially a remake of the 1965 Bond movie Thunderball. The film was made outside of Eon Studios and the Bond production team. Connery had not played Bond for 12 years. The supporting cast was excellent and the film brought back a sense of old school Bond that many felt was missing from the 1980's offerings by Eon Films. Never Say Never Again performed well at the box office but sadly Sir Sean chose not to don the tuxedo for any more films. George Lazenby starred in one film as James Bond (In Her Majesty's Secdret Service); while Woody Allen also starred as the nephew of the venerable Bond in the more spoofish 1967 version of Casino Royale. Roger Moore performed the role of James Bond in 7 movies including "Octopussy" released also in 1983.

Answer: First US female and African-American astronauts in space

Sally Ride bacame the first American woman and third woman overall in space during the June 18, 1983 Space Shuttle Challenger flight. Later that same year Guion Bluford became the first African-American astronaut when he took flight on August 30th also on the Challenger. Famously, John Glenn was the oldest person in space at 77; while Ghermann Titov of the USSR was the youngest person in space at 25 years 9 months. Valentina Tereshkova who was only 26 years and 3 months was the first woman in space. NASA actually launched two married astronauts into space but not until 1992 when the then-married Mark Kee and Jan Davis blasted off with crewmates on the space shuttle Endeavour.

In 2008 Robert Garriot became the first American child of a NASA astronaut (father Owen Garriot flew in 1973 and 1985) when he paid 30 million dollars to Russia to fly him to the International Space Station.

Answer: Thriller

Jackson's album also named "Thriller" was released in 1982 and became the highest selling album of all time. Of the seven songs that Jackson released as singles the title track's video was named the Greatest Music Video of All-Time by the "Guinness Book of World Records" in 2006 and has been viewed an estimated 4 billion times.

The Thriller video is 13 minutes and 43 seconds long and combined Jackson's talents with horror movie legends Vincent Price (spoken words), Rick Baker (makeup) and John Landis (director). "Beat It" and "Billie Jean" were also released in 1983 and are amongst the top videos of all time. "Fat" is a parody video of Jackson's charttopping song "Bad" that earned Wierd Al Yankovic a Grammy for "Best Concept Video" in 1988.

Answer: Lech Walesa

Walsea was born in Popwa, Poland in 1943 and trained as an electrian. He worked in the docks of Gdansk until being fired in the 1970's for instigating workers' rights activism. In 1979 he led the Gdansk shipyard workers in a strike that forced the Polish government to establish the right to a free trade union called "Solidarity".

The Union was disbanded during a period of martial law in 1982 and Walesa was imprisioned; but martial law was lifted in July 1983. Walesa received the 1983 Peace Prize and continued to lead the revivied Solidarity.

When "Glosnost" in Poland permitted the election of non-Communists to office Walesa was elected President of Poland and served as such from 1990-1995. General Koscuiszko was an instrumental leader of the American Revolution; while Karol Wojtyla is better known as Pope John Paul II. Milosz was a Polish author and poet who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1980.

Answer: M*A*S*H

The final episode of the Korean War comedy aired in over 50 million households. The "New York Times" reported the audience at 125 million while Nielsen and other estimates give the number to between 106 million and 121 million. The M*A*S*H finale, directed by series star, Alan Alda was watched by 77% of the homes that watched TV that night. Until 2010 the M*A*S*H finale was considered the most watched show on US television. "Dallas" was the top show of 1983 and the episode entitled "Who Done It" (revealing the shooter of JR, broadcast on November 21, 1980) was for a time the highest rate TV episode. "All in the Family" dominated the ratings for US television shows in the 1970's and ran its final episode on April 8, 1979. "Cheers" was also an immensely popular show during the 1980's and early 1990's.

Its final episode on May 20, 1993 was the most watched show of that year.

Answer: Denzel Washington

Denzel Washington and Pauletta Pearson were married on June 23, 1983 and have four children. Washington won the 1990 Best Supporting Actor Oscar for "Glory" and the 2002 Best Actor Oscar for "Training Day". Tom Hanks also a two time Oscar winner married his second wife, Rita Wilson on April 30, 1988. De Niro who has also won two acting Oscars (as of 2012)married his second wife Grace Hightower on June 17, 1997. Lorenzo Lamas has not won an Oscar, but he was nominated for a Razzie Award in 1985 for a forgetful performance in something called "Body Rocks".

However, Lamas was married to the second of his 5 wives, Michelle Smith, on May 22, 1983. Ironically, that is the same day the author of this quiz was married to his first (and only) wife.