The Eighties Club
The Politics and Pop Culture of the 1980s
Trivia Challenge # 6
1. In November 1980 a fire broke out in a swank Las Vegas hotel, injuring 700 people and killing 84. Name that hotel.
2. Name the highly respected CBS news anchor who gave his last newscast in March 1981, and was replaced by Dan Rather.
3. In reference to the hazards of smoking, what actress/model uttered the immortal line: "If you're killed you've lost an important part of your life."
4. A government clerk, Lenny Skutnik, was hailed as a hero when he dove into the icy Potomac River in January 1982. Why did he do that?
5. A statue of actor Sylvester Stallone was erected in what city?
6. Name the singer -- one half of a very successful brother-sister duo -- who died of anorexia nervosa in February 1983.
7. Who was the former astronaut who served as Ohio's senator during the Eighties, and ran for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1984?
8. Vanessa Williams became the first black Miss America in 1983. What state did she represent?
9. What did Democrats Harold Washington and W. Wilson Goode have in common, besides being prominent black politicians?
10. Both Playboy and Penthouse hit the stands in July 1985 with nude photos of what female pop superstar?
11. The statue Goddess of Democracy, erected by demonstrators in Peking's Tiananmen Square in 1989, was modeled after what other famous statue?
12. What disrupted the third game of the World Series at San Francisco's Candlestick Park on 17 October 1989?
13. When Fox aired the Werewolf series (1987-1988) it provided viewers with a toll-free number so they could call in and do what?
14. Name the 17-year-old tennis player who was not only the youngest singles champ in Wimbledon history but also the first unseeded player to take the trophy home.
15. Who were the two singers who performed "The Girl Is Mine," a #1 song in January 1983? (Bonus Point: Name the other hit single the two singers collaborated on.)
16. Name the former convict and future radio talk show host who starred as Captain Real Estate on Miami Vice.
17. Toxic shock syndrome, which killed over 40 women in 1980, was caused by what product?
18. Erin Everly, daughter of one of the Everly Brothers, was the fiancee of Axl Rose (of Guns 'n' Roses.) What hit song did he write for her?
19. Name the actor (who later became famous) who was supposed to star in The Big Chill (1983) but whose scenes were edited out of the film.
20. Which American president was knighted by the Queen of England in 1989?
21. What happened to soul singer Teddy Pendergrass in 1982?
22. Name the Scottish town into which a Pan Am jetliner crashed, 21 December 1988, after a bomb exploded on board.
23. Lucille Ball returned to television in the Eighties in a short-lived sitcom named ____ ____ ____ (three words.)
24. Name the L.A. Law star who also appeared in the role of mythological hero Perseus in the 1981 film Clash of the Titans.
25. Name the boxer who was the first to knock out Mohammad Ali. (It happened on 2 October 1980.)
26. The F-117 fighter and the B-2 bomber, unveiled in the 1980s, were also known as _______ planes because they were difficult to detect using conventional radar.
27. Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984) was only one of four Star Trek motion pictures released in the Eighties. Name the other three.
28. John Cusack did NOT appear in which of the following Eighties film -- Better Off Dead, Can't Buy Me Love, or Say Anything?
29. In the Eighties, "thrashing" was a term associated with (a) roller-skating, (b) skateboarding, (c) snowboarding, (d) ice-skating.
30. Name the Ivy League college that America's sweetheart, Brooke Shields, attended in the Eighties.
31. Who was the young actress who launched her film career in the Eighties with such movies as Lucas, Beetlejuice and Heathers?
32. Why was Mathias Rust arrested in Moscow in 1987?
33. True or False. MTV's "Rock the Vote" ads were designed to motivate young people to participate in the 1984 national elections.
34. Joe Penny and Perry King starred as a pair of supercool private eyes in what crime drama, created by Stephen J. Cannell, that aired on NBC between 1984-86?
35. Name the '80s metal band whose lead singer is perhaps best remembered for wearing a hockey mask.
36. Soleil Moon Frye starred in _____ ________ from 1984-86, an NBC sitcom that spawned a Saturday morning cartoon.
37. Sting and Stewart Copeland were two of the three members of the popular Eighties band, The Police. Can you name the third member?
38. What beverage was being touted in Eighties television ads that involved people singing "I'd like to teach the world to sing"?
39. Which of the following was NOT a Saturday Night Live regular in the 1980s: Billy Crystal, Martin Short, Jim Carrey or Jan Hooks?
40. "Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to get through this thing called life" is a line from which Prince song?
41. Gary Hart ran for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1984. What was his real name?
42. "It's wet, and it's dry," said future movie megastar _____ ______ in his early '80s ads for Seagram's Golden Wine Coolers.
43. In 1984, First Lady Nancy Reagan presented over $13,000 in American donations to the Peking Zoo. What was the money for?
44. Who wrote the book Wired, a controversial 1984 biography of the late comedian John Belushi?
45. Identify the basketball star who died in 1986 of a cocaine overdose two days after becoming the #1 draft pick of the Boston Celtics.
46. True or False. When asked in 1984 if he had ever been to a Communist country, President Reagan's chief of staff, James Baker III, replied "Well, I've been to Massachusetts."
47. Who was the Eighties pop singer who had a hyberbaric oxygen chamber installed in his home?
48. Who was named independent counsel to investigate the Iran-Contra Affair in 1986?
49. Identify the televangelist who took over the PTL (Praise the Lord) empire of Jim Bakker after Bakker's sexual misconduct with (and attempted bribery of) Jessica Hahn became public knowledge.
50. A barge, the Mobro 4000, embarked on a 162-day, 6000-mile voyage along the Atlantic coast to find a port where it could unload its cargo. What was the barge carrying?

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