Q 01/05

Who became Secretary-General of the United Nations on January 1, 1972?

A) Kurt Waldheim

B) U Thant

C) Javier Pérez de Cuéllar

D) Trygve Lie

Answer · why

A) Kurt Waldheim

Kurt Waldheim served two terms, and while running for Austria's presidency in 1986 it emerged that he had lied about his wartime Wehrmacht service.

Q 02/05

Who succeeded King Frederik IX on the Danish throne in January 1972?

A) Olav V

B) Carl XVI Gustaf

C) Margrethe II

D) Christian XI

Answer · why

C) Margrethe II

Margrethe II could reign only because Denmark's 1953 Act of Succession let a king's daughter inherit the throne when she had no brothers.

Q 03/05

Japanese soldier Shoichi Yokoi was found in January 1972 after 28 years hiding on which island?

A) Luzon

B) Guam

C) Okinawa

D) Saipan

Answer · why

B) Guam

Shoichi Yokoi stayed hidden on Guam because soldiers were taught capture was the ultimate disgrace; his line "It is with much embarrassment that I ret...

Q 04/05

What was Vesna Vulović's job when she survived the break-up of a JAT airliner over Czechoslovakia in 1972?

A) Tour guide

B) Interpreter

C) Flight attendant

D) Newspaper reporter

Answer · why

C) Flight attendant

Vesna Vulović was a flight attendant, and by her own account JAT had put her on that flight by mistake, confusing her with another stewardess named Ve...

Q 05/05

In which Northern Ireland city did Bloody Sunday take place on January 30, 1972?

A) Lisburn

B) Armagh

C) Newry

D) Derry

Answer · why

D) Derry

In Derry, soldiers shot dead unarmed civil rights marchers; in 2010 Prime Minister David Cameron apologised, calling what happened "unjustified and un...