|
Year
|
Hint
|
Answer
|
|
1901
|
Six British colonies unify as this new nation-state
|
Australia
|
|
1902
|
This popular child's toy is first sold in the United States
|
Teddy bear
|
|
1903
|
This race is held for the first time in France
|
Tour de France
|
|
1904
|
This opera premieres in Milan
|
Madam Butterfly
|
|
1905
|
Japan shocks the Western world by defeating this European power in a war
|
Russia
|
|
1906
|
This city is devastated by an earthquake
|
San Francisco
|
|
1907
|
Oklahoma Territory and ______ Territory merge to create the state of Oklahoma
|
Indian
|
|
1908
|
A large explosion thought to be caused by a meteor air burst occurs near this Siberian river
|
Tunguska
|
|
1909
|
This US Navy officer leads the first successful (though disputed) expedition to the North Pole
|
Robert Peary
|
|
1910
|
The Mexican Revolution begins after this president fraudulently "wins" re-election
|
Porfirio Diaz
|
|
1911
|
An expedition led by this explorer becomes the first to reach the South Pole
|
Roald Amundsen
|
|
1912
|
This passenger liner strikes an iceberg and sinks in the North Atlantic
|
RMS Titanic
|
|
1913
|
This leather goods manufacturer is founded in Milan
|
Prada
|
|
1914
|
World War I is sparked by this assassin
|
Gavrillo Princip
|
|
1915
|
The German Navy sinks this passenger liner
|
RMS Lusitania
|
|
1916
|
The British and French sign the secret ___________ Agreement to carve up the Arab part of the Ottoman Empire after the war
|
Sykes-Picot
|
|
1917
|
The Russian Provisional Government is overthrown as Bolsheviks storm the _______ Palace
|
Winter
|
|
1918
|
This British war poet is killed in action a week before the signing of the armistice
|
Wilfred Owen
|
|
1919
|
This country declares independence from Great Britain
|
Ireland
|
|
1920
|
This country becomes the first in the modern era to legalise abortion
|
Russia
|
|
1921
|
This scientist is awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics
|
Albert Einstein
|
|
1922
|
This serialised modernist novel is first published as one volume
|
Ulysses
|
|
1923
|
Adolf Hitler attempts a failed coup against the Bavarian government in the _________ Putsch
|
Beer Hall
|
|
1924
|
The first Winter Olympic Games is held at this French ski resort
|
Chamonix
|
|
1925
|
This architect proposes demolishing central Paris and replacing it with a grid of modernist tower blocks
|
Le Corbusier
|
|
1926
|
This nascent British company is nationalised
|
British Broadcasting Company
|
|
1927
|
This science fiction film by Fritz Lang debuts in Germany
|
Metropolis
|
|
1928
|
Scottish scientist Alexander Fleming discovers this antibiotic
|
Penicillin
|
|
1929
|
The debut of this children's adventure comic character
|
Tintin
|
|
1930
|
This country hosts and wins the inaugural FIFA World Cup
|
Uruguay
|
|
1931
|
Millions are killed in widespread flooding in this country
|
China
|
|
1932
|
The infamous kidnapping and murder of this infant occurs in New Jersey
|
Charles Lindbergh Jr
|
|
1933
|
Construction begins on this famous bridge
|
Golden Gate Bridge
|
|
1934
|
London doctor Robert Kenneth Wilson photographs this creature, later proved to be a hoax
|
Loch Ness Monster
|
|
1935
|
This British military officer, diplomat and writer is killed in a motorcycle accident
|
T.E. Lawrence
|
|
1936
|
This mammal goes extinct, the last specimen dying in a zoo
|
Tasmanian tiger
|
|
1937
|
Picasso completes this painting depicting the horror of war
|
Guernica
|
|
1938
|
George Orwell publishes this account of his experience fighting in the Spanish Civil War
|
Homage to Catalonia
|
|
1939
|
The _____________ Pact, a non-aggression treaty, is signed between Germany and the Soviet Union
|
Molotov-Ribbentrop
|
|
1940
|
This exiled revolutionary is assassinated in Mexico
|
Trotsky
|
|
1941
|
Germany invades the Soviet Union, codenamed Operation _________
|
Barbarossa
|
|
1942
|
This American general escapes the Philippines as the country falls to the Japanese
|
Douglas MacArthur
|
|
1943
|
Allied forces inflict a major defeat against Germany in this North African battle
|
El Alamein
|
|
1944
|
This Nazi concentration camp is the first to be liberated by advancing Allied forces
|
Majdanek
|
|
1945
|
American and Soviet troops meet at this river in Germany
|
Elbe
|
|
1946
|
Zionist terrorists bomb this hotel in Jerusalem
|
King David Hotel
|
|
1947
|
This US Air Force test pilot becomes the first person to break the sound barrier
|
Chuck Yeager
|
|
1948
|
This anti-imperialist pacifist activist is assassinated
|
Mahatma Gandhi
|
|
1949
|
Facing widespread defeat by Communist forces, the government of the Republic of China retreats to this island
|
Taiwan
|
|
1950
|
This American senator accuses the State Department of being riddled with communists
|
Joseph McCarthy
|
|
1951
|
The first publication of this coming-of-age novel by J.D. Salinger
|
The Catcher in the Rye
|
|
1952
|
The ___________ Comet, the world's first commercial jetliner, enters service
|
de Havilland
|
|
1953
|
James Watson and Francis Crick announce their discovery of the structure of DNA at this university
|
Cambridge
|
|
1954
|
French forces suffer a catastrophic defeat at this battle in Vietnam
|
Dien Bien Phu
|
|
1955
|
An Alabama jury acquits two white men of murdering this 14-year-old black boy
|
Emmett Till
|
|
1956
|
Elvis Presley enters the American music charts with this single
|
Heartbreak Hotel
|
|
1957
|
The Soviet Union launches ________ 1 into space, the first artificial satellite
|
Sputnik
|
|
1958
|
The first of the _______ Wars, a confrontation over fishing rights, takes place between Iceland and the United Kingdom
|
Cod
|
|
1959
|
This discharged US Marine defects to the Soviet Union
|
Lee Harvey Oswald
|
|
1960
|
Police massacre protesters at this South African township
|
Sharpeville
|
|
1961
|
This writer commits suicide in Idaho
|
Ernest Hemingway
|
|
1962
|
The first branch of this American retail outlet opens
|
Walmart
|
|
1963
|
This man commits the first homicide to be broadcast live on television
|
Jack Ruby
|
|
1964
|
The US Surgeon General reports that this practice may be hazardous to health
|
Smoking
|
|
1965
|
The first US ground troops arrive in South Vietnam in this city
|
Da Nang
|
|
1966
|
John Lennon asserts The Beatles are "more popular than _______"
|
Jesus
|
|
1967
|
This Australian prime minister goes missing and is declared dead
|
Harold Holt
|
|
1968
|
Martin Luther King Jr is assassinated in this city
|
Memphis
|
|
1969
|
This astronaut remains in lunar orbit while Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin land on the moon
|
Michael Collins
|
|
1970
|
Separatist terrorists abduct and murder the deputy leader of this province
|
Quebec
|
|
1971
|
This director makes his feature-length debut with the film Duel
|
Steven Spielberg
|
|
1972
|
Rugby players stranded in the Andes after a plane crash resort to this method of survival
|
Cannibalism
|
|
1973
|
A coalition of Arab states attacks Israel during this Jewish religious festival
|
Yom Kippur
|
|
1974
|
This American heiress is kidnapped by the Symbionese Liberation Army
|
Patty Hearst
|
|
1975
|
This American cargo ship is seized by the Khmer Rouge off Cambodia
|
Mayaguez
|
|
1976
|
This company is founded in Los Altos, California
|
Apple
|
|
1977
|
This South African activist is killed in police custody
|
Steve Biko
|
|
1978
|
The Year of Three _______
|
Popes
|
|
1979
|
The Soviet Union invades this country
|
Afghanistan
|
|
1980
|
This amputee athlete begins his Marathon of Hope across Canada
|
Terry Fox
|
|
1981
|
John Hinckley Jr attempts to assassinate President Ronald Reagan to impress this actress
|
Jodie Foster
|
|
1982
|
TIME Magazine's Man of the Year Award goes to this inanimate object
|
The computer
|
|
1983
|
The finale of this television series becomes the most watched broadcast in American history
|
M*A*S*H
|
|
1984
|
The creation of the first playable version of this popular Soviet video game
|
Tetris
|
|
1985
|
This comic strip debuts in 35 American newspapers
|
Calvin and Hobbes
|
|
1986
|
This space shuttle explodes shortly after take-off, killing the entire crew
|
Challenger
|
|
1987
|
This singer-songwriter becomes the first female inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
|
Aretha Franklin
|
|
1988
|
Pan Am Flight 103 is blown up by terrorists above this village in Scotland
|
Lockerbie
|
|
1989
|
This British computer scientist first proposes the system which becomes the foundation of the World Wide Web
|
Tim Berners-Lee
|
|
1990
|
This military dictator is overthrown by invading American troops
|
Manuel Noriega
|
|
1991
|
This NBA star publicly announces he is HIV positive
|
Magic Johnson
|
|
1992
|
This world leader vomits on the Prime Minister of Japan
|
George H.W. Bush
|
|
1993
|
This New York landmark is bombed by Islamic terrorists
|
World Trade Center
|
|
1994
|
This American company is founded under the initial name of Cadabra
|
Amazon
|
|
1995
|
This doomsday cult perpetrates a sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway
|
Aum Shinrikyo
|
|
1996
|
Chess grandmaster Gary Kasparov loses a match to this computer
|
Deep Blue
|
|
1997
|
Members of the Heaven's Gate cult commit mass suicide as this comet approaches Earth
|
Hale-Bopp
|
|
1998
|
The ____________ Agreement largely brings an end to The Troubles in Northern Ireland
|
Good Friday
|
|
1999
|
This currency is first introduced in a non-physical form
|
Euro
|
|
2000
|
This financial bubble bursts
|
Dot-com bubble
|
