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50 free 1981 trivia questions with answers — trivia quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
1981 was the year the future arrived in beige plastic: a personal computer from the biggest name in business, a portable that fit under an airline seat, and a tool that could see single atoms. The Shuttle flew twice, a probe swept past Saturn, and the Senate confirmed the first woman on the US Supreme Court. Closer to home it was the year of the royal wedding, a cricket captain who ordered an underarm delivery, a Test match turned on its head at Headingley, a Grand National won by a cancer survivor, and a road race whose two leaders chose to finish together. The 50 questions cover music, film, television, science, sport, politics and the people born or lost that year. They suit pub quizzes, family nights and anyone who remembers the year MTV switched on.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which Lloyd Webber musical, set to poems Eliot wrote for his godchildren, opened in the West End in May?
Cats
Cats premiered at the New London Theatre on 11 May 1981, setting verse from Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats to music. A poem Eliot had cut as 'too sad for children', about Grizabella, gave Lloyd Webber the idea for a full show.
Q 02Which reggae star died in Miami on 11 May, aged 36, having refused to have a cancerous toe amputated?
Bob Marley
Bob Marley was diagnosed in 1977 with a melanoma under a toenail and declined amputation, citing his religious beliefs. A flight home from Germany was diverted to Miami, where the cancer had spread to his lungs and brain.
Q 03Who took over the CBS Evening News the Monday after Walter Cronkite's final sign-off on 6 March?
Dan Rather
Dan Rather succeeded Cronkite, whose trademark close 'And that's the way it is' was followed each night by the date. The last one ran: 'And that's the way it is: Friday, March 6, 1981.'
Q 04Which country, a democracy again only since 1974, became the tenth member of the European Communities?
Greece
Greece joined what is now the European Union as its tenth member in 1981, seven years after military rule collapsed. Andreas Papandreou came to power the same year with an ambitious programme of social reforms.
Q 05Which probe, launched in 1977, flew closest to Saturn on 26 August, then went on to Uranus and Neptune?
Voyager 2
Voyager 2 passed Saturn at 03:24 UT on 26 August 1981, riding a rare alignment of the outer planets that let one probe tour all four giants by gravity assist. Its closest approach to Uranus came on 24 January 1986.
Q 06Which syndicated show, launched on 14 September, is TV's longest-running showbiz news programme?
Entertainment Tonight
Entertainment Tonight premiered on September 14, 1981, in a local-newscast style covering the latest film, music and television releases, and holds the Guinness World Record as the longest-running entertainment news program.
Q 07Which singer, born in Houston on 4 September, later rose to fame as lead singer of Destiny's Child?
Beyoncé
Beyoncé Giselle Knowles was born on September 4, 1981, in Houston, Texas, and at nine enrolled at Parker Elementary, a music magnet school, where she sang in the choir. Destiny's Child became one of the best-selling girl groups in history.
Q 08Which tennis great, born in Basel on 8 August, was a ball boy at the Swiss Indoors in 1992 and 1993?
Roger Federer
Roger Federer even received a medal after the 1993 final, with the other ball boys, from the champion Michael Stich. His mother had enrolled him at eight in the junior programme of the Old Boys Tennis Club in Basel.
Q 09Which player, born in Saginaw, Michigan, on 26 September, went on to win 23 major singles titles?
Serena Williams
Serena Williams was born to Oracene Price and Richard Williams, and her 23 majors are the most of the Open Era. She also won 14 major women's doubles titles, all with her sister Venus.
Q 10Which Salman Rushdie novel about India's passage from colonial rule to partition won the Booker Prize?
Midnight's Children
Midnight's Children, Rushdie's second novel, was published by Jonathan Cape and sold over a million copies in the UK alone. It was later named the 'Booker of Bookers' in 1993 and the Best of the Booker in 2008.
Q 11Which machine, advertised as the only computer that fit under an airline seat, was the first successful portable?
Osborne 1
The Osborne 1, released on April 3, 1981, weighed 24.5 lb, cost $1,795 and ran CP/M, with a tiny five-inch screen; its bundled software alone was worth about $1,500. It was soon overtaken by the similar Kaypro II.
Q 12Which instrument, built at IBM Zurich by Gerd Binnig and Heinrich Rohrer, earned them the 1986 Physics Nobel?
Scanning tunneling microscope
The scanning tunneling microscope was developed in 1981, and the first one built by Binnig and Rohrer used magnetic levitation to keep it free from vibrations. Mechanical or gas springs usually do that job today.
Q 13Which all-rookie crew flew STS-2 in November, the first time a crewed orbital vehicle had returned to space?
Q 21Which country, renamed from British Honduras in 1973, became independent from the UK on 21 September?
Belize
Belize was led by George Cadle Price, the pro-independence head of the People's United Party, who was effective head of government from 1961 and held the post under various titles until 1984. Britain had named the colony in 1862.
Q 22What did Labour's 'Gang of Four' launch on 26 March, two months after issuing the Limehouse Declaration?
Social Democratic Party
The Social Democratic Party was founded by Roy Jenkins, David Owen, Bill Rodgers and Shirley Williams, centrists who had quit Labour over the influence of Militant and the hard left. Jenkins had been President of the European Commission.
Q 23Which physician became Norway's first female prime minister on 4 February, serving until October?
Joe Engle and Richard Truly
Joe Engle and Richard Truly were the first all-rookie crew since Skylab 4, although Engle had already earned astronaut wings flying the X-15 above 80 km. Engle had been bumped from Apollo 17 in favour of geologist Harrison Schmitt.
Q 14Which race, first run on 29 March, saw Dick Beardsley and Inge Simonsen cross the line holding hands?
London Marathon
The London Marathon's inaugural men's race was shared in 2:11:48 by the American Beardsley and the Norwegian Simonsen, while Britain's Joyce Smith won the women's race. Some 6,255 of about 7,055 starters finished.
Q 15Which horse, back from a career-threatening injury, won the Grand National under cancer survivor Bob Champion?
Aldaniti
Aldaniti and Bob Champion won on 4 April 1981, a story filmed as Champions in 1983 with John Hurt and the horse playing himself. The pair ran again in 1982 and fell at the first fence.
Q 16Which crossing near Hull, opened to traffic on 24 June, was the world's longest of its type for 17 years?
Humber Bridge
The Humber Bridge, with a 1,410-metre centre span, held the record until Japan's Akashi Kaikyō Bridge opened in 1998. It cost £91 million and was opened officially by the Queen on 17 July with a Red Arrows fly-past.
Q 17Which Australia captain told his brother Trevor to bowl the last ball underarm against New Zealand?
Greg Chappell
Greg Chappell wanted to stop number-ten batsman Brian McKechnie hitting the six New Zealand needed to tie the World Series Cup final at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Trevor rolled the ball along the pitch, in the style of bowls.
Q 18Whose 8 for 43 at Headingley bowled Australia out for 111 after Ian Botham's 149 not out?
Bob Willis
Bob Willis bowled down the slope after captain Mike Brearley switched his end, and England became only the second Test side ever to win after following on. Botham had shared stands of 117, 67 and 37 with the last three batsmen.
Q 19Which biochemist, namesake of the cell's citric acid cycle, died in Oxford on 22 November aged 81?
Hans Krebs
Hans Krebs, a German-British biochemist, had spent 13 years at the University of Oxford from 1954 until his retirement in 1967. He also discovered the urea cycle and, with Hans Kornberg, the glyoxylate cycle.
Q 20Which ex-heavyweight champion, the Brown Bomber, died near Las Vegas hours after watching a title fight?
Joe Louis
Joe Louis died of cardiac arrest on April 12, 1981, after his last public appearance at a heavyweight championship bout; in later years an old Army friend had given him a job greeting tourists at Caesars Palace.
Gro Harlem Brundtland
Gro Harlem Brundtland left office on 14 October 1981 but returned as prime minister in 1986, serving three terms in all, and later ran the World Health Organization, which under her made quitting smoking a condition of employment.
Q 24Which BBC sitcom, first shown on 8 September, follows Peckham trader Del Boy and his half-brother Rodney?
Only Fools and Horses
Only Fools and Horses was created by John Sullivan, then known for Citizen Smith, and ran for 64 episodes until Christmas Day 2003. David Jason's Derek Trotter lived in Nelson Mandela House, a Peckham tower block.
Q 25Which 11-part Granada serial, shot at Castle Howard with Jeremy Irons, premiered on ITV on 12 October?
Brideshead Revisited
Brideshead Revisited, adapted from Evelyn Waugh's novel, used Castle Howard's grounds and public rooms as the Flyte family's Baroque mansion. Irons took the part on condition he could leave to film The French Lieutenant's Woman if cast.
Q 26Which BBC children's series, first screened in 1981, is set in Greendale and features a black-and-white cat called Jess?
Postman Pat
Postman Pat's first 13-episode series was screened on BBC One in 1981, with a theme tune by Bryan Daly, and Greendale was inspired by the real valley of Longsleddale near Kendal. His full name is Patrick Clifton.
Q 27Which group won Eurovision in Dublin with 'Making Your Mind Up' and a skirt-ripping dance routine?
Bucks Fizz
Bucks Fizz won the 26th contest at the RDS Simmonscourt on 4 April with a song by Andy Hill and John Danter, and the ripped skirts revealed mini-skirts underneath. Member Cheryl Baker had already competed in 1978 with Co-Co.
Q 28Who first swept all four general-field Grammys in one night, with 'Sailing' named Record of the Year?
Christopher Cross
Christopher Cross took Record, Album and Song of the Year plus Best New Artist at Radio City Music Hall on 25 February 1981, his debut album produced by Michael Omartian. He then co-wrote the Oscar-winning 'Arthur's Theme'.
Q 29Which Lionel Richie–Diana Ross duet from a Brooke Shields film spent nine weeks at US number one?
Endless Love
'Endless Love' was written for Franco Zeffirelli's film and became a duet only at the last minute, with Richie volunteering to sing the male part; Billboard has since named it the greatest song duet of all time.
Q 30Who won Best Supporting Actor as Hobson, valet to Dudley Moore's drunken millionaire, in the comedy Arthur?
John Gielgud
John Gielgud's Hobson is more of a father to Arthur than his real one and secretly urges shoplifter Linda Marolla to come to the engagement party. The film also won Best Original Song for 'Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do)'.