History50 randomly selected History questions for quizmasters. New random selection made weekly. Next update: Monday 10th August 2026 (Please note: Questions are taken from our database of previous quizzes. Some questions and answers may be outdated.) |
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| 1. | In what country was Che Guevara executed in October 1967? |
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Bolivia (La Higuera) | |
| 2. | Granted by President John F. Kennedy in 1963, which Briton became the first ever person to be made an honorary citizen of the United States? |
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Winston Churchill | |
| 3. | In which country was the revolutionary Che Guevara born? |
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Argentina (Rosario, Santa Fe) | |
| 4. | Still in use today, what addition to road safety was patented by Percy Shaw in 1934? |
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Cat's eye / Road stud | |
| 5. | When American aviator Harriet Quimby became the first woman to fly across the English Channel on 16th April 1912, her accomplishment received little media attention because of what major event the day before? |
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Sinking of the RMS Titanic | |
| 6. | Nearly 9 months pregnant, Sharon Tate was murdered by members of the Charles Manson family in August 1969. Who was she married to at the time? |
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Roman Polanski | |
| 7. | What 'B' was the name given to the coastal regions of North Africa from the 16th to 19th centuries? |
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Barbary Coast | |
| 8. | In January 2011, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali was forced to quit as President of what country? |
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Tunisia | |
| 9. | A predecessor to the CIA, what three-letter abbreviation describes the wartime intelligence agency of the United States during World War II? |
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OSS (Office of Strategic Services) | |
| 10. | Operation Granby was the name given to British military operations during which conflict? |
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Gulf War (1991) | |
| 11. | Who succeeded Javier Pérez de Cuéllar as Secretary-General of the United Nations in 1992 and succeeded by Kofi Annan in 1997? |
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Boutros Boutros-Ghali | |
| 12. | What English-language name was given to the warships used by Vikings? |
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Longships | |
| 13. | Complete this list of the five beach codenames used by Allied forces on D-Day: Gold, Juno, ____, ____, ____? |
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Omaha, Sword, Utah | |
| 14. | On 22nd May 1990, two countries merged, North and South, to become what single country? |
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Yemen | |
| 15. | While conducting an autopsy in April 1955, what did pathologist Thomas Stoltz Harvey famously steal? |
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Albert Einstein's brain | |
| 16. | Who fell from the Lady Ghislaine in November 1991? |
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Robert Maxwell | |
| 17. | In what U.S. State was the Battle of Bunker Hill fought in 1775? |
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Massachusetts (Charlestown) | |
| 18. | Mary Todd was the wife of which U.S. president? |
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Abraham Lincoln | |
| 19. | Who did Angela Merkel succeed as Chancellor of Germany in November 2005? |
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Gerhard Schröder | |
| 20. | A 19th century troopship, HMS Birkenhead gave its name to a very famous phrase, dubbed the "Birkenhead Drill". What is the phrase? |
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Women and children first | |
| 21. | What valuable cargo was the target on-board the ferry SF Hydro when it was sunk by Norwegian resistance forces on Lake Tinn, Norway in February 1944? |
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Heavy water (Deuterium oxide - 2H2O or D2O - for use in the development of nuclear weapons) | |
| 22. | Who was Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1815? |
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Napoleon Bonaparte (Napoleon I) | |
| 23. | What is the name of the territorial police force in the U.K. formed on 1st April 1968 with the amalgamation of Buckinghamshire Constabulary, Oxfordshire Constabulary, Berkshire Constabulary, Reading Borough Police and Oxford City Police? |
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Thames Valley | |
| 24. | Emperor Nero is infamously said to have done what "...while Rome burned"? |
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Fiddled | |
| 25. | What nationality was 19th century jeweller Gustav Fabergé? |
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Russian (Peter Carl Fabergé, his son, is famous for the Fabergé eggs) | |
| 26. | Since the DEFCON system was introduced in the USA in November 1959, which 20th century event triggered Level 2, the highest ever confirmed state of alert? |
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Cuban Missile Crisis (1962) | |
| 27. | What year did Queen Elizabeth II describe as an "annus horribilis"? |
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1992 | |
| 28. | What first did Russian Valentina Tereshkova achieve on 16th June 1963? |
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First woman in space (Vostok 6) | |
| 29. | Beginning on 8th November 1942, what name was given to the British–American invasion of French North Africa during World War II? |
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Operation Torch | |
| 30. | What 'D' was the code name given to the evacuation of Dunkirk in spring 1940? |
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Operation Dynamo | |
| 31. | Between 84 and 44 BC who had three wives; Cornelia, Pompeia, and Calpurnia? |
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Julius Caesar | |
| 32. | Who was succeeded as President of his country by Thabo Mbeki in 1999? |
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Nelson Mandela (South Africa) | |
| 33. | In what country did Charles Lindbergh land after completing the first solo trans-Atlantic flight in 1927? |
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France (Le Bourget Airport near Paris) | |
| 34. | What started with the First Battle of St Albans in 1455 and ended with the Battle of Stoke Field in 1487? |
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Wars of the Roses | |
| 35. | Benjamin Franklin first thought of it in 1784, but it wasn't until 1916 in Europe that it was first adopted. It is still in use around the world today. What is it? |
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Daylight Saving Time | |
| 36. | The English Civil Wars between Royalists and Parliamentarians took place in what century? |
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17th (August 1642 - September 1651) | |
| 37. | What war was fought in the mid-17th century between the Cavaliers and the Roundheads? |
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English Civil War | |
| 38. | If Nazi Germany was the Third Reich, what was the First Reich? |
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Holy Roman Empire (962–1806) | |
| 39. | What number Amendment to the United States Constitution ended prohibition? |
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Twenty-first | |
| 40. | Following mission commander Neil Armstrong, who was the second man to walk on the moon? |
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Buzz Aldrin (Edwin Eugene "Buzz" Aldrin, Jr.) | |
| 41. | In May 2004, as he spoke in the House of Commons, Tony Blair was hit with what purple-dyed foodstuff? |
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Flour | |
| 42. | Born in 1920, by what name was Karol Józef Wojtyła better known? |
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Pope John Paul II | |
| 43. | Named after a president, what were the shanty towns that sprang up in the United States during the Great Depression called? |
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Hooverville | |
| 44. | Who was military dictator of Panama between 1983 and 1989? |
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Manuel Noriega | |
| 45. | Which U.S. President authorised the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945? |
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Harry S. Truman | |
| 46. | Onto which remote South Atlantic island was Napoleon Bonaparte exiled in 1815, where he'd live until his death in 1821? |
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Saint Helena | |
| 47. | What calendar was replaced by the Gregorian calendar throughout the British Empire (including its American colonies) in 1752? |
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Julian | |
| 48. | Born in England on 25th July 1978, what is the name of the first human to have been born after conception by in vitro fertilisation, or IVF, commonly known as the first "test tube baby"? |
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Louise Brown | |
| 49. | Who was New Zealand Prime Minister from December 1975 to July 1984? |
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Robert Muldoon | |
| 50. | The First Crusade (1095–1099) ultimately resulted in the capture of what city in 1099? |
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Jerusalem | |
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