1960s History Trivia

1. 1960 was designated as the Year of ______ , where many countries achieved independence.

From Quiz 20th-Century History in the 1960s

Answer: Africa

17 African countries gained independence in 1960: Cameroon, Togo, Madagascar, Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia, Benin, Niger, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Chad, Central African Republic, Republic of Congo, Gabon, Senegal, Mali, Nigeria, and Mauritania.

From Quiz Where Did This Happen?: 1960s Edition

Answer: France

Although decolonisation of Africa had a slow start, beginning with Liberia (USA) in 1847, the process accelerated during the 1950s and 1960s. 1960 was an extraordinary year, in which seventeen countries shook off their colonial masters. France's lost African colonies during 1960 were, in chronological order, (giving their conventional modern names): Cameroon, Togo, Mali, Senegal, Madagascar, Benin, Niger, Burkina Faso, Cote d'Ivoire, Chad, Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo, Gabon and Mauritania. The transfer of power seemed to be mostly by consultation, unlike the violent revolution and bloody conflict which was the Algerian War. Algeria did not gain its independence from France until July, 1962.

From Quiz What Else Happened In 1966

Answer: £3,600

The average price for a house in the UK in mid-2016 is around £234,000. Back in the swinging sixties you could get yourself a reasonable roof over your head for just over three and a half grand. In today's money that's about £60,000. Proving that investing in bricks and mortar was a solid idea.

From Quiz Stayin' Alive in '65

Answer: Operation Rolling Thunder

Operation Rolling Thunder. Over 600,000 tons of bombs were dropped, at a cost of more than 900 aircraft in the time frame of the operation. Operation Market Garden was an unsuccessful Allied military operation to capture bridges over the Meuse and the Rhine river in 1944. Operation Mongoose was a top secret program against Cuba aimed at removing Castro from power. Operation Barbarossa was the code name for Hitler's invasion of the Soviet Union. Question by Hermit007, Team Old Farts

From Quiz Zipping up the Zips

Answer: Scooters

Mods always rode scooters. Vespa or Lambretta were the two most popular makes and many were customised with mirrors, fringed saddles or custom paint jobs. Where rockers wore black leather jackets mods wore big parkas. On a night out separating a rocker from his black leather jacket was almost impossible. A mod however would remove his parka to reveal a sharply tailored suit, often of Italian design. Although the roots of the mod culture can be difficult to define they were essentially working class, fashion conscious teenagers who preferred R & B or Soul to Rock and Roll.

From Quiz Fun Facts About the Year 1961

Answer: Yuri Gagarin

Gagarin's flight lasted 1 hour and 48 minutes. Alan Shepard was the second person and first American in space on May 5, 1961. Glenn was the first American to orbit the earth on February 20, 1962. Ms. Tereshkova was the first woman to fly in space on June 16, 1963.

From Quiz 1968

Answer: Alexander Dubcek

The Prague Spring was very important a period of liberalization, which continued until USSR along with Bulgaria, the then East Germany, Hungary and Poland, all members of the Warsaw Pact, invaded Czechoslovakia. The Prague Spring is associated with the slogan 'socialism with a human face'.

From Quiz The 1960s - A Very Inventive Decade!

Answer: Halogen lamp

The halogen lamp was considered brighter than previous lamps. The other forms of lighting are all older. Vapor lamps were first around in 1901, neon signs in 1911, and fluorescent lamps hit the stores in 1927.

From Quiz A Sixties Sampler (mainly US)

Answer: France

It was exploded over the Sahara Desert in southwestern Algeria. This successful test made France the fourth nation in the "atomic club", joining the U.S. (1945), Russia (1949) and Great Britian (1952). China "became a member" in 1964. A number of other countries now have some level of nuclear capability including Pakistan, Israel, India and who knows ...?

From Quiz 1964 World's Fair

Answer: Peace Through Understanding

The Fair was dedicated to "Man's Achievement on a Shrinking Globe in an Expanding Universe".

From Quiz Firsts in the 1960s (Part 2)

Answer: first television monitors

Pan-American World Airways (Pan-Am) installed the monitors in the first class section of their Lockheed 1011 aircraft. The first ever film shown on a commercial flight was "Howdy Chicago" in 1921, shown by Aeromarine Airways on an amphibious flight near Chicago.

From Quiz Firsts in the 1960s (Part 1)

Answer: The Peace Corps

In keeping with idealist spirit of the times, young idealists actively volunteered to work with the Peace Corps to become useful throughout the world.

From Quiz A Slice In Time: 1960s History

Answer: Francis Gary Powers

Powers was returned to the US in a swap for a Soviet prisoner in 1962. He became a helicopter traffic reporter for Los Angeles television station KNBC and died when his craft crashed while returning from covering brush fires in 1977.

From Quiz It Happened in 1963

Answer: De Gaulle's veto of Britain's application to join the Common Market

French President De Gaulle argued that Britain's subsidies to farmers led to artificially low food prices that would hurt European farmers. More importantly, he also said the British would never be "good Europeans" and that the country would be the United States' Trojan horse in the Community.

From Quiz 1962

Answer: The Spy Who Loved Me

The Spy Who Loved Me was published in 1962 and was the tenth of the fourteen James Bond books. The others were: Casino Royale (1953) Live and Let Die (1954) Moonraker (1955) Diamonds Are Forever (1956) From Russia, with Love (1957) Doctor No (1958) Goldfinger (1959) For Your Eyes Only (1960) Thunderball (1961) On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1963) You Only Live Twice (1964) The Man with the Golden Gun (1965) Octopussy (1966) Also published in 1962 was Len Deighton's first spy novel, "The Ipcress File" which became an instant bestseller and the first of a series of 'Harry Palmer' films starring Micheal Caine.

From Quiz It Happened In 1968

Answer: Tet Offensive

The Têt Offensive was a succession of attacks on most of the major cities in Southern Vietnam from January 31-February 24 1968. Launched by the Viet Cong, its objective was to catch the South Vietnamese and US armies by surprise by starting the attack on the Vietnamese holiday of Têt Nguyên Dán.

From Quiz The 20th Century - 1961-1970

Answer: Cuba

A Cuban using the name 'The Pirate Cofresi' skyjacked a flight from Miami to Key West and demanded to be taken to Havana.

From Quiz The Late 1960s

Answer: 1967

The 'Summer of Love' was marked by the June 1, 1967 release of the Beatles' album 'Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band'.

From Quiz The Transitional Early 1960s

Answer: John F. Kennedy & John F Kennedy & John Fitzgerald Kennedy & JFK & Kennedy & J. F. Kennedy & J F Kennedy

President John Fitzgerald Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963 in Dallas, Texas. Of course, you probably knew that already.

From Quiz 20th-Century History in the 1960s

Answer: Dag Hammarskjold

Dag Hammarskjold (1905-1961) from Norway was the second UN General Secretary serving from 1953 to 1961. He was killed in a plane crash near Ndola, Northern Rhodesia, on his way to negotiate a cease fire during the Congo Crisis.

From Quiz Where Did This Happen?: 1960s Edition

Answer: Soviet Union

Yuri Gagarin, the first Cosmonaut, was 27 when he orbited the planet, reaching an altitude of 203 miles above the earth. The total flight took 108 minutes, and on re-entry the extremely fit Air Force pilot was subjected to up to 8 times the force of gravity (8G's), which may well have rendered an average person unconscious. The Russians had no means of returning the Vostok 1 to earth intact, so Gagarin ejected from his spacecraft about 4 miles up, and parachuted to earth. Alan Shepard became the first US astronaut in May 1961, flying Freedom 7, the first Project Mercury flight.

From Quiz What Else Happened In 1966

Answer: Camberwick Green

The Trumptonshire Trilogy first arrived on our screens in the form of Camberwick Green as part of the Watch with Mother programmes in 1966. The following year Trumpton appeared -- who can forget Hugh Pugh Barney McGrew Cuthbert Dibble and Grub? After Trumpton came Chigley, which I can't recall at all...

From Quiz Zipping up the Zips

Answer: Ace Cafe

The Ace Café first opened in 1938 to take advantage of the traffic on the then new North Circular Road. After suffering bomb damage during WW2 it was rebuilt, and re-opened in 1949. By the 1960s it had become the gathering place for motorcyclists. It was open 24 hours a day, it was on a long straight stretch of road, ideal for speed hungry bikers, and it often had live music. Rockers gathered there in large numbers. It closed in 1969, but a rocker reunion movement started in the 1980s and the success of this led to the re-opening of the Ace in 1997. Rockers from all over the world now gather there to compare bikes, swap stories, and it is the centre from which many organised bike runs start during the summer months.

From Quiz Fun Facts About the Year 1961

Answer: The Bay of Pigs

The CIA recruited 1,500 men, mostly Cuban expatriates to invade the island between April 17, 1961 and April 19, 1961. Of these 1,500 men, 118 were reportedly killed and over 1,200 captured by the Cubans. This was not a highlight of John Kennedy's term as President of the United States. The Watergate and Teapot Dome are scandals that effected other US Presidents. The Cuban Missile Crisis refers to events in October 1962 relating to missiles that the USSR was planning to place in Cuba.

From Quiz 1964 - A Year to Remember

Answer: Author Ian Fleming died

Ian Fleming was a heavy smoker and drinker, and suffered a fatal heart attack on the morning of his son Caspar's 12th birthday.

From Quiz 1968

Answer: The Viet Cong attacked Republic of Vietnam and their allies

The offensive is know as the Tet Offensive because of the day it started - the first day of the year in the traditional Vietnamese lunar calendar. In this offensive the Viet Cong attacked Republic of Vietnam and their allies with the main goal to strike military and civilian control centers in South Vietnam. The offensive was a military defeat for the Communists in the end.

From Quiz The 1960s - A Very Inventive Decade!

Answer: First human in space

Yuri Gagarin was the first human to complete a full orbit around the earth, in the Vostok 1. Man did not land on the moon till eight years later.

From Quiz A Sixties Sampler (mainly US)

Answer: Sal Durante

Shame on any baseball fan who missed this one; only someone in the stands (or in the bullpen) can catch a home run ball. Sal offered to give the ball to Maris but Roger told him to take the $5,000 offered by a restauranteur for the ball. He did and the ball eventually found it's way to the Baseball Hall of Fame. Double shame if you said Yogi Berra!

From Quiz It happened in 1960

Answer: Sharpeville

Sixty-nine Black protesters were shot dead by South African police in Sharpeville on March 21st. Around 20,000 people, protesting against the country's pass laws, had congregated outside a police station in the community, near Johannesburg.

This is category 1972

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