So You Want to Know What Happened in 1955

15 Points Per Correct Answer - No time limit  

1. April of 1955 saw the British Prime Minister resign for medical reasons. This man served as Prime Minister from 1940 to 1945, and again from 1951 to 1955. Who was he? Winston Churchill Neville Chamberlain Clement Attlee Harold Macmillan

2. The first successful polio vaccine was introduced in 1955 and is also the preferred vaccine today. It is an injected vaccine. Which is it: Salk or Sabin? Answer: (One Word: Salk or Sabin)

3. The 28th Academy Awards were held in Los Angeles in 1956 and covered films from 1955. The Best Picture Oscar went to a movie about a 34-year old unmarried butcher from New York who finally finds love. The film starred Ernest Borgnine. What movie was this? Bedazzled Go Naked in the World Marty Love is a Many Splendored Thing

4. Ray Kroc opened the 9th restaurant in this famous American fast food chain on April 15, 1955. With which fast food chain was Ray Kroc associated? Hardee's Burger King McDonald's Kentucky Fried Chicken

5. What is the name of the organization of Communist states that began in 1955 and included USSR, Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Albania and Romania? NATO SEATO Il Comunista Warsaw Pact

6. The year 1955 saw the release of the film "Blackboard Jungle" starring Glenn Ford, Anne Francis and Sidney Poitier about an inner city high school. The film included a Bill Haley and the Comets song that many feel started rock and roll. The same song was used as the first theme for the TV show "Happy Days." What song was it? That'll Be the Day Johnny B. Goode Rock Around the Clock Whole Lotta Shakin' Going On

7. The year 1955 saw the opening of a theme park on a 160-acre former orange grove in Anaheim, California. The park included Main Street USA, Tomorrowland, Frontierland, Adventureland and Fantasyland. Today there are similar theme parks in Florida, Japan, France and Hong Kong. What is the name of this theme park that opened July 17, 1955? Disneyland Knott's Berry Farm Walt Disney World Ashdown Forest Llama Park

8. The New York Yankees did not win the World Series in 1955. The team that won was managed by Walt Alston and featured star pitchers Johnny Podres and Don Newcombe and hitters Carl Furillo, Gil Hodges and Pee Wee Reese. Who won the 1955 World Series? Worcester Ruby Legs Los Angeles Dodgers New York Giants Brooklyn Dodgers

9. On December 1, 1955 a black woman boarded a bus in Montgomery, Alabama and took a vacant seat. When a white passenger subsequently boarded, the bus driver ordered the black woman to give up her seat. She refused, thus sparking the Montgomery Bus Boycott which then led to the long overdue Civil Rights Movement in the US. Who was this courageous black woman? Rosa Parks Bessie Coleman Althea Gibson Dorothy Dandridge

10. There were two Nobel Prizes for Physics awarded in 1955. One went to Willis Lamb from the University of Arizona for, according to the Nobel Prize Committee, "discoveries concerning the fine structure of the hydrogen spectrum." The other was a German born American from Columbia University in New York. His award was for "precision determination of the magnetic moment of the electron." "What?" you say. It has to do with quantum electrodynamics which is beyond the scope of this quiz. Look under Science quizzes for my upcoming "So You Want to Be a Quantum Electrodynamicist" quiz for more details on that subject. This second award winner also had an unusual name, which is why he and not Willis Eugene Lamb is the subject of this question. Who won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1955 for his work with electrons? Polykarp Kusch Richard Dean Anderson Archibald Alec Leach Roy Hinkley