Q 01/05

Which computer called the Republican landslide on CBS's election night so early that the network sat on its forecast?

A) UNIVAC

B) ENIAC

C) Colossus

D) IBM 701

Answer · why

A) UNIVAC

UNIVAC put Eisenhower's odds at 100 to 1 from a 5.5 per cent sample, so the CBS crew quietly reworked the figures into a close race before admitting t...

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's nine-week run at the top stood as the record for a British act on the American chart until the Beatles matched it with 'Hey Jude' in 1968.

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, the first ever advertised on television, was sold as loose parts to stick into a real vegetable until 1964?

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 first commercial, on 30 April, was also the first aimed at children; Hasbro only added a plastic potato body after complaints about ...

Q 05/05

Which Argentine 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 vanished for 16 years after the 1955 coup; the military eventually found it buried in Milan under a...