What Happened in ...? (1980s edition) Quiz

Answer: Richard Pryor

Pryor had been drinking 151-proof rum (which is highly flammable) while using matches to heat the cocaine, and his daughter Rain claimed that he had poured the stuff all over himself while intoxicated. In any case, he ignited himself and ran out into the street, where police subdued him and took him to the hospital.

He spent six weeks in a burn unit recovering from the burns that affected over half his body. Later, he would use the incident as fodder for his stand-up comedy.

Answer: MTV

MTV premiered at 12:01 on August 1st with the words "Ladies and Gentlemen--rock and roll!" Everyone knows that the first video played on the new network was The Buggles' "Video Killed the Radio Star", but the SECOND video played was Pat Benatar's "You Better Run". Music Television is owned by Viacom.

Answer: Yuri Andropov

Andropov had been a former head of the KGB, and was responsible for the crushing of political dissent in Soviet Russia, among other unsavory acts (such as spreading disinformation and using "extreme measures" against reformers in Czechoslovakia). He made a lot of people in the West nervous, but he died just fifteen months after he was selected Secretary, of kidney failure.

Answer: The McNugget

Chicken McNuggets were introduced in India as part of McDonald's breakfast menu there. According to McDonald's ingredient lists, chicken breast makes up less than 50% of each McNugget, but they're certainly tasty. The Big Mac has been around since 1968, the McLean Deluxe started in 1991, and the Big N' Tasty came along in 1997.

EDIT: Thanks to haku4u, who noted that the McNugget had been released in America in 1980, then worldwide three years later.

Answer: The first woman vice-presidential candidate for a major party

Geraldine Ferraro, a representative from New York, became the first woman to run for vice-president in a major party. There had been other women who ran for high office (Victoria Woodhull was the first woman to declare for President, in 1872), but never with the backing of one of the parties that actually had a chance to win. 24 years later, the Republicans would nominate Alaska governor Sarah Palin for the same office.

Of course, looking back at 1984, Mondale/Ferraro never really had a chance to win, either. Incumbent Ronald Reagan was just too popular--he won 49 states and 525 out of 538 electoral votes.

Answer: A hole in the ozone layer

The ozone layer protects Earth life from potentially harmful radiation, so when the scientists discovered that ozone was being massively destroyed over Antarctica, there was a public uproar. Eventually, chlorofluorocarbons (CFC compounds, for short) were determined to be the biggest villain, and in 1989 the Montreal Protocol was ratified by United Nations members, phasing out the compounds.

Answer: One of the first two men to summit Everest

Norgay, a Nepali Sherpa, achieved the summit of Mount Everest with Edmund Hillary on May 29, 1953. The two men stayed there for only about fifteen minutes, long enough to take a few pictures and plant an ice axe with four flags (the UN, the UK, India and Nepal), then began the long descent. Earlier, Norgay had saved Hillary's life when the latter had plunged into a crevasse and the former had anchored his ice axe and belayed Hillary's rope. Norgay died of a cerebral hemorrhage in India at age 71.

Answer: The first appearance of The Simpsons

"The Simpsons" first appeared in a series of cartoon shorts on Tracey Ullman's variety show. They were successful, and in 1989 the concept was expanded to a half-hour show of its own, and became the first show for the Fox network to crack the top 30 in ratings.

As of 2009, "The Simpsons" was the longest-running primetime series in American television history, and has won 25 Emmys. In 1999, "Time" magazine named it the best television series of the 20th century.

Answer: Sonny Bono

Sonny Bono, best known for his marriage to and musical partnership with Cher ("I Got You Babe" and "The Beat Goes On"), ran for mayor of Palm Springs because he was angry at the local bureaucracy that wouldn't allow him to open a new restaurant. He later became a Republican congressman, representing the 44th congressional district of California. He died in a skiing accident in 1998.

Answer: Opening of the Berlin Wall

On November 9, East German spokesman Günter Schabowski stated during a press conference that those on the Soviet side of the wall would be allowed to travel to West Berlin. Soon, throngs of people gathered at the checkpoints and the border guards opened the gates, beginning the process of German Reunification.