Q 01/05

Which NASA space shuttle broke apart 73 seconds after liftoff in January 1986 with teacher Christa McAuliffe aboard?

A) Columbia

B) Discovery

C) Enterprise

D) Challenger

Answer · why

D) Challenger

Challenger was doomed by rubber O-ring seals that lost their flexibility in the record cold of launch morning. Engineers had warned that the seals mig...

Q 02/05

Which Soviet nuclear power plant, close to the city of Pripyat, suffered a reactor explosion in April 1986?

A) Kursk

B) Chernobyl

C) Leningrad

D) Smolensk

Answer · why

B) Chernobyl

Chernobyl went unacknowledged by Moscow for two days, until radiation set off alarms at a nuclear plant in Sweden more than 1,000 km away.

Q 03/05

Which Tom Cruise film was the highest-grossing movie of 1986?

A) Top Gun

B) The Color of Money

C) Legend

D) Risky Business

Answer · why

A) Top Gun

Top Gun made flying jets look so thrilling that the Navy set up recruitment booths in some theaters to catch enthusiastic fans.

Q 04/05

Which talk-show host's daytime programme went national in September 1986 and ran for twenty-five seasons?

A) Phil Donahue

B) Sally Jessy Raphael

C) Oprah Winfrey

D) Maury Povich

Answer · why

C) Oprah Winfrey

Oprah Winfrey went national months after an Oscar nomination for The Color Purple. Her show became the highest-rated daytime talk show in US televisio...

Q 05/05

In a live 1986 television special, Geraldo Rivera opened a sealed vault said to have belonged to which gangster?

A) John Dillinger

B) Al Capone

C) Bugsy Siegel

D) Lucky Luciano

Answer · why

B) Al Capone

Al Capone's vault, beneath Chicago's Lexington Hotel, held only dirt and empty bottles. About 30 million people watched anyway, a record audience for ...