50 Fun Facts About 1994

Which online retailer was founded in July 1994 as a bookstore under the original name Cadabra?

Amazon began as an online bookstore that Jeff Bezos ran from Bellevue, Washington. He had moved there from New York City to start the business.

Which singer released "All I Want for Christmas Is You" in October 1994 on her first holiday album?

Mariah Carey wrote and produced the song with Walter Afanasieff. It first topped the US Hot 100 in 2019, 25 years after its release.

Which former NFL star fled police in a white Ford Bronco during a televised low-speed chase in June 1994?

O. J. Simpson's pursuit was watched by around 95 million people. TV stations cut into game 5 of the NBA Finals to show it live.

Which sitcom about six New Yorkers, developed under the working title Insomnia Cafe, premiered in September 1994?

Friends ran for ten seasons, ending in May 2004. Much of it is set at the coffee house Central Perk, where Rachel first works as a waitress.

Which former political prisoner was inaugurated in May 1994 as South Africa's first black head of state?

Nelson Mandela had served 27 years in prison, at first on Robben Island. His inauguration in Pretoria was televised to a billion viewers worldwide.

Which sport did Michael Jordan take up in 1994, signing a minor-league contract after quitting the Chicago Bulls?

Baseball took Jordan to the Birmingham Barons, a Chicago White Sox affiliate. He batted .202 with three home runs for them in 1994.

Which planet was struck by the broken-up fragments of Comet Shoemaker–Levy 9 in July 1994?

Jupiter's battering was the first collision between Solar System objects that astronomers observed directly. The fragments hit its southern hemisphere at about 60 kilometres per second.

Which famous painting was stolen from Oslo's National Gallery in February 1994 as Norway's Winter Olympics opened?

The Scream was taken by two men who left a note reading "Thanks for the poor security". Edvard Munch's painting was recovered undamaged that May.

Which undersea rail link did Queen Elizabeth II and François Mitterrand open at a ceremony in Calais in May 1994?

The Channel Tunnel has the longest underwater section of any tunnel in the world, at 37.9 km. It opened a year later than originally planned.

Which Hollywood star directed and produced the 1994 film Quiz Show, about a rigged 1950s television game show?

Robert Redford's drama earned four Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture. It grossed about $24.8 million in the US and Canada.

Which 1994 film, adapted from a Winston Groom novel, follows an Alabama man with an IQ of 75 through US history?

Forrest Gump won six Academy Awards, including Best Actor for Tom Hanks. Hanks built the character's drawl on the accent of the boy who plays young Forrest.

Which Disney animated film, with a plot inspired by Shakespeare's Hamlet, was the highest-grossing film of 1994?

The Lion King took $763 million in its first run, then second only to Jurassic Park among all films. Elton John and Tim Rice wrote its songs.

Which crime film won the Palme d'Or at the 1994 Cannes Film Festival and went on to revive John Travolta's career?

Pulp Fiction earned seven Oscar nominations and won for its original screenplay. Travolta and co-star Uma Thurman were both nominated for their acting.

Which prison drama based on a Stephen King novella was a 1994 box-office disappointment but 1995's top video rental?

The Shawshank Redemption earned only $16 million in its first run, despite seven Oscar nominations. Word of mouth then made it a hit on VHS.

Which star of the sketch show In Living Color headlined three box-office hits in 1994, his breakout year?

Jim Carrey released Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, The Mask and Dumb and Dumber within the one year. Ace Ventura alone grossed $72 million in the US and Canada.

The 1994 film Quiz Show dramatizes a 1950s scandal over the rigging of which NBC game show?

Twenty-One coached its favoured contestants, and in the film a young congressional lawyer, Richard Goodwin, uncovers the fix. The screenplay adapts Goodwin's memoirs.

Which English actor plays Columbia University instructor Charles Van Doren in the 1994 film Quiz Show?

Ralph Fiennes plays Van Doren as the son of a prominent literary family who first turns up to audition for a different, less difficult show.

Which actor plays Herb Stempel, the reigning champion told to lose on purpose, in the 1994 film Quiz Show?

John Turturro's Stempel is dropped when the network and the sponsor fear his ratings are levelling out and decide the programme needs new talent.

In the 1994 film Quiz Show, Herb Stempel is made to miss a question on which 1955 Best Picture winner?

Marty was a film the real Stempel knew well. He later said he could have named it instead of answering On the Waterfront, as the producer wanted.

Which black-and-white drama won seven Oscars, including Best Picture, at the ceremony held in March 1994?

Schindler's List led the night with twelve nominations. Steven Spielberg shot it in black and white to match the feel of documentary footage of the era.

Which Seattle grunge frontman was found dead at his home in April 1994, joining the so-called 27 Club?

Kurt Cobain died at 27, months after Nirvana taped an acoustic set for MTV Unplugged. The recording came out as an album later in 1994.

Which pop star did Elvis Presley's daughter Lisa Marie marry in May 1994, under three weeks after her divorce?

Michael Jackson and Lisa Marie Presley stayed married until 1996. She had obtained a quick divorce from Danny Keough in the Dominican Republic.

Which Swedish group's single "The Sign" was ranked the number one song of 1994 on Billboard's year-end chart?

Ace of Base became the first Swedish group to hold the top US single and album at the same time. "The Sign" spent six weeks at the head of the Hot 100.

Which California punk trio's major-label debut, Dookie, arrived in February 1994 and angered some early fans?

Green Day were labelled sell-outs for signing to Reprise Records. Dookie went on to be certified double diamond in the US and won a Grammy for Best Alternative Album.

Which English band's 1994 album Definitely Maybe became the fastest-selling debut in British history at the time?

Oasis went straight to number one in the UK with the album. It was later certified 10× platinum there for sales of more than 3 million copies.

Which unsigned singer topped the Billboard Hot 100 in 1994 with "Stay (I Missed You)" from the film Reality Bites?

Lisa Loeb got the song into the film through her neighbour Ethan Hawke, who passed it to director Ben Stiller. No artist had topped the US chart before signing to a label.

Which novelist based ER, a medical drama that premiered in 1994, on a screenplay he had written two decades earlier?

Michael Crichton drew the script from his own time as a medical student in a busy emergency room. The pilot was shot almost unchanged from his 1974 draft.

Which mathematician, later portrayed by Russell Crowe in A Beautiful Mind, shared the 1994 Nobel Prize in economics?

John Nash shared the prize with fellow game theorists John Harsanyi and Reinhard Selten. He had spent several years in psychiatric hospitals being treated for schizophrenia.

Which Canadian star of Uncle Buck and Planes, Trains and Automobiles died in March 1994 while filming Wagons East?

John Candy died of a heart attack at 43. Wagons East and the already completed Canadian Bacon were released after his death and dedicated to his memory.

Which Canadian pop singer, raised in the Ontario city of Stratford, was born on March 1, 1994?

Justin Bieber was born in London, Ontario, to parents who were both 18. They separated soon after his birth.

Which figure skater was clubbed on the leg in Detroit in January 1994 in an attack planned by a rival's ex-husband?

Nancy Kerrigan recovered to win silver at the Winter Olympics the following month. The attacker was hired by Jeff Gillooly, the ex-husband of Tonya Harding.

Which Italian forward missed the decisive penalty against Brazil in the shoot-out that settled the 1994 World Cup final?

Roberto Baggio's miss ended the first World Cup final ever decided by a penalty shoot-out. The match at the Rose Bowl had finished 0–0 after extra time.

Which championship went unplayed in 1994 for the first time since 1904 after players went on strike that August?

The World Series was lost to a players' strike that wiped out 948 games. No labor dispute had cancelled an entire postseason in North American professional sports before.

Which Brazilian Formula One driver was killed while leading the San Marino Grand Prix at Imola in May 1994?

Ayrton Senna crashed a day after Austrian driver Roland Ratzenberger died in qualifying. Theirs were the first fatal accidents at a Formula One race weekend since 1982.

Which boxer won back the heavyweight title in 1994 at the age of 45 by knocking out Michael Moorer?

George Foreman was 19 years older than Moorer, who had seen the bout as a lucrative fight at little risk. The win made Foreman the AP Athlete of the Year.

Which Norwegian town hosted the 1994 Winter Olympics, the first held in a different year from the Summer Games?

Lillehammer is the northernmost city ever to host the Olympics. Its Games came only two years after the previous Winter Olympics because of a calendar change.

Which NHL team ended a 54-year championship drought by beating the Vancouver Canucks in Game 7 of the 1994 final?

The New York Rangers had not lifted the Stanley Cup since 1940. They nearly let this one slip too, losing a 3–1 series lead before winning the decider.

Whose NHL career record of 801 goals did Wayne Gretzky break with a goal against Vancouver in March 1994?

Gordie Howe had been Gretzky's boyhood idol. As a teenager in the WHA, Gretzky skated on an all-star line with Howe and Howe's son Mark.

Which country's defender Andrés Escobar was murdered days after scoring an own goal at the 1994 World Cup?

Colombia finished bottom of its group after the own goal against the host nation. Escobar was killed in his home city of Medellín within a week of the team's elimination.

Which company's Simon Personal Communicator, since called the first true smartphone, went on sale in August 1994?

IBM gave Simon a 4.5-inch touchscreen plus a modem for faxing and email. BellSouth sold 50,000 of them in the US between August 1994 and February 1995.

In which African country were members of the Tutsi minority systematically killed over about 100 days in 1994?

Rwanda's genocide ran from 7 April to 19 July, during the country's civil war. Most scholarly estimates put the number of Tutsi killed at between 500,000 and 662,000.

Which former US president died in April 1994 and was given a funeral in his home town of Yorba Linda, California?

Richard Nixon died at 81, four days after a major stroke. All five living US presidents attended the service at his presidential library.

Which country caned American teenager Michael Fay for vandalism in 1994, straining its relations with Washington?

Singapore cut the sentence from six strokes to four after US officials asked for leniency. Fay had been arrested for stealing road signs and vandalising 18 cars.

Which founder of North Korea died in July 1994 after 46 years in power and was later declared Eternal President?

Kim Il Sung was succeeded by his son Kim Jong Il, the heir he had picked back in 1980. The handover began the Kim dynasty's run of father-to-son rule.

The ferry that sank in the Baltic Sea in September 1994, killing 852 people, bore the name of which country?

Estonia gave its name to the ship, which worked the route between Tallinn and Stockholm. Its loss was one of the deadliest peacetime maritime disasters of the 20th century.

Which breakaway republic did Boris Yeltsin send Russian troops into in December 1994 to topple its separatist leader?

Chechnya had proclaimed independence under Dzhokhar Dudayev. Russian forces captured the capital, Grozny, in March 1995, but separatists retook it in August 1996 and the Russians withdrew.

Which now-everyday technology did Masahiro Hara invent in 1994 to label car parts at the Japanese firm Denso Wave?

The QR code took its look from the black and white counters on a Go board. It spread beyond car factories because it reads faster and stores more than a standard barcode.

Which games console, born from a failed CD-ROM deal with Nintendo, went on sale in Japan in December 1994?

The PlayStation grew out of a CD-ROM add-on Sony had been contracted to build for the Super Nintendo. It became the first games platform to ship over 100 million units.

Which crop was the Flavr Savr, the first genetically engineered food licensed for human consumption, sold from 1994?

Tomato plants of the Flavr Savr line carried a reversed gene that held back a rotting enzyme. Their Californian maker Calgene never became profitable, and production ceased in 1997.

Which animal, eleventh in the Chinese zodiac cycle, rules the lunar year that began in February 1994?

The Dog took over from the Rooster on 10 February 1994 and held sway until 30 January 1995. Babies born in the first weeks of 1994 therefore belong to the earlier sign.