Q 01/05

Which climber, buried by an avalanche twelve days earlier, became the first woman to summit Everest on 16 May?

A) Wanda Rutkiewicz

B) Arlene Blum

C) Junko Tabei

D) Lydia Bradey

Answer · why

C) Junko Tabei

Junko Tabei was knocked unconscious under the snow and dug out by her Sherpa guides, then reached the top with Ang Tsering; in 1992 she became the fir...

Q 02/05

Which 'Bayonne Bleeder' was finally floored with 19 seconds left in the 15th round against Muhammad Ali?

A) Chuck Wepner

B) Jerry Quarry

C) Ron Lyle

D) Joe Bugner

Answer · why

A) Chuck Wepner

Chuck Wepner's stand moved Sylvester Stallone to write Rocky, released the following year. The nickname began as an insult about his facial cuts, and ...

Q 03/05

Which Soviet grandmaster became world champion on 3 April by forfeit, after the American holder refused FIDE's terms?

A) Viktor Korchnoi

B) Anatoly Karpov

C) Boris Spassky

D) Mikhail Tal

Answer · why

B) Anatoly Karpov

Anatoly Karpov, determined to prove himself a legitimate champion, played nearly every major tournament for the next ten years. FIDE president Max Euw...

Q 04/05

Which company's engineer Steven Sasson built the first self-contained digital camera, needing 23 seconds per image?

A) Polaroid

B) Sony

C) Canon

D) Kodak

Answer · why

D) Kodak

Kodak's 8-pound prototype saved each 100-by-100-pixel image to cassette tape, yet the company later struggled with the very switch from film to digita...

Q 05/05

Which Sony home-video format went on sale in Japan on 10 May, with early tapes limited to an hour of recording?

A) VHS

B) Video 2000

C) Betamax

D) LaserDisc

Answer · why

C) Betamax

Betamax lost the format war to VHS, yet Sony kept making recorders until August 2002 and blank cassettes until March 2016. The first US model came bun...