It was the Best of Times Trivia Quiz

Answer: The assassination of President Kennedy.

President John F. Kennedy, the 35th President of the U.S.A., was a young vibrant man hugely popular with the electorate. He was shot whilst riding through Dallas in a motorcade with his wife Jackie beside him. Lee Harvy Oswald, an ex marine, was accused of the murder but he himself was shot before he could be tried.

This has given rise to many conspiracy theories about what really happened.

Answer: The Beatles (and many other) British bands arrived in the US.

On February 4th 1964 the Beatles arrived in the United States. There were over 3,000 fans, mostly teenage girls, at the airport to meet them. With their Beatles suits, their mop haircuts and Liverpudlian accent they were completely different from the bands the American teenagers were used to. They appeared on the Ed Sullivan show and were a complete success. Following this other British Bands such as the Rolling Stones, Herman's Hermits and the Dave Clark Five decided to try their luck too, and were mostly well received though not on the scale of Beatlemania. This meant that many American bands saw the sales of their recordings plummet.

It wasn't till a later tour (August 1966) that there was a rumpus arising from John Lennon's remark that the Beatles were 'more popular than Jesus'.

Answer: A fashion designer

Mary Quant was a Welsh fashion designer who came to London and was instrumental in introducing the mini skirt and hot pants. She opened her first shop called Bazaar in Kings Road, Chelsea, and was an immediate success. She also had a mail order business which sold 17,000 pink gingham dresses similar to one Brigitte Bardot had worn to "Daily Mirror" readers.

Answer: Roger Miller

Roger Miller was an American singer, songwriter and actor who was part of the Nashville sound era of the mid sixties. He was most well known for his songs 'England Swings', 'Dang Me' and 'King of the Road'. He was born and brought up in Oklahoma and after a spell in the US army had a successful career as a country music singer and writer. 'England Swings' was meant to be about the young and hip culture in London, but it only refers to the traditional things like Westminster Abbey and Big Ben that are associated with London.

The song peaked at number three in the US charts but only reached thirteenth place in the UK.

Answer: Muhammad Ali

Muhammad Ali is generally agreed to be one of the most influential sports personalities of all time. Born as Cassius Clay in Louisville, Kentucky he began training as a boxer when he was 12 and won an Olympic gold medal in the light heavyweight class at the age of 18 in 1960.

When Cassius converted to Islam he changed his name to Muhammad Ali as he regarded his previous name as a slave name. He won many heavyweight titles, including the world heavyweight championship three times. Muhammad Ali retired from boxing at the age of 39 and devoted himself to religion and charity work.

He gave several million to relieve the suffering of disadvantaged and hungry people. He was well known for his tongue in cheek boastful comments e.g. 'I'm the greatest' and 'I'm the prettiest'.

Answer: A hairdresser

Vidal Sassoon was born in London's East End and when he was five years old his father left his mother to support Vidal and his brother alone. Unable to make ends meet she put the boys into an orphanage. At fourteen he got a job as a shampoo assistant at a shop called Cohen's Beauty and Barber shop. Later he did an apprenticeship under the famous hair stylist Raymond Bessone, but when he opened his own salon, he did not follow the elaborate styles that Bessone favoured but cut hair into short geometrical shapes.

His styles were adopted by Twiggy, Mary Quant and Mia Farrow who wore her hair that way in the film 'Rosemary's Baby'.

Answer: The U.S.S.R. began to build nuclear missile sites in Cuba.

The Cuban Missile Crisis happened when the USSR began to build nuclear missile sites in Cuba. The USA could not allow this, but they could not invade Cuba without it resulting in a war, so they decided to blockade Cuba and stop the missiles being brought in. Nikita Khrushchev, political leader of the USSR, responded to President Kennedy by saying that a blockade would be regarded as an act of war. Eventually, after thirteen days of fear for many ordinary people and a lot of negotiations secret and otherwise, the ships bearing missiles from the USSR turned back.

Answer: He performed the first human heart transplant.

In 1967 Dr Barnard transplanted the heart of Denise Darvall who had died of a head injury into the chest of 54 year old Louis Washansky. The patient fully recovered consciousness and lived for eighteen days and spent some time with his wife. He died of pneumonia mainly as a result of the suppression drugs to his immune system to prevent his body from rejecting the new heart. Doctor Barnard had told Mr. and Mrs. Washansky that there was an 80% chance of survival and this has been criticized by other members of the medical profession as being too optimistic and misleading.

The second patient to receive a donor heart, Philip Blaiberg lived for nineteen months and was able to return home from hospital.

Answer: Gypsy Moth IV

Francis Chichester sailed around the world on his own using the clipper route. This was the traditional route used by clipper ships between Europe and the Far East and Australia and New Zealand. These were very fast sailing vessels that took freight all around the world.

It took Francis Chichester nine months and one week to make the journey, during 1966 and 1967. He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in July 1967 for this outstanding achievement.

Answer: Love Me Do

'Love me Do' was first released in the UK in 1962 and reached only number seventeen in the British charts. It was republicized and released in the U.S.A. in 1964 where it hit the number one spot. The song was written by Paul McCartney several years before while he was still at school, and before the Beatles existed. Later John contributed but always maintained that it was Paul's song. Paul, on the other hand, said that it was a collaboration between the two of them just like the other Lennon and McCartney songs.