Dates in History From the 1980s Quiz

Answer: 1980

The World Health Organisation reported May 8, 1980, that smallpox had been eradicated. According to the organisation, the last known case of smallpox was in 1987. This was because of a world vaccination campaign and a monitoring of the disease. As with any other disease, this could change in the future, as it's possible new strains could develop.

Smallpox is a virus. Before vaccinations became available, the virus was highly contagious and could be easily spread from one person to another. People who were very close to each other were at a very high risk of catching the virus. Once exposed to the virus, signs could be within seven to fourteen days, although the virus could be in your body from one week to nearly three weeks before you feel ill or have visual signs on your body.

After the incubation period, you could feel like you have the flu. Symptoms could be fever, headache, fatigue and aches in your body. After a few days you could develop red spots on your tongue, arms, and face which eventually spread to the rest of your body. In some cases, the virus could make you go blind and also infertile.

Answer: 1980

On January 20, U.S. President Jimmy Carter declared that the United States would boycott the games. The 1979 Russian invasion of Afghanistan was the reason the United States boycotted the Moscow Olympics. Around 60 countries refused to participate in the games in support of Afghanistan and the call from Jimmy Carter.

The boycott didn't really have the desired effect, as Russia stood firm and never withdrew, which was expected. Although Great Britain and Australia were the main supporters with the US for boycotting the games, both Great Britain and Australia sent some athletes to compete in the games. Because many athletes from around the world did not participate in the games, Russia and its allies were able to win more medals than they likely would have if all the countries had taken part. Russia ended up winning 80 gold medals, and 115 silver, and bronze.

Answer: 1980

The Iran-Iraq war started in September 1980 and ended in August 1988. The war was started by a mixture of events including territorial disputes, political disagreement, and the 1979 Revolution. Another factor was Iraq's ambition to dominate the Persian Gulf and seize control of oil-rich regions.

A new Iranian government was formed, and soon the Iraqi invasion of Iran began. Over the eight years of conflict, around 500,000 people were killed. A feature of the war was the use of chemical weapons by Iraq, which included mustard gas and sarin. Trench warfare, hand-to-hand combat and machine-gun posts were a typical part of the war.

The United Nations instigated a ceasefire, which began on the August 20. Both Iran and Iraq were very low on resources, with the military losing so many soldiers. Both of the countries were at a stalemate. At the end of the war, no one really won; no gains were made on either side. It is thought the cost of the war ran into many billions of pounds.

Answer: 1986

The Challenger disaster happened on January 28, 1986. The disaster claimed the lives of seven astronauts. Challenger was only into 73 seconds of the flight when the shuttle exploded. The failure of two O-rings was to blame for the explosion, but was only part of the problem.

Due to improper seating of the solid rocket booster O-rings, hot combustion gases were able to escape from the booster's side and burn through the external fuel tank. A number of reasons were identified for the O-ring's failure, including poor solid rocket booster design, inadequate low-temperature testing of the O-ring's material and the joints it sealed.

Answer: 1986

The Chernobyl disaster happened on April 25-26, 1986. At the time, the explosion was the worst nuclear reactor accident that had ever happened. Even today, some parts of the exclusion zone have a high radiation level. Some wildlife is returning to the area, and hopefully this will continue in the future.

You may ask, "Why did the accident happen"? The first thing to remember is that it was the result of a safety test that went wrong. The disaster was a result of a poor design and a combination of operator errors and the lack of safety procedures. The operators had even disabled the emergency shutdown system. PBS (Public Broadcasting Service) claimed that the reactor's design included built-in flaws, such as a positive vacancy coefficient. This feature showed that the reactor's power output rose rather than fell when the coolant water turned to steam. Because the steam was not contained in its containment structure, this led to a huge explosion, which then caused a fire.

Answer: 1986

Guy Hunt was born in Cullman County, Alabama, on 17 June 1933. Politically, he first ran for office in 1962, in an unsuccessful run for the Alabama Senate. In 1964, he was elected to become a probate judge to oversee the estate administration of people who had died. In 1976 and 1980 he became
state chairman of Ronald Reagan's presidential campaign.

Hunt was the Republican candidate for governor of Alabama in the 1978 election, but he was defeated by then-Democrat Fob James by a huge margin! In 1980, Reagan won the US election and appointed Guy as the Alabama State Director of the Agricultural Stabilisation and Conservation Committee.

In 1985 Guy resigned his post to run for governor. At the time, there was a run-off between the Democratic pair of Charles Graddick and Bill Baxley. Baxley won the vote, but Graddick claimed Baxley had violated the rules. The state Supreme Court gave the Democrats two options: either declare Baxley the winner by default or hold another primary election. The party picked Baxley. In the election, Hunt won because lots of Alabamians voted for Hunt in anger because they had picked Baxley in the primary.

On June 24, 1986, Guy Hunt was elected governor of Alabama. He was the first Republican governor of Alabama in 112 years. Guy served Alabama between January 19, 1987, and April 22, 1993. He was also the first governor to be removed from office in 1993 for a conviction of moral principles and values. On March 31, 1998, the conviction was rescinded, and Guy was cleared of all charges brought against him.

Answer: 1989

On March 24, 1989, the tanker Exxon Valdez ran aground on Bligh Reef, which led to her cargo of crude oil spilling out into the sea. Over ten million gallons of crude oil caused damage to the ecosystem. Thousands of birds, otters, seals and several other animals died in the disaster. The disaster was caused by human error.

Records show the tanker changed course to avoid icebergs, while under normal circumstances it would sail on a designated shipping lane. It was also said the third mate maybe failed to properly maneuver the tanker correctly while the captain was unable to take control due to the state of mind he was in at that time. It could have been fatigue- or alcohol-related. Although the spill happened many years ago, the effects are still evident. There are still problems with oil on a few beaches, and the Pacific herring and killer whales have still not recovered as they were before the spill.

Bligh Reef is located in Prince William Sound, Alaska. The island was named after William Bligh, who would later be involved in the mutiny on HMS Bounty.

Answer: 1989

On 9 November 1989 the Berlin Wall was destroyed. Half a million people on the East side of Germany gathered in protest, and this led to the wall being demolished. The East side of Germany was run as a communist state, and for a long time, people in the East wanted to move over to the West of Germany, more in line with the European way of life.

The wall was built in 1961 because many people were moving to the West. The wall stopped people moving over. The wall was protected by East German soldiers, who were armed with rifles and machine guns. The soldiers were authorised to stop anyone who tried to cross over by any means if needed. Records show that between 1961 and 1989 around 140 people died while trying to escape, with 91 being shot by border soldiers. However, it has been reported that over 5,000 successfully escaped the wall by various methods.

Answer: 1989

President Bush was born on June 12, 1924, in Milton, Massachusetts, and died on November 30, 2018 (aged 94), in Houston, Texas. When George left school, he joined the Navy when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbour. He became an aircraft pilot. In 1966 George was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives and served in several other positions. When Ronald Reagan was President, George became the Vice President. After two terms with Reagan, George put himself forward in the election for the President's role, which he won.

On 20 January 1989, George H. W. Bush became the President of the United States. Bush, a member of the Republican Party, was the President between 1989 and 1993. The Vice President was Dan Quayle.

Answer: 1989

In 1915 all alcohol was prohibited, but this changed in 1922 when legalised wine was allowed. The law changed again in 1935 when all legalised alcoholic drinks were included, apart from beer with more than 2.25% alcohol content. The first ban was modified because Spain refused to buy fish from Iceland unless they bought their wine.

After the national referendum in 1933, the ban was modified again to include legalising spirits; however, this didn't include beer, which had an alcohol content of more than 2.25%. In 1985 prohibition had lost a lot of support, and eventually the Icelandic parliament voted 13 to 8 to permit the sales.

On 1 March 1989 the prohibition of beer ended after 74 years. The ban began on January 1, 1915. To celebrate the lifting of the ban, Iceland has an annual celebration which takes place on March 1. The celebration is known as "bjórdagur", which means beer day.

Answer: 1980

On May 18, 1980, Mount St Helens erupted, killing 57 people and causing widespread destruction. The volcano is located in Washington State. The damage was said to have cost a billion dollars. Land ended up as wasteland, and thousands of animals were killed. The eruption also caused mud landslides, and filled the sky with huge ash clouds. The ash caused the cancellation of several flights and rendered some roads impassable. Sewage and water were also affected for a short while.

The blast from the volcano was said to be the equivalent of 1,600 times the force of the bomb dropped in Hiroshima in 1945. The last time Mount St Helens erupted was on January 16, 2008. By the end of January, the eruption paused. The good news was by the end of July, it was deemed the eruption had ended because no activity had been present for the last six months.

Answer: 1986

The Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt was born on August 21, 1986, in Sherwood Content. Usain won eight gold Olympic medals. He was also the world record holder in the 100 metres, 200 metres, and 4 × 100 metres relay. Usain won gold in the 2008, 2012, and 2016 Olympics and at present is the only man ever to achieve this amazing record.

Due to his success in athletics, he became known as "Lightning Bolt" and was often photographed posing as a bolt of lightning. In 2004, at the age of 17, Bolt turned professional; he won his first gold medal at the World Junior Championships. In 2009, at the World Championships in Berlin, Germany, Bolt ran a time of 9.58 seconds in the 100m. At the same championship, he also ran the 200 metres and broke the world record in 19.19 seconds.

Usain Bolt retired in 2017 and went into business and got involved to promote the welfare of others with his Usain Bolt Foundation, which helps to support children and communities in Jamaica.