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50 free 1975 trivia questions with answers — trivia quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
1975 was the year the quiet stories beat the loud ones. A Japanese climber dug herself out of an avalanche and went on to stand on top of the world, a world chess championship changed hands without a single move being played, an engineer taped a fuzzy picture onto a cassette and invented the digital camera, and a video recorder that could hold an hour of television went on sale in Japan. These 50 questions cover the films, music, television, sport, science, politics and business of the year, with a British lean: a self-sufficient couple in a suburban sitcom, a detective series named in rhyming slang, a spoken-word number one by a television cop, a cricket final that ran until a quarter to nine on a June evening, a knighthood that came six weeks too late and the first oil from the North Sea. There are births of a footballer, an actress and a golfer who became household names, and a sprinkling of deep cuts for those who really remember the year. Most are pitched for a pub table. Play on your phone with instant answers and explanations, or print it for a pub quiz, office quiz or a 1975-themed birthday.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which climber, buried by an avalanche twelve days earlier, became the first woman to summit Everest on 16 May?
Junko Tabei
Junko Tabei later became the first woman to complete the Seven Summits, the highest peak on every continent, finishing on Puncak Jaya. She reached the top with her sherpa guide Ang Tsering.
Q 02Which 'Bayonne Bleeder' was finally floored with 19 seconds left in the 15th round against Muhammad Ali?
Chuck Wepner
Chuck Wepner's stand moved Sylvester Stallone to write Rocky, released the following year. The nickname began as an insult about his facial cuts, and he adopted it as his own.
Q 03Which Soviet grandmaster became world champion on 3 April by forfeit, after the American holder refused FIDE's terms?
Anatoly Karpov
Anatoly Karpov, determined to prove himself a legitimate champion, played nearly every major tournament for the next ten years. FIDE president Max Euwe made the declaration.
Q 04Which company's engineer Steven Sasson built the first self-contained digital camera, needing 23 seconds per image?
Kodak
Kodak's 1975 prototype weighed 8 pounds, used a 100-by-100-pixel sensor, 0.01 megapixels, and recorded each picture to cassette tape. Sasson designed it to run on batteries.
Q 05Which Sony home-video format went on sale in Japan on 10 May, with early tapes limited to an hour of recording?
Betamax
Betamax lost the format war to VHS, yet Sony kept making recorders until August 2002 and blank cassettes until March 2016. The first US model came bundled with a 19-inch Trinitron television.
Q 06Which band's 'Bye, Bye, Baby' was the UK's best-selling single of the year, spending six weeks at number one from March?
Bay City Rollers
The Bay City Rollers' chart-topper was a cover of a 1965 single by the Four Seasons.
Q 07Which BBC sitcom, first shown on 4 April, has a 40-year-old plastics designer quit the rat race to go self-sufficient?
The Good Life
The Good Life starred Richard Briers and Felicity Kendal, and its 1978 farewell episode was recorded as a Royal Command Performance before the Queen and Prince Philip.
Q 08Which 18-year-old, beaten by Chris Evert in the US Open semi-finals, went to a New York immigration office to defect?
Martina Navratilova
Martina Navratilova was stripped of her Czechoslovak citizenship for seeking political asylum and became a US citizen in 1981. Her nine Wimbledon singles titles remain a record.
Q 09Which North American Soccer League club brought Pelé out of semi-retirement to debut against Dallas Tornado on 15 June?
New York Cosmos
Pele scored on his New York Cosmos debut in a 2-2 draw at Downing Stadium, played his last official match there on 28 August 1977 in a 2-1 Soccer Bowl win over Seattle, and bowed out in an exhibition against Santos that October.
Q 10Which side won the first Cricket World Cup final at Lord's, helped by Clive Lloyd's 82-ball century, by 17 runs?
West Indies
The West Indies beat Australia in a game that ended at 8:43pm after nearly ten hours, with Viv Richards, who had failed with the bat, running out three batsmen.
Q 11Which Bryan Forbes film of an Ira Levin novel has Katharine Ross find her new town's men replacing their spouses?
The Stepford Wives
The Stepford Wives put a phrase into the language, with 'she's a real Stepford wife' becoming a common jibe; the men explain that they do it 'because they can'.
Q 12Which trio topped the US chart in March with 'Lady Marmalade', an Allen Toussaint production with a French chorus?
Labelle
Labelle's refrain 'Voulez-vous coucher avec moi, ce soir?' translates as 'Do you want to sleep with me, tonight?' and was written by Bob Crewe and Kenny Nolan. The single spent one week on top.
Q 13Which golfer, invited after winning the 1974 Monsanto Open, became the first Black player to compete in the Masters?
Q 21Which Ken Russell film of a Who rock opera had Elton John play the Pinball Wizard in gigantic Dr. Martens boots?
Tommy
Tommy's Ann-Margret won a Golden Globe and an Oscar nomination, while Elton John reportedly took the part on condition he could keep the boots. Roger Daltrey played the deaf, mute and blind title role.
Q 22Which Gerry Anderson series, Britain's costliest yet, has a nuclear-waste explosion hurl the Moon out of Earth's orbit?
Space: 1999
Space: 1999 starred the American couple Martin Landau and Barbara Bain and carried a £6.8 million budget over two series. The blast propels the Moon 'like an enormous booster rocket'.
Q 23Which Kojak actor took a spoken-word reading of Bread's ballad 'If' to two weeks at UK number one in March?
Lee Elder
Lee Elder returned to Augusta in April 2021 to take part in the Masters' traditional ceremonial start, 46 years after his debut.
Q 14Which footballer, born in Leytonstone on 2 May, was given the middle name Robert in honour of Bobby Charlton?
David Beckham
David Beckham's parents were such fanatical Manchester United supporters that they drove 200 miles from London to Old Trafford for home matches. He signed for the club as a trainee in July 1991.
Q 15Which actress, born on 4 June, had a bit part aged seven in her father Jon Voight's Lookin' to Get Out?
Angelina Jolie
Angelina Jolie was born Angelina Jolie Voight at Cedars-Sinai Hospital, the daughter of Voight and the actress Marcheline Bertrand.
Q 16Which golfer, born in Cypress, California on 30 December, putted against Bob Hope on TV before turning three?
Tiger Woods
Tiger Woods was nicknamed after his father's South Vietnamese army friend, colonel Vuong Dang Phong, also known as 'Tiger'. The 1978 putting contest came on The Mike Douglas Show.
Q 17Which Merv Griffin game show, based on hangman, premiered on NBC on 6 January with Chuck Woolery as host?
Wheel of Fortune
Wheel of Fortune has aired continuously since, with Pat Sajak taking over on 28 December 1981 and Vanna White named Susan Stafford's successor a year later. Griffin's 1973 pilot was titled Shopper's Bazaar.
Q 18Which club won the FA Cup 2–0 against a Fulham side including Bobby Moore, with both goals scored by Alan Taylor?
West Ham United
West Ham United were facing their former captain: the Wembley final on 3 May was Bobby Moore's last appearance at the stadium. Fulham had never reached the final before.
Q 19Which team beat the Boston Red Sox in a seven-game World Series famed for Carlton Fisk waving his Game 6 homer fair?
Cincinnati Reds
The Cincinnati Reds, the 'Big Red Machine', had won a franchise-record 108 games that season and took their first title since 1940. Fisk's ball struck the foul pole above the Green Monster.
Q 20Which Euston Films series, launched on ITV on 2 January, takes its name from the rhyming slang for the Flying Squad?
The Sweeney
The Sweeney starred John Thaw as Jack Regan and Dennis Waterman as George Carter, and grew out of Regan, a 1974 film made for Thames's Armchair Cinema strand.
Telly Savalas
Telly Savalas's hit, written by David Gates in 1971, also reached number one in Ireland. Bread had first popularised the song.
Q 24Which sitcom's Windsor Davies and Don Estelle, in character, took 'Whispering Grass' to UK number one for three weeks?
It Ain't Half Hot Mum
It Ain't Half Hot Mum's Battery Sergeant Major Williams and Gunner 'Lofty' Sugden revived a 1940 song written by Fred Fisher and his daughter Doris, first recorded by Erskine Hawkins.
Q 25Which BBC drama from Winston Graham's novels has Robin Ellis reviving derelict copper mines in 18th-century Cornwall?
Poldark
Poldark paired Ellis with Angharad Rees as Demelza and ran from 1975 to 1977. The hero is Captain Ross Vennor Poldark.
Q 26Which creator of the Daleks debuted in Terry Nation's serial Genesis of the Daleks, opposite Tom Baker's Doctor?
Davros
Davros, played by Michael Wisher, forces the Doctor to ask whether he has the right to commit genocide against the Daleks; a 1998 Doctor Who Magazine poll voted the serial the greatest story ever.
Q 27Which club won the League title in Dave Mackay's first full season as manager, a second championship in four years?
Derby County
Derby County took the 1974–75 title with 53 points from 42 games, winning 21, drawing 11 and losing 10.
Q 28Which club retained the European Cup in Paris, beating Leeds United 2–0 with late goals from Franz Roth and Gerd Müller?
Bayern Munich
Bayern Munich were held until the 71st minute, after Leeds had a Peter Lorimer goal disallowed for offside against Billy Bremner and two penalty appeals refused.
Q 29Which Soviet lander sent the first pictures from another planet's surface, lasting 53 minutes on Venus on 22 October?
Venera 9
Venera 9 measured a surface pressure of about 90 atmospheres and a temperature of 485 °C before radio contact through its orbiter was lost.
Q 30Which Soviet hydrogen-bomb designer won the Nobel Peace Prize but was refused permission to collect it in Oslo?
Andrei Sakharov
Andrei Sakharov's wife, Yelena Bonner, read his speech at the ceremony in his place. His 'Third Idea' design matched the Teller–Ulam configuration used in the United States.