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Structure
Interesting Questions, Facts and Information
- There are a total of 20 general entries.
Special Topics
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 Interesting Questions, Facts, and Information
 1950s History
| In February 1950 this Academy Award-winning actress was at the center of an international scandal for giving birth out of wedlock. Censure against her included being denounced on the floor of the US Senate. Who was she? | A Slice in Time: 1950s History
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Ingrid Bergman. Bergman, already the winner of an Oscar for "Gaslight" (1945), survived the scandal and went on to win two more Academy Awards for "Anastasia" (1956) and "Murder on the Orient Express" (1975). Model, actress and busineswoman Isabella Rossellini is her daughter.
| November 24, 1952 marked the premiere of one of the longest running stage productions in history, "The Mousetrap" by Agatha Christie. It was based on a BBC radio play called what? | A Slice in Time: 1950s History
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Three Blind Mice. "The Mousetrap" has been performed more than 20,000 times in various theaters in London's West End. In November of 2002 a Royal Gala Performance celebrating the show's 50th anniversary was attended by The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh.
| One of the most famous frauds in archeology was exposed in 1953. It concerned what was purported to be the skull of a primitive hominid found in 1912 that was promoted as the "missing link" between humans and apes. What popular name was given to this artifact, which was really a composite of three separate fossils? | A Slice in Time: 1950s History
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Piltdown Man. The interest regarding the "Piltdown Man" incident remains so strong that the British Natural History Museum staged a major exhibit in 2003 on the 50th anniversary of this unmasking of this "discovery."
| This man, often cited as the "father of modern computer science" died in June, 1954. His illustrious career included leading the group of cryptanalysts at Bletchley Park that broke the code for the German Enigma machine. Who was he? | A Slice in Time: 1950s History
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Alan Turing. Turing's death has remained veiled in mystery with some calling it a suicide and others an assasination. His homosexuality was thought to have made him a security risk. Though he didn't receive the recognition he deserved in his lifetime, Turing is now honored with a host of international schools named for him, statues, awards and even a relay race. An excellent movie about the code breaking and activity at Bletchley Park is the 2001 film "Enigma" starring Kate Winslet and Dougray Scott. Unfortunately, Alan Turing was only a minor character.
| This book was published in France in 1955 after major publishing houses in the US and UK turned it down because of its controversial subject matter. A movie was later made with the same title. Which book, also credited with the first use of the word "nymphet", is this? | A Slice in Time: 1950s History
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"Lolita". Though now considered a literary classic, when Vladimir Nabokov first wrote "Lolita" (The Olympic Press, Paris) it was turned down by every American publisher to which it was submitted because of what was then interpreted as promoting pedophilia. Its distribution was banned in the UK until 1958. The term "a Lolita" is now part of the English language lexicon synonomous with a sexually provocative adolescent girl.
| In which country did the Soviet government crush a revolt originated by students against the restrictive communist influence in October and November of 1956? | A Slice in Time: 1950s History
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Hungary. The Hungarian Freedom Fighters were named by Time magazine as the "Man of the Year" for 1956. In 1991 Boris Yeltsin formally apologized to the country of Hungary for the actions of the USSR. October 23rd, the first day of the revolution, is now a national holiday in Hungary.
The Gold Coast. Ghana took its name from a medieval African empire. In early colonial times there was fierce competition in the Gold Coast among several European nations including Britain, Denmark and the Netherlands for the trade in both gold and slaves. Tobago is an island in the Caribbean, British Guyana is now Guyana in South America and Rhodesia has become Zimbabwe.
Madonna, Prince, Michael Jackson. Jackson was the first of the trio to be inducted into the Hall of Fame, in 2001. Prince followed in 2004 and Madonna made the list in 2008. Though several of the incorrect choices are Hall of Fame inductees, including Nicks, Sting, Sid Vicious, Osbourne, Bono and Van Halen (as members of Fleetwood Mac, The Police, The Sex Pistols, Black Sabbath, U2 and Van Halen, respectively) none of the incorrect options were born in 1958.
Communists. The Church has since lifted the ban. Divorce has remained illegal in Italy.
"Don't Be Cruel". For his premiere on the "The Ed Sullivan Show" Elvis was actually introduced by the actor Charles Laughton as Sullivan was recovering from an auto accident. The second song he sang that night was "Love Me Tender", the title song from the movie he was then filming. "Blue Suede Shoes" was recorded by Carl Perkins; "Great Balls of Fire" was a hit for Jerry Lee Lewis; Elvis released "Little Sister" in 1961.
| In July 1951 King Abdullah of Jordan was assassinated. He was succeeded by his son Talal, father of King Hussein. All were members of the Hashemite family. To what does the word "Hashemite" refer? | A Slice in Time: 1950s History Part 2
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Directly descended from the Prophet Muhammed. King Hussein's son, King Abdullah, ascended the throne in 1998.
| In April of 1953 the United Nations elected a new Secretary General. In 1961 he became the first person to receive the Nobel Peace Prize posthumously. Can you name him? | A Slice in Time: 1950s History Part 2
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Dag Hammarskjöld. Dag Hammarskjöld (from Sweden) was the UN's second Secretary-General. In 1960 he undertook the first of four trips to the Congo in response to that government's request for military assistance to quell violent unrest. Hammarskjöld's plane crashed on the fourth good will mission, killing all on board.
Pantyhose. Go-Go boots made their debut in the Swinging Sixties; the strapless bra had already been introduced in the 1930s; tennis star Rene LaCoste made his "alligator" shirt with the stand-up collar famous in the 1920s.
Sukarno. Sukarno (no first name) was elected the first president of Indonesia in 1945 after 350 years of Dutch colonial rule and more than three years of Japanese occupation during WWII. Sukarno was ousted in a military coup in 1965 and replaced by Suharto. Kim Il-Sung and Syngman Rhee were, respectively, the leaders of North and South Korea at the outset of the Korean War. Haile Selassie was the Emperor of Ethiopia from 1930-1974 and claimed to be the descendant of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba.
General Motors. GM achieved its phenomenal success under the innovative and daring leadership of Alfred P. Sloan, Chairman of the Board from 1937-1956. He is credited with establishing the priniciple of planned obsolescence by making yearly changes to the style of each vehicle. The Business Schools at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Stanford have programs named for him. Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York is also named for the philanthropist.
| According to David Halberstam's book "The Coldest Winter" the US lost about 33,000 troops during the Korean War from 1950-53. What were the approximate number of combined casualties of North Korea and China? | A Slice in Time: 1950s History Part 2
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1,500,000. Pulitzer Prize winner David Halberstam died in an auto accident 2007 in California. He was on his way to interview former American football quarterback Y.A. Tittle for his next book on the 1958 game between the New York Giants and the Baltimore Colts.
| In 1954 "Sports Illustrated" published its first issue and one of its most famous swimsuit cover girls also made her debut into the world. Which beauty was born 1954? | A Slice in Time: 1950s History Part 2
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Christie Brinkley. The Uptown Girl was born Christie Lee Hudson in Michigan and was later adopted by her mother's second husband. She is NOT related to former NBC anchroman David Brinkley. SI cover girls Cheryl Tiegs and Kathy Ireland were born in 1949 and 1963, respectively. Iman, who did not appear on a swimsuit edition cover, was born in 1955.
| In 1953 this Irish writer's famous play "Waiting for Godot" premiered in Paris. In his review of the play's American debut, New York Times critic Brooks Atkinson called it a "mystery wrapped in an enigma". Who was this playwright who wrote the stage classic? | A Slice in Time: 1950s History Part 2
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Samuel Beckett. Fun facts about "Waiting for Godot": Bert Lahr of "The Wizard of Oz" fame and veteran actor E. G. Marshall starred in the Broadway premiere; Samuel Becket once worked as James Joyce's secretary; while Christopher Guest's 1997 film "Waiting for Guffman" is a play on the words of the famous Beckett title, its plot has very little to do with "Waiting for Godot" other than both involve a character who never appears.
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