50 Fun Facts About 1969

Which Beatle did a 1969 campus rumor claim had died and been replaced by a lookalike?

Paul McCartney cooled the rumor with a Life magazine interview that November. By then fans around the world were hunting for clues in Beatles lyrics and album covers.

Which astronaut orbited the Moon alone while Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on it in July 1969?

Michael Collins lost radio contact with Earth for 48 minutes of every orbit as Columbia passed behind the Moon. He said he felt not loneliness but "almost exultation".

Which fast-food chain did Dave Thomas open in Columbus, Ohio, in November 1969?

Wendy's sold square patties whose corners stuck out of the round bun, to give the impression of plentiful meat. Thomas later wrote that he regretted using his daughter's name.

Which drama with Jon Voight and Dustin Hoffman is the only X-rated film ever to win Best Picture?

Midnight Cowboy pairs a naive hustler with an ailing con man nicknamed Ratso. It also won the Oscars for Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay.

Which children's series set on a city block full of Muppets debuted on public TV in November 1969?

Sesame Street set out to use the techniques of television commercials to teach young children. It grew out of 1966 talks between producer Joan Ganz Cooney and Lloyd Morrisett.

Which guitarist closed Woodstock on Monday morning with a feedback-drenched "Star-Spangled Banner"?

Jimi Hendrix used feedback and distortion to imitate the sounds of rockets and bombs. Rain delays had pushed his festival-closing set back to 8:30 a.m.

Which polluted Ohio river caught fire in Cleveland in June 1969, spurring the environmental movement?

The Cuyahoga caught fire more than a dozen times over the years, and no photographs of the 1969 blaze are known to exist. A spark from a passing rail car lit an oil slick.

Which cartoon Great Dane began solving mysteries with four teenagers on CBS in September 1969?

Scooby-Doo was the CBS answer to parent groups who had protested violent superhero cartoons. The writers briefly made him a sheepdog, fearing a Great Dane would look too much like Marmaduke.

Which supersonic airliner made its first flight from Toulouse in March 1969?

Concorde was beaten into the air by the Soviet Tu-144, which first flew two months earlier. Test pilot André Turcat was at the controls of the French-built prototype.

Which quarterback guaranteed a win before leading the underdog Jets past the Colts in Super Bowl III?

Joe Namath made his guarantee three days before the game at the Miami Touchdown Club, answering a heckling Colts fan. The Jets won 16–7, the first Super Bowl victory for the American Football League.

Which senator's car plunged off a Chappaquiddick Island bridge in July 1969, killing Mary Jo Kopechne?

Ted Kennedy pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of an accident and received a two-month suspended jail sentence. His driver's license was suspended for sixteen months.

Which actress married to Roman Polanski was murdered by followers of Charles Manson in August 1969?

Sharon Tate was eight and a half months pregnant when she and four others were killed at her Benedict Canyon home. Polanski was away working on a film in Europe.

A June 1969 police raid on which Greenwich Village bar set off the riots that Pride marches mark?

The Stonewall Inn raid was the kind police carried out routinely on gay bars in the 1960s. The first anniversary brought the first Gay Pride marches in US history.

What did Richard Nixon call the Americans whose support he sought in a November 1969 address on Vietnam?

The silent majority was Nixon's name for Americans who did not join the large antiwar demonstrations. The phrase had been used decades earlier of Calvin Coolidge's supporters.

Which former US president died in March 1969 and was buried in his boyhood hometown of Abilene, Kansas?

Dwight Eisenhower, the general who commanded the D-Day invasion, went home on a special funeral train from Washington. He lies in a chapel at his presidential center in Abilene.

Which Milwaukee-raised former teacher became prime minister of Israel in March 1969?

Golda Meir was the first woman to lead Israel's government. Born in Kyiv, she reached Milwaukee as a child in 1906 and trained there as a teacher.

Which young army officer toppled King Idris of Libya in a bloodless coup in September 1969?

Muammar Gaddafi led a band of junior officers who called themselves the Free Officers. He went on to rule Libya for 42 years, until rebels overthrew him in 2011.

Which former island prison did Native American activists occupy for 19 months from November 1969?

Alcatraz was claimed under an 1868 treaty that the activists said returned abandoned federal land to Native peoples. Of the 89 who set out on the first night, a Coast Guard blockade let only 14 land.

Which Hollywood star, signed by MGM at age 13, died in London in June 1969 at the age of 47?

Judy Garland died of an accidental barbiturate overdose, 30 years after she played Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz.

Which May 1969 battle in Vietnam's A Shau Valley captured a position that US command abandoned soon afterwards?

Hamburger Hill, officially Hill 937, got its nickname from US soldiers who said the fight ground men up like hamburger meat. The ridge, won by a costly frontal assault, had little strategic value.

Which 1969 Beatles album shows the band walking across a London zebra crossing on its cover?

Abbey Road was the last album the Beatles recorded, although Let It Be was released after it. The studio beside the famous crossing was then officially named EMI Studios.

In which city's Hilton did John Lennon and Yoko Ono stage their first bed-in for peace in March 1969?

Amsterdam was the couple's honeymoon stop, and for a week they invited the world's press into their suite from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. each day.

Which David Bowie single about astronaut Major Tom was rush-released days before Apollo 11 launched?

Space Oddity was used by the BBC as background music during its coverage of the Moon landing. The title was partly inspired by the film 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Which cartoon band from the comics town of Riverdale had the top US single of 1969, "Sugar, Sugar"?

The Archies were drawings, so session musicians made the records, with Ron Dante singing lead. The song ranked number one for the year in both America and the UK.

Which British band founded by guitarist Jimmy Page released its self-titled debut in January 1969?

Led Zeppelin recorded the album in just 36 hours of studio time, before the group had a record deal. Page and manager Peter Grant paid for the sessions themselves.

Which Rolling Stones founder drowned in his swimming pool in July 1969, weeks after being dismissed?

Brian Jones was 27 when he died at Cotchford Farm, his home in East Sussex. Guitarist Mick Taylor had already taken his place in the group.

At which California speedway did a free Rolling Stones concert turn deadly in December 1969?

Altamont is remembered for the Hells Angels who guarded the stage, by some accounts in return for $500 worth of beer. One concertgoer, Meredith Hunter, was killed.

Which brothers from Gary, Indiana, released their Motown debut single "I Want You Back" in October 1969?

The Jackson 5 saw the song become their first number-one hit in January 1970. They had already sung it on The Ed Sullivan Show in December 1969.

Which dairy farmer leased a field in Bethel to the organizers of the 1969 Woodstock festival?

Max Yasgur stepped in after two other towns turned the festival away, for a fee its sponsors later put at $10,000. Many neighbors turned against him, but he never regretted it.

Which Frank Sinatra signature song, released in 1969, has English lyrics Paul Anka set to a French tune?

My Way began as "Comme d'habitude" ("As Usual"), a French song Claude François released in 1967. Paul Anka wrote the English version for Sinatra.

Which actor played the Sundance Kid opposite Paul Newman's Butch Cassidy in the hit 1969 Western?

Robert Redford got the part after Steve McQueen backed out over disagreements with Newman. Warren Beatty turned it down, saying the film was too similar to Bonnie and Clyde.

Which 1969 Western won John Wayne his only Oscar, for playing one-eyed marshal Rooster Cogburn?

True Grit was adapted from Charles Portis's 1968 novel, and its success led Wayne to play the lawman again in a 1975 sequel.

Which 1969 road film stars Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper as bikers heading to New Orleans for Mardi Gras?

Easy Rider cost about $400,000 to shoot and earned $60 million worldwide. Hopper also directed, and Jack Nicholson appears in a supporting role.

Which 1969 sitcom follows a widower with three sons who marries a mother of three daughters?

The Brady Bunch was never a ratings hit during its five seasons on ABC. It found its audience later, as a syndicated staple for children and teenagers.

Which British comedy troupe first brought its "Flying Circus" to BBC television in October 1969?

Monty Python settled on the name only after weighing titles such as Owl Stretching Time and The Toad Elevating Moment. Several rejects were later used as episode titles.

Which science-fiction series did NBC cancel in 1969, only for reruns to make it a phenomenon?

Star Trek aired its last original episode on June 3, 1969, after 79 episodes and low Nielsen ratings. Syndication in the 1970s turned it into a cult classic.

Which Mario Puzo novel about the Corleone crime family was published in March 1969?

The Godfather stayed on The New York Times Best Seller list for 67 weeks and sold over nine million copies in two years.

Which Kurt Vonnegut novel of 1969 follows Billy Pilgrim through the Allied firebombing of Dresden?

Slaughterhouse-Five draws on Vonnegut's own survival of the raid as an American prisoner of war held in the German city.

Which author-illustrator published the collage picture book The Very Hungry Caterpillar in 1969?

Eric Carle got the idea from a hole punch in his studio. His first version starred a bookworm named Willi who ate his way through the pages.

Which ukulele-strumming falsetto singer married Miss Vicki on The Tonight Show in December 1969?

Tiny Tim was best known for his 1968 hit cover of "Tiptoe Through the Tulips", a song from a 1929 musical. NBC estimated that at least 30 million people watched the wedding.

Which baseball team with no previous winning season upset Baltimore in the 1969 World Series?

The New York Mets lost 120 games in their first season, 1962, and had never finished above ninth place before 1969. The title earned them the nickname the Miracle Mets.

Which Brazilian scored his 1,000th career goal from a penalty at the Maracanã in November 1969?

Pelé scored it against Vasco da Gama, a goal Brazilians call O Milésimo, "The Thousandth". The postal service marked it with a commemorative stamp.

Which Australian left-hander won all four tennis majors in 1969, seven years after first doing the same?

Rod Laver turned professional in December 1962, right after his first sweep. His 1969 run was the first calendar-year Grand Slam of the Open Era.

Which team, new in 1969, was Major League Baseball's first franchise outside the United States?

The Montreal Expos were named after the Expo 67 World's Fair. The franchise moved to Washington, D.C., for the 2005 season and became the Nationals.

Which forerunner of the internet carried its first message, sent from UCLA, in October 1969?

ARPANET crashed on its first try. A UCLA student programmer typed "login", but only the letters "lo" got through before the computer at the other end went down.

At which lunar site did Apollo 11's lunar module Eagle touch down on July 20, 1969?

The Sea of Tranquility was picked as a smooth site with few craters. Planners had hoped for a spot with none at all, but could not find one.

Which neighbors fought the four-day "Football War" of 1969 after riots at World Cup qualifiers?

El Salvador and Honduras were really at odds over land reform and immigration. The Organization of American States arranged a cease-fire after about 100 hours, which is why it is also called the 100 Hour War.

Which Category 5 hurricane hit the Mississippi coast in August 1969 with 175-mile-per-hour winds?

Camille drove a peak water level of 24.6 feet ashore at Pass Christian. It was the largest storm surge in American history until Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

Which comic strip supplied the call signs for Apollo 10's command and lunar modules in May 1969?

Peanuts lent Charlie Brown to the command module and Snoopy to the lunar module, and the pair became the mission's semi-official mascots. Charles Schulz drew artwork for NASA.

Which Belgian cyclist, nicknamed the Cannibal, won the first of his five Tours de France in 1969?

Eddy Merckx also took the points and mountains classifications that year. The nickname came from a teammate's daughter, who heard he would not let anyone else win.