49 Fun Facts About 50th Birthday

Which company, founded on April Fools' Day 1976, priced its first computer at $666.66?

Apple had a third co-founder, Ronald Wayne, who got cold feet within two weeks and gave up his 10% stake for $800, leaving Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak to carry on without him.

Which supersonic airliner began carrying paying passengers on 21 January 1976?

Concorde's first fare-paying flights went from London to Bahrain and from Paris to Rio de Janeiro, because the United States had not yet agreed to let the supersonic jet land.

Which home video format did JVC introduce in 1976?

VHS tapes ran for two hours when Sony's rival Betamax managed only one, an edge that helped JVC's format win the home video war of the 1980s.

The Cray-1, first delivered by Seymour Cray's company in 1976, was a famous early what?

Supercomputer: the Cray-1 was the world's fastest machine for years. Its tower was curved into a C to keep the wiring short, and the padded bench around its base hid the power supplies.

On July 20, 1976, Viking 1 became the first American spacecraft to land on which planet?

Mars was meant to be reached on July 4, the Bicentennial itself, but the chosen site looked too rough from orbit. The landing slipped to the seventh anniversary of Apollo 11's Moon landing.

NASA's first Space Shuttle, rolled out in September 1976, was renamed after a letter-writing campaign by fans of which TV show?

Star Trek fans flooded the White House with letters, so the shuttle that was to be called Constitution became Enterprise. The show's creator and cast turned up to watch it roll out.

Who presented the Bicentennial Bell in Philadelphia in July 1976?

Queen Elizabeth II handed over the bell two days after the Fourth of July. It was cast at Whitechapel in London, the same foundry that had made the Liberty Bell for Philadelphia in the 1750s.

Which US banknote returned in April 1976 after ten years away, with the Declaration of Independence on its back?

The two-dollar bill came back to save money, since one note could do the work of two dollar bills. It was issued on April 13, the birthday of Thomas Jefferson, whose portrait is on the front.

Who narrowly beat incumbent Gerald Ford in the November 1976 US presidential election?

Jimmy Carter began the race so little known outside Georgia that the stock response to his candidacy was "Jimmy who?". The former peanut farmer won as a Washington outsider in the first election after Watergate.

In a 1976 debate, President Ford wrongly claimed there was no Soviet domination of where?

Eastern Europe was firmly in the Soviet bloc at the time. Offered the chance to take it back by a panellist, Ford insisted that Poles did not feel dominated, then stood by the claim for days.

Who did Gerald Ford narrowly hold off for the 1976 Republican nomination?

Ronald Reagan tried to tip the contest by naming a Pennsylvania senator, Richard Schweiker, as his running mate before the vote, hoping to win over wavering moderates. Ford still won on the first ballot.

Which Chinese leader died on September 9, 1976, after a series of heart attacks?

Mao Zedong left a power vacuum behind him. Within weeks his successor, Hua Guofeng, had arrested Mao's widow and the rest of the Gang of Four, the radicals who had driven the Cultural Revolution.

A July 1976 earthquake that killed over 240,000 people flattened which Chinese city?

Tangshan was asleep when the quake struck at 3:42 in the morning, and most of its buildings came down within minutes. The official toll of about 242,000 is widely thought to be too low.

Which British prime minister unexpectedly resigned in March 1976?

Harold Wilson stunned Westminster by quitting five days after his 60th birthday, then revealed he had settled on it two years earlier. His Foreign Secretary, James Callaghan, won the contest to succeed him.

In June 1976 the UK and Iceland ended the third of which oddly named conflict?

The Cod War ended with Britain accepting Iceland's 200-mile fishing limit. Tiny Iceland had leverage: it could threaten to walk out of NATO, which needed the island to track Soviet submarines.

Israeli commandos freed about 100 hijacked hostages on July 4, 1976, at which African airport?

Entebbe, in Idi Amin's Uganda, lay some 2,500 miles from Israel. The assault leader, Yonatan Netanyahu, was the only Israeli soldier killed, and the raid was renamed Operation Yonatan in his honour.

The Soweto uprising that began on June 16, 1976, took place in which country?

South Africa had ordered black schools to teach in Afrikaans, and thousands of Soweto pupils marched against it, setting off days of deadly clashes with police. June 16 is now a public holiday there, Youth Day.

Which deadly virus was first recorded in 1976, in Nzara, Sudan?

Ebola takes its name from a river in what was then Zaire. It flows near the village of Yambuku, where a second outbreak was raging in the same months as the one in Sudan.

A mystery pneumonia at a 1976 Philadelphia convention was named after which organisation?

The American Legion's convention-goers fell ill in such numbers that the illness became Legionnaires' disease. Months later the culprit proved to be an unknown bacterium spread through the hotel's air conditioning.

Which Indian Ocean island nation, whose capital is Victoria, became independent from Britain in June 1976?

Seychelles' first president lasted less than a year before he was ousted in a coup in 1977. The party that took over then held the presidency until 2020.

In July 1976, North and South were formally unified as the Socialist Republic of what?

Vietnam was reunified under communist rule from Hanoi, a little over a year after the fall of Saigon. A decade later the same government began letting private enterprise back in.

Which kidnapped newspaper heiress was convicted of armed bank robbery in March 1976?

Patty Hearst was filmed helping her kidnappers rob a bank two months after they seized her, and her lawyers argued she had been brainwashed. Her seven-year sentence was cut short and she walked free in 1979.

In the 1976 Chowchilla kidnapping, 26 schoolchildren and an adult were buried in what?

A box truck in a quarry, buried under the earth, held them for about 16 hours. Then the bus driver and the older children stacked mattresses to reach the roof hatch, forced it open and dug their way out.

Anita Roddick opened the first branch of which cosmetics chain in Brighton in 1976?

The Body Shop began as a way for Anita Roddick to support herself and her two daughters while her husband was away travelling in South America. It grew into a worldwide chain known for its campaigning.

Which gourmet candy brand was first sold in 1976 at an ice cream parlour near Los Angeles?

Jelly Belly was the idea of a sweets distributor, David Klein, who named it in tribute to the blues singer Lead Belly. Four years later he signed the trademark over to the firm that made the beans for him.

Which 14-year-old gymnast scored the first perfect 10 at the 1976 Summer Olympics?

Nadia Comaneci's perfect score came up as 1.00. The scoreboards had been built with only three digits, because their makers had been told that nobody could score a 10.

Which city hosted the 1976 Summer Olympics?

Montreal's mayor had promised that the Olympics could no more lose money than a man could have a baby. The Games left the city more than a billion dollars in debt.

Which event did Bruce Jenner win at the 1976 Olympics?

The decathlon champion, now Caitlyn Jenner, was handed a small American flag by a fan and waved it on the lap of honour. Flag-waving victory laps were rare then, and winners have copied the gesture ever since.

Dorothy Hamill won 1976 Olympic figure-skating gold and started a craze for what?

A wedge haircut like the bob she wore on the ice became a trend among women and girls. She left skating a move as well: a camel spin dropping into a sit spin, which she invented and which is still called the Hamill camel.

Which team beat the Dallas Cowboys 21–17 in Super Bowl X in January 1976?

Pittsburgh Steelers receiver Lynn Swann caught only four passes, but they went for 161 yards, and his 64-yard catch-and-run produced the winning touchdown. He became the first wide receiver named Super Bowl MVP.

Which team swept the Yankees in the 1976 World Series?

Cincinnati Reds catcher Johnny Bench batted .533 and was named Series MVP as the 'Big Red Machine' made it two titles in a row. The Reds had lost both their earlier World Series against the Yankees, in 1939 and 1961.

Which NFL expansion team went 0–14 in its first season in 1976?

Tampa Bay Buccaneers fans waited until December 1977 for a first win, after 26 straight defeats, when the team finally beat the Saints in New Orleans. Two seasons later the Bucs were playing for the NFC title.

Which 20-year-old Swede won his first Wimbledon title in 1976 without dropping a set?

Bjorn Borg beat Ilie Nastase in the final and went on to win Wimbledon five years running. Then he stunned the sport by walking away from it while still in his mid-twenties.

Which 1976 film won Best Picture at the 49th Academy Awards?

Rocky was written by Sylvester Stallone in three and a half days. He was close to broke, yet he would sell the script only on condition that he, and not an established star, played the lead.

Which 1976 Martin Scorsese film won the Palme d'Or at Cannes?

Taxi Driver was first handed an X rating for its bloody final shoot-out. Scorsese won an R by draining the colour from the scene, so that the blood looked less red.

In the 1976 film Network, which news anchor has a live on-air breakdown?

Howard Beale gets viewers to go to their windows and shout "I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore!". Peter Finch, who played him, died ten weeks before the Oscars and won Best Actor posthumously.

Which ABC series, new in autumn 1976, had a boss who was heard over a speakerphone but never seen?

Charlie's Angels took their orders from Charlie Townsend, voiced by John Forsythe. He recorded his lines in a sound studio and was never on set with Kate Jackson, Farrah Fawcett and Jaclyn Smith.

Which puppet series, rejected by US networks, was made in England from 1976?

The Muppet Show was turned down by the American networks, so Jim Henson took up a British offer and filmed it at Elstree in England. It was then sold back to stations across the United States.

Laverne & Shirley, which debuted in January 1976, was a spin-off of which sitcom?

Happy Days first brought on Laverne and Shirley as a double date for Richie and Fonzie. Given a series of their own, the pair went on to become the most-watched show in America.

Which Eagles album of December 1976 has a title track that won Record of the Year?

Hotel California won its Grammy with nobody there to collect it. The Eagles' manager refused to send them to the ceremony without a guaranteed win, so the band heard the news at a rehearsal.

Which ABBA single, first released in 1976, became the group's only US number one?

Dancing Queen had its first live outing at a televised gala for Sweden's king and his bride on the eve of their wedding in June 1976. It reached number one in America the following year.

Which New York band opened its 1976 debut album with "Blitzkrieg Bop"?

Ramones put the song out as their first single and it was never a hit. Its opening chant still became one of the defining sounds of punk, and is now heard at sports grounds around the world.

Which British punk band released its debut single "Anarchy in the U.K." in November 1976?

Sex Pistols lasted barely three months on their first label. EMI fired them in January 1977 after they swore on a live teatime television show, with this single the only record they had released.

Which former Humble Pie guitarist became a superstar with a 1976 live album?

Frampton Comes Alive! was planned as a single disc until Peter Frampton's label boss heard it and asked, "Where's the rest of it?" By April it was the number one album in America.

Brotherhood of Man won the 1976 Eurovision Song Contest for the UK with which song?

Save Your Kisses for Me sounds like a man's goodbye to his sweetheart as he leaves for work. The last line reveals that he has been singing to a three-year-old all along.

Which actress, born in March 1976, won her Oscar for playing Johnny Cash's wife in Walk the Line?

Reese Witherspoon won opposite Joaquin Phoenix. She later turned producer as well as star: Big Little Lies and The Morning Show were made by her own company, Hello Sunshine.

Which quarterback nicknamed "the Sheriff" was born March 24, 1976?

Peyton Manning missed the whole 2011 season with a neck injury and the Colts let him go. He joined the Denver Broncos, won a second Super Bowl with them and retired a month later.

Which English actor, born in July 1976, earned an Oscar nomination for playing codebreaker Alan Turing?

Benedict Cumberbatch lost that Oscar to Eddie Redmayne, who won for playing Stephen Hawking. Cumberbatch had played the young Hawking himself in a BBC film ten years earlier.

Which Brazilian striker nicknamed O Fenomeno was born September 18, 1976?

Ronaldo suffered a convulsive fit hours before the 1998 World Cup final, which Brazil lost. Four years later, after two years of knee injuries, he scored eight goals, two of them in the final, to win it.