20th Century History 1
1. Who was the longest serving British Prime Minister of the 20th century?
Margaret Thatcher
2. In 1960, Americans tuned in to the first ever televised debate between 2 Whitehouse candidates. Who were they?
Richard Nixon and JFK
3. The international treaty of friendship, co-operation and mutual assistance, signed in 1955 is better known by the name of the place that it was signed. Where was it signed?
Warsaw – the Warsaw pact
I4. n September 1985 there were riots in which part of London after a woman was accidentally shot by police?
Brixton
5. What famous UK 304-mile protest march took place in October 1936?
Jarrow Crusade
6. What was the name given to the Soviet forced labour camps which existed between 1930 and 1960?
Gulags
7. Where did 83 people die after a 51-day siege in 1993?
Waco
8. In 1908, the first boy scout troop was formed by who?
Robert Baden-Powell
9. Who was killed in 1965 in the Audubon Ballroom in NY by members of the Nation of Islam?
Malcolm X
10. Which member of the Royal Family was the victim of a kidnap attempt in 1974?
Princess Anne
20th Century History 2
1. Whose face did Time Magazine publish on their cover and declare him as "Man of the Year" on January 2nd 1939?
Adolf Hitler
2. Which political figure was murdered at his home in Mexico with an ice pick in August 1940?
Leon Trotsky
3. What costumes did the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre gunmen use as disguises in 1929?
Police uniforms
4. Rioting at what sporting event helped lead to a war, also known as the 100 hours war, between Honduras and El Salvador in 1969?
A Football Match
5. What important item never showed in official photos of US president Roosevelt during world war 2?
His wheelchair
6. Who was George Bush’s Vice President whilst he was in office between 1989 and 1993?
Dan Quayle
7. In World War 2, what types of planes were used by the Dambusters?
Lancaster
8. Who in September 1986 became the first Black man to lead the Anglican church in South Africa?
Desmond Tutu
9. Name the ex-construction worker whose video-taped beating by Los Angeles police and their initial subsequent acquittals sparked the 1992 Los Angeles Riots?
Rodney King
10. On 31st October 1973, 3 members of the IRA escaped from Mountjoy prison in Dublin on what type of hijacked transport?
A helicopter
20th Century History 3
1. Which English politician made his ‘Rivers of Blood’ Speech in April 1968?
Enoch Powell
2. The treaty of Versailles was the most important of the treaties that ended which war?
World War 1
3. In 1953, Sir Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing became the first people to reach the summit of Mount Everest. Which country did Edmund Hillary come from?
New Zealand
4. On March 31st 1990, 200 thousand protesters took to the streets of London to protest against what?
The Poll Tax
5. The Mills bomb, invented in 1915 and still widely used today is better known as what?
Hand grenade
6. What was the name of Hitler’s deputy in the Nazi party who flew to Scotland in 1941 to negotiate peace and was taken prisoner?
Rudolf Hess
7. What is the fruity name of the temporary harbours invented in Britain to aid with the D-day landings?
Mulberry harbours
8. The genocide of Tutsi people by Hutu militia in 1994 was in which country?
Rwanda
9. Who, in 1995 was found not guilty of the murder of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Coleman?
OJ Simpson
10. Iceland gained its independence from which country in 1944?
Denmark
20th Century History 4
1. In which country did the Hindenburg burn up on landing in 1937?
America
2. Algeria became independent from which European country in 1962 after over 100 years of rule?
France
3. Intelligence services from which country sank the Greenpeace ship Rainbow warrior in New Zealand in 1985?
France
4. The World War 2 Battle of the Ardennes is better known by what name?
Battle of the bulge
5. In 1956, England and France bombed which country over the Suez crisis?
Egypt
6. The Titanic had 2 sister ships, what are their names?
Olympic and Brittanic
7. What was the name of the special envoy to the Archbishop of Canterbury, held hostage in Lebanon from 1987-1991?
Terry Waite
8. The 28th October 1929 and the 19th October 1987 both share which nickname?
Black Monday
9. Which two public figures were assassinated in the United States in 1968?
Martin Luther King, Robert Kennedy
10. The US vice president served as acting president in 1985 for 8 hours whilst Ronald Reagan was in hospital, but who was that Vice president?
George Bush
20th Century History 5
1. What did the Queen and president Mitterand of France open on 6th May 1994?
The Channel tunnel
2. Which southern African nation ousted its long-time dictator, Hastings Banda, in 1994?
Malawi
3. In 1963 Christine Keeler was arrested for her part in which political scandal?
Profumo Affair
4. Which 20th century war began with a pre-dawn raid over the 38th parallel?
Korean
5. Which war was fought from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939?
Spanish civil war
6. Which 20th Century American president was the youngest to ever be elected to office?
John F Kennedy
7. Which German city endured the worst bombing of World War Two in February 1945?
Dresden
8. In June 1914, archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated where?
Sarajevo
9. What was the name of the politician who started the British Union of Fascists, who were known as the blackshirts, in the 1930’s?
Oswald Mosley
10. The political party, the Kuomintang ruled which country between 1928 and 1949?
China
20th Century History 6
1. Papa Doc and Baby Doc were controversial 20th Century rulers of which country?
Haiti
2. In 1957, who accepted an invitation to become prime minister after the resignation of Anthony Eden?
Harold Macmillan
3. Which came first? Star trek or Prozac?
Star trek
4. Piper what was a North Sea oil platform destroyed by an explosion in 1976?
Alpha
5. During World War 2, life jackets were named after which actress?
Mae West
6. What British military campaign took place between 10th July and 31st October 1940?
Battle of Britain
7. In which month of 1963 was JFK assassinated?
November
8. What items were issued to British pilots in World War ll, which could be soaked in water and unfold to reveal a map for escape if the pilot was captured?
Playing cards
9. In which country is Gallipoli where there was a large invasion of allied forces in 1915 during WW1?
Turkey
10. 999 is introduced as the emergency number in the UK, the Hindenburg goes up in flames and Neville Chamberlain becomes PM. Name the year.
1937
20th Century History 7
1. What ship was destroyed by fire in Hong Kong harbour in 1972 during major restorations?
RMS Queen Elizabeth
2. What was founded by the Gang of 4 in 1981?
SDP (Social Democratic party)
3. Which US president was in office during the Cuban Missile crisis?
JFK
4. Who was the British PM from May 1937 to May 1940?
Neville Chamberlain
5. In 1923 the world’s largest circulation weekly news magazine was first published. What is it called?
Time
6. After the invasion of Poland, which Nordic country was the next country to be invaded by the Germans in World War II?
Denmark
7. Which country was the site of most of the Nazi extermination camps during WW2?
Poland
8. Refugees from which country gave rise to the term boat people?
Vietnam
9. The Carnation revolution was a military coup in which European country in 1974?
Portugal
10. Who captained the ship The Discovery in 1901?
Captain Scott
1960's History
1. Who in October 1963 succeeded Harold MacMillan as Prime Minister of the UK?
Alec Douglas-Hume
2. In 1964, Jack Ruby was found guilty of killing Lee Harvey Oswald, who was the alleged assassin of which famous person?
John F Kennedy
3. Who became American president after the assassination of John F Kennedy in 1963?
Lyndon B Johnson
4. Who, as the first chairman of the British Rail Board, infamously directed the huge reduction in railway lines across the UK in the 1960s?
Richard Beeching
5. Which Kennedy, brother of John F Kennedy was the only survivor of a 1964 plane crash in Massachusetts?
Edward/Teddy
6. What was the name of the craft in which John Glenn first orbited the Earth in 1962?
Friendship 7
7. In which city was Martin Luther King assassinated in 1968?
Memphis
8. What was the name of the super tanker that ran aground between Land’s End and the Scilly Isles in March 1967?
Torrey Canyon
9. By what name did Malaya, Sabah, Sarawak and Singapore become known in 1963?
Malaysia
10. Australian Prime minister Harold Holt disappeared in 1967 doing what?
Swimming in the sea
1970's History
1. 31st July 1970 was “Black tot today” which was the last day that the Royal Navy issued what drink to the men?
Rum
2. Which country was Yitzhak Rabin Prime Minister of between 1974 and 1977?
Israel
3. In 1979 the Sandinista rebels overthrew the government in which country?
Nicaragua
4. Murderer David Berkowitz was captured and convicted of multiple shootings in 1977. What was his nickname that he was known by after using the name to sign his letters to the police?
Son of Sam
5. Surveyor 1, launched in 1976 was the first craft to do what?
Land on the moon
6. Who in January 1977 became the 39th President of the USA?
Jimmy Carter
7. In 1975, the TV presenter and co-founder of the Guinness book of records was shot and killed outside his home. What was his name?
Ross McWhirter
8. In March 1977, India’s Missionaries of Charity chose Sister Nirmala to succeed who as its leader?
Mother Theresa
9. In which airport in 1976, was there a hijacked airbus which was stormed by Israeli commandos killing all 7 hijackers?
Entebbe
10. What is the name of the South African Black Consciousness Movement Leader that died in police custody in 1977?
Steve Biko
1980's History 1
1. Which city was Terry Waite staying in at the time of his disappearance in 1987?
Beirut
2. In which desert did Mark Thatcher famously get lost in 1982?
Sahara
3. Which London store was bombed by the IRA during the 1983 Christmas shopping rush?
Harrods
4. Which London-based airline went bankrupt in February 1982, leaving 6,000 stranded passengers?
Laker
5. In which Indian city did a leak of poisonous gas kill 2000 people in 1984?
Bhopal
6. In 1982, John Hinkley was found not guilty of the attempted murder of which political figure?
Ronald Reagan
7. In December 1989 which Romanian dictator and his wife were executed after being found guilty for crimes against humanity?
Nicolae Ceausescu
8. On 1st March 1981, which IRA member began a hunger strike resulting in his death on May 5th?
Bobby Sands
9. Solidarity was an important trade union in which country in the 1980’s?
Poland
10. Which British Defence Secretary resigned over the ‘Westland Affair’ in 1986?
Michael Heseltine
1980's History 2
1. Who in the UK was found guilty of thirteen murders at the Old Bailey in May 1981?
Peter Sutcliffe
2. Which 1983 Nobel Peace Prize winner decided to send his wife to Oslo to accept the prize because he feared he would not be readmitted to his homeland?
Lech Walesa
3. Where did Matthias Rust famously land his light aircraft in 1987?
Red Square
4. What Russian word beginning with P and meaning 'restructuring' was a political movement in the 1980s?
Perestroika
5. Who served as Acting President for eight hours, while the President underwent colon cancer surgery?
U.S. Vice President George H. W. Bush
6. Which former US pop singer was elected Mayor of Palm Springs, California, in April 1988?
Sonny Bono
7. In May 1982, during the Falklands war, which became the first Royal Navy ship to be sunk by enemy action since WW2?
HMS Sheffield
8. Which country did the US bomb on April 15th 1986 under the codename Operation El Dorado Canyon?
Libya
9. What ship gained notoriety when it spilt oil over Prince William Sound in 1989?
Exxon Valdez
10. What did France in 1981, The Netherlands in 1982, Australia in 1985 and New Zealand in 1989 abolish?
The death penalty
1990's History
1. What did Russia launch into space in 1993, saying that it would bring light to Northern cities?
A Mirror
2. July 31st 1998, the UK government announced a ban on what kind of explosive devices?
Land mines
3. What is the name of the cult leader whose ranch in Waco, Texas was burnt down by the FBI in 1993
David Koresh
4. In 1997, Madeline Albright became the first woman to hold which post in the American Government?
Secretary of State
5. Paul Keating served as a PM of which country from 1991 to 1996?
Australia
6. John Bryan was photographed kissing which Royal's toes in 1992?
The Duchess of York/Sarah Ferguson
7. What 1992 treaty led to the creation of the Euro?
Maastricht
8. In June 1994 Bill Clinton and which Russian president signed a series of treaties known as the “Kremlin accords”?
Boris Yeltsin
9. In the 1991 Gulf war, what missiles did the allies use against the Iraqi Scuds?
Patriots
10. Who won the Nobel Peace prize in 1993 with Nelson Mandela?
FW de Klerk