The 20th Century by Decades - Part II Quiz

Answer: Sully Prodhomme

Sully Prodhomme (1839-1907) was a French poet and essayist. He originally studied engineering, but later turned to philosophy and then poetry. Röntgen (1845-1923) and Lenard (1862-1947) both shared the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1901 and Behring (1854-1917) was the first recipient of the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1901. Prizes for Chemistry and Peace were also awarded in 1901.

Answer: Self-service shopping

The founder Clarence Saunders (1881-1953) patented the concept of "self-serving store" in 1917. The store also introduced shopping baskets, self-service branded products and check-outs at the front of the store. The address was 79 Jefferson Street, Memphis and a replica of the original store has been constructed in the Memphis Pink Palace Museum and Planetarium.

Answer: Chamonix (France)

At these first Winter Olympics there were 16 Nations competing in 16 events. There were 258 athletes participating. Both Norway and Finland won four Gold Medals each with Norway winning 17 medals in total and Finland 11. Compare this to the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia with 88 nations and 2,873 athletes competing in 98 events. St. Moritz hosted the Winter Olympics in 1928 and 1948 and Lake Placid in 1932 and 1980. Grenoble hosted the winter Olympics in 1968.

Answer: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

Disney produced "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" and "Steamboat Willie" (1928) introducing Mickey Mouse but this was not a feature film. "My Old Kentucky Home" (1926) was the first cartoon to use a soundtrack and produced by Max Fleischer. Disney produced "Fantasia" as an animated feature film in 1940.

Answer: Microwave oven

Percy Spencer (1894-1970) invented the microwave based on radar technology developed during WWII. The first appliance was named "Radarange" and was nearly 1.8 metres in height and weighing 340 kilograms. In 1913 by the Walker brothers of Philadelphia invented the electric dishwasher, however, it was not until 1930 that full scale commercialization began by Hotpoint and others.

In 1919-Charles Strite invented the automatic pop-up toaster but it only reached the marketplace in 1926 under the name "Toastmaster".

In 1927 John W.Hammes invented the garbage disposal unit in his basement wanting to make kitchen clean-up easier for his wife.

Answer: Boris Pasternak

All of the above were awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature with Bunin (1870-1953) being the first in 1933, Sholokhov (1905-1984) in 1965 and Solzhenitsyn ((1918-2008) in 1970. However,it was Pasternak (1890-1960) who was forced by the USSR not to accepted the award due to his novel "Doctor Zhivago".The novel was not published in the USSR due to its independent-minded stance on the socialist state.

The state was outraged by the award and he was forced to decline the prize.

Answer: Jean Shrimpton

Jean Shrimpton (b. 1940) in England was an icon of the "Swinging Sixties" in London and is considered to be one of the first supermodels. The dress by Colin Roth was worn by Shrimpton at the Flemington Racecourse. She appeared on the cover of numerous magazines and in 2012 was named as one of the top 100 fashion icons of all-time. Christine Keeler was also a model but is best known for her discredit of the Macmillan government in what was known as the Profumo affair of 1963. Twiggy (born Lesley Hornby) was also a model and actress during the 1960's and was initially known for her thin build, which resulted in her nickname. Elle Macpherson was an Australian supermodel of the 1980s and 90's and was born in 1964.

Answer: Pound sterling was decimalised

On this date there was no longer "pounds, shillings and pence". The pound was made up of 240 pence, with 12 pence to a shilling and 20 shillings to the pound. After this date shops continued to accept old coins but gave the change in the new currency. UK joined the EEC on January 1, 1973. Rolls-Royce was declared bankrupt on February 4, 1971 and was nationalised.

The Russian diplomats were expelled on September 24, 1971 after information from a KGB defector.

Answer: M.A.S.H.

At the time of this final episode it was the most- watched and highest-rated single television episode in US television history with an audience of over 125 million. The series was developed by Larry Gelbart but based on a 1968 novel "MASH: A Novel About Three Army Doctors" by Richard Hooker.

It was also adapted into a movie in 1970. The TV series was first aired in the USA on September 17, 1972. "All in the Family" was an American sitcom broadcast on CBS network from 1971-1979. "The Ed Sullivan Show" aired from 1948-1971 and "Happy Days" from 1974-1984.

Answer: Lech Walesa (Poland)

Lech Walesa (b. 1943) was an electrician by trade and was a trade union organizer and human rights activist. He became President of Poland from 1990-1995. He presided over the country as it transformed from a communist to a post-communist state. He was a co- founder of the first soviet bloc independent trade union (Solidarity) and in 1983 received the Nobel Peace Prize. Nelson Mandela (1918-2003) was President of South Africa from 1994-1999.

After 27 years of imprisonment he was released in 1990. Abdul Rahim Hatif (1926-2013) was the acting President of Afghanistan for 2 weeks in April 1992. Boris Yeltsin (1931-2007) became the first elected President of Russia in July 1991.