The Eighties Club
The Politics and Pop Culture of the 1980s
Trivia Challenge # 10
1. Name the person who, in 1985 at age 22, became the youngest world chess champion in the history of the game.
2. John Wayne Gacy, who was sentenced to death in 1980, was blamed for the murder of __ young men.
3. Who did supermodel Christie Brinkley wed in a ceremony aboard a yacht in New York Harbor, March 1985?
4. On January 20, 1981, Ronald Reagan was inaugurated as the 40th president of the United States. Name another major event that occurred on the same date.
5. Stella Nickell received a 90-year prison sentence and the dubious honor of being the first person to be convicted of murder by product tampering. What product did she tamper with?
6. In 1988, where did tourists go that they had never gone before?
7. Why was Pete Rose banned "for life" from baseball in 1989?
8. What happened to famed songwriter Irving Berlin in 1988?
9. "Believe It Or Not" was the title of the theme song to what '80s television series?
10. What was seen in the sky in 1982 that hadn't been seen since 1911?
11. In the 1984 presidential election, Ronald Reagan won more electoral votes than any other presidential candidate in the history of the United States. How many did he win?
12. Who did Playboy founder Hugh Hefner marry in 1989?
13. By what name was the country of Zimbabwe known before it gained its independence in 1980?
14. Which of the Thompson Twins was not born in England?
15. Why did General William Westmoreland file a $120 million libel suit against CBS?
16. In what movie did Tom Hanks utter the line: "All my life I've been waiting for someone, and when I find her she's a fish."
17. In what movie did Val Kilmer (as student prodigy Chris Knight) turn a professor's house into a giant popcorn maker?
18. Neil Tennant, who at one time was editor of the teen music magazine Smash Hits, teamed up with Chris Lowe in the mid-80s to form what synth-pop group? [BONUS POINT: What was the title of their big # 1 hit in 1986?]
19. Gloria Estefan was the lead singer of an all-Cuban group responsible for such '80s hits as "Conga" and "Rhythm Is Gonna Get You." Name that group.
20. The 1982 song "Valley Girl" was sung by what father-and-daughter duo?
21. In 1986, Heather Locklear, of TV's T.J.Hooker, married drummer Tommy Lee, who was a member of which '80s heavy metal band?
22. Deniece Williams' "Let's Hear It For The Boy," Bonnie Tyler's "Holding Out For A Hero," and a duet featuring Ann Wilson (Heart) and Mike Reno (Loverboy) which was entitled "Almost Paradise" all had one thing in common. What was it?
23. Dancer Marine Jahan subbed for one of the stars in some of the performance scenes of the hit film Flashdance (1983).. What was the star's name?
24. John Davidson and Cathy Lee Crosby were two of the three hosts of the popular ABC series That's Incredible! (1980-84). Who was the third host? (Hint: He was a former NFL quarterback.)
25. Howard Hesseman, who starred as "Johnny Fever" in WKRP in Cincinnati, went on the play "Charlie Moore", the teacher of a class of gifted kids, in what popular ABC sitcom?
26. Name the 1986 hit ballad that was sung phonetically by the Swedish members of a group called Double.
27. Robert Wagner and Stefanie Powers starred as a married couple moonlighting as amateur sleuths in the TV series Hart to Hart (1979-1980). What were the characters' first names? (Hint: They had matching monograms.)
28. Gary Portnoy sings "Taking a break from all your worries sure would help a lot" in the theme song to what popular '80s TV sitcom?
29. "I touch you once, I touch you twice" is a line in a hit song by Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark. Name that song.
30. Which major league baseball star of the '80s was the first to hit 40 home runs and steal 40 bases in a single season?
31. Name the East German athlete who (at the 1988 Summer Games in Seoul) became the first woman to win six gold medals in a single Olympics.
32. (And while we're on the subject) Name the East German figure-skater who was the first in 50 years to win back-to-back gold medals at the 1988 Winter Olympics.
33. Name the wife of a Soviet secretary-general who came to the U.S. with her husband in 1988 and became a hit with the American public.
34. In 1984, Barbara Bush was ghostwriter for a book entitled C. Fred's Story. Who was "C. Fred"?
35. In the movie Gremlins, there were three rules for taking care of the title characters. Two of them were: Never feed gremlins after midnight and keep them out of bright light. What was the third rule?
36. In the long-running primetime soap Knot's Landing, Donna Mills played "Abby Fairgate Cunningham Ewing Sumner," while Michele Lee played "Karen Cooper Fairgate MacKenzie." Who played "Valene Clements Ewing Gibson Waleska"?
37. In 1989, porn publisher Al Goldstein offered a $1 million reward to anyone who would kill ___________________. (Hint: the target was the leader of a Mideast country.)
38. In 1988, the first nationwide public health alert was issued. What was the subject of that alert?
39. In a high-profile case in 1987, noted New York criminal attorney Joel Steinberg and his wife, Hedda Nussbaum, faced charges for what?
40. In 1987, NASA first reported the presence of a very large hole...where?
41. In 1988 the Coalition of Christian Leaders for Responsible Television wanted to censor a cartoon because the title character, according to the Reverend Donald Wildmon, was shown "sniffing cocaine" in one scene.What cartoon was he talking about?
42. What gameshow hostess starred as Venus in a 1988 TV movie called The Goddess of Love?
43. Magic Johnson led which NBA team to five league titles in the 1980s?
44. On which daytime soap opera did Jeanne Cooper undergo a real facelift in 1984?
45. Beulah Mae Donald was awarded $7 million as a result of a lawsuit against the Ku Klux Klan based on the death of her son. What else did Beulah Mae Donald win from the KKK?
46. What prominent politician of the 1980s said that "facts are stupid things"?
47. In 1984, James Oliver Huberty left the house with a shotgun, a Uzi semiautomatic rifle and a 9mm automatic pistol to do what?
48. What country, according to President Reagan, was an outlaw state run by "the strangest collection of misfits, Looney Tunes, and squalid criminals since the advent of the Third Reich"?
49. Who did Lou Diamond Phillips play in the 1987 hit film La Bamba?
50. When Jack Tripper's two female roommates moved out in the TV sitcom Three's Company, Jack moved in with a flight attendant he wanted to marry in a spin-off series called ________________ (1984-85).
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