1952 - Year of Change Trivia Quiz

Answer: Oslo, Norway

The VI Olympic Winter Games were held in Oslo, Norway from 14th - 25th February. 694 (585 men, 109 women) competed in 6 sports - 22 events, over the 10 days of the games. Due to the death of King George VI on the 6th February all of the national flags at the opening ceremony were flown at half mast.

Answer: St George's Chapel, Windsor

The King was buried at St George's Chapel, Windsor, on 15th February. St George's Chapel was started by Edward IV in 1475 and took 50 years to complete. 10 monarchs are buried there including Edward IV and George VI. Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother was buried alongside her husband following her death at the age of 101 in 2002.

Answer: Singin' in the Rain

Despite being one of the iconic movies of the 20th century (for some of us anyway) the film didn't receive any academy awards. Academy Awards for 1952 were;
Best Picture - 'The Greatest Show on Earth'.
Best Actor in a Leading Role - Gary Cooper ('High Noon').
Best Actress in a Leading Role - Shirley Booth ('Come Back, Little Sheba').
Best Music (Scoring of a Musical Picture) - 'With a Song in My Heart' - Alfred Newman (though 'Singing in the Rain' did at least get a nomination in this category).

Answer: Sun Records

Sam Phillips started Sun Records at 706 Union Avenue, Memphis, Tennessee. He named it Sun Records after his eternal optimism in "a new day and a new beginning". Famous artists to have recorded at Sun include Elvis, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins - known as The Million Dollar Quartet.

Answer: Lynmouth

Lynmouth is in North Devon. In the 24 hours before, some nine inches (22.9cm) of rain had fallen on Exmoor, just four miles (6.4km) away.
The water flowed off the moors and into the rivers East and West Lyn which came together as a raging torrent in the steep, narrow valley leading into Lynmouth.
The local policeman, Derek Harper was awarded the George Medal for the part he played in rescuing people from the flood.

Answer: Harrow and Wealdstone

The 7.31 am the Up local passenger train from Tring to Euston was stopped at Platform 4 when it was hit from behind by the 8.15pm Up express from Perth to Euston travelling at approximately 50-60 mph. The Perth train ran through 1 signal at 'Caution' and 2 signals at 'Danger' in patchy foggy weather. The resulting wreckage was spread over both the Up and the Down line which resulted in the 8.00am Down express from Euston to Liverpool and Manchester ploughing into the wreckage at approximately 60 mph. The Liverpool express was a double header and both engines left the track and crossed the platform, coming to rest near the No 2 signal box.

Quintinshill (1915) was the worst train disaster ever in Britain, resulting in at least 227 deaths when three trains collided and two further trains became involved, too. One of the trains was a crowded troop train, with wooden, gas-lit carriages, which caught fire almost at once.

Answer: The Marshall Islands

The Marshall Islands or, as they are officially known, The Republic of the Marshall Islands are situated in the Northern Pacific. The capital of RMI is Majuro.

The Falkland Islands are in the South Atlantic.

There are four (!) Christmas Islands.
1. The best known is an external territory of Australia and is located in the Indian Ocean.
2. Christmas Island - Nova Scotia, Canada
3. Kiritimati, a small atoll also known as Christmas Island, is part of the Republic of Kiritimati and lies in the Pacific Ocean.
4. Just west of Tasmania in the Southern Ocean lies yet another Christmas Island.

The island with the big, strange statues is Easter Island in the South Pacific.

Answer: The New Ambassadors Theatre

'The Mouse Trap' opened at the New Ambassadors Theatre, this later changed its name to The Ambassadors Theatre. It ran at this theatre until Saturday, 23 March 1974 when it immediately transferred to the St Martin's Theatre, next door, where it reopened on Monday, 25 March thus keeping its "initial run" status.

At the end of each performance the audience are asked not to reveal the twist - and no one does.

Answer: Joey Dunlop

The Isle of Man TT (Tourist Trophy) is a prestigous open road motor cycle event held every year on the roads of the Isle of Man.
Joey acheived 26 TT wins before his untimely demise in Tallinn, Estonia, in 2000 while leading a 125cc race. The most successful overall rider at the annual TT races is awarded the "Joey Dunlop Cup".

Answer: Albert Schweitzer

The Nobel Peace Prize 1952 was awarded to Albert Schweitzer.
Due to the selection process Albert Schweitzer actually received his Nobel Prize one year later, in 1953.
Albert Einstein received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1921.
Mother Teresa of Calcutta was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979.
Winston Churchill was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1953.

Answer: The Mau Mau Uprising

The Mau Mau Uprising or Kenya Emergency was an armed military conflict in Kenya from 1952-1956. It involved a Kikuyu-dominated anti-colonial group called Mau Mau fighting elements of the British Army, auxiliaries and anti-Mau Mau Kikuyu.

Answer: Dwight D Eisenhower

The election was held on Tuesday, 4th November 1952. The Democratic Party nominated Adlai Stevenson as their candidate when Truman elected not to seek re-election.
This election was the first since 1928 in which the Republican presidential nominee was elected. It was also the last election until 2008 in which neither the incumbent president nor the incumbent vice president was his party's general election candidate.

Answer: World War II

The Treaty of San Francisco aka A Treaty of Peace with Japan was oficailly signed by 48 nations on 8th September 1951, it came into force on 28th April 1952 and oficially brought to an end World War II, as far as Japan and the various minor Axis powers were concerned.

However, as a result of the Cold War and the division of Germany, no peace treaty between the Allies and Germany was signed till 1990.

Answer: Tea

Rationing in Britain continued for some time after the end of the war. There wasn't a sudden end to all rationing, various items came off the ration as they became more widely available.
Tea rationing ended in 1952. Petrol rationing ended in 1950 but was briefly reintroduced in 1956 during the Suez crisis but was removed again in 1957.
The rationing of sugar, sweets and chocolate ended in 1953, and 4th July 1954 saw the end of all food rationing in Britain.

Answer: Helsinki, Finland

Mexico City hosted the Games in 1968.
Paris has hosted two Summer Games, in 1900 and 1924.
Sydney was host city in 2000.
In 1952 there was both a Summer and Winter Olympics. The last year this happened was 1992, and since then they have been split, so that there is a games every two years but both still has a 4 year cycle. The switchover was achieved by having the winter Olympics 2 years early in Lillehammer in 1994.