50 Fun Facts About 1991

Which film supplied the Bryan Adams ballad that spent a record 16 weeks at UK number one?

Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves gave the song its film tie-in, and the single sold over a million copies to become the UK's best-seller of the year, beating a chart record that had stood since 1955.

Which Queen song became the first single to top the UK chart twice with the same recording, after Freddie Mercury died?

Bohemian Rhapsody returned to number one for five weeks at Christmas, 16 years after its first run, with the reissue's proceeds donated to an AIDS charity.

Which Nirvana album, released in September, has a cover of a naked baby swimming toward a dollar bill on a fishhook?

Nevermind was an unexpected success, replacing Michael Jackson at the top of the US Billboard 200 in January 1992 and dragging grunge into the mainstream.

Which thriller released on Valentine's Day swept the 'Big Five' Academy Awards, a feat managed only twice before?

The Silence of the Lambs won Best Picture, Director, Actor, Actress and Adapted Screenplay, a feat previously managed only by It Happened One Night and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.

Which Arnold Schwarzenegger film, the most expensive ever made at the time, topped the year's worldwide box office?

Terminator 2 cost an estimated $94–102 million and took around $520 million, with its liquid-metal T-1000 effects setting a new bar for computer graphics.

Which leader resigned as Soviet president on Christmas Day, a day before the union was formally dissolved?

Mikhail Gorbachev stepped down with most of the republics already gone, and the 69-year-old state was wound up by the Supreme Soviet the next day, ending the Cold War.

Which Los Angeles motorist's beating by police was filmed from a balcony by bystander George Holliday on 3 March?

Rodney King's beating was seen worldwide after Holliday sent his camcorder tape to KTLA, and the officers' acquittal a year later sparked the 1992 Los Angeles riots.

Which British computer scientist at CERN announced the World Wide Web on a newsgroup on 6 August?

Tim Berners-Lee's first website, info.cern.ch, went up at CERN, and the project only reached the wider Internet on 23 August.

Which NBA team beat the Los Angeles Lakers in five games in June to win the first championship in its history?

The Chicago Bulls' first title started a run of six championships in eight seasons, and Michael Jordan was named Finals MVP for the first time.

Which Los Angeles Lakers guard announced on 7 November that he had HIV and was retiring immediately?

Magic Johnson was back within a year, co-captaining the Dream Team to Olympic gold in Barcelona in 1992.

Which Sheffield-born chemist answered a radio advert to become the first Briton in space, flying to Mir in May?

Helen Sharman was chosen live on ITV from nearly 13,000 applicants to an advert reading 'Astronaut wanted. No experience necessary', and spent eight days in orbit on Soyuz TM-12.

Which jewellery boss wiped around £500 million off his company by calling its products 'total crap' in April?

Gerald Ratner's joke to the Institute of Directors at the Royal Albert Hall gave English the phrase 'doing a Ratner', and he was out of the business by 1993.

Which group of men jailed for the 1974 pub bombings that killed 21 people had their convictions quashed in March?

The Birmingham Six walked free after 16 years when the Court of Appeal ruled their convictions unsafe and unsatisfactory, one of Britain's worst miscarriages of justice.

Which media tycoon was found dead in the sea off the Canary Islands in November after vanishing from his yacht?

Robert Maxwell's empire collapsed a month later with debts over £1 billion, and the Daily Mirror revealed he had taken £350 million from its pension fund.

Which Church of England envoy was freed in Lebanon in November after 1,763 days as a hostage, four years in solitary?

Terry Waite had gone to Beirut to negotiate for other hostages and was himself kidnapped in 1987; he later became president of the homelessness charity Emmaus UK.

Which new levy did John Major's government confirm in April would replace the hated community charge from 1993?

Council Tax arrived in 1993; Major had announced the charge's abolition on 23 March, and the replacement was confirmed a month later.

Which club won a then-record eighth FA Cup in May, in the final where Paul Gascoigne tore his knee ligaments?

Tottenham Hotspur's Gascoigne, a multimillion-pound target for Lazio, scythed down Gary Charles inside the first 15 minutes and wrecked his own knee, missing a year of football.

Which club took the league title despite a two-point deduction for a brawl at Old Trafford, losing just one match?

Arsenal conceded only 18 league goals all season, and their sole defeat, 2–1 at Chelsea, came while captain Tony Adams was serving a prison sentence.

Which country beat hosts England 12–6 at Twickenham on 2 November to win the Rugby World Cup?

Australia's Wallabies had knocked out holders New Zealand in the semi-final, and England abandoned their forward-dominated game in the final after public taunts from David Campese.

Which band's 1982 single 'Should I Stay or Should I Go' topped the UK chart in March thanks to a Levi's advert?

The Clash topped the chart nine years after the song's release, one of 17 different number ones in the UK that year.

Which Russian president climbed onto a tank outside Moscow's parliament to rally crowds against the August coup?

Boris Yeltsin had been elected president of the Russian republic only two months earlier, and the coup led by Vice President Gennady Yanayev collapsed in under 72 hours.

Which Soviet city voted in a referendum to take back the name St Petersburg, which it had lost in 1924?

Leningrad had been named for Lenin days after his death in January 1924, and the original name returned on 6 September, months before the union itself dissolved.

In which republic's state dacha at Viskuli did three Soviet leaders sign the 8 December accord that created the CIS?

Belarus's parliament chairman Stanislav Shushkevich signed alongside the Russian and Ukrainian presidents at the state dacha near Viskuli, declaring the Soviet Union finished.

Which two Yugoslav republics declared independence on 25 June, triggering the Ten-Day War within days?

Slovenia and Croatia's declarations prompted a brief Yugoslav army campaign in Slovenia that ended with the Brioni Agreement on 7 July, while Serb forces besieged Vukovar for 87 days in the autumn.

Which Cold War military alliance was formally ended by Václav Havel at a Prague meeting on 1 July, after 36 years?

The Warsaw Pact had been created in 1955 in response to West Germany rearming inside NATO, and within 20 years every ex-member outside the USSR had joined NATO itself.

Which former Indian prime minister was killed by a Tamil Tiger suicide bomber at a rally in Sriperumbudur on 21 May?

Rajiv Gandhi was campaigning to return to office, and the Congress party won the most seats in the June election, making P. V. Narasimha Rao prime minister.

Which Burmese opposition leader, under house arrest in Rangoon, won the Nobel Peace Prize, her sons collecting it?

Aung San Suu Kyi's sons Alexander and Kim Aris accepted the prize on her behalf; she would spend almost 15 of the 21 years from 1989 to 2010 under house arrest.

Which Philippine volcano's June eruption, the century's second largest, cooled global temperatures by about 0.5 °C?

Mount Pinatubo's VEI-6 blast was beaten in the 20th century only by Alaska's Novarupta in 1912, and its death toll passed 800.

Roughly how old was the mummified man that two German tourists found in the ice on the Austria–Italy border?

About 5,300 years old, Ötzi, nicknamed after the Ötztal Alps, is Europe's oldest known natural human mummy, and the Simons first took him for a recently dead mountaineer.

Which airline, founded in 1927 and famous for its blue globe logo and 'Clipper' call signs, shut down on 4 December?

Pan Am's trademark was the second-most recognised in the world when it ceased operations, 64 years after its first mail flight from Key West to Havana.

Which team lost Super Bowl XXV 20–19 when Scott Norwood's last-second 47-yard field goal sailed wide right?

The Buffalo Bills' miss, less than a yard outside the upright, began a run of four straight Super Bowl defeats for the team.

Whose 8.95-metre leap at the Tokyo World Championships on 30 August broke Bob Beamon's 23-year-old long jump record?

Mike Powell beat Beamon's 1968 mark by five centimetres, and the record still stands more than three decades later.

Which Disney musical scored by Alan Menken and Howard Ashman was the first animated film nominated for Best Picture?

Beauty and the Beast is dedicated to lyricist Ashman, who died of AIDS eight months before its release, and it was the first animated film to pass $100 million in the US.

Which Ridley Scott road movie ends with its two heroines driving off a cliff near the Grand Canyon?

Thelma & Louise's canyon scenes were actually shot near Dead Horse Point in Utah, and Brad Pitt was first judged 'too young' for the hustler J.D. before landing the part.

Which Nirvana single took its title from graffiti Kathleen Hanna wrote on Kurt Cobain's wall?

Smells Like Teen Spirit's writer took 'Kurt smells like Teen Spirit' for a revolutionary slogan, and only learned it was a deodorant months after the single was out.

Doug, Rugrats and which chihuahua-and-cat cartoon premiered on 11 August as Nickelodeon's first three 'Nicktoons'?

The Ren & Stimpy Show aired last of the three that day, and Rugrats, the second Nicktoon, was renewed for a second season within three months.

Which Supreme Court nominee was confirmed 52–48 in October after Anita Hill testified he had sexually harassed her?

Clarence Thomas took the seat of the retiring Thurgood Marshall after hearings in which he denied 'each and every single allegation' against him.

Which western won seven Oscars including Best Picture in March, with Kevin Costner also named Best Director?

Dances with Wolves led the field with twelve nominations, and Costner became only the fifth person to win Best Director for his directorial debut.

Which University of Helsinki student posted to comp.os.minix on 25 August about a free operating system, 'just a hobby'?

Linus Torvalds warned that his kernel 'won't be big and professional like gnu', and it was written for 386 and 486 PC clones.

Which programming language did Guido van Rossum first release, as version 0.9.0, in February?

Python's documentation uses 'spam' and 'eggs' in place of the usual 'foo' and 'bar', a nod to a Monty Python sketch, and the first release came on 20 February.

Which British duo were the world's biggest-selling singles act of the year, and later burned a million pounds in cash?

The KLF's '3 a.m. Eternal' topped the UK chart early in the year, and Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty burned the £1 million in 1994 as the K Foundation.

Which band played its first gig at Manchester's Boardwalk club on 14 August, watched by a roadie who would soon join it?

Oasis were bottom of the bill below the Catchmen and Sweet Jesus, and Noel Gallagher, then roadying for Inspiral Carpets, came along to watch his brother Liam's band.

Which Right Said Fred debut spent six weeks at UK number two behind Bryan Adams, yet topped the US Hot 100?

I'm Too Sexy equalled the record for most consecutive weeks at number two without ever reaching the top, set by Father Abraham's 'The Smurf Song' in 1978.

Which Liverpool manager resigned two days after his side led four times yet drew 4–4 at Everton in the FA Cup?

Kenny Dalglish had won three league titles and two FA Cups as player-manager since 1985, and his resignation shocked the football world.

Which boxer suffered near-fatal brain injuries in his September rematch with Chris Eubank at White Hart Lane?

Michael Watson had lost a disputed majority decision to Eubank at Earls Court in June, and the rematch was for the vacant WBO super-middleweight title.

Which country won Eurovision in Rome on the contest's first-ever tie-break, after finishing level on points with France?

Sweden's Carola won with 'Fångad av en stormvind' because, with the 12-point scores level, it had collected more 10-point scores, and the contest had been moved from Sanremo to Rome because of the Gulf War.

Which Yugoslav club beat Marseille on penalties in Bari to win the European Cup as the country fell apart?

Red Star Belgrade's Darko Pančev converted the decisive penalty after Manuel Amoros missed, bringing the trophy to Yugoslavia for the first time.

Which South Carolina course hosted the Ryder Cup 'War on the Shore', lost when Bernhard Langer missed a six-footer?

Kiawah Island's Ocean Course saw Langer's par putt on the final green slide by, handing the United States a 14½–13½ win when a 14-all tie would have kept the cup in Europe.

Whom did François Mitterrand appoint on 15 May as France's first female prime minister?

Édith Cresson lasted less than a year in the job, and no woman held it again until Élisabeth Borne was appointed in 2022.

Which street paper, sold by homeless vendors, was launched in London in September by John Bird and Gordon Roddick?

The Big Issue was modelled on New York's Street News and started with £500,000 from The Body Shop, whose founder Anita Roddick was Gordon's wife.