50 free 1972 trivia questions with answers — history quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
This 1972 trivia quiz covers a year that began with Bloody Sunday and ended with the last footsteps on the Moon. Expect questions on the Watergate break-in, Nixon's trip to China, the SALT I treaty, the Munich Olympics, the Fischer–Spassky chess match, the Andes plane crash, Apollo 17 and the first leap second. Culture and sport rounds take in Pong, the Volkswagen Beetle overtaking the Model T, Emerson Fittipaldi, the Oakland Athletics, the 1972 Nobel Prizes and the babies of 1972, from Shaquille O'Neal to Eminem, alongside the year's notable deaths. Early rounds suit anyone who lived through it; later rounds reward real year-by-year buffs. Every answer was checked against encyclopaedia entries before publishing.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Who became Secretary-General of the United Nations on January 1, 1972?
Kurt Waldheim
The Austrian diplomat held the post for ten years.
Q 02Who succeeded King Frederik IX on the Danish throne in January 1972?
Margrethe II
She was Denmark's first queen regnant since 1412.
Q 03Japanese soldier Shoichi Yokoi was found in January 1972 after 28 years hiding on which island?
Guam
He had never surrendered after World War II.
Q 04Vesna Vulović survived a 10,160-metre fall in January 1972 — what was her job?
Flight attendant
She came down in the tail section of a plane that broke apart over Czechoslovakia.
Q 05In which Northern Ireland city did Bloody Sunday take place on January 30, 1972?
Derry
Fourteen unarmed civil rights marchers were killed by the British Army.
Q 06Which city hosted the 1972 Winter Olympics?
Sapporo
They were the first Winter Games held outside Europe and North America.
Q 07In February 1972, which car overtook the Ford Model T as the best-selling car ever?
Volkswagen Beetle
The record-breaking car was number 15,007,034 off the line.
Q 08Which country did Richard Nixon visit for eight days in February 1972?
China
He met Mao Zedong during the unprecedented trip.
Q 09Which probe, launched in March 1972, was the first built to leave the Solar System?
Pioneer 10
It lifted off from Cape Kennedy.
Q 10In March 1972, Congress sent which proposed measure to the states for ratification?
Equal Rights Amendment
It never reached the number of state ratifications needed.
Q 11Which 1972 agreement, signed by some 70 nations in April, banned germ warfare?
Biological Weapons Convention
Both the US and Soviet Union were among the signatories.
Q 12Bamboo slips of which ancient text were found in Shandong tombs in April 1972?
The Art of War
Construction workers stumbled on the tombs; a lost treatise by Sun Bin was in the same find.
Q 13Laszlo Toth attacked which Michelangelo sculpture with a hammer in May 1972?
Pietà
He shouted that he was Jesus Christ during the attack in St. Peter's Basilica.
Q 21In which city did Boris Spassky lose his world chess title in 1972?
Reykjavík
The long-anticipated match began on July 11 and ended September 1.
Q 22Anwar Sadat expelled 20,000 military advisors from Egypt in July 1972 — from which country?
Soviet Union
The move reshaped Cold War alliances in the Middle East.
Q 23Idi Amin ordered 50,000 Asians holding which passports out of Uganda in August 1972?
British
They were given three months to leave and most of their property was confiscated.
Q 24Which city hosted the 1972 Summer Olympics?
Q 14The Dominion of Ceylon became a republic under which name in May 1972?
Sri Lanka
Sirimavo Bandaranaike was prime minister when the new constitution was ratified.
Q 15Nixon and Brezhnev signed which arms-control treaty in Moscow in May 1972?
SALT I
The Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty was signed at the same summit.
Q 16Sally Priesand became the first American woman ordained as what in June 1972?
Rabbi
She was only the second known woman anywhere to be ordained in Judaism.
Q 17Nick Ut's Pulitzer-winning 1972 photograph showed a girl running from what?
A napalm attack
The nine-year-old in the picture was Phan Thi Kim Phuc.
Q 18Which fast-food chain was founded in Arabi, Louisiana, in June 1972?
Popeyes
Arabi is a suburb of New Orleans.
Q 19The June 1972 Watergate burglars broke into the offices of which organisation?
Democratic National Committee
Five White House operatives were arrested.
Q 20What did the International Time Bureau add to UTC for the first time on June 30, 1972?
A leap second
A second one followed on December 31, making 1972 the longest year in UTC.
Munich
The Games ran from August 26 to September 10.
Q 25Who became the first American world chess champion in 1972?
Bobby Fischer
He won the title on September 1.
Q 26Which Brazilian became Formula One's youngest world champion, at 25, in 1972?
Emerson Fittipaldi
He clinched it by winning the Italian Grand Prix at Monza.
Q 27Which Philippine president placed the whole country under martial law in September 1972?
Ferdinand Marcos
He announced Proclamation No. 1081 on national television.
Q 28Which country rejected European Community membership in a September 1972 referendum?
Norway
Denmark joined the following week, on October 2.
Q 29Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 crashed in the Andes in October 1972 carrying which athletes?
Rugby union players
Sixteen survivors were found alive on December 20.
Q 30Which team won the 1972 World Series, its first title since 1930?
Oakland Athletics
The franchise had been in Philadelphia when it last won.