1984 Trivia
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100 free 1984 trivia questions with answers — history quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
1984 gave us the Macintosh, the PG-13 rating, Ghostbusters, Purple Rain, the first MTV Video Music Awards and the first American CD. It also brought the Bhopal disaster, Indira Gandhi's assassination, the Brighton bombing and a Los Angeles Olympics that the Soviet bloc skipped. These 1984 trivia questions cover the news, sport, music, film and technology of the year, from Carl Lewis to Band Aid. Every answer is sourced, with a short explanation so you learn something even when you miss.
30 of 100 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which personal computer did Steve Jobs launch on January 24, 1984?
The Macintosh
The Macintosh launched two days after its Super Bowl ad, which Apple's board had opposed airing at all.
Q 02Who directed Apple's "1984" commercial?
Ridley Scott
Ridley Scott cast English athlete Anya Major as the rebel who hurls a hammer at a giant screen.
Q 03Apple's board hated the '1984' Super Bowl ad; who offered to pay for half its airtime himself?
Steve Wozniak
Steve Wozniak's offer wasn't needed: the agency resold just 30 seconds of the slot, and the full ad aired anyway.
Q 04Which Asian sultanate gained full independence from Britain on January 1, 1984?
Brunei
Brunei joined ASEAN as its sixth member within a week, on 7 January 1984.
Q 05Who succeeded Yuri Andropov as Soviet leader in February 1984?
Chernenko
Chernenko was already seriously ill and died 13 months later, clearing the way for Mikhail Gorbachev.
Q 06Which city hosted the 1984 Winter Olympics?
Sarajevo
Sarajevo's Olympic venues were heavily damaged eight years later, when war broke out in Bosnia.
Q 07Which two astronauts made the first untethered spacewalk in February 1984?
Bruce McCandless and Robert Stewart
Bruce McCandless and Robert Stewart test-flew a jet backpack that McCandless himself had helped develop.
Q 08Which Canadian prime minister announced his retirement on February 29, 1984?
Pierre Trudeau
Pierre Trudeau left office that June, and his successor John Turner lost to Brian Mulroney within months.
Q 09Which workers began a year-long strike across Britain in March 1984?
Coal miners
Coal miners struck over pit closures without a national ballot, and returned in March 1985 without winning their demands.
Q 10Who became the first Indian in space in April 1984?
Rakesh Sharma
Asked how India looked from space, Rakesh Sharma replied 'Saare Jahan Se Achha', better than the whole world.
Q 11Which policewoman's shooting outside the Libyan embassy led to an 11-day London siege?
Yvonne Fletcher
Yvonne Fletcher's killing led Britain to expel the embassy's occupants and cut diplomatic ties with Libya.
Q 12Which song was proclaimed the national anthem Down Under on April 19, 1984?
Advance Australia Fair
Advance Australia Fair had topped a 1977 vote, and in 2021 its line 'young and free' became 'one and free'.
Q 13Which Swedish act won the 1984 Eurovision Song Contest with "Diggi-Loo Diggi-Ley"?
Herreys
Herreys' win brought the 1985 contest to Gothenburg, Sweden, where the brothers handed the prize to the next winners.
Q 21Diego Maradona was sold to Napoli in 1984 by which club?
Barcelona
Barcelona sold him for a then-world-record fee, and 75,000 fans filled Napoli's stadium just to see him presented.
Q 22Who became the first woman to perform a spacewalk, in July 1984?
Svetlana Savitskaya
Svetlana Savitskaya spent over three hours outside Salyut 7, testing tools for cutting and welding metal in space.
Q 23Which Eastern Bloc country defied the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics boycott?
Romania
Romania's athletes were greeted with an ovation as they entered the Coliseum at the opening ceremony.
Q 14The Itaipu Dam, switched on in 1984, sits on Brazil's border with which country?
Paraguay
Paraguay shares the dam, whose reservoir permanently drowned the Guaíra Falls.
Q 15Which denomination did Australia first issue as a coin on May 14, 1984?
One dollar
The one-dollar coin replaced the one-dollar note, and a two-dollar coin replaced that note in 1988.
Q 16Liverpool beat which club on penalties to win the 1984 European Cup?
Roma
Roma lost in their own Stadio Olimpico after Francesco Graziani missed as Bruce Grobbelaar wobbled his legs in goal.
Q 17Operation Blue Star, the Indian army's June 1984 assault, targeted which site?
The Golden Temple in Amritsar
The Golden Temple in Amritsar was stormed to remove Sikh militant leader Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, who was killed in the assault.
Q 18Which Canadian entertainment company was founded in 1984?
Cirque du Soleil
Cirque du Soleil grew out of Les Échassiers, a stilt-walking street troupe, and won government funding for its first show.
Q 19France beat which team 2–0 to win Euro 84?
Spain
Spain's keeper Luis Arconada let Michel Platini's free kick slip under him for the opening goal.
Q 20Which was the last European country to grant women the vote, on July 1, 1984?
Liechtenstein
Liechtenstein's male voters approved it with just 51.3%, after rejecting women's suffrage in 1971 and 1973.
Q 24Who led the organizing committee of the privately funded 1984 Los Angeles Olympics?
Peter Ueberroth
Peter Ueberroth's Games turned a profit, Time named him Man of the Year, and he became baseball commissioner that October.
Q 25Which barefoot South African runner collided with Mary Decker in the Olympic 3000 m final?
Zola Budd
Zola Budd, running for Great Britain, faded to seventh, while Decker's fall ended her race.
Q 26Which African country renamed itself Burkina Faso on August 4, 1984?
Upper Volta
Upper Volta's new name, chosen by Thomas Sankara, means 'land of upright people'; Sankara was killed in a coup in 1987.
Q 27Which carmaker was acquitted of cocaine trafficking charges in August 1984?
John DeLorean
John DeLorean argued federal agents had set up the deal, and his car company had already gone bankrupt in 1982.
Q 28Which Space Shuttle made its maiden voyage on August 30, 1984?
Discovery
Discovery's first launch attempt, on June 26, was aborted just seconds before liftoff.
Q 29Who became the first person to fly a balloon solo across the Atlantic in September 1984?
Joe Kittinger
Joe Kittinger's 1960 parachute-jump record stood until 2012, when he was the radio voice guiding Felix Baumgartner past it.
Q 30Which children's TV series by Britt Allcroft first aired on ITV in 1984?
Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends
Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends adapted Wilbert Awdry's stories, first told to his son Christopher while he was ill with measles.