Q 01/05

Which computer called the Republican landslide on CBS's election night so early that its forecast was held back?

A) UNIVAC

B) ENIAC

C) Colossus

D) IBM 701

Answer · why

A) UNIVAC

UNIVAC put Eisenhower's odds at 100 to 1 on early returns, but viewers were given a close race instead and were told only late that night that the mac...

Q 02/05

Whose 'Auf Wiederseh'n, Sweetheart' spent nine weeks at number one in America, a first for any British act?

A) Gracie Fields

B) Vera Lynn

C) Alma Cogan

D) Petula Clark

Answer · why

B) Vera Lynn

Vera Lynn recorded the German tune with a chorus of serving soldiers and airmen, who shared the billing on the label.

Q 03/05

Which motel chain, begun on Summer Avenue in Memphis, took its name from a Bing Crosby film as its architect's joke?

A) Howard Johnson's

B) Best Western

C) Travelodge

D) Holiday Inn

Answer · why

D) Holiday Inn

Holiday Inn founder Kemmons Wilson built it after a miserable family road trip to Washington, and the joke name that architect Eddie Bluestein gave th...

Q 04/05

Which toy, sold at first as a box of loose parts, was the first ever advertised on television?

A) Betsy Wetsy doll

B) Etch A Sketch

C) Mr. Potato Head

D) Lincoln Logs

Answer · why

C) Mr. Potato Head

Mr. Potato Head's parts were meant to be pushed into a real potato; Hasbro only added a plastic body in 1964, after complaints about rotting vegetable...

Q 05/05

Which first lady, named 'Spiritual Leader of the Nation' on her 33rd birthday in May, died of cancer in July?

A) Eva Perón

B) Isabel Perón

C) Imelda Marcos

D) Jiang Qing

Answer · why

A) Eva Perón

Eva Perón's embalmed body was put on display, then spirited away after the 1955 coup and hidden for 16 years, buried in Milan under a false name.