In This Year50 randomly selected In This Year questions for quizmasters. New random selection made weekly. Next update: Monday 20th April 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 Some questions and answers may be outdated.)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 England, the de Havilland Comet, the world's first jet-powered airliner, made its first flight|the North Atlantic Treaty Organization was established|the Federal Republic of Germany and German Democratic Republic (West and East Germany) were officially founded |
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1949 | |
| 2. | The TV miniseries Roots first aired around the world|the Space Shuttle Enterprise made its first test free-flight from the back of a Boeing 747|Elvis Presley was found dead at his home in Graceland |
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1977 | |
| 3. | The Aswan High Dam officially opened in Egypt|Bahrain, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates gained independence from the United Kingdom|an IRA bomb exploded at the top of the Post Office Tower in London |
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1971 | |
| 4. | Western Allies began the Berlin Airlift|US President Harry S. Truman signed the Marshall Plan|Korea was divided into North and South |
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1948 | |
| 5. | the comet Hale-Bopp made its closest approach to Earth|the Bank of Thailand floated the baht, triggering the Asian financial crisis|Timothy McVeigh was sentenced to death for the Oklahoma City bombing |
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1997 | |
| 6. | Noel Gallagher|Rhys Ifans|Guy Pierce|Liev Schreiber|Keith Urban|Emily Watson |
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1967 | |
| 7. | The Kobe earthquake in Japan killed 6,434 people|the Oklahoma City bombing claimed the lives of 168|O. J. Simpson was found not guilty of double murder in his criminal trial |
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1995 | |
| 8. | Daniel Day-Lewis|Gloria Estefan|Dawn French|Steven Fry|Dolph Lundgren|Donny Osmond |
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1957 | |
| 9. | Mark Zuckerberg launched Facebook|the Summer Olympics were held in Athens, Greece|Taipei 101, the tallest skyscraper in the world at the time, officially opened |
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2004 | |
| 10. | U.S. President Ronald Reagan was shot in the chest by John Hinckley, Jr.|the first Mario game, Donkey Kong, was released| Muhammad Ali was beaten in his last-ever fight by Trevor Berbick |
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1981 | |
| 11. | Antonio Banderas|Gary Lineker|Julianne Moore|James Spader|Roger Taylor (Duran Duran)|Carol Vorderman |
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1960 | |
| 12. | A suicide bomb at the U.S. Embassy in Beirut killed 63 people|Sally Ride became the first American woman in space|Neil Kinnock was elected leader of the British Labour Party |
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1983 | |
| 13. | Kevin Bacon|Tim Burton|Jamie Lee Curtis|Bruce Dickinson|Sharon Stone|Ice T |
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1958 | |
| 14. | Cleopatra premièred around the world|ZIP codes were introduced by the U.S. Postal Service|British prostitute Christine Keeler was arrested and convicted of perjury for her part in the Profumo Affair |
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1963 | |
| 15. | Jimmy Carter succeeded Gerald Ford as President of the United States|Red Rum won a record third Grand National at Aintree racecourse|the first Apple II and Commodore Pet computers went on sale |
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1977 | |
| 16. | Posing as Canadians, six U.S. diplomats escaped from Tehran on a flight to Zürich|Joy Division singer/songwriter Ian Curtis was found hanged|the trade union Solidarność ("Solidarity") was established in Gdańsk, Poland |
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1980 | |
| 17. | The Winter Olympics were held in Albertville, France|boxer Mike Tyson was found guilty of raping 18-year-old Desiree Washington|the Bosnian War began |
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1992 | |
| 18. | murderers Gwynne Owen Evans and Peter Anthony Allen became the last people to be executed in the UK|the Winter Olympics were held in Innsbruck, Austria|the Beatles made their first live American TV performance on The Ed Sullivan Show |
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1964 | |
| 19. | Dwight D. Eisenhower was sworn in as President of the United States|Joseph Stalin died after suffering a stroke|the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II took place at Westminster Abbey |
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1953 | |
| 20. | Anna Kournikova|Rami Malek|Meghan Markle|Natalie Portman|Serena Williams|Elijah Wood |
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1981 | |
| 21. | Margaret Thatcher became leader of the UK Conservative Party|NASA launched the Viking 1 planetary probe toward Mars|U.S. President Gerald Ford survived two assassination attempts |
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1975 | |
| 22. | Bradley Cooper|Tiger Woods|Milla Jovovich|will.i.am|Mel B|Tara Reid |
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1975 | |
| 23. | Concorde made its first commercial flight|James Callaghan replaced Harold Wilson as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom|at least 46 were killed in the Thammasat University massacre in Bangkok |
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1976 | |
| 24. | The first generation Apple iPhone went on sale in the USA|British child Madeleine McCann disappeared from an apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal|the final Harry Potter book, The Deathly Hallows, became the fastest selling book in history |
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2007 | |
| 25. | The Exxon Valdez oil tanker ran aground off Alaska|the Hillsborough disaster claimed the lives of 96 Liverpool supporters|Romanian leader Nicolae Ceaușescu and his wife Elena were executed after being found guilty of crimes against humanity |
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1989 | |
| 26. | Bill Bailey|Sherilyn Fenn|Eddie Irvine|Vinnie Jones|Piers Morgan|Marti Pellow |
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1965 | |
| 27. | Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds premiered around the world|John F. Kennedy delivered his "Ich bin ein Berliner" speech in West Berlin|Cleopatra premiered around the world |
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1963 | |
| 28. | U2 released their studio album The Joshua Tree|The Simpsons cartoon first appeared as a series of shorts on The Tracey Ullman Show|the last remaining prisoner at Spandau Prison, Rudolf Hess, was found dead in his cell |
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1987 | |
| 29. | Alan Alda|Brian Blessed|Glen Campbell|Mary Tyler Moore|Robert Redford|Burt Reynolds |
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1936 | |
| 30. | Robert Carlyle|Peter Jackson|Heather Locklear|Barack Obama|Dennis Rodman|Forest Whitaker |
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1961 | |
| 31. | Andrew Cunanan shot and killed fashion designer Gianni Versace on the steps of his Miami Beach mansion|Mother Teresa of Calcutta died aged 87|INXS lead singer Michael Hutchence was found dead in his Sydney hotel room |
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1997 | |
| 32. | The FIFA World Cup was hosted in Germany|Pluto was downgraded from a planet to a dwarf planet|Saddam Hussein was sentenced to death and executed by hanging |
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2006 | |
| 33. | Tony Blair became Prime Minister of the United Kingdom|$18.9 million was stolen from the Dunbar Armored facility in Los Angeles, California, the largest cash robbery in U.S. history|the first computer to win a match against a World Chess Champion, IBM's Deep Blue defeated Garry Kasparov |
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1997 | |
| 34. | Michael Caine|Jayne Mansfield|David McCallum|Willie Nelson|Joan Rivers|Gene Wilder |
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1933 | |
| 35. | Three astronauts were killed when Apollo 1 caught fire during testing|Aretha Franklin released her signature song, Respect|riots in Detroit resulted in 43 dead and 1,189 injured |
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1967 | |
| 36. | Lindsey Buckingham|Richard Gere|Niki Lauda|Phil Lynott|Lionel Richie|Sissy Spacek |
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1949 | |
| 37. | David Duchovny|Hugh Grant|Nigella Lawson|Ayrton Senna|Tilda Swinton|Bradley Walsh |
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1960 | |
| 38. | Elizabeth II ascended to the throne of the United Kingdom|A Streetcar Named Desire won four Oscars|the United States successfully detonated the first hydrogen bomb in the Marshall Islands |
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1952 | |
| 39. | A Man for All Seasons won Best Picture at the 39th Academy Awards|Muhammad Ali was arrested for refusing induction into the U.S. Army|the Six-Day War saw Israel capture land in Egypt, Jordan and Syria |
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1967 | |
| 40. | Lyndon B. Johnson was sworn in for his own full term as U.S. President|Cosmonaut Alexey Leonov, leaving his spacecraft for 12 minutes, became the first person to walk in space|Muhammad Ali's "Phantom Punch" knocked out Sonny Liston in the first round of their championship rematch |
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1965 | |
| 41. | Kirstie Alley|Lynda Carter|John Deacon|Mark Harmon|Cheryl Ladd|Stellan Skarsgård |
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1951 | |
| 42. | "Unabomber" Theodore Kaczynski was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole|U.S. embassies in Tanzania and Kenya were bombed, killing 224 and injuring more than 4,500|Hugo Chávez was elected President of Venezuela |
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1998 | |
| 43. | Ferdinand Marcos became "President for Life of the Philippines"|Bobby Riggs played Margaret Court and Billie Jean King in tennis' first two Battle of the Sexes|Princess Anne married Captain Mark Phillips at Westminster Abbey, London |
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1973 | |
| 44. | English humanitarian Terry Waite was kidnapped in Beirut|New Zealand beat France 29-9 in the first ever Rugby World Cup Final|Michael Jackson released his hit album Bad |
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1987 | |
| 45. | Return of the Jedi opened in theatres worldwide|Korean Air Lines Flight 007 was shot down by Soviet fighters|United States troops led the Invasion of Grenada |
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1983 | |
| 46. | UK Conservative prime minister Edward Heath resigned and was succeeded by Labour's Harold Wilson|French president Georges Pompidou died of cancer at 63|Patty Hearst was photographed wielding an M1 carbine while robbing a bank in San Francisco |
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1974 | |
| 47. | Terms of Endearment won Best Picture at the 56th Academy Awards|WPC Yvonne Fletcher was shot dead, leading to a police siege of the Libyan Embassy in London|Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated |
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1984 | |
| 48. | Seven Manchester United players were among the 21 killed in the Munich air disaster|Elvis Presley was drafted into the U.S. Army as a Private|The Bridge on the River Kwai won seven Academy awards, including Best Picture |
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1958 | |
| 49. | Richard Nixon died at the age of 81|Tony Blair was elected leader of the British Labour Party|Woodstock celebrated its 25th Anniversary |
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1994 | |
| 50. | What retired footballer spent 32 days in jail in March/April after allegedly entering Paraguay with a false passport? |
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Ronaldinho | |
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