Q 01/05

Which famous blue gem did jeweler Harry Winston send to the Smithsonian by registered mail in 1958?

A) Koh-i-Noor

B) Star of India

C) Hope Diamond

D) Cullinan Diamond

Answer · why

C) Hope Diamond

The Hope Diamond travelled in a box wrapped in brown paper, insured for $1 million. Postage was $2.44 of the $145.29 bill, and the rest paid for the i...

Q 02/05

Which Wham-O toy, advertised at $1.98, sold 25 million in under four months during a 1958 craze?

A) Hula hoop

B) Frisbee

C) Slip 'N Slide

D) Super Ball

Answer · why

A) Hula hoop

The Hula hoop was named after the Hawaiian dance. Wham-O borrowed the idea from bamboo hoops that Australian children played with, and sales passed 10...

Q 03/05

Which construction toy's modern design dates to a patent application filed in Denmark in January 1958?

A) Meccano

B) Tinkertoy

C) Lincoln Logs

D) Lego

Answer · why

D) Lego

Lego bricks made in 1958 still click together with the ones sold now. The company grew out of the workshop of a carpenter who began making wooden toys...

Q 04/05

Which US agency opened on October 1, 1958, a year after the Soviet Union launched Sputnik?

A) CIA

B) NASA

C) NSA

D) FBI

Answer · why

B) NASA

NASA absorbed the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, which dated from 1915. It was set up as a civilian body to keep the American space prog...

Q 05/05

Which singer got his first Army haircut at Fort Chaffee in March 1958 after being drafted at the height of his fame?

A) Buddy Holly

B) Little Richard

C) Elvis Presley

D) Fats Domino

Answer · why

C) Elvis Presley

Elvis Presley was posted that October to a tank battalion in West Germany. While stationed there he met 14-year-old Priscilla Beaulieu, whom he later ...