Q 01/05

Which theme park opened in Anaheim in July 1955 with a live TV special co-hosted by Ronald Reagan?

A) Knott's Berry Farm

B) Disneyland

C) Universal Studios

D) Six Flags

Answer · why

B) Disneyland

Disneyland was built on 160 acres of orange groves and walnut trees. Art Linkletter and Bob Cummings shared the hosting on ABC, a day before the publi...

Q 02/05

Which seamstress was arrested in Montgomery, Alabama, in December 1955 for refusing to give up her bus seat?

A) Rosa Parks

B) Claudette Colvin

C) Ella Baker

D) Fannie Lou Hamer

Answer · why

A) Rosa Parks

Rosa Parks was fined $10 plus $4 in court fees. She was not the first: 15-year-old Claudette Colvin had been arrested for the same act on a Montgomery...

Q 03/05

Which burger chain dates its founding to a restaurant Ray Kroc opened in Des Plaines, Illinois, in 1955?

A) Burger King

B) White Castle

C) Wendy's

D) McDonald's

Answer · why

D) McDonald's

McDonald's was already trading in San Bernardino under the McDonald brothers, who ran eight of the milkshake machines Kroc sold for a living. He becam...

Q 04/05

Which disease did Jonas Salk's vaccine, announced as safe on April 12, 1955, protect millions of children against?

A) Measles

B) Smallpox

C) Polio

D) Diphtheria

Answer · why

C) Polio

Polio made Salk a household name, yet he chose not to patent the vaccine or seek any profit from it, so that it could be distributed as widely as poss...

Q 05/05

Which 1985 film drops a teenager into November 5, 1955, the day a scientist conceived his time machine?

A) Peggy Sue Got Married

B) Back to the Future

C) Time Bandits

D) The Terminator

Answer · why

B) Back to the Future

Back to the Future strands Marty McFly in 1955 with no plutonium for the trip home. The only thing that can supply the 1.21 gigawatts he needs is a bo...