1983 Trivia

Questions 1–10

1. Q 01Which astronaut became the first American woman in space on Challenger's STS-7 flight, aged just 32?

   • AJudith Resnik
   • BKathryn Sullivan
   • CSally Ride
   • DShannon Lucid
   Show answer

   ✓Sally Ride

   The brine

   Sally Ride was only the third woman in space, after two Soviet cosmonauts, and NASA engineers infamously asked whether 100 tampons would be enough for her six-day flight.

2. Q 02Which Star Wars film, released on 25 May, was the year's highest-grossing film worldwide?

   • AThe Empire Strikes Back
   • BReturn of the Jedi
   • CThe Phantom Menace
   • DRevenge of the Sith
   Show answer

   ✓Return of the Jedi

   The brine

   Return of the Jedi grossed $374 million worldwide in its first run, and the title Revenge of the Jedi had been dropped only in December 1982.

3. Q 03Which series ended with a 2½-hour finale watched by 106 million Americans on CBS, a record that stood until 2010?

   • AM*A*S*H
   • BDallas
   • CCheers
   • DHappy Days
   Show answer

   ✓M*A*S*H

   The brine

   M*A*S*H's 'Goodbye, Farewell and Amen' let CBS sell 30-second ad slots for $450,000 each, more than NBC charged during that year's Super Bowl.

4. Q 04Which robbery at a Heathrow warehouse netted three tonnes of gold from a gang expecting £1 million in pesetas?

   • ASecurity Express
   • BKnightsbridge
   • CHatton Garden
   • DBrink's-Mat
   Show answer

   ✓Brink's-Mat

   The brine

   Brink's-Mat's £26 million haul was partly laundered by Kenneth Noye, who melted the bars down and mixed in copper to disguise where the gold had come from.

5. Q 05Which trio of future Labour leaders won their first Commons seats in June's Thatcher landslide?

   • ABlair, Brown and Corbyn
   • BSmith, Blair and Miliband
   • CBrown, Miliband and Starmer
   • DSmith, Brown and Corbyn
   Show answer

   ✓Blair, Brown and Corbyn

   The brine

   Blair, Brown and Corbyn arrived as Labour shed over three million votes on a manifesto Gerald Kaufman called 'the longest suicide note in history'.

6. Q 06Which Soviet duty officer judged a satellite warning of five incoming US missiles on 26 September to be a false alarm?

   • ASergei Akhromeyev
   • BVasili Arkhipov
   • CStanislav Petrov
   • DOleg Gordievsky
   Show answer

   ✓Stanislav Petrov

   The brine

   Stanislav Petrov reasoned that a real US first strike would mean hundreds of simultaneous launches, not five; the alarm was later traced to sunlight glinting off high-altitude clouds.

7. Q 07Which airline's Flight 007, New York to Seoul via Anchorage, was shot down by a Soviet fighter with 269 aboard?

   • AJapan Airlines
   • BKorean Air Lines
   • CSingapore Airlines
   • DCathay Pacific
   Show answer

   ✓Korean Air Lines

   The brine

   Korean Air Lines Flight 007 had drifted into Soviet airspace with a US congressman aboard, and Reagan responded by ordering GPS opened to civilian use once it was ready.

8. Q 08Truck bombs killed 241 US servicemen and 58 French paratroopers at peacekeepers' barracks in which city on 23 October?

   • ATehran
   • BDamascus
   • CTripoli
   • DBeirut
   Show answer

   ✓Beirut

   The brine

   Beirut's twin bombings were France's worst military loss since the Algerian War, and within months the multinational peacekeeping force had pulled out of Lebanon altogether.

9. Q 09Which Caribbean island did the US invade in Operation Urgent Fury, citing 600 American medical students there?

   • AGrenada
   • BBarbados
   • CDominica
   • DSaint Lucia
   Show answer

   ✓Grenada

   The brine

   Grenada's invasion involved nearly 8,000 US troops plus 353 Caribbean allies, and Reagan cited fears of a repeat of the Iran hostage crisis, which had ended less than three years earlier.

10. Q 10Which missile-defence programme, announced by Reagan on 23 March, was nicknamed 'Star Wars' after a Ted Kennedy jibe?

    • AStrategic Arms Reduction Treaty
    • BBallistic Missile Defense
    • CStrategic Defense Initiative
    • DSafeguard Program
    Show answer

    ✓Strategic Defense Initiative

    The brine

    The Strategic Defense Initiative got its nickname from a newspaper report the next day of Kennedy's 'reckless Star Wars schemes' jibe, and George Lucas later sued two lobby groups over the term.