History50 randomly selected History questions for quizmasters. New random selection made weekly. Next update: Monday 11th May 2026 (Please note: Questions are taken from our database of previous quizzes. Some questions and answers may be outdated.) |
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| 1. | Who did Jack McCall shoot in the back of the head at Nuttal & Mann's Saloon No. 10 in Deadwood, Dakota on 2nd August 1876? |
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Wild Bill Hickok | |
| 2. | In what year was the first Polaroid instant camera sold to the public? |
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1948 (November) | |
| 3. | What former U.K. Prime Minister died on 8th April 2013? |
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Margaret Thatcher | |
| 4. | What name was given to the diluted rum rationed to sailors between the 17th and 19th century? |
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Grog | |
| 5. | Born in Poland in 1886, he emigrated to Palestine in 1906 and later became the first Prime Minister of the State of Israel. What was his name? |
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David Ben-Gurion | |
| 6. | Born in 1765, who is best remembered as the mistress of Lord Nelson? |
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Emma, Lady Hamilton | |
| 7. | The "Laws of the Twelve Tables" was the legislation that stood at the foundation of law in what ancient civilisation? |
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Roman | |
| 8. | What was the name of the Cunard Line transatlantic passenger steamship that rescued most of the survivors of RMS Titanic after it struck an iceberg and sank on 15th April 1912? |
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RMS Carpathia | |
| 9. | What was the code name of the nuclear bomb dropped on Hiroshima from the B-29 bomber Enola Gay on 6th August 1945? |
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Little Boy | |
| 10. | Who was President of the United States when construction of the Berlin Wall began? |
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John F. Kennedy (13th August 1961) | |
| 11. | What was the name of the ship used by Roald Amundsen in his South Pole expedition from 1910 to 1912? |
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Fram | |
| 12. | In the 20th century, the Great Depression took place mostly during what decade? |
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1930s (1929-1939) | |
| 13. | What collective name is given to Soviet spies Donald Maclean, Guy Burgess, "Kim" Philby, Anthony Blunt, and John Cairncross? |
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Cambridge Five (They were recruited during their education at the University of Cambridge in the 1930s.) | |
| 14. | Who was U.S. President from March 1929 to March 1933? |
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Herbert Hoover | |
| 15. | Who was President of the United States from 1953 until 1961? |
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Dwight D. Eisenhower | |
| 16. | In September 1513, who became the first European to lead an expedition to have seen or reached the Pacific from the New World? |
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Vasco Núñez de Balboa | |
| 17. | Who was the 22nd and 24th president of the United States? |
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Grover Cleveland (1885–1889 and 1893-1897) | |
| 18. | What was Dwight D. Eisenhower's middle name? |
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David | |
| 19. | What leader of the Scottish resistance was brutally executed in London on 23rd August 1305? |
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Sir William Wallace | |
| 20. | The Jewish festival of Hanukkah celebrates a victory over what ancient empire in 166 BC? |
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Seleucid Empire (Maccabean Revolt) | |
| 21. | By what nickname was former First Lady of the United States Claudia Alta Johnson more commonly known? |
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Lady Bird | |
| 22. | From the throne of what country did Queen Juliana abdicate in April 1980? |
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Netherlands | |
| 23. | Generally credited with inventing, building, and flying the world's first successful aeroplane, what were the first names of the Wright brothers? |
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Orville & Wilbur | |
| 24. | Which four modern day countries, in part or whole, formed the historic colony of French Indochina? |
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Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, China | |
| 25. | Unbeaten to this day, what was the name of the steam locomotive that set the world speed record of 126 mph on 3rd July 1938? |
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Mallard (LNER Class A4 4468) | |
| 26. | What name is given to the 1803 acquisition by the United States of 530 million acres of land from France for $15 million? |
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Louisiana Purchase | |
| 27. | Born in Poland in 1886, he emigrated to Palestine in 1906. He became the first Prime Minister of Israel on 17th May 1948. Name him. |
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David Ben-Gurion | |
| 28. | Name the General, and President of Argentina, who led the junta in the 1982 seizure of the Falkland Islands. |
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Leopoldo Galtieri | |
| 29. | In English folklore, who rode a horse called Black Bess? |
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Dick Turpin | |
| 30. | At the turn of the 21st century, what was the tallest skyscraper in the world? |
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Petronas Towers (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - 1998-2004 - surpassed by Taipei 101) | |
| 31. | Who was President of the Confederate States of America for its entire history from 1861 to 1865? |
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Jefferson Davis | |
| 32. | Valentina Tereshkova (1963) and Svetlana Savitskaya (1982) were the world's first two women to do what? |
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Travel in space (Soviet cosmonauts) | |
| 33. | In what decade did brothers Richard and Maurice McDonald open their first restaurant in San Bernardino, California? |
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The 1940s (15th May 1940) | |
| 34. | In the UK, the Christmas Broadcast tradition began in 1932 with a BBC radio broadcast by what monarch? |
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George V | |
| 35. | What Caribbean country's independence from French colonial rule began with a slave uprising in 1791? |
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Haiti | |
| 36. | 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) | |
| 37. | What did Portugal hand back to the People's Republic of China in December 1999? |
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Macau | |
| 38. | The First Crusade (1095–1099) ultimately resulted in the capture of what city in 1099? |
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Jerusalem | |
| 39. | What was the name of the Greenpeace ship sunk in Auckland harbour, New Zealand, on 10th July 1985? |
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Rainbow Warrior | |
| 40. | In which century did Constantinople fall to the Ottomans, marking the end of the Byzantine Empire? |
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15th (1453) | |
| 41. | After the Great Fire of 1666, who was commissioned to design nearly 50 new churches in London, including one to replace St. Paul's Cathedral, and other buildings? |
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Christopher Wren | |
| 42. | Previously only available in selected universities and high schools, in what year was Facebook opened to everyone at least 13 years old with a valid email address? |
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2006 (28th September 2006) | |
| 43. | In what century was Mary, Queen Of Scots executed? |
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16th (8th February 1587) | |
| 44. | In 1982, Time magazine's "Man of the Year" was neither a man, nor a woman. What was it? |
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The Computer (denoted "Machine of the Year" to herald the dawn of the Information Age) | |
| 45. | Who was appointed first Tsar of Russia in 1547? |
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Ivan the Terrible (Ivan IV Vasilyevich Ива́н Васи́льевич) | |
| 46. | First to arrive on scene, what was the name of the passenger steamship that rescued most of the survivors after the sinking of the Titanic? |
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RMS Carpathia | |
| 47. | In what country did the Boxer Rebellion (or Boxer Uprising) take place between 1899 and 1901? |
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China | |
| 48. | Who succeeded Nikita Khrushchev as Communist Party leader in 1964? |
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Leonid Brežněv | |
| 49. | John F. Kennedy was assassinated on 22nd November 1963. On what date was Lee Harvey Oswald murdered by Jack Ruby? |
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24th November 1963 | |
| 50. | Who led the first expedition to reach the South Pole between 1910 and 1912? |
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Roald Amundsen (14th December 1911) | |
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