130+ Best Modern History Trivia Questions & Answers

Question: October 2011 was selected by the UN as the symbolic date when the world's population reached how many?

Answer: 7 billion

Question: Which country was hit by a meteor in February 2013?

Answer: Russia

Question: Which American journalist died in March 2013?

Answer: Anthony Lewis

Question: Who was Pope throughout the 1990s?

Answer: John Paul II

Question: Tim Cook took over as CEO of which company in 2011?

Answer: Apple

Question: Which of these was declared an independent republic in the early 1990s?

Answer: Croatia

Question: Which city in Europe had a city that was taken down in 1989?

Answer: Berlin

Question: Time Magazine's Person of the Year was awarded to which of these people in 2009?

Answer: Ben Bernanke

Question: Which company purchased the rights to the Star Wars movie franchise in 2013?

Answer: Disney

Question: What was the code name for the SAS military operation that stormed London's Iranian Embassy to free hostages in 1980?

Answer: Nimrod

Question: Which tech icon and former Apple CEO died in 2011?

Answer: Steve Jobs

Question: Who was the Time Magazine Person of the Year in 2012?

Answer: Barack Obama

Question: Who did the famous 'I Have a Dream' speech?

Answer: Martin Luther King, Jr.

Question: In 2010, who was awarded the Time Magazine Person of the Year?

Answer: Mark Zuckerberg

Question: Which country became the 18th to join the Eurozone in January 2014?

Answer: Latvia

Question: In 1996, who was chosen to design the Euro banknotes?

Answer: Robert Kalina

Question: In what year did Emperor Hirohito of Japan die?

Answer: 1989

Question: What movement did Lord Baden Powell found in 1907?

Answer: Boy Scouts

Question: Chief Justice Earl Warren swore which man into the presidency?

Answer: Ronald Reagan

Question: September 15th, 1916, saw the first deployment of Big Willie. What was it?

Answer: A World War I Tank

Question: The QE2 made its maiden voyage in which decade?

Answer: 1960s

Question: Which iconic Ford car was first released in the 1960s?

Answer: Ford Mustang

Question: Whose arrest and beating by the LAPD in 1991 led ultimately to widespread rioting?

Answer: Rodney King

Question: Which tax ultimately led to the downfall of UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher?

Answer: Poll tax

Question: Who, in 1991, became the first Briton in space?

Answer: Helen Sharman

Question: Which famous wall came down in 1989?

Answer: The Berlin Wall

Question: Which city was attacked by ISIS in November 2015?

Answer: Paris

Question: In 2010, an oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico was caused by the rupturing of which company's oil rig?

Answer: BP

Question: In 2010, how many Chilean miners were trapped underground for a record 69 days?

Answer: 33

Question: In what year did the Challenger explode?

Answer: 1986

Question: Which US President was assassinated in 1963?

Answer: John F. Kennedy

Question: In what year did California become a US state?

Answer: 1850

Question: In 2013, which holiday fell on the same day as the first day of Hanukkah?

Answer: Thanksgiving

Question: In February 2013, who resigned as Pope?

Answer: Benedict XVI

Question: Which former British Prime Minister passed away in 2013?

Answer: Margaret Thatcher

Question: Which American writer died in November 2013?

Answer: Peter W. Kaplan

Question: Nicolas Sarkozy married which model in 2008?

Answer: Carla Bruni

Question: Adolf Hitler was the leader of which of these countries?

Answer: Germany

Question: Which American politician died in February 2013?

Answer: Ed Koch

Question: Which US President was responsible for the Watergate scandal?

Answer: Richard Nixon

Question: Which British prince had a baby in 2013?

Answer: Prince William

Question: The film 'Avatar' is one of the highest-grossing films of the 21st century. Who directed it?

Answer: James Cameron

Question: Pope Francis, who was elected in 2013, was born in which country?

Answer: Argentina

Question: Who was the first balloonist to fly solo around the world?

Answer: Steve Fossett

Question: Who won the 2013 Nobel Prize in Literature?

Answer: Alice Munro

Question: During the 1990s, how was the disease BSE more commonly known?

Answer: Mad Cow Disease

Question: Who was the leader of the Branch Davidians, 76 of whom died in a fire in Waco, Texas, in 1993?

Answer: David Koresh

Question: Which American columnist died in January 2013?

Answer: Pauline Phillips

Question: Which social media platform floated on the Stock Exchange in 2012?

Answer: Facebook

Question: The first hot air balloon solo flight around the world was in what year?

Answer: 2002

Question: Which Mediterranean island suffered a major banking crisis during 2012-13?

Answer: Cyprus

Question: In what year did Pope John Paul II die and Iraq's first free elections were held?

Answer: 2005

Question: Which kind of crops were developed for commercial use in the '90s?

Answer: Genetically modified

Question: In the 1990s, which industry, in particular, was affected by the BSE crisis?

Answer: Farming

Question: Which of these was discovered in the '90s?

Answer: Dark Matter

Question: Which rare event happened in Miami, Florida in January 1977?

Answer: Snow

Question: What was the name of the first video game, invented in 1962?

Answer: Spacewar!

Question: Which Spanish king stepped down in 2014?

Answer: Juan Carlos I

Question: Which world-famous business leader stepped down on June 27, 2008, to focus on his charity work?

Answer: Bill Gates

Question: Who led the UK miners' strike during 1984 and 1985?

Answer: Arthur Scargill

Question: Who was arrested in 2008 for the greatest-ever Ponzi Scheme fraud?

Answer: Bernard Madoff

Question: The Arab Spring is said to have begun in which North African nation?

Answer: Tunisia

Question: Often in the news in early 1997, who or what was Hale-Bopp?

Answer: Comet

Question: Which Royal house in the UK was severely damaged by fire in 1992?

Answer: Windsor Castle

Question: What celebrated its 100th birthday in the '80s?

Answer: Coca-Cola

Question: Who lit the Olympic flame during the 2012 Olympic opening ceremony?

Answer: Steve Redgrave

Question: Which British jockey was stripped of his OBE after he was jailed for tax irregularities in 1988?

Answer: Lester Piggott

Question: What is the profession of Hans Blix?

Answer: Chief U.N. Weapons Inspector

Question: What was the first name of '90s South African President Mr. Mandela?

Answer: Nelson

Question: Who became the new James Bond actor in 2005?

Answer: Daniel Craig

Question: Who was the Time Magazine person of the year in 2011?

Answer: The Protestor

Question: Who famously turned up, uninvited, in Queen Elizabeth's bedroom in 1982?

Answer: Michael Fagan

Question: Who became the first woman to be appointed as managing director of the IMF in 2011?

Answer: Christine Lagarde

Question: Winston Churchill was Prime Minister of which country?

Answer: United Kingdom

Question: Which African-American religious figure died in November 2013?

Answer: T. J. Jemison

Question: Which Russian space station orbited the Earth throughout the '90s?

Answer: Mir

Question: What was the name of the cruise ship that ran aground off the coast of Isola de Giglio, Italy, in 2012?

Answer: Costa Concordia

Question: Which programming language was first developed in 1964?

Answer: BASIC

Question: Which human body part was produced at Cornell University using a 3D printer?

Answer: Ear

Question: In what year did Encyclopedia Britannica discontinue its print edition after 244 years?

Answer: 2012

Question: Which medical professional died in February 2013?

Answer: C. Everett Koop

Question: In 1979 Michael Aldrich invented what?

Answer: E-commerce

Question: Sony introduced which product in 1979?

Answer: Walkman

Question: The United States' first space station was launched in 1973, what was it called?

Answer: Skylab

Question: The Apple iPod was released in what year?

Answer: 2001

Question: Which hairstyle would you associate with the '80s?

Answer: The Perm

Question: Which video format lost the battle to VHS in the 1980s?

Answer: Betamax

Question: In the '80s, what did the 414 Gang become infamous for?

Answer: Computer hacking

Question: Coco Chanel died in 1971. What was her profession?

Answer: Fashion Designer

Question: Which street in London is often associated with 1960s fashion?

Answer: Carnaby Street

Question: Which British Lord famously disappeared after the death of his children's nanny in 1974?

Answer: Lucan

Question: HBO was created in 1982. What does HBO stand for?

Answer: Home Box Office

Question: In which decade were leotards and dancewear associated with fashion trends?

Answer: '80s

Question: Which British politician was nicknamed 'the milk snatcher' after stopping free milk in schools?

Answer: Margaret Thatcher

Question: Which of these fashion trends is associated with the '80s?

Answer: Leotards & Dancewear

Question: Of the following organs, which was available as an artificial version in 1969?

Answer: Heart

Question: Which European country established a military dictatorship in 1967?

Answer: Greece

Question: In 1993, what did Barbara Harmer become the first woman to do?

Answer: Fly Concorde

Question: What was the name of the leading Soviet rocket engineer in the 1960s?

Answer: Sergei Korolev

Question: In what year was the Islamic Republic established in Iran under Ayatollah Khomeini?

Answer: 1979

Question: The Universal Product Code was scanned for the first time in 1974, to sell what?

Answer: Wrigley's gum

Question: In what year was the Supermarine Spitfire retired by the Irish Air Corps?

Answer: 1961

Question: Which of these medical procedures was first attempted in the 1970s?

Answer: Face lifts

Question: In what year was the Euro banknotes designed by Robert Kalina?

Answer: 1996

Question: The QE2 made its maiden voyage in which decade?

Answer: 1960s

Question: In 1992, which US city saw over 50 people killed in the Rodney King Riots?

Answer: LA

Question: When Saddam Hussein came to power, who did he replace?

Answer: Hassan al-Bakr

Question: Who was the President of Argentina at thetime of the Falklands invasion in 1982?

Answer: General Galtieri

Question: Who became prime minister of the United Kingdom in 1990?

Answer: John Major

Question: Which country launched its first satellite, with the help of the USSR, in 1975?

Answer: India

Question: Which well-known physicist was born in Oxford in 1942?

Answer: Stephen Hawking

Question: In 1995, who famously was pursued by police while driving his white Ford Bronco?

Answer: O. J. Simpson

Question: The US President made an unprecedented visit to where to meet with Mao Zedong?

Answer: China

Question: Which British politician was nicknamed 'the milk snatcher' after stopping free milk in schools?

Answer: Margaret Thatcher

Question: Who described 1992 as an 'annus horribilis'?

Answer: The Queen

Question: Which Polish pope died in 2005?

Answer: John Paul II

Question: Of which country did Nelson Mandela become President in the 1990s?

Answer: South Africa

Question: British artist Banksy had a month-long residency in which city in October 2013?

Answer: New York City

Question: Black Saturday Bushfires swept across which state in2009?

Answer: Victoria

Question: The 9/11 attacks occurred in what year?

Answer: 2001

Question: The Titanic was what type of vehicle?

Answer: Ship

Question: The Large Hadron Collider was built under the border of which two European countries?

Answer: Switzerland & France

Question: In what year was the Wall Street Crash?

Answer: 1929

Question: Which famous British record label went bust in 2012?

Answer: EMI

Question: In 1994, which country became linked to mainland Britain by an under-the-sea tunnel?

Answer: France