In This Year50 randomly selected In This Year questions for quizmasters. New random selection made weekly. Next update: Monday 2nd June 2025 (Please note: Questions are taken from our database of previous quizzes. Some questions and answers may be outdated.) |
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| 1. | "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 | |
| 2. | The Apollo 13 mission was aborted after an explosion on board|The Beatles released their 12th and final studio album, Let It Be|a Civil War with the Khmer Rouge began in Cambodia |
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1970 | |
| 3. | The Summer of Love began in the U.S. and spread around the world|the supertanker Torrey Canyon ran aground between Land's End and the Scilly Isles|Elvis Presley and Priscilla Beaulieu married in Las Vegas |
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1967 | |
| 4. | Described by doctors as "dangerous" and "ridiculous"; in a rambling speech in April 2020, what two things did Donald Trump suggest as treatments for coronavirus? |
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Disinfectant & UV light | |
| 5. | The Brixton Riots took place in South London|the first recognized cases of AIDS were reported by the CDC in Los Angeles|the English Football League became the first major league in the world to award three points for a win instead of two |
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1981 | |
| 6. | The Beatles performed at the Cavern Club for the first time|The Apartment won Best Picture at the Academy Awards|President Kennedy announced his goal to put a man on the Moon before the end of the decade |
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1961 | |
| 7. | George H. W. Bush succeeded Ronald Reagan as President of the United States|the Soviet Union withdrew its troops from Afghanistan, ending a 9 year long war|Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini placed a US$3m bounty on the head of The Satanic Verses author Salman Rushdie |
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1989 | |
| 8. | King Edward VIII succeeded, and abdicated, the throne of the United Kingdom|the Summer Olympics were held in Berlin, Germany|the Crystal Palace in London was destroyed by fire |
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1936 | |
| 9. | 2001: A Space Odyssey premièred around the world|the Summer Olympics took place in Mexico|Jacqueline Kennedy married Greek shipping tycoon Aristotle Onassis |
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1968 | |
| 10. | film director Roman Polanski skipped bail and fled to France, after pleading guilty to having sex with a 13-year-old girl|Superman, starring Christopher Reeve, was released worldwide|Kate Bush's Wuthering Heights topped the charts in the UK, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand |
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1978 | |
| 11. | IRA member Bobby Sands died in prison after a 66 day hunger-strike|Bob Marley died aged 36 from cancer|MTV (Music Television) was launched on cable TV in the United States |
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1981 | |
| 12. | 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 | |
| 13. | The Khmer Rouge won the Cambodian Civil War and took control of the country|Muhammad Ali defeated Joe Frazier in the Thrilla in Manila|Ross McWhirter, co-founder of the Guinness Book of Records, was shot dead by the Provisional IRA |
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1975 | |
| 14. | Orlando Bloom|Maggie Gyllenhaal|Tom Hardy|Chris Martin|Shakira|Donald Trump|Jr. |
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1977 | |
| 15. | Rowan Atkinson|Willem Dafoe|Steve Jobs|Olga Korbut|Bill Paxton|Angus Young |
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1955 | |
| 16. | 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 | |
| 17. | Fred and Rosemary West were arrested in England after police excavated human bones in their back garden|between 500,000 and 1 million people were slaughtered in the Rwandan Genocide|Formula One world champion Ayrton Senna was killed in an accident at the San Marino Grand Prix |
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1994 | |
| 18. | The War in Darfur began|an arsonist destroyed a train in Daegu, South Korea, killing more than 190|the SARS virus was declared to be contained by the World Health Organization |
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2003 | |
| 19. | Northern Rock became the first bank in Europe to be taken into state control due to the U.S. subprime mortgage crisis|Dmitry Medvedev replaced Vladimir Putin as President of Russia|Michael Phelps won a record eight Gold Medals at a single Olympics |
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2008 | |
| 20. | The tallest man-made structure to date, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, was officially opened|an earthquake in Haiti killed more than 316,000 people|the Deepwater Horizon oil spill discharged nearly 5 billion gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico |
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2010 | |
| 21. | Zach Galifianakis|Richard Hammond|Matthew Perry|Gwen Stefani|Jay-Z|Catherine Zeta-Jones |
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1969 | |
| 22. | Hilary Duff|Kesha|Chelsea Manning|Maria Sharapova|Jamie Vardy|Sebastian Vettel |
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1987 | |
| 23. | Czechoslovakia beat West Germany 5–3 on penalties to win the UEFA European Football Championship|China's Chairman Mao Zedong died of a heart attack|Jimmy Carter defeated the incumbent Gerald Ford in the U.S. presidential election |
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1976 | |
| 24. | The Columbine High School massacre in Littleton, Colorado resulted in 15 deaths|Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace was released worldwide|the modern Scottish Parliament was opened |
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1999 | |
| 25. | Michael Caine|Jayne Mansfield|David McCallum|Willie Nelson|Joan Rivers|Gene Wilder |
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1933 | |
| 26. | Lyndon B. Johnson was sworn in for his own full term as U.S. President|in Rhodesia, Ian Smith declared de facto independence from the UK|the red and white maple leaf design replaced the Union Flag as the flag of Canada |
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1965 | |
| 27. | A van bomb below the World Trade Center killed 6 people|the Grand National was declared void after a series of false starts|85 people were killed during the Waco siege in Texas |
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1993 | |
| 28. | Marvin Gaye was shot to death by his father, one day before his 45th birthday|English comedian Tommy Cooper died of a massive heart attack while live on TV|The Chicago White Sox defeated the Milwaukee Brewers 7-6 in the longest game in Major League Baseball history |
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1984 | |
| 29. | The Space Shuttle Challenger disintegrated 73 seconds after launch|a Berlin discotheque bombing gave rise to the U.S. bombing of Libya|Prince Andrew married Sarah Ferguson at Westminster Abbey |
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1986 | |
| 30. | Cassius Clay was crowned heavyweight champion of the world after beating Sonny Liston|Nelson Mandela was sentenced to life imprisonment and sent to Robben Island prison|Walt Disney's Mary Poppins premièred worldwide |
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1964 | |
| 31. | Euro notes and coins were introduced for the first time|at least 170 people were killed when Chechen rebels held the audience hostage in the Nord-Ost theatre in Moscow|Brazil won the FIFA World Cup, hosted in South Korea and Japan |
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2002 | |
| 32. | 125 million people watched the final episode of M*A*S*H, the most watched television broadcast in American history|Michael Jackson's Thriller video was aired on MTV for the first time|Return of the Jedi opened in theatres worldwide |
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1983 | |
| 33. | the United Kingdom voted in a referendum to leave the European Union|86 people were killed and more than 400 others injured in a truck attack in Nice, France, during Bastille Day celebrations|the Chicago Cubs ended the longest championship drought in American sports history by winning the World Series for the first time since 1908 |
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2016 | |
| 34. | Fleetwood Mac released their Grammy-winning album Rumours|Queen Elizabeth II celebrated her Silver Jubilee|a 25 hour blackout in New York City resulted in city-wide disorder and looting |
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1977 | |
| 35. | Queen Elizabeth II celebrated her Golden Jubilee|the Winter Olympics were held in Salt Lake City, Utah|an Su-27 fighter crashed in Ukraine, killing 77, the deadliest air show accident in history |
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2002 | |
| 36. | Jacinda Ardern|Eva Green|Jake Gyllenhall|Christina Ricci|Jason Segel|Rebel Wilson |
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1980 | |
| 37. | Shakespeare in Love won Best Picture at the Academy Awards|the sovereignty of Macau was transferred to China after 442 years of Portuguese settlement|Boris Yeltsin resigned as President of Russia |
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1999 | |
| 38. | the world's tallest bridge, the Millau bridge, was opened in France|Chechen terrorists took more than 1,000 hostage in the Beslan school hostage crisis|SpaceShipOne became the first privately funded, manned craft to achieve spaceflight |
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2004 | |
| 39. | 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 | |
| 40. | Harald V became King of Norway|the first Sonic the Hedgehog game was published by Sega|Queen lead singer Freddie Mercury died from pneumonia induced by AIDS |
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1991 | |
| 41. | Danny Boyle|Mel Gibson|Jerry Hall|Linda Hamilton|Sugar Ray Leonard|Christoph Waltz |
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1956 | |
| 42. | The Icelandic government and banking system collapsed|the longest total solar eclipse of the 21st century occurred over parts of Asia and the Pacific Ocean|actor David Carradine was found dead in a Bangkok hotel room |
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2009 | |
| 43. | John Glenn became the first American to orbit the Earth|West Side Story won Best Picture at the Academy Awards|Beatles drummer Pete Best was fired and replaced by Ringo Starr |
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1962 | |
| 44. | The Beatles released their début album Please Please Me|Lawrence of Arabia won Best Picture at the 35th Academy Awards|Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his I Have A Dream speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial |
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1963 | |
| 45. | Ian Fleming published his first James Bond novel, Casino Royale|Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay became the first men to reach the summit of Mount Everest|the Korean Armistice Agreement halted the Korean War |
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1953 | |
| 46. | The Beatles were famously rejected after auditioning for Decca Records|First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy took television viewers on a tour of the White House|Dr. No, the first James Bond film, premièred in UK theatres |
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1962 | |
| 47. | 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 | |
| 48. | Magnus Carlsen|Jennifer Lawrence|Margot Robbie|Kristen Stewart|Emma Watson|The Weeknd |
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1990 | |
| 49. | The Winter Olympics were held in Sapporo, Japan|Ceylon became the republic of Sri Lanka|Apollo 17 marked the last time man set foot on the moon |
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1972 | |
| 50. | 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 | |
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