Major Events in My Lifetime: Part II Quiz

Answer: 1987

On May 28, 1987, the 18 year old West German amateur pilot Mathias Rust landed a Cessna aeroplane in Red Square, Moscow. He took off from Helsinki, informing air traffic control that he was flying to Stockholm, but headed for Moscow. He was tracked by Soviet Union air defenses and interceptors. Luckily, the Soviet Air Force was not given any orders to shoot the plane down. Upon landing he was sentenced to one year in prison and released in August 1988.

Answer: 1949

On September 21, 1949 Mao Zedong outlined a new Chinese Government. The conference was a celebration of the victory over the long the civil war against the National Chinese forces. The Nationalist forces lead by Chiang Kai-shek were forced to retreat the island of Taiwan, even though they had massive U.S. support.

It was on October 1, 1949 that Mao declared the People's Republic of China with the capital city being Beijing.

Answer: 1996

Dolly, a female domestic sheep was the first mammal cloned and was born July 5, 1996. The cloning was done using a process of nuclear transfer. She was cloned by colleagues at the University of Edinburg, Scotland. The reason given about the name Dolly was explained by Ian Wilmut as "Dolly is derived from a mammary gland and we couldn't think of a more impressive pair of glands than Dolly Parton's". Sadly, Dolly, the sheep, died in February, 2003 due to a lung disease.

Answer: 1960

On October 12, 1960 at a meeting of the UN General Assembly in New York, Nikita Khrushchev pounded his shoe on his delegate desk. This was in protest at a speech made by the Philippine delegate about the peoples of Eastern European being deprived of their human rights by the Soviet Union. Khrushchev first pounded his fists on the desk, then produced one of his shoes.

Oddly enough, not one unambiguously genuine photo of the incident can be found.

Answer: 1975

The capture of Saigon (capital of South Vietnam) by the People's Army of Vietnam and the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam on April 30, 1975, virtually ended the Vietnam War. This ended over 20 years of war in the region and this brought about the reunification of Vietnam. Saigon was renamed Ho Chi Minh City in 1976.

It is estimated there were over 3 million fatalities of civilians and military personnel during the war.

Answer: 1954

Roger Bannister from England was the first athlete to run a first-sub-minute mile. This was achieved on May 6, 1954 at the Iffley Road track in Oxford, England. British athletes Chris Chataway and Chris Brasher provided the pacing and Bannister crossed the line in 3min 59.4 sec. Just 46 days later the Australian athlete John Landy became the second person to break that four minute barrier with a time of 3min 57.9sec in Turku, Finland. Bannister went on to become a distinguished neurologist and Master at Pembroke College, Oxford.

Answer: 1974

The Terracotta Army is a collection of terracotta sculptures that were buried with the First Emperor of China (Qin Shi Huang) around 210 BC. The sculptures depicted his army and were buried beside him to protect him during his afterlife. The discovery was made by local farmers digging a water well in 1974 and it is estimated that there are 8,000 soldiers, 130 chariots and over 500 horses.

Answer: 2004

On December 26, 2004 an underground earthquake in the Indian Ocean devastated many coastlines in Asia killing over 230,000 people from 14 different countries. Many waves hit coastlines in excess of 30 metres high, making it one of the worst natural disasters in history.

Answer: 1967

Harold Holt (1908-1967) disappeared on December 17, 1967 while swimming at a secluded beach to the south of Melbourne, Australia. He was the 17th Prime Minister of Australia having taken office on January 26, 1966. His body has never been recovered and his memorial service in Melbourne on December 22, 1967 was attended by the US President, Lyndon B.Johnson, Charles, Prince of Wales, the British Prime Minister Harold Wilson and a number of Asian leaders.

In Los Angeles on May 3, 1969, the USS Harold E. Holt was launched, being the first American warship to be named after a foreign leader.

Answer: 1947

Chuck Yeager was a US P-51 fighter pilot during WWII. After the war he became a test pilot and on October 14, 1947 he became the first human to break the sound barrier. He also commanded fighter squadrons during the Vietnam War. The sound barrier or the speed of sound is the distance travelled per unit of time by a sound wave. The speed of sound for a kilometre is 2.914 sec.