The 80s

Eighties Quiz – Below are ten events from the 1980s, one from each year. But which event occurred in which year?

1. Jayne Torville and Christopher Dean won Gold at the Sarajevo Winter Olympic Games.

1984

2. Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer were married at St. Paul’s Cathedral.

1981

3. The first ever BBC ‘Red Nose Day’ raised over £15 million.

1988

4. A huge fire destroyed parts of Alexandra Palace, London.

1980

5. Clive Sinclair’s ‘Sinclair C5’ was both launched and ceased production after just seven months.

1985

6. Prince William was born.

1982

7. Terry Waite was taken hostage in Beirut whilst attempting to negotiate with the Islamic Jihad Organisation.

1987

8. The Christmas Day episode of ‘EastEnders’ attracted record audiences as Den Watts served wife Angie with divorce papers.

1986

9. The ‘Guildford 4’ were released from prison after their convictions were quashed by the High Court.

1989

10. It became mandatory for drivers and front-seat passengers to wear a seatbelt in vehicles.

1983

To download the Eighties Quiz as a PDF contestant question paper, please click on the link below:

1. Who were Blinky, Inky, Pinky and Clyde?

The ghosts in Pac-Man

2. How many leap years were there in the 80s?

3 (1980, 1984 and 1988)

3. On December 21st 1988, Pan Am Flight 103 was blown up over the village of Lockerbie, Scotland. It was en route from London Heathrow to where?

John F. Kennedy Airport, New York

4. Which country gained its independence from the United Kingdom in 1982?

Canada (also Antigua and Barbuda)

5. Which American rock band had a huge hit with ‘Eye of the Tiger’ in 1982?

Survivor

6. Who played Tinker Dill, Lovejoy’s long-time friend?

Dudley Sutton

7. Which British figure skater won a gold medal at the 1980 Winter Olympic Games at Lake Placid, New York?

Robin Cousins

8. In which year was the first BBC Red Nose Day?

1988

9. Who had a number one hit in the UK in 1989 with ‘Belfast Child’?

Simple Minds

10. In which year did the UK miner’s strike begin?

1984

To download the 80s pub quiz as a question paper for contestants, please click on the grey box below:

1. Which single gave Whitney Houston her first UK number one in 1985?

Saving All My Love For You

2. In the board game ‘Operation’, which item was extracted from the throat area?

Adam’s apple

3. How many UK television channels existed at the beginning of the 80s?

3

4. In which year was Live Aid?

1985

5. Who attempted to assassinate U.S. President Ronald Reagan on 30th March 1981?

John Hinckley, Jr.

6. What was the name of the Greenpeace ship which sank on 10th July 1985?

Rainbow Warrior

7. Who presented the Radio 1 UK singles chart between 1986 and 1990?

Bruno Brookes

8. Who was assassinated by two of her own bodyguards on 31st October 1984?

Indira Ghandi

9. What was the best-selling album of the 80s in the United Kingdom?

Brothers in Arms – Dire Straits

10. Which years of the 1980s were leap years?

1980, 1984 and 1988

1. Name the 4 main characters in the US television series ‘Golden Girls’. (First names sufficient)

Blanche Devereaux, Rose Nylund, Dorothy Zbornak and Sophia Petrillo

2. In which year was Indira Gandhi assassinated?

1984

3. Ian McShane famously played ‘Lovejoy’ in the TV series, but which actor played ‘Tinker’?

Dudley Sutton

4. Who won the most Wimbledon Singles titles during the 80s?

Martina Navratilova

5. Which five-foot tall fictional robot got his own TV show in 1980, after previously appearing on ‘The Saturday Banana’ and ‘Jim’ll Fix It’?

Metal Mickey

6. Which American boy band started in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1984?

New Kids on the Block

7. Which actress played daughter ‘Darlene’ in the hit US TV show ‘Roseanne’?

Sara Gilbert

8. Which 1985 film saw Molly Ringwald, Emilio Estevez, Judd Nelson, Anthony Michael Hall and Ally Sheedy trapped in a day-long Saturday school detention?

The Breakfast Club

9. In the 80s cartoon ‘He-Man and the Masters of the Universe’, what was the name of the small, floating magician who wore a red cape and hat and whose face could not be seen?

Orko

10. ‘The Commitments’ became a film in 1991, but the original book was published in 1987 – who wrote it?

Roddy Doyle

1. Which famous racehorse was kidnapped in 1983 by the IRA?

Shergar

2. Fill in the missing word in the quote from the 1987 film ‘Withnail and I’: “We want the finest _______ available to humanity, we want them here, and we want them now!“

Wines

3. Name the 4 ‘Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in the USA).

Leonardo, Raphael, Michelangelo and Donatello

4. In which year did the Bank of England £1 note stop being legal tender?

1988 (£1 coins were introduced in 1983 and the last £1 note was printed in 1984, but they were legal tender until 1988. Scottish £1 notes remain legal tender today.)

5. Which country won the football world cup in 1982?

Italy

6. Which character was played by Adrian Edmondson in ‘The Young Ones’?

Vyvian Basterd

7. Which type of car was turned into a time machine in ‘Back To The Future’?

DeLorean

8. Spitting Image spent 3 weeks at number one in 1986, but what did they stick up their nose?

A deckchair

9. Which famous TV show, running from 1980 to 1985, involved a police station in the fictional town of Hartley in Lancashire? 

Juliet Bravo

10. Who was the voice of ‘Willo The Wisp?’

Kenneth Williams