50 Fun Facts About 50th Birthday

Which computer company did Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak form in 1976?

Their first product, the Apple-1, was an 8-bit machine designed by Wozniak; Microsoft was also officially registered that November.

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

Air France flew out of Paris and British Airways out of Heathrow on the same day; Washington service followed in May.

Which home video format did JVC introduce in 1976?

It went on to beat Sony's rival system and dominate living rooms through the 1980s and 1990s.

The Cray-1, released in March 1976, was the first commercially developed what?

The first buyer was the Energy Research and Development Administration in Los Alamos, New Mexico.

On July 20, 1976, Viking 1 made the first successful landing on which planet?

The landing had been planned for the Bicentennial on July 4 but the chosen site looked too rough, so it slipped to the Apollo 11 anniversary.

Which famous, much-debated photograph did NASA release from Viking 1 in July 1976?

The shadowy mesa in Cydonia fuelled decades of speculation until sharper images showed an ordinary hill.

What anniversary did the United States celebrate on July 4, 1976?

The Treasury marked the Bicentennial by bringing back a long-absent banknote on Thomas Jefferson's birthday that April.

Which US banknote was reintroduced in April 1976 as part of the Bicentennial?

It came out on Thomas Jefferson's 233rd birthday, since his portrait is on the front.

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

He was the first candidate from the Deep South to win the presidency since the Civil War.

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

The gaffe came in the second televised debate, held in San Francisco.

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

The challenger had tried to woo moderate delegates by naming liberal senator Richard Schweiker as his running mate.

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

Hua Guofeng was named his successor that October; his remains were put on permanent display despite a request to be cremated.

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

Official figures put the dead at 242,769 and the injured at 164,851, making it one of the deadliest quakes on record.

Which British prime minister unexpectedly resigned in March 1976?

Callaghan took over in April; the same month David Steel's Liberals were reeling from the Jeremy Thorpe scandal.

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

Britain accepted Iceland's 200-nautical-mile fishing limit in exchange for defined fishing rights.

Israeli commandos freed 103 hijacked hostages on July 4, 1976, at which African airport?

Yonatan Netanyahu, the raid commander and older brother of the future prime minister, was killed in the operation.

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

June 16 is now a public holiday there, Youth Day.

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

A second outbreak followed weeks later in Yambuku, Zaire, near the river that gave the virus its name.

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

Twenty-nine delegates at Philadelphia's Bellevue-Stratford died in what became the first recognised outbreak of Legionnaires' disease.

Which Indian Ocean island nation became independent in June 1976?

It joined the United Nations that September.

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

The Provisional Government of the South was dissolved a year after the fall of Saigon.

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

She was sentenced to a long term but served only 22 months before the next president commuted it.

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

They dug themselves free after 16 hours; the quarry owner's son and two accomplices were arrested.

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

It grew into a global chain built on natural-ingredient cosmetics and campaigning.

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

Creator David Klein named the beans after blues musician Lead Belly; the first eight flavours included Root Beer and Cream Soda.

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

She posted more perfect 10s at those Games; the scoreboards could only display "1.00".

Which city hosted the 1976 Summer Olympics?

The Winter Games that year were in Innsbruck, Austria.

Which event did Bruce Jenner win at the 1976 Olympics?

The win made the athlete, now Caitlyn Jenner, an American household name and a Wheaties box fixture.

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

She was the last singles skater to win Olympic gold without a triple jump.

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

Lynn Swann became the first wide receiver named Super Bowl MVP with a record 161 receiving yards.

Which team swept the Yankees in the 1976 World Series?

The Big Red Machine remain the only team to sweep an entire multi-tier postseason; Johnny Bench was MVP.

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

They were shut out in five of the 14 games, and it remains one of just a handful of winless seasons since the 1970 merger.

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

He beat Nastase in the final and went on to win the title five years running.

Which 1976 film about a Philadelphia club fighter won Best Picture at the 49th Oscars?

It was the highest-grossing film of 1976 and earned Sylvester Stallone nominations for writing and acting.

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

Robert De Niro's Travis Bickle works nights in a decaying New York; 12-year-old Jodie Foster's casting caused controversy.

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

Peter Finch played him in his final role and became the first actor to win a posthumous Best Actor Oscar.

Which crime drama about three women detectives premiered on ABC on September 22, 1976?

Kate Jackson, Farrah Fawcett and Jaclyn Smith were the original trio; the show ran for 115 episodes.

Jim Henson's The Muppet Show premiered in September 1976 in which country?

American networks had passed on two pilots, so Lew Grade's ATV made it at Elstree Studios and sold it back to the US in syndication.

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

Penny Marshall and Cindy Williams played bottle-cappers at the fictional Shotz Brewery in Milwaukee.

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

It was the band's first album with Joe Walsh and the last with Randy Meisner, and has sold over 42 million copies.

"Dancing Queen", released in 1976, was the only US number-one single for which group?

It topped the charts in 15 other countries, spending 14 weeks at number one in Sweden alone.

Stevie Wonder's 1976 triple album Songs in the Key of Life was released on which label?

The Motown imprint issued what is widely seen as the peak of Wonder's classic period, which began with Music of My Mind in 1972.

The Ramones' 1976 debut album took how long to record?

It cost $6,400, runs 29 minutes and opens with "Blitzkrieg Bop".

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

It later appeared on Never Mind the Bollocks and sits on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's list of songs that shaped rock.

Frampton Comes Alive! was a 1976 breakthrough after how many unsuccessful studio albums?

The double live album became one of the best-selling live records ever and spun off three top-15 singles.

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

It became one of the best-selling Eurovision winners ever.

Which Oscar winner, born March 22, 1976, was Forbes' highest-paid actress in 2021?

Her production company Hello Sunshine made Big Little Lies and The Morning Show.

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

He spent 14 seasons with the Colts and the rest with the Broncos, winning a Super Bowl with each.

Which English actor, born July 19, 1976, played Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Strange?

Time named him one of the world's 100 most influential people in 2014.

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

He later became owner and president of Spanish club Real Valladolid.