50 Fun Facts About 1998

Which company did Larry Page and Sergey Brin set up in 1998, working from a friend's garage in Menlo Park?

Google took its name from a misspelling of googol, the number written as a 1 followed by 100 zeros. The garage belonged to Susan Wojcicki.

Which film won 11 Oscars in March 1998, matching a record that Ben-Hur had held alone for nearly four decades?

Titanic turned 14 nominations into 11 wins, including Best Picture. More than 57 million Americans watched the ceremony, a record audience for an Oscars telecast.

Which owl-like robotic toy from Tiger Electronics became the must-have gift of the 1998 holiday season?

Furby starts out speaking only its own language, Furbish, and swaps in English words over time. About 1.8 million were sold in 1998 and 14 million the year after.

Which NBC sitcom ended in May 1998 with a finale that sent its four main characters to prison?

Seinfeld drew an average of 76 million viewers for its last episode, written by co-creator Larry David. A 30-second advert cost about $1 million, a first for a regular primetime series.

Which former Mickey Mouse Club member's debut single, released in September 1998, topped charts in over 20 countries?

Britney Spears pushed for the song's video to be set in a school so that it reflected her fans' lives. Max Martin wrote the track, ...Baby One More Time.

Which Pfizer pill, first developed as an angina treatment, won US approval in March 1998 for erectile dysfunction?

Viagra was the first pill approved in the United States for the condition. Early trials found it did little for chest pain but had a side effect that changed its purpose.

Which slugger finished the 1998 baseball season with 70 home runs, breaking a record Roger Maris had held since 1961?

Mark McGwire hit his record-breaking 62nd against the Cubs, so rival Sammy Sosa was on the field to congratulate him. Barry Bonds passed the mark with 73 three years later.

Which host nation won its first football World Cup in July 1998 by beating defending champions Brazil 3–0?

France scored twice before half-time through Zinedine Zidane, both headers from corners. Emmanuel Petit added the third goal in injury time.

Which company opened for business in April 1998 as a website renting out DVDs by mail?

Netflix charged for each rental at first and only added a monthly subscription in 1999. Its streaming service did not arrive until 2007.

Which book hero reached US readers in September 1998 under a title his American publisher had changed?

Harry Potter's US editor thought "philosopher" sounded too archaic for readers, so Philosopher's Stone became Sorcerer's Stone. Scholastic had paid $105,000 for the rights, an unusually high sum for a children's book.

Which 1998 Michael Bay film sends oil drillers into space to blow up an asteroid the size of Texas?

Armageddon was the highest-grossing film of 1998, taking $553.7 million worldwide despite mixed reviews from critics.

Which 1998 Steven Spielberg war film opens with a long, brutal recreation of the D-Day landing at Omaha Beach?

Saving Private Ryan's opening battle took four weeks and $12 million to film, with 1,500 background actors. It was the second-highest-grossing film of 1998 worldwide.

Which 1998 romantic comedy starring Gwyneth Paltrow won seven Oscars, including the award for Best Picture?

Shakespeare in Love won seven Oscars from 13 nominations. Prince Edward reportedly asked to be made Earl of Wessex after seeing Colin Firth play a lord of that title in it.

Which 1998 film stars Jim Carrey as a man unaware that his whole life is being broadcast as entertainment?

The Truman Show was directed by Peter Weir, who took over after Brian De Palma had been lined up for the job. Its hero lives on a colossal soundstage without knowing it.

Which 1998 Coen brothers comedy follows a bowling-loving slacker called the Dude after a case of mistaken identity?

The Big Lebowski stars Jeff Bridges as the Dude and gathered a cult following after its release. It joined the US National Film Registry in 2014.

Which comedian voiced Mushu, the small red dragon who helps the heroine of Disney's 1998 animated film Mulan?

Eddie Murphy's dragon is a disgraced family guardian sent to wake a mighty stone dragon. He breaks the statue by accident and goes to help Mulan himself.

Which studio made A Bug's Life, released in 1998 a month after rival DreamWorks put out the ant comedy Antz?

Pixar drew the story from Aesop's fable The Ant and the Grasshopper. The clash with Antz set off a public feud between Steve Jobs and DreamWorks co-founder Jeffrey Katzenberg.

Which Alfred Hitchcock thriller did director Gus Van Sant remake almost shot for shot in 1998, starring Vince Vaughn?

Psycho was refilmed in colour but copied Hitchcock's camera moves, his editing and most of the 1960 script. Van Sant later called it an experiment showing that a film cannot be copied.

Which Legend of Zelda game, released in November 1998, was the first in the series with 3D graphics?

Ocarina of Time introduced a lock-on targeting system that later 3D adventure games copied. Many publications have ranked it among the greatest video games ever made.

Which console, launched in Japan in November 1998, turned out to be the last home system Sega ever made?

Dreamcast was the first console with a built-in modem for online play. Sega stopped making it in March 2001 and turned to producing games for other companies' machines.

Which HBO series based on Candace Bushnell's newspaper column premiered in June 1998 starring Sarah Jessica Parker?

Sex and the City ran for 94 episodes over six seasons and is credited with helping to raise HBO's popularity. Darren Star created the series.

Which teen drama set in the fictional town of Capeside, Massachusetts, premiered on The WB in January 1998?

Dawson's Creek was created by Kevin Williamson and filmed in Wilmington, North Carolina. Its young cast included Katie Holmes, Joshua Jackson and Michelle Williams.

Which Fox sitcom about six teenage friends in Point Place, Wisconsin, first aired in August 1998?

That '70s Show opens in May 1976. Many of its scenes take place in or around Eric Forman's hand-me-down 1969 Oldsmobile Vista Cruiser.

Which company did the Justice Department and 20 states sue in May 1998 for tying a browser to its operating system?

Microsoft argued that Internet Explorer was a feature of Windows, not a separate product. The government said it had stopped PC makers and users from removing the browser to use rivals.

Which former pro wrestler won the 1998 election for governor of Minnesota as the Reform Party candidate?

Jesse Ventura ran a low-budget campaign built on grassroots events and unusual advertising. He remains the only Reform Party candidate to have won a major government office.

Which presenter was the original host of MTV's countdown show Total Request Live when it premiered in September 1998?

Carson Daly had fronted both programmes that MTV merged to make TRL: MTV Live and the viewer request show Total Request. He later got a late-night talk show on NBC.

Which singer's October 1998 single Believe distorted her voice with Auto-Tune, an effect later nicknamed after her?

Cher's producers pushed the pitch-correction software to extreme settings it was never designed for. The much-imitated sound even appears in the Auto-Tune manual under her name.

Which singer released a solo debut album in August 1998 that later won her five Grammys in one night?

Lauryn Hill recorded The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill after her band Fugees went on hiatus. Its first-week sales of 422,000 were the most for a woman at the time.

Which rock band scored its first US number-one single in 1998 with a power ballad written by Diane Warren?

Aerosmith debuted at the top of the Hot 100 with I Don't Want to Miss a Thing and stayed there for four weeks. Warren had imagined someone like Celine Dion singing it.

Which member of the Spice Girls announced through her solicitor in May 1998 that she had left the group?

Geri Halliwell, the group's Ginger Spice, cited depression and differences with the others. Her first solo album followed in 1999.

Which team did Michael Jordan's Chicago Bulls beat in six games in the 1998 NBA Finals for a third straight title?

The Utah Jazz had beaten the Bulls in both regular-season meetings and held home-court advantage. They still lost the Finals to Chicago for the second year running.

Which team upset the heavily favored Green Bay Packers in Super Bowl XXXII in January 1998 to win a first title?

The Denver Broncos had lost four earlier Super Bowls, three of them with John Elway at quarterback. Terrell Davis scored the go-ahead touchdown with 1:45 left.

Which baseball team won 114 regular-season games in 1998 and then swept the San Diego Padres in the World Series?

The New York Yankees won 125 games in all once the playoffs were counted, a Major League Baseball record. Their 114 stood as the American League best until 2001.

Which Japanese city hosted the 1998 Winter Olympics, where snowboarding and women's ice hockey made their debuts?

Nagano had twice lost out to Sapporo in Japan's own selection for earlier Winter Games. Hosting brought the city a high-speed Shinkansen rail link to Tokyo.

Which American skater won gold at the 1998 Winter Olympics, breaking an age record Sonja Henie had held for 70 years?

Tara Lipinski was two months younger than Henie had been when the Norwegian won in 1928. She retired from competitive skating later in 1998.

Which NASCAR driver finally won the Daytona 500 in February 1998 after 19 failed attempts at the race?

Dale Earnhardt broke through on his 20th start in the race. It remained the only Daytona 500 victory of his career.

Which woman confided in her Pentagon co-worker Linda Tripp, whose secret tapes fed the 1998 presidential scandal?

Monica Lewinsky joined the White House internship programme in 1995. Bill Clinton was impeached by the House in December 1998 and acquitted by the Senate two months later.

Which pioneering American astronaut returned to space aboard the shuttle Discovery in October 1998 at the age of 77?

John Glenn spent two years lobbying NASA to let him fly as a human guinea pig for studies of ageing. He was then the oldest person to have gone into space.

Which Christian holy day gave its name to the April 1998 agreement that ended most of the Troubles in Northern Ireland?

Good Friday fell on 10 April in 1998, the day the deal was reached in Belfast. Voters across the island of Ireland approved it in two referendums six weeks later.

Which country carried out its first public nuclear weapons tests in May 1998, two weeks after India had tested its own?

Pakistan set off five underground devices at once in the Ras Koh Hills of Balochistan. Both countries were hit with economic sanctions afterwards.

In which country was Zarya built, the first module of the International Space Station, launched in November 1998?

Russia built the module in Moscow, but the United States paid for it through a $220 million NASA contract. Its name means sunrise.

In which country did Hugo Chávez win the presidency in December 1998, six years after leading a coup attempt there?

Venezuela's two long-dominant parties both endorsed his main rival, Henrique Salas Römer. Chávez still won, running on an anti-corruption and anti-poverty platform.

Which 1998 hurricane killed more than 11,000 people in Central America, over half of them in Honduras?

Mitch crawled along for days and dropped historic amounts of rain on Honduras, Guatemala and Nicaragua. The Honduran president said it set the economy back about 50 years.

In which country did President Suharto resign in May 1998 after 32 years in power, amid riots and economic collapse?

Indonesia was the country hit hardest by the 1997 Asian financial crisis. Vice-president B. J. Habibie took over and began a period of political reform known as Reformasi.

Which former South American dictator was arrested at a London clinic in October 1998 on a warrant from a Spanish judge?

Augusto Pinochet of Chile was the first foreign head of state detained under the principle of universal jurisdiction. Britain released him in 2000 after a year and a half of house arrest.

Which 1998 first-person shooter, the debut game from Valve, casts the player as physicist Gordon Freeman?

Half-Life tells its story through scripted events inside the game world instead of cutscenes, so the player keeps control throughout. It won more than 50 Game of the Year awards.

Which nation finished third at its first World Cup in 1998, with striker Davor Šuker winning the Golden Boot?

Croatia beat the Netherlands in the third-place match and became the surprise of the tournament. Šuker scored six goals in seven games.

Which Chicago Cubs rookie struck out 20 Houston Astros in a single game in May 1998, in just his fifth career start?

Kerry Wood gave up one hit and no walks that day, tying the nine-inning strikeout record set by Roger Clemens. He was named National League Rookie of the Year.

Which Ulster Unionist leader shared the 1998 Nobel Peace Prize with John Hume for their part in a peace deal?

David Trimble went on to become the first First Minister of Northern Ireland. His time in office was repeatedly interrupted by rows over the timetable for IRA decommissioning.

Which German chancellor, who had overseen reunification, lost the September 1998 election after 16 years in office?

Helmut Kohl had been seeking a sixth term. The Social Democrats became the largest party in parliament for the first time since 1972, and Gerhard Schröder replaced him.