Q 01/05

Which military alliance was born when twelve nations signed a treaty in Washington, D.C., in April 1949?

A) CENTO

B) SEATO

C) NATO

D) ANZUS

Answer · why

C) NATO

NATO rests on Article 5, which treats an armed attack on one member as an attack on them all. The clause was never invoked during the Cold War it was ...

Q 02/05

Which Communist leader proclaimed the People's Republic of China from Beijing's Tiananmen Gate in October 1949?

A) Mao Zedong

B) Zhou Enlai

C) Deng Xiaoping

D) Liu Shaoqi

Answer · why

A) Mao Zedong

Mao Zedong made the announcement at exactly three in the afternoon on 1 October, a date China has marked as its National Day ever since.

Q 03/05

Which dystopian novel, published in June 1949, gave the world Big Brother and the Thought Police?

A) Brave New World

B) Nineteen Eighty-Four

C) Fahrenheit 451

D) The Day of the Triffids

Answer · why

B) Nineteen Eighty-Four

Nineteen Eighty-Four was the ninth and final book its author completed. Its vocabulary outlived him: doublethink, Newspeak and thoughtcrime all come f...

Q 04/05

Which speedy Looney Tunes bird made its debut opposite Wile E. Coyote in the 1949 short Fast and Furry-ous?

A) Tweety Bird

B) Daffy Duck

C) Henery Hawk

D) Road Runner

Answer · why

D) Road Runner

Road Runner and his hungry pursuer were dreamed up by director Chuck Jones and writer Michael Maltese as a parody of chase cartoons such as Tom and Je...

Q 05/05

Which singing cowboy took 'Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer' to number one in the US at Christmas 1949?

A) Roy Rogers

B) Gene Autry

C) Bing Crosby

D) Tex Ritter

Answer · why

B) Gene Autry

Gene Autry first rejected the song, but his wife convinced him to record it. Suggested only as a B-side, it went on to become the first chart-topper o...