The 20th Century by Decades - Part III Quiz

Answer: New York subway

The New York subway was opened almost 35 years after the first elevated railway line commenced operating. Ellis Island opened on January 1, 1892 and the Manhattan Bridge on December 31, 1909. The first public movie theater in the U.S. was the Nickelodeon in Pittsburgh, which opened on June 19, 1905.

Answer: Germany

It was during WWI that Germany decided to minimize the use of artificial light in order to save fuel that was essential for the war effort. The idea was quickly followed by Great Britain. However, the idea of daylight saving had first been proposed to Parliament in 1905 by William Willett (1856-1915). Sadly he did not see his idea accepted as it was introduced after his death.

In 1784 Benjamin Franklin wrote an article for a Paris journal suggesting getting out of bed earlier to save wastage of candles.

The USA introduced daylight saving in 1918. New Zealander George Hudson (1867-1946) proposed the modern idea of daylight saving in 1895.

Answer: Reader's Digest

DeWitt (1889-1981) was wounded during WWI and while recuperating he spent his time reading American magazines. He came up with the idea of writing articles over various topics that would be easy for the reader to understand. With his wife Lila Bell (1889-1984) they founded "Reader's Digest". "Life" magazine ran weekly from 1883-1972 and monthly from 1978-2002. "Punch" is a British weekly magazine of humour and satire that Henry Mayhem and Ebenezer Landells established in 1841. "Time" magazine was first issued by Briton Hadden and Henry Luce on March 3, 1923.

Answer: Superman

Jerry Siegel (1914-1996) and Joe Shuster (1914-1992) created the Superman character in 1933. The character was sold to Detective Comics, Inc. in 1938. Batman first appeared in 1939 by Detective Comics, Inc. Popeye first appeared as a comic strip in January 1929. Flash Gordon first appeared on January 7, 1934 and was created by Alex Raymond (1909-1956).

Answer: bikini

Louis Reard (1897-1984) is best known for introducing the two piece swimming costume which he dubbed "bikini" which was inspired by the news of the U.S. atomic test that took place during that week on the Bikini Atoll in the Pacific Ocean. Nylon stockings were demonstrated by DuPont at the 1939 New York World Fair. Allen Grant, Sr. from Glen Raven Knitting Mills (North Carolina) developed "panti-legs" in 1953 but they were not brought to the open market until 1959.

The initial wave of stiletto shoes with the refined heels started in the 1950's but reached their peak in the 1960s.

Answer: He had a physical disability

Hal Connolly (1931-2010, b. Somerville, Massachusetts) was born with a disability, as his left arm was four and a half inches shorter than his right and that his left hand was smaller in size than to his right hand. When photographs were taken of him receiving his gold medal he faced the cameras showing his right arm. During the Olympics he struck up a relationship with the Czech discus gold medal winner (Olga Fikotova) and they married the following year in Prague.

The other unique features of the Melbourne Olympics were that the equestrian events were held in Stockholm (Sweden) due to Australia's strict equine quarantine regulations. East and West Germany competed as one nation, the swimming "butterfly event" was invented for the games and it was the first time that at the closing ceremony that all athletes entered the stadium as one nation.

Answer: Josef Stalin

Svetlana Alliluyeva preferred to be known by her mother's maiden name and was 42 years old at the time of her request which was made through the USA Embassy in India. Svetlana was the only daughter of Stalin and his second wife Nadezhda Alliluyeva who committed suicide in 1932 when Svetlana was 9 years old.

After being granted political asylum she changed her name to Lana Peters when she married William Peters in 1970. Josef Stalin (1878-1953) was the Soviet leader from c.1927-1953. Lenin (1870-1924) and Soviet leader (1922-1924), Malenkov (1902-1988) and Soviet leader (1953-1955), and Khrushchev (1894-1971) and Soviet leader (1955-1964).

Answer: Totus Tuus (Totally Yours)

John Paul II was the first Polish pope and the first non-Italian since 1523. "Humility" was the motto of John Paul I (1978), "Obedience and peace" was the motto of John XXIII (1958-1963) and "Cooperators of the truth" was the motto of Benedict XVI (2005-2013).

Answer: World Wide Web

English computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee (b. 1955) who was working at CERN at the time when he invented the World Wide Web (www). He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2004. Bill Gates and Paul Allen started Microsoft in 1975. Larry Page and Sergey Brin co-founded Google in January 1996 and Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger launched "Wikipedia" in 2001.

Answer: Copper Age Man

The two German tourists were wandering in the Ötztal Alps which border Austria and Italy when they came across the frozen body. Scientists originally thought that the body was from the Stone Age but then reconfirmed their theory when a copper axe was discovered near the body with other artifacts from that period which was estimated at 3,300 BC.

The three animals were all discovered in Siberia. The Selerikan Pony was found in 1968 and had lived between 35,000-39,000 years ago. The Yuka Mammoth was found in 2009 and lived 39,000 years ago and the Yukaghir Bison was found in 2011 and lived 10,500 years ago.