204 Fun Facts About 1970s

Which group wrote and performed the biggest hits on the 1977 Saturday Night Fever soundtrack?

Bee Gees songs for the film were written in a matter of days after manager Robert Stigwood phoned asking for music, before the brothers knew the plot; the album then topped the US chart for 24 weeks.

Who directed The French Connection in 1971 and the horror hit The Exorcist two years later?

William Friedkin won the Best Director Oscar for The French Connection, whose hero Popeye Doyle was modelled on real New York detective Eddie Egan; Egan himself has a small part in the film.

Which newspaper employed Watergate reporters Woodward and Bernstein?

The Washington Post pair relied on a secret informant known as Deep Throat, whose identity stayed hidden until 2005, when former senior FBI official Mark Felt revealed it was him.

What message to extraterrestrials did the 1977 Voyager probes carry?

A golden record on each probe carries greetings in 55 languages plus music and natural sounds, chosen by a committee chaired by Carl Sagan; diagrams on its cover show how to play it.

Which hit toy did a Hungarian architecture professor invent in 1974?

Rubik's Cube was first called the 'Magic Cube'; after a toy agent pitched it to Ideal Toy, the American firm renamed it after its inventor for a worldwide launch in 1980.

Who directed One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), which won five Oscars including Best Picture?

Miloš Forman shot the film inside the real Oregon State Hospital in Salem; Kirk Douglas had played the lead on Broadway in 1963, and the story reached the screen only when his son Michael produced it.

Which Apollo mission was crippled by an oxygen tank explosion on its way to the Moon in 1970?

Apollo 13's three astronauts survived by moving into their lunar module, Aquarius, and using it as a lifeboat while they looped around the Moon and headed home to a safe splashdown.

Which Apple co-founder single-handedly designed the Apple I computer in 1976?

Steve Wozniak first showed the Apple I at the Homebrew Computer Club and meant to give its design away to fellow hobbyists; selling it, and founding a company to do so, was Jobs's idea.

Which John Travolta film was the highest-grossing movie of 1978 in the United States?

Grease topped the 1978 box office and became the highest-grossing movie musical to that point; Olivia Newton-John, 28 and unsure she could pass for a teenager, had insisted on a screen test first.

Which wave of British strikes in 1978–79 helped bring down James Callaghan's Labour government?

The Winter of Discontent took its name from the opening line of Shakespeare's Richard III; as rubbish piled up in the streets, Callaghan lost a confidence vote and then the election to Margaret Thatcher.

Which 1977 Fleetwood Mac album features 'Go Your Own Way' and 'Dreams'?

Rumours was recorded while both of the band's couples were breaking up, and its writers aimed songs at one another; it went on to win Album of the Year at the 1978 Grammys.

Who directed the acclaimed 1972 crime drama 'The Godfather,' based on Mario Puzo's novel?

Francis Ford Coppola was not Paramount's first choice: Sergio Leone turned the job down, and Coppola later said he felt he could be fired at any point during the shoot.

Which US president resigned on 9 August 1974, the only one ever to do so, amid the Watergate scandal?

Richard Nixon quit after the 'smoking gun' tape showed he had tried to block the FBI's investigation of the break-in; his successor Gerald Ford pardoned him weeks later.

Which soul singer released the album What's Going On on Motown's Tamla label in 1971?

Marvin Gaye refused to record anything else until Motown released the title track, which label boss Berry Gordy had resisted; Rolling Stone named the album the greatest of all time in 2020.

Which 1978 Taito arcade shooter is credited with starting arcades' golden age?

Space Invaders was designed by Taito engineer Tomohiro Nishikado, who made its targets monsters from space because shooting human figures was ruled out; its success pulled video games into the mainstream.

At which university did National Guardsmen shoot dead four students during a May 1970 antiwar protest?

Kent State's shootings in Ohio set off a nationwide student strike that temporarily shut hundreds of campuses, and within weeks Neil Young's protest song 'Ohio' was on the radio.

Which band's 1976 album Hotel California was its first with Joe Walsh?

Eagles guitarist Don Felder wrote the title track's music as a demo in a rented Malibu beach house; the finished song went on to win the Grammy for Record of the Year.

Which military sitcom of 1972 ran eleven seasons about a three-year war?

M*A*S*H outlasted the Korean War it depicted by eight years; its creators wanted no laugh track at all, and the network compromised by dropping it from operating-room scenes.

The famous boxing match known as 'The Rumble in the Jungle' featured Muhammad Ali against which opponent?

Ali beat George Foreman by eighth-round knockout in Kinshasa, Zaire, on 30 October 1974, using his rope-a-dope tactic to exhaust the heavily favoured champion.

Who served as the 39th President of the United States from 1977 to 1981?

Jimmy Carter began the 1976 race so obscure that a home-state headline asked 'Jimmy Who Is Running For What!?'; he beat Gerald Ford, then lost to Ronald Reagan four years later.

Which 1975 Queen album includes 'Bohemian Rhapsody'?

A Night at the Opera took its title from a Marx Brothers film the band watched while recording; executives thought six-minute 'Bohemian Rhapsody' too long for radio until DJ Kenny Everett kept playing it.

Which film was the biggest box-office hit of 1977?

Star Wars opened on 25 May 1977 in only a few dozen cinemas, yet it went on to become the highest-grossing film released up to then; the 'Episode IV – A New Hope' subtitle was added later.

Which style of trousers, a 1970s fashion craze, had long been part of sailors' uniforms?

Bell-bottoms began as sailors' working trousers; in the 1960s young people bought cheap navy pairs at military surplus stores, and by the 1970s the flared style had gone mainstream.

What is the 1973 shock called in which OAPEC's embargo during the Yom Kippur War quadrupled a key commodity's price?

The oil crisis lasted until the embargo was lifted in March 1974, and it pushed the United States to impose a national 55 mph speed limit to conserve gasoline.

Which Swedish pop group had 1970s hits 'Dancing Queen' and 'Waterloo'?

ABBA won the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest for Sweden with 'Waterloo', the victory that launched the group abroad; 'Dancing Queen' later became its only number one in the United States.

What groundbreaking computer, often considered the first personal computer, was introduced in 1975?

The Altair 8800 was a mail-order kit from a small firm called MITS; within weeks of appearing on the cover of Popular Electronics it was inundated with orders, kick-starting the home computer industry.

Which Queens-set American sitcom explored social and political issues through Archie Bunker?

All in the Family so worried CBS that its first episode in 1971 was preceded by a disclaimer, saying the show sought to throw a humorous spotlight on our frailties, prejudices and concerns.

Which glam rock musician released 'Ziggy Stardust' and 'Aladdin Sane' in the early 1970s?

David Bowie toured as the otherworldly rock star Ziggy Stardust for 18 months, then stunned fans at London's Hammersmith Odeon in July 1973 by announcing from the stage that it was the band's last show.

Which 1975 Steven Spielberg film is regarded as the prototypical summer blockbuster?

Jaws opened on more than 400 screens at once, backed by a blitz of TV advertising; its mechanical sharks kept breaking down at sea, so Spielberg mostly kept the creature out of sight.

Which famous discotheque in New York City became synonymous with 1970s nightlife and celebrity culture?

Studio 54 opened in April 1977 in a former CBS television studio; owners Steve Rubell and Ian Schrager threw a farewell party in February 1980 before going to prison for tax evasion.

Which toy brand's building sets gained small posable figures with smiling yellow faces in 1978?

Lego's first figures of this size, sold from 1975, had blank faces and no movable arms or legs; the 1978 redesign gave the minifigure its posable limbs and painted smile.

Which New York band's self-titled 1976 debut, recorded in a week for about $6,400, helped define punk rock?

Ramones played London's Roundhouse on 4 July 1976 and met members of the Sex Pistols and the Clash at a club date the next night, shows credited with galvanising British punk.

The peanut farmer elected US president in 1976 had been governor of which state?

Georgia swore him in as governor in January 1971, and his inaugural address called for an end to racial discrimination, surprising many of the segregationist voters who had backed him.

Which Sony gadget of 1979 was first sold in the US as the Soundabout and in Britain as the Stowaway?

Walkman was the name Sony used at home; abroad the company first tried Soundabout, Stowaway and Freestyle, then dropped them once the original name had caught on.

Which 1977 miniseries did ABC air on eight consecutive nights?

Roots worried ABC executives, who feared the slavery saga would be a ratings disaster; instead more than half the country watched at least part of it.

Which martial arts star died suddenly at 32 in 1973, shortly before his biggest film opened?

Bruce Lee died in Hong Kong on 20 July 1973, before Enter the Dragon reached cinemas; the Hollywood co-production turned him into a worldwide star only after his death.

Which 1979 film was sold with the tagline 'In space no one can hear you scream'?

Alien's cast knew a creature would burst from John Hurt's chest but had not been warned that fake blood would spray everywhere, so their shock on screen is real; Ridley Scott directed.

Which Swede won five consecutive Wimbledon singles titles between 1976 and 1980?

Björn Borg lost a 34-point fourth-set tiebreak to John McEnroe in the 1980 final yet took the fifth set 8–6; he then stunned tennis by retiring at 26 with eleven major titles.

Which toy, popular in the 1970s, has children push coloured plastic pegs through black paper to make pictures?

Lite-Brite was dreamed up at Chicago design firm Marvin Glass and Associates after its designers saw a shop-window display made of hundreds of coloured lights.

Which band's untitled 1971 album features 'Stairway to Heaven'?

Led Zeppelin insisted the sleeve carry neither a title nor the band's name, a move they were warned would be 'professional suicide'; it became one of the best-selling albums in rock history.

Which 1973 Kenner doll could be spoon-fed food packets and then needed its diaper changed?

Baby Alive, launched by Kenner in 1973, chewed its food when a lever on its back was pushed, and the meal ended up in its diaper; Hasbro reintroduced the doll in 2006.

The 1978 US Energy Tax Act added a levy on new cars that failed what standard?

Fuel economy below a set miles-per-gallon figure triggers the act's 'gas guzzler tax'; it was written to cover passenger cars only, leaving trucks, minivans and SUVs exempt.

Which Pink Floyd album, famous for its prism cover art, was released in March 1973?

The Dark Side of the Moon is laced with the voices of roadies and studio staff answering questions Roger Waters had written on cards; Paul McCartney was interviewed too, but his answers went unused.

Which 1972 disaster film is set aboard a capsized ocean liner?

The Poseidon Adventure was partly filmed aboard the retired Queen Mary at Long Beach, the liner on which, its studio said, a rough 1937 crossing gave novelist Paul Gallico the idea; its song 'The Morning After' won an Oscar.

Which 29-year-old beat 55-year-old Bobby Riggs in the 1973 'Battle of the Sexes'?

Billie Jean King had turned down Riggs's first challenge; after he thrashed Margaret Court that May in the 'Mother's Day Massacre', she agreed to play him and won in straight sets.

Which Atari arcade game began in 1972 as a training exercise for a newly hired engineer?

Pong was Allan Alcorn's warm-up assignment from Atari co-founder Nolan Bushnell; the prototype, tried out in a local bar, stopped working because its coin box had overflowed with quarters.

Which domed stadium hosted the 1973 'Battle of the Sexes' tennis match against Bobby Riggs?

The Houston Astrodome drew more than 30,000 spectators, with some 50 million watching on television; one player was carried in on a Cleopatra-style litter, the other arrived in a rickshaw.

Which exiled cleric flew home to Iran in February 1979 to lead its revolution?

Ruhollah Khomeini, the ayatollah, had spent more than 14 years in exile, the last months near Paris, urging Iranians to overthrow the Shah, who fled two weeks before his return.

Which influential TV sketch comedy show, known for launching many comedic careers, premiered in 1975?

Saturday Night Live began on 11 October 1975 as 'NBC's Saturday Night', because ABC already had a show called Saturday Night Live with Howard Cosell; comedian George Carlin hosted the first episode.

Which Stevie Wonder double album of 1976 won Album of the Year at the Grammys?

Songs in the Key of Life won Album of the Year in 1977; a year earlier, with no new Wonder album in contention, winner Paul Simon had thanked him from the stage for not releasing one.

Which country had the world's largest economy after the two superpowers throughout the 1970s?

Japan's economy lay in ruins in 1945, yet by 1968 only the United States and the Soviet Union had bigger ones; it later ranked second until China overtook it in 2010.

Which 1971 chip is described as the first commercial microprocessor?

The Intel 4004 was designed for desk calculators made by Busicom, which at first owned the design; Intel won back the right to sell the chip to other customers, and the microprocessor business was born.

Which country saw its elected socialist president overthrown in a September 1973 coup?

Chile's armed forces under Augusto Pinochet overthrew Salvador Allende on 11 September 1973; Allende died in La Moneda palace during the assault, and Pinochet ruled until 1990.

Which two African countries gained independence from Portugal in 1975?

Angola and Mozambique became independent in 1975, Mozambique on 25 June and Angola on 11 November, after the April 1974 revolution in Lisbon ended Portugal's colonial wars.

Which long-reigning Ethiopian emperor was removed in a 1974 coup?

Haile Selassie, emperor since 1930, was deposed by the Derg military committee on 12 September 1974 and died in custody the following year.

Roughly how many people were living on Earth in the mid-1970s?

4 billion people were alive by about 1974: it had taken all of human history to reach 2 billion in 1927, and less than half a century to double that.

Which city's fall to North Vietnamese forces on 30 April 1975 ended the Vietnam War?

Saigon fell when North Vietnamese tanks crashed through the gates of the presidential palace, hours after the last Americans had left by helicopter; it is now called Ho Chi Minh City.

Which country did the Soviet Union invade in December 1979?

Afghanistan was invaded in the last days of December 1979 to prop up the communist government in Kabul; the war dragged on for a decade until Soviet troops withdrew in 1989.

Which dictator's regime was toppled by the Ugandan–Tanzanian War of 1978–79?

Idi Amin started the war himself by invading Tanzania's Kagera region in 1978; Tanzanian troops took Kampala the following April and he fled into exile, dying in Saudi Arabia in 2003.

Which region did Somalia and Ethiopia fight over in the 1977–78 war?

Somalia invaded the Ogaden, an ethnically Somali region of eastern Ethiopia, in July 1977; Ethiopia, backed by Soviet arms and Cuban troops, retook it by March 1978.

Which South African township saw a 1976 student uprising against Afrikaans in schools?

Soweto's uprising began on 16 June 1976, when police fired on schoolchildren marching against lessons taught in Afrikaans; the date is now a national holiday, Youth Day.

Which Canadian prime minister invoked the War Measures Act during the October Crisis of 1970?

Pierre Trudeau sent troops into Montreal after the FLQ kidnapped a British diplomat and a Quebec minister; asked by a reporter how far he would go, he replied, 'Well, just watch me.'

Which Philippine leader declared martial law in September 1972?

Ferdinand Marcos kept martial law in force until 1981 and stayed in power until the People Power uprising of 1986 drove him into exile in Hawaii.

How many days were the U.S. hostages held after the 1979 embassy seizure in Tehran?

444 days passed between the embassy seizure on 4 November 1979 and the release of the 52 hostages, who were freed only once Ronald Reagan had been sworn in as president.

Which leader did Yugoslavia's 1974 constitution name president for life?

Josip Broz Tito kept the title until his death in 1980; the same constitution gave Yugoslavia's republics and provinces a bigger say in running the federation.

Which Syrian leader took power in a 1970 coup?

Hafez al-Assad, then defence minister, ousted Salah Jadid in a bloodless coup and founded a dynasty: his son Bashar succeeded him in 2000 and ruled Syria until he was overthrown in 2024.

Which flower names Portugal's April 25, 1974 uprising that began as a military coup?

The Carnation Revolution took its name from the red carnations placed in soldiers' rifle barrels in Lisbon; it ended the Estado Novo dictatorship and led to the decolonisation of Portugal's African colonies.

Which founding leader of Bangladesh was assassinated with most of his family in August 1975?

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was killed by army officers at his Dhaka home; his daughters Hasina and Rehana survived because they were in West Germany, and Hasina later became prime minister.

Which Argentine general seized power in the 1976 coup?

Jorge Rafael Videla led the junta that took power on 24 March 1976 and ruled until 1981; decades later he was jailed for life for crimes of the Dirty War and died in prison in 2013.

Which Palestinian group carried out the Munich Olympics massacre of 1972?

Black September, linked to Fatah, sent eight gunmen into the Olympic Village on 5 September 1972; eleven members of the Israeli team and a West German policeman died.

In which country was Dawson's Field, the desert airstrip where hijackers blew up three empty airliners in September 1970?

Jordan's King Hussein answered the hijackings by declaring martial law and turning his army on the Palestinian guerrillas, who had been driven out of the country by July 1971.

Who became Argentina's first woman president in 1974, succeeding her late husband?

Isabel Perón, a former cabaret dancer who met Juan Perón in a Panama nightclub during his exile, was his vice-president; his death made her president until the armed forces removed her in 1976.

Which South American country became independent from the Netherlands on November 25, 1975?

Suriname became independent on 25 November 1975; around that time roughly a third of its population emigrated to the Netherlands.

In which country was the Jonestown commune located?

Jonestown was a Peoples Temple settlement in the jungle of northwestern Guyana; more than 900 people died there on 18 November 1978 in a mass murder-suicide ordered by Jim Jones.

Which U.S. congressman was killed by Jim Jones's guards in 1978?

Leo Ryan, a California congressman, was shot dead at the Port Kaituma airstrip on 18 November 1978 after visiting Jonestown with journalists and defectors; the mass deaths followed hours later.

Which movement ousted Nicaragua's Somoza dictatorship in 1979?

The Sandinista National Liberation Front, named after the rebel Augusto Sandino, took power in July 1979 after Anastasio Somoza fled to Miami; US-backed Contra rebels fought it through the 1980s.

Which Spanish dictator died in 1975 after ruling since the Civil War of the 1930s?

Francisco Franco died on 20 November 1975; Juan Carlos, the successor he had chosen in 1969, was proclaimed king two days later and went on to help dismantle the dictatorship.

Who took over East Germany's ruling party in 1971 and led the state until weeks before the Berlin Wall fell?

Erich Honecker had organised the building of the Berlin Wall in 1961; he pushed aside Walter Ulbricht with Moscow's backing and was himself ousted in October 1989.

Which policy of easing US–Soviet tensions defined most of the 1970s?

Détente produced the SALT I arms treaty and the Helsinki accords, and in July 1975 American astronauts and Soviet cosmonauts docked their Apollo and Soyuz capsules in orbit and shook hands.

Which jubilee did Queen Elizabeth II celebrate with street parties across Britain in June 1977?

The Silver Jubilee marked 25 years on the throne; the Sex Pistols' 'God Save the Queen', released for the occasion, was banned by the BBC yet still reached number two in the charts.

Which 1978 pope reigned for only 33 days?

John Paul I, the former patriarch of Venice, died in his bed barely a month after his election; the cardinals' second conclave in two months made 1978 the 'Year of Three Popes'.

Which country was the homeland of the pope elected in October 1978, the first non-Italian in 455 years?

Poland's Karol Wojtyła, archbishop of Kraków, was chosen at the second conclave in two months after his predecessor's sudden death; no one from outside Italy had held the office since the Dutchman Adrian VI.

Which two leaders shared the 1978 Nobel Peace Prize after the Camp David Accords?

The prize went to Sadat and Begin: Egypt's president and Israel's prime minister had signed the Camp David Accords in September 1978, leading to the Egypt–Israel peace treaty of March 1979.

Which US Secretary of State pursued 'shuttle diplomacy' in the Middle East after the 1973 war?

Henry Kissinger flew repeatedly between Jerusalem, Cairo and Damascus in 1974 to broker disengagement agreements after the Yom Kippur War, a practice dubbed 'shuttle diplomacy'.

Which Iraqi assumed the presidency on July 16, 1979?

Saddam Hussein, long the regime's strongman, took over when Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr resigned on 16 July 1979, and six days later purged the Ba'ath leadership at a party meeting he had filmed.

Which Pakistani leader was hanged in jail in 1979?

Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, prime minister until Zia-ul-Haq's July 1977 coup, was convicted of authorising a political murder and hanged in Rawalpindi on 4 April 1979.

Which African ruler crowned himself emperor in a lavish 1977 ceremony?

Jean-Bédel Bokassa crowned himself Emperor Bokassa I of the Central African Empire on 4 December 1977, modelling the ceremony on Napoleon's coronation; French troops helped depose him in September 1979.

Which South African anti-apartheid activist died in police custody in 1977?

Steve Biko, founder of the Black Consciousness Movement, died after security police beat him in detention; the justice minister first implied he had starved himself on a hunger strike.

Which November 1970 cyclone killed up to 500,000 people in East Pakistan?

Bhola struck the Ganges delta of East Pakistan on 12 November 1970; anger at the central government's slow relief effort helped the Awami League sweep that December's election, a step toward Bangladesh's independence.

Which Australian city was devastated by Cyclone Tracy at Christmas 1974?

Darwin was struck in the early hours of Christmas Day; more than 35,000 of its 47,000 residents were then evacuated, and the city took until 1978 to regain its population.

Which Chinese industrial city was flattened in July 1976 by an earthquake that killed about 240,000 people?

Tangshan was asleep when the quake hit at 3:42 a.m. on 28 July 1976, which is why the toll was so high: about 242,000 by official count. Beijing, proud of its self-reliance, turned down all foreign aid.

Which 1979 Pacific typhoon set the records for the largest tropical cyclone and the lowest sea-level pressure?

Tip set both records on 12 October 1979: a wind field 2,220 km (1,380 miles) across and a pressure of 870 millibars. Near Mount Fuji its rain breached a wall at a US Marine camp, loosing fuel that caught fire and killed 13.

Which US university lost most of its football team in a November 1970 plane crash?

Marshall lost 37 players, its coaches and many boosters when Southern Airways Flight 932 hit a hillside on 14 November 1970, killing all 75 aboard; the NCAA let the school field freshmen in 1971 to rebuild the team.

Where did two Boeing 747s collide on a runway in 1977 in the deadliest accident in aviation history?

Tenerife's Los Rodeos runway was fogbound on 27 March 1977 when a KLM 747 began its takeoff with a Pan Am 747 still on it, killing 583; both jets had only been diverted there because a bomb had closed Gran Canaria.

Which Great Lakes freighter sank on Lake Superior on November 10, 1975?

The SS Edmund Fitzgerald went down in a storm on Lake Superior on 10 November 1975 with all 29 crew; Gordon Lightfoot's 1976 ballad made the wreck famous.

Which 1979 crash on Mount Erebus in Antarctica killed all 257 aboard?

Air New Zealand Flight 901, a sightseeing DC-10, flew into Mount Erebus in a whiteout on 28 November 1979. The pilots were blamed at first, until a royal commission found the route had been altered overnight without telling the crew.

In which US state did the Three Mile Island partial meltdown occur in 1979?

Pennsylvania's Three Mile Island plant, near Harrisburg, partly melted down on 28 March 1979, days after the nuclear thriller The China Syndrome opened; the governor advised pregnant women and small children within five miles to leave.

In August 1971 the United States ended the dollar's convertibility into what, dooming the Bretton Woods system?

Gold: until 15 August 1971 foreign governments could swap their dollars for it at $35 an ounce. The same announcement froze American wages and prices for 90 days, the first such controls outside wartime.

What term describes the 1970s combination of rising inflation and rising unemployment?

Stagflation, a word British MP Iain Macleod used in a 1965 speech, upended the textbook view that inflation and unemployment move in opposite directions; by the mid-1970s the United States had both at once.

In early 1974, many US states let drivers buy gasoline only on alternating days, based on what?

Their license plate number decided it: plates ending in an odd digit could buy on odd-numbered dates, even on even. Some states added flags at the pumps: green for gas on sale, yellow for rationed, red for none.

Which four economies were known as the 'Four Asian Tigers'?

Hong Kong, South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan earned the 'tiger' label for rapid, export-led industrialisation from the 1960s, with Hong Kong and Singapore as trading ports and South Korea and Taiwan as manufacturing exporters.

Which fossil hominid was discovered in Ethiopia by Donald Johanson in 1974?

Lucy, an Australopithecus afarensis skeleton about 3.2 million years old, was found at Hadar on 24 November 1974 and named after the Beatles song 'Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds'.

Which disease's last natural case occurred in Somalia in 1977?

Smallpox's last natural patient, hospital cook Ali Maow Maalin, recovered and later joined the 10,000 volunteers who drove polio out of Somalia; the WHO declared smallpox eradicated in 1980.

Who in 1978 became the first child born via in vitro fertilisation?

Louise Brown was born in Oldham on 25 July 1978 after Patrick Steptoe and Robert Edwards fertilised her mother's egg in a dish; the work won Edwards the 2010 Nobel Prize, too late for Steptoe, who had died in 1988.

Which Xerox PARC computer of 1973 pioneered the mouse-driven graphical user interface?

Alto machines were never put on sale: Xerox built about 2,000 for its own labs and for universities. A 1979 demonstration for Steve Jobs carried their windows and mouse into Apple's Lisa and Macintosh.

Which Motorola engineer made the first cell phone call in 1973?

Martin Cooper placed the call on 3 April 1973 on a New York street using a Motorola DynaTAC prototype, phoning rival Joel Engel at Bell Labs.

Which two men founded Microsoft in 1975?

Bill Gates and Paul Allen founded Microsoft in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on 4 April 1975, after writing a BASIC interpreter for MITS's early microcomputer kit.

Which US passenger rail operator was formed in 1971?

Amtrak took over passenger trains from 20 of the 26 railroads still running them on 1 May 1971 and kept barely half: of 366 train routes, only 184 survived its first day.

Which high-speed diesel train entered British Rail service in 1976?

InterCity 125 sets were built as a stopgap while British Rail perfected its tilting Advanced Passenger Train; the APT was abandoned in the 1980s, while the diesel 'interim' train ran front-line expresses for four decades.

Which 'jelly bean shaped' American car of the 1970s was made by AMC?

The AMC Pacer, launched in 1975, was nicknamed 'the Flying Fishbowl' for its wide body and huge glass area; its passenger door was longer than the driver's to ease rear-seat access.

Which Japanese subcompact, launched in 1972, won American buyers with its clean-burning CVCC engine?

Honda Civic sales took off when gasoline prices leapt in 1973, and from 1975 its CVCC engine met America's new clean-air limits without a catalytic converter, so it could still run on leaded petrol.

Which Chrysler president sought a government bailout in 1979?

Lee Iacocca, fired by Henry Ford II in July 1978, joined Chrysler that November and won $1.5 billion in federal loan guarantees from Congress in December 1979.

With which French automaker did American Motors form a partnership in 1979?

Renault took a 22.5 percent stake in American Motors under the 1979 deal, and from 1982 AMC's Kenosha plant built the Renault Alliance, an Americanised Renault 9; Chrysler bought the company in 1987.

Which environmental observance drew some 20 million Americans to its first celebration in the spring of 1970?

Earth Day grew from Senator Gaylord Nelson's plan for campus teach-ins after he saw the 1969 Santa Barbara oil spill; organisers picked a weekday between spring break and final exams so that students could turn out.

What did the Twenty-sixth Amendment, ratified in 1971, lower from 21 to 18?

The voting age came down on the slogan 'Old enough to fight, old enough to vote': men were being sent to Vietnam at 18, and the states ratified the change in little over three months, a record pace.

Which Helen Reddy song gave her a 1973 Grammy for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance?

I Am Woman topped the Billboard Hot 100 in December 1972, and Helen Reddy accepted the Grammy by thanking God, 'because She makes everything possible'.

Which magazine did Gloria Steinem co-found, first printed as an insert in New York magazine in late 1971?

Ms. sold out its 300,000-copy preview issue within eight days and drew 26,000 subscription orders; its first regular issue, in July 1972, put Wonder Woman on the cover.

Which two music legends died within two months of each other in 1977?

Elvis Presley and Bing Crosby died on 16 August and 14 October 1977: Presley at Graceland at 42, Crosby of a heart attack as he walked off a golf course near Madrid, having just won his round by a stroke.

Which British singer had seven consecutive US number-one albums between 1972 and 1975?

Elton John's run began with Honky Château in 1972 and ended with Rock of the Westies in 1975, the year he played two sold-out nights at Dodger Stadium in a sequinned Dodgers uniform.

Which Elvis concert was broadcast by satellite to over 40 countries in 1973?

Aloha from Hawaii was staged at the Honolulu International Center on 14 January 1973 and beamed by satellite across Asia and Oceania, with Europe and the US airing it later; Elvis wore a white American Eagle jumpsuit.

Which Japanese band's 1978 self-titled album helped pioneer synthpop?

Yellow Magic Orchestra (Haruomi Hosono, Ryuichi Sakamoto and Yukihiro Takahashi) laced their 1978 debut with bleeps sampled from arcade games; its single 'Computer Game' reached the UK top 20, and Afrika Bambaataa later sampled the group.

Which 1979 song by the Sugarhill Gang gave hip-hop a wider audience?

'Rapper's Delight' rides the bass line of Chic's 'Good Times'; when Chic's writers threatened to sue they were given a songwriting credit, and in January 1980 it became the first rap single in the US top 40.

Which two country stars headlined 1976's 'Outlaws' compilation, country music's first platinum album?

Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson earned the outlaw tag by defying Nashville's producer-run studio system to record their own way; RCA's 1976 compilation of mostly old tracks cashed in and sold a million.

Which 1970 film, from an Arthur Hailey bestseller, launched the decade's disaster-movie cycle?

Airport earned ten Oscar nominations and a win for Helen Hayes as an elderly stowaway, and its all-star-cast-in-peril formula ran on through Airport 1975, Airport '77 and The Concorde ... Airport '79.

In which 1976 Martin Scorsese film does Robert De Niro snarl 'You talkin' to me' at his own reflection?

Taxi Driver's best-known line was not in the script: writer Paul Schrader says De Niro improvised Travis Bickle's mirror scene. The American Film Institute ranks it tenth among the greatest movie quotes.

Which 1975 film flopped on release but became a midnight-movie phenomenon with audience participation?

The Rocky Horror Picture Show bombed in 1975 until audiences at New York's Waverly Theater began shouting back at midnight screenings the next year; still playing in 2025, it holds the longest theatrical run in film history.

Which 1979 Bob Fosse film stars Roy Scheider as an obsessive stage and film director modelled on Fosse himself?

All That Jazz grew out of the months when Fosse was editing Lenny and staging Chicago at the same time; it won four Oscars and shared the 1980 Palme d'Or with Kurosawa's Kagemusha.

Which BBC teletext service went live on 23 September 1974?

Ceefax grew out of BBC engineers' search for a way to put subtitles on screen for deaf viewers; the world's first teletext service, it launched with thirty pages and ran until 2012.

Which sitcom about the Clampett family fell to CBS's 'rural purge' of 1971?

The Beverly Hillbillies went in the same sweep as Green Acres and Hee Haw, as CBS turned to shows for urban and suburban viewers; Green Acres actor Pat Buttram joked that the network had cancelled everything with a tree in it.

Which 1970s sitcom, set at Minneapolis station WJM-TV, ended in 1977 with a group hug?

The Mary Tyler Moore Show ended with a new station manager firing the newsroom staff but keeping Ted Baxter, its buffoonish anchorman; the weeping cast then shuffled across the room in a huddle to reach the tissues.

Who created Soul Train, which premiered in 1971?

Don Cornelius had sold tyres and insurance and walked a Chicago police beat before a 1966 broadcasting course; he launched Soul Train on local station WCIU in 1970 and took it national in October 1971.

Which newly created profession did the 1972 NBC drama Emergency! turn into household heroes?

Paramedics were so new that only 12 such programs existed in the whole country when Emergency! began; by 1977 Newsweek was crediting the show with creating a national demand for them.

Which two shows were spun off from Happy Days?

Laverne & Shirley and Mork & Mindy both grew out of Happy Days guest spots: the two brewery workers turned up as dates for Fonzie in season three, and Robin Williams's Mork from Ork landed in a 1978 episode.

Which prime-time soap about the oil-rich Ewing family began as a five-part miniseries in the spring of 1978?

Dallas's 'Who shot J.R.?' cliffhanger of 1980 kept viewers guessing for eight months, and the answer drew one of the biggest audiences in American television history.

Which game show did Bob Barker begin hosting in 1972?

Bob Barker hosted The Price Is Right from its revival on 4 September 1972 until June 2007, signing off each show by reminding viewers to have their pets spayed or neutered.

Which Jim Henson series was made in England from 1976 after American networks turned it down?

The Muppet Show found its backer in British impresario Lew Grade, whose ATV recorded it at Elstree, near London; American stations then bought it in syndication.

Which 1979 TV series was reworked from Moonrunners, a 1975 moonshine-running film?

The Dukes of Hazzard kept the film's creator Gy Waldron, its Uncle Jesse and its ballad-singing narrator; both drew on the stories of Jerry Rushing, a real North Carolina moonshine runner.

Which pay-TV channel debuted in November 1972 by showing a hockey game and a Paul Newman film?

HBO began with just 365 subscribers on one cable system in Wilkes-Barre, who watched a hockey game and then Sometimes a Great Notion; three years later it was the first TV network delivered continuously by satellite.

Which 1975 Muhammad Ali fight was the first broadcast a US cable network delivered nationwide by satellite?

The Thrilla in Manila, Ali's third fight with Joe Frazier, ended when Frazier's corner stopped it after the 14th round; a pay-cable channel's live satellite relay of it turned cable from a relay of local stations into a national medium.

Which country's government resisted television for decades before finally launching a national service in January 1976?

South Africa's posts minister Albert Hertzog vowed that television would arrive 'over my dead body', warning that its pictures could be destructive; the SABC's single channel finally launched on 5 January 1976.

Which educational game was first played in 1971 by Minnesota schoolchildren on a teletype with no screen?

The Oregon Trail was written in two weeks by three student teachers for an eighth-grade history class in Minneapolis; it was deleted from the school computer at term's end, and Don Rawitsch rebuilt it in 1974.

Who created the Magnavox Odyssey, released in September 1972?

Ralph H. Baer built his 'Brown Box' at defence contractor Sanders Associates; Nolan Bushnell saw the Odyssey demonstrated in May 1972, just before founding Atari, and the patents later earned Sanders and Magnavox over $100 million.

Which toy company launched the handheld-game craze with the LED-dot Auto Race and, soon after, Football?

Mattel built Auto Race on hardware designed for pocket calculators: the player's car was a red LED blip and the only sound a beep, yet it was the first all-electronic handheld game and a huge seller.

Which fantasy role-playing game did Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson publish in 1974?

Dungeons & Dragons began as a first printing of a thousand hand-assembled copies; one early player, programmer Will Crowther, mixed its fantasy with his maps of a Kentucky cave to write Colossal Cave Adventure, a pioneering text adventure.

Which Sony videotape format, launched in 1975, lost the home-video format war to JVC's VHS?

Betamax reached the market before VHS and still lost; its lasting victory came in court, where the US Supreme Court ruled in 1984 that taping television programmes at home was legal.

Which swimmer won seven gold medals at the 1972 Munich Olympics?

Mark Spitz set a world record in every one of his seven events; when gunmen then seized the Israeli team, Spitz, who is Jewish, was escorted out of Munich for his own safety.

Which broadcasting milestone did the 1970 World Cup in Mexico achieve?

Televised in color for the first time, the 1970 World Cup showed Brazil beat Italy 4–1 in the final; as three-time winners Brazil were given the Jules Rimet Trophy to keep, and a new one was made for 1974.

Which MLB team won three straight World Series from 1972 to 1974?

The Oakland Athletics of Reggie Jackson, Catfish Hunter and Rollie Fingers were the 'Mustache Gang': owner Charlie Finley offered each player $300 to grow one for a 1972 promotion, when other clubs banned facial hair.

Which NFL team completed a perfect 17–0 season by winning Super Bowl VII in January 1973?

The Miami Dolphins nearly spoiled their 17–0 season at the last: kicker Garo Yepremian's field goal was blocked, his panicked pass was run back for Washington's only touchdown, and Miami held on, 14–7.

Which NHL team, nicknamed the 'Broad Street Bullies', won the Stanley Cup in 1974 and 1975?

The Philadelphia Flyers swapped the national anthem for a recording of Kate Smith's 'God Bless America' before big games, convinced they won more often when it played; the Cups of 1974 and 1975 did nothing to shake the habit.

In which country was Asia's first professional basketball league founded in 1975?

The Philippines got Asia's first professional league when nine company teams broke away from the amateur association in 1975; it tipped off at Quezon City's Araneta Coliseum and is the world's second-oldest pro league after the NBA.

Which 1971 'fake memoir' was later revealed to be written by Beatrice Sparks?

Go Ask Alice, its title lifted from Jefferson Airplane's 'White Rabbit', was sold as an anonymous teenage addict's real diary; Sparks, a Mormon youth counsellor, went on to produce a string of other 'found' journals.

Which Thomas Pynchon novel, published in 1973, follows the hunt for a mysterious V-2 rocket?

Gravity's Rainbow shared the 1974 National Book Award, but the Pulitzer board, offended by its content, overruled the fiction jury that had chosen it and gave no fiction prize that year.

Which communications tower opened in 1976 as the world's tallest free-standing structure?

The CN Tower was built by the Canadian National railway because Toronto's new skyscrapers were garbling TV and radio signals; at 553 metres it stayed the world's tallest free-standing structure until 2007.

Which Paris cultural landmark by Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers opened in 1977?

The Centre Pompidou wears its structure, escalators and colour-coded pipes on the outside so that each floor inside could be one vast, uninterrupted space; it opened on 31 January 1977.

The Terracotta Army, unearthed by farmers in 1974, guards which Chinese emperor's tomb?

Qin Shi Huang, China's first emperor, was buried with the army around 210 BC; its soldiers were once painted, but in dry air the lacquer under the paint curls and flakes off within minutes of being dug up.

Which architect of the Salk Institute and Dhaka's parliament died at New York's Penn Station in 1974?

Louis Kahn died of a heart attack at Penn Station, just back from India; in his briefcase were his finished drawings for a Roosevelt memorial in New York, which was finally built in 2012.

Which band's frontman wore glitter on Top of the Pops in 1971, helping launch glam rock?

T. Rex's Marc Bolan sang 'Hot Love' on Top of the Pops in March 1971 with two spots of glitter under his eyes, put there by Chelita Secunda just before he went on; the look is often cited as the start of glam rock.

Whose feathery haircut became the defining women's style of the late 1970s?

Farrah Fawcett is said to have done her own hair and make-up for the 1976 red-swimsuit poster that spread the look; in 2011 the swimsuit itself went into the Smithsonian's collection.

Which designer's jersey wrap dress, launched in 1974, became a 1970s fashion staple?

Diane von Fürstenberg introduced the jersey wrap dress in 1974; within two years a million had sold and she was on the cover of Newsweek.

Which 1975 fad came in a ventilated cardboard carrier with a training manual?

Pet Rock was born in a Los Gatos bar, where ad man Gary Dahl's friends were moaning about their pets; his joke manual explained how to teach a stone to play dead, and the $3.95 gag made him a millionaire.

Which 1974 fad reached the Academy Awards when a man dashed across the stage behind host David Niven?

Streaking was at its height when Robert Opel ran naked past Niven on live television, flashing a peace sign; Niven remarked that the man was getting his laugh by 'showing his shortcomings'.

What changes the color of a mood ring?

Its thermotropic liquid crystals respond to finger temperature, which tracks blood flow.

Which horse won the 1973 Belmont Stakes by a record 31 lengths?

Secretariat's win sealed the first Triple Crown since 1948; thousands of winning tickets on him were never cashed, apparently kept as souvenirs of a bet that paid just $2.20.

Who scored the first perfect 10 in Olympic gymnastics at the 1976 Montreal Games?

Nadia Comăneci, 14, scored the first perfect 10 on the uneven bars on 18 July 1976; the scoreboard showed '1.00' because it had only three digits, and she earned six more 10s at those Games.

Over which country did Skylab scatter debris when it re-entered on July 11, 1979?

Australia's Shire of Esperance, showered with wreckage, jokingly fined NASA $400 for littering; the bill went unpaid until 2009, when a California radio host collected the money from his listeners.

Which two airlines flew Concorde's first commercial services on 21 January 1976?

Air France and British Airways took off at the same moment, for Rio via Dakar and for Bahrain; the Atlantic routes Concorde was built for had to wait, Washington until May 1976 and New York, held up by noise objections, until late 1977.

In which California town were 26 children and their bus driver kidnapped in July 1976?

The Chowchilla kidnapping of 15 July 1976 saw three armed men bury the children and their driver in a truck trailer at a Livermore quarry; driver Ed Ray and the older boys dug their way out before any ransom was demanded.

Which Dodgers pitcher gave up Hank Aaron's record-breaking 715th home run in April 1974?

Al Downing, who wore number 44 just as Aaron did, gave up the home run before a Braves-record crowd of 53,775; fans ran onto the field and jogged beside Aaron as he rounded the bases.

What went wrong with Evel Knievel's 1974 rocket jump over Snake River Canyon?

The parachute opened early: the drogue chute on the steam-powered Skycycle X-2 popped as it left the rail, and the drag sent the craft drifting down into the canyon, where Knievel landed with only minor injuries.

What name did the Symbionese Liberation Army give Patty Hearst after her 1974 kidnapping?

Hearst took the name Tania after Tamara Bunke, the Argentine-born guerrilla who fought with Che Guevara in Bolivia; she was 19 when the SLA seized her from her Berkeley apartment in February 1974.

Which baseball team forfeited a game in 1979 after its Disco Demolition Night ended with fans storming the field?

Chicago White Sox fans got in for 98 cents with a disco record to destroy; when DJ Steve Dahl blew up a crate of them between games of a doubleheader, thousands rushed the field and the second game went to Detroit.

Which NASA lander became the first to operate successfully on the surface of Mars, on July 20, 1976?

Viking 1 was meant to land on 4 July 1976, the US Bicentennial, but photos from orbit showed the chosen site was too rough; it set down on Chryse Planitia sixteen days later and worked for more than six years.

Which game cartridge was bundled with the Atari Video Computer System at its 1977 launch?

Combat was Atari's arcade hit Tank reworked for the home, with biplane and jet duels added; it came in the box with the console and its two joysticks until Pac-Man took its place.

What was the first product ever scanned with a UPC barcode, at a supermarket in Troy, Ohio, in 1974?

Chewing gum made retail history at 8:01 a.m. on 26 June, when a 10-pack of Wrigley's Juicy Fruit beeped through the checkout. A replica of the packet later went on show at the Smithsonian.

Which kind of message did Ray Tomlinson first send in 1971 between two ARPANET computers?

An email between separate machines needed an address, so Tomlinson chose the @ sign to split user from host. He recalled that first test as forgettable, probably a string like QWERTYUIOP.

Which animal did Fonzie leap over on water skis in Happy Days, giving TV a phrase for decline?

A shark was the hurdle, cleared in swim trunks and a leather jacket to show off Henry Winkler's real waterskiing skills. Jon Hein and a college roommate coined 'jumping the shark' in 1985 for a series past its best.

Which sportswear brand paid design student Carolyn Davidson just $35 for its logo in 1971?

Nike co-founder Phil Knight told Davidson, 'I don't love it, but maybe it will grow on me.' In 1983 he thanked her with a diamond Swoosh ring and 500 shares of company stock.

Which campus craze reached the Academy Awards in 1974, when Robert Opel surprised host David Niven?

Streaking was an 'epidemic' in the press that year, and Opel flashed a peace sign as he ran naked across the stage. Niven quipped that the man's only laugh would come from 'showing his shortcomings'.

Which card game did Ohio barber Merle Robbins invent to settle a family row over Crazy Eights?

Uno began as a fix for an argument between Robbins and his son Ray, a teacher. The family mortgaged their home to print 5,000 decks, which were first sold from the barbershop.

Which 1973 film, said to make viewers faint, was the first horror movie nominated for Best Picture?

The Exorcist earned ten Academy Award nominations and won two, for its adapted screenplay and its sound. Some viewers fainted or vomited at scenes such as a realistic hospital angiography.

Which TV show's fans wrote to the White House until NASA renamed its first Space Shuttle in 1976?

Star Trek fans got the orbiter Constitution renamed Enterprise, after the show's starship. Creator Gene Roddenberry and most of the original cast turned up for its dedication.

Which 1978 B-side won the only Grammy ever awarded for Best Disco Recording?

I Will Survive was the flip side of Gloria Gaynor's 'Substitute', cut in 35 minutes by musicians who assumed it would never be played. A backlash against disco ended the Grammy category after one year.

Which Don McLean hit of over eight minutes mourns a 1959 plane crash as 'the day the music died'?

American Pie topped the US chart for four weeks in 1972 and stayed the longest number-one single for almost 50 years. Taylor Swift's ten-minute 'All Too Well' took the record in 2021.

Which Sony videotape format, launched in 1975, went on to lose the home-video war to JVC's VHS?

Betamax was widely seen as giving the sharper picture, but its early tapes ran only 60 minutes, too short for a film or a ball game. Sony still sold blank Beta cassettes until 2016.

Which Beatles album came out in May 1970, about a month after the band's break-up became public?

Let It Be was largely recorded in January 1969, before the sessions for Abbey Road, yet it reached the shops last. It arrived in tandem with a documentary film of the same name.

Which sibling pop group became the first act to take its first four Hot 100 singles to number one?

The Jackson 5 did it with 'I Want You Back', 'ABC', 'The Love You Save' and 'I'll Be There'. The run began in January 1970, soon after the brothers from Gary, Indiana, joined Motown.

In which Martin Scorsese film does Robert De Niro ask his own reflection, 'You talkin' to me?'

Taxi Driver's most quoted line was improvised by De Niro, screenwriter Paul Schrader has said. In 2005 the American Film Institute ranked it tenth among the greatest movie quotes.

Which bald TV detective, played by Telly Savalas, swapped his cigarettes for lollipops?

Kojak's first lollipop appeared in a December 1973 episode, just after he lit a cigarette. It became his trademark, along with the catchphrase 'Who loves ya, baby?'

Which fantasy role-playing game did Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson first publish in 1974?

Dungeons & Dragons grew out of miniature wargames, and its first set still needed the Chainmail rules to resolve fights. The publisher's initials, TSR, stood for Tactical Studies Rules.

In which state is Point Place, the fictional home town of the teenagers in That '70s Show?

Wisconsin's Point Place is fictional, but the Green Bay Packers are real, and their jerseys and helmets keep turning up on screen. The sitcom ran for 200 episodes yet covers only 1976 to 1979.

Which band behind the 1978 live album At Budokan sang the That '70s Show theme from season two on?

Cheap Trick took over 'That '70s Song' from Todd Griffin, who sang it in the first season. Both versions rework 'In the Street', a 1972 track by the American band Big Star.

Which US player upset Jimmy Connors in 1975 to become the first Black man to win Wimbledon?

Arthur Ashe was seeded sixth, days short of his 32nd birthday and playing his ninth Wimbledon. Connors was the defending champion and overwhelming favourite in the first all-American final since 1947.

Which craft, launched in 1971 and occupied for only 23 days, was the first space station?

Salyut 1 was lived in by a single crew, the three cosmonauts of Soyuz 11. They died on the way home when a valve failed just before re-entry.

Which challenger beat Boris Spassky in Reykjavik in 1972 to become world chess champion?

Bobby Fischer lost the first game and forfeited the second, then came back to win the 'Match of the Century'. His victory ended, for a short time, 24 years of Soviet domination of the title.

Which US vice president resigned in October 1973 after pleading no contest to a tax evasion charge?

Spiro Agnew was only the second vice president to resign, after John C. Calhoun in 1832. He had maintained his innocence for months before entering the plea in a Baltimore courtroom.

Which former Teamsters boss vanished outside a Michigan restaurant in July 1975 and was never found?

Jimmy Hoffa had gone to the Machus Red Fox to meet two Mafia figures. He phoned his wife from a payphone to complain that he had been stood up, and was declared legally dead in 1982.

Which sport's US team toured China in 1971, after one player boarded the Chinese team's bus?

Table tennis opened the door after Glenn Cowan missed the US team bus in Nagoya and rode with the Chinese squad instead. Three-time world champion Zhuang Zedong gave him a silk picture, and photographers caught the pair getting off.

Which secret Vietnam War study did analyst Daniel Ellsberg leak to The New York Times in 1971?

The Pentagon Papers were photocopied by Ellsberg and a friend in October 1969, long before the story broke. The study showed that four administrations had misled the public about their intentions.

Which Mediterranean island was split along a UN-patrolled Green Line after Turkey invaded in 1974?

Cyprus was invaded five days after a coup sponsored by the military junta then ruling Greece. The ceasefire line of August 1974 became a United Nations buffer zone across the island.

In which Ugandan city did Israeli commandos rescue 102 hostages from hijackers in July 1976?

Entebbe cost the raiders one soldier, unit commander Yonatan Netanyahu. His brother Benjamin, later Israel's prime minister, visited the site on the raid's 40th anniversary.

Which far-left group kidnapped and murdered former Italian prime minister Aldo Moro in 1978?

The Red Brigades ambushed Moro's car in Rome on the morning a new government was due to face a confidence vote. He was held for almost two months before his body was found in a car boot.

Which climber became the first woman atop Everest in 1975, days after surviving an avalanche?

Junko Tabei's team was camped at 6,300 metres when the avalanche struck, twelve days before she reached the top. She later became the first woman to climb the highest peak on every continent.

Which Niagara Falls neighbourhood built around a buried chemical dump had to be evacuated in 1978?

Love Canal sat on 19,800 tonnes of waste dumped by Hooker Chemical, which sold the land to the school district for $1 in 1953. The scandal was followed by the federal Superfund law of 1980.