Can you name the significant events of 1980?

Date	Answer	Clue
January 20th		They win their 4th Super Bowl
February 22nd		Nickname for the U.S. win over the Soviet Union at the Winter Olympics
March 4th		He was elected Prime Minister of Zimbabwe
March 21st		US boycotts Summer Olympics is this host city
March 21st		J.R. is shot on this TV show
April 12th		His 'Marathon of Hope' begins
April 16th		This player retires from professional tennis
May 8th		The World Health Assembly officially endorses the eradication of this disease
May 18th		This volcano erupts
May 21st		This Sci-Fi movie sequel premieres
May 22nd		This best-selling arcade game of all time is released in Japan
May 29th		NBA rookie of year winner
June 1st		This Ted Turner TV station is officially launched
June 7th		Bjorn Borg loses to this player for the U.S. Open title
June 20th		This Dan Akroyd and John Belushi movie premieres
June 23rd		His talk show debuts on NBC
July 1st		This nation makes their national anthem official
July 25th		This album is released by AC/DC
July 27th		The Shah of this country dies at age 60
August 21st		Linda Ronstadt opens in this musical on Broadway
September 19th		Robert Redford's directoral debut
September 22nd		Iran went to war with this country
September 23rd		His final concert at the Stanley Theater in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
October 2nd		Larry Holmes TKOs this boxer for the title
October 10th		4,500 die when a pair of earthquakes hit this country
October 21st		This team wins its first World Series
November 4th		This Republican challenger wins the U.S. Presidential election
November 18th		He wins the American League MVP award
December 4th		This band breaks up
December 8th		He was killed by Mark David Chapman

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1980 Quiz

Rating:	Report a mistake
Published: April 20th, 2009
Category: History
Plays: 102,305

Tags: date, 1980, event, significant

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	CBW:	Apr 20th, 2009 at 05:02 GMT	7 points
	St helens should be accepted

	jaspa:	Apr 20th, 2009 at 05:04 GMT	10 points
	Yes, could you please accept Saint Helens and St. Helens?

	DrumBum88:	Apr 20th, 2009 at 05:09 GMT	1 point
	Amazingly got 13, not bad for not being born for another 8 years.

	truth in advertising:	Apr 20th, 2009 at 05:12 GMT	4 points
	Great idea. Nice to be reminded of some of these, especially the Winter Olympics event.

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	Kicking222:	Apr 20th, 2009 at 05:29 GMT	12 points
	I like the idea of the quiz, and I did pretty well (20) considering I wasn't born yet, but I'm wondering if it's a little too heavy on the sports and pop culture. Not including the Summer Olympics boycott (which is more about politics) or Terry Fox (which is more about science and the human spirit), I count eight questions out of thirty being about sports, along with around ten more about TV/music/film/games/Broadway (not even counting CNN or Lennon/Chapman). This is still a good quiz, and I would love to see more like it, but while pop culture is great (and, in fact, is what I know the most about), I think future editions should focus more on world events- politics, wars, natural disasters, technology/innovations, etc.

	janet:	Apr 20th, 2009 at 06:05 GMT	6 points
	Nice to see Terry Fox included!

	SowCrates:	Apr 20th, 2009 at 06:12 GMT	1 point
	1980's turned into a fun decade in and around Iran. Revolution is settling in, the far right is able to maintain its power under the auspices of a developing war with Iraq, a developing war turns into 1.2 million+ casualties, it turns out us Americans were selling arms or providing $ to both sides at the same time, ends in a horribly depressing stalemate, Saddam accuses Kuwait and other gulf states of being complacent during all those eight years, lays the groundwork for our lil whirl known as the Gulf War soon after that. I only know so much about the region at this time and obviously these events aren't 100% linear, but I can say with conviction that we Americans ought to know more about all the fun that was had in the Middle East before it became our primary focus once the Soviets were outta the way

	Klingsta:	Apr 20th, 2009 at 06:21 GMT	15 points
	1969 is a great year to use for a quiz like this

	Antithesys:	Apr 20th, 2009 at 06:30 GMT	-1 points
	24/30 and born in '80.

	NoVan:	Apr 20th, 2009 at 06:42 GMT	20 points
	Wow, music really got hit with a double whammy that December. Within five days, Led Zeppelin broke up and John Lennon was shot. Add that to Bob Marley in September, and this was a sad year for the fans.

	dummo:	Apr 20th, 2009 at 06:44 GMT	8 points
	A great idea for a quiz, but like kicking a bit too heavy on the sports especially as they focus on US competitions, it's the international results that people remember 30 years later.

	dummo:	Apr 20th, 2009 at 06:48 GMT	1 point
	Some clues are very vague... I mean "This band breaks up" could refer to dozens of bands who broke up that same year. Also a lot of professional tennis players retired in 1980... not just Arthur Ashe. Some clues need to be a lot more specific.

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	tobinw:	Apr 20th, 2009 at 07:02 GMT	17 points
	Sweet! Would like to see one of these for every year eventually.

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	onetheta:	Apr 20th, 2009 at 08:01 GMT	0 points
	9/30 but I am quite proud of that. At least I got Lennon ang Mugabe.

	chambers:	Apr 20th, 2009 at 09:09 GMT	-3 points
	bit tricky but i got a good 8 having a mere ovum at this time

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	Tapestry:	Apr 20th, 2009 at 09:49 GMT	2 points
	I got 11 and I think the series name should be acceptable. It doesn't say what is the exact title of the movie sequel but what scifi series.

	newenglander:	Apr 20th, 2009 at 11:00 GMT	-4 points
	i got 13 even though i was born in 1995

	RavenEleni:	Apr 20th, 2009 at 11:18 GMT	1 point
	good quiz and i think i did not bad considering i was born for while longer yet! more like this! @tapestry: ye but then ye could have been guessing one of several films (from the series) and got it for the wrong one. also they were nice enough to put in sequel, so that narrows the number of films down immediatly!

	DerKomissar:	Apr 20th, 2009 at 11:24 GMT	7 points
	Yeah 80s!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

	lil_lemur:	Apr 20th, 2009 at 11:27 GMT	15 points
	@onethete. That famous songwriting duo Lennon and Mugabe. :)

	RyanBrigade:	Apr 20th, 2009 at 11:59 GMT	3 points
	typical, I only know the music ones

	soluie:	Apr 20th, 2009 at 12:13 GMT	-1 points
	I agree that this quiz was a little Sports-centric. The only things I know about sports are things that happened very recently to the Red Sox/The Hail Mary Pass (it was BEAUTIFUL). I also agree that some clues were very vague. Great idea though!

	timjames19:	Apr 20th, 2009 at 13:07 GMT	4 points
	The US Open tennis occurred Sept. 7, not June 7.

	ChanandlerBong:	Apr 20th, 2009 at 13:19 GMT	6 points
	Could "Star Wars 5/V" or "Empire Strikes Back" be accepted?

	Sparky:	Apr 20th, 2009 at 14:14 GMT	0 points
	Imo, too US Sport centric. I know nothing of Sports. Even less about US sports, and even LESS about US sports 7 years before I was born xD Still, good idea in principle. Given the US-centricness of the quiz, and that I wasn't born, 13/30 is ok. There should be more film ones- for one thing, films are more international and so fairer, also - the 80s was a fantastic decade for films. Agree that the band one is too vague- adding the nationality would help =)

	cmal33:	Apr 20th, 2009 at 14:35 GMT	3 points
	Letterman was tricky. Ruled him out because I knew his Late Night began in 1982. Didn't realize he had a morning show that started in 1980. Kudos.

	Nuclear_Knuckles:	Apr 20th, 2009 at 16:08 GMT	14 points
	Debbiedoesnothing, "the guy from Zimbabwe" is still in power, so your age shouldn't make much difference.

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	Nuclear_Knuckles:	Apr 20th, 2009 at 16:18 GMT	5 points
	Technically, Ali did not hold the title when Holmes defeated him. He had retired and given up his belt. Look at the recently posted quiz on heavyweight title fights -- there is no fight listed for 10/2/80 where Holmes becomes champion. Holmes had already won the WBA belt in '78. He may have become the "true" champion by beating Ali in '80, but the question implies that he won a real title in that fight, which I do not believe is the case.

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	speedbird007:	Apr 20th, 2009 at 17:28 GMT	8 points
	you have to be sooo American to get all of these right lol

	Nuclear_Knuckles:	Apr 20th, 2009 at 17:28 GMT	-2 points
	It's the every-other-decade theory. The Fifties were boring. The Sixties rocked. The Seventies, oh my God, they obviously suck. Maybe the Eighties will be radical.

	JohnJF:	Apr 20th, 2009 at 17:42 GMT	13 points
	I'm a bit sick of all the complaints about how these events happened before you were born. You would have to be at least thirty-five years old to remember any of these events happening, which would likely make up a minority of Sporcle users. I can honestly say that being born nine years after this quiz's subject is absolutely no excuse for the seven I missed. Vote me down if you must: I am simply not impressed by you getting x amount at the age of y (unless you're under the age of ten and some kind of prodigy, in which case I digress).

	Justin:	Apr 20th, 2009 at 17:43 GMT	2 points
	wooooo, Phillies!

	Chiaprofessor:	Apr 20th, 2009 at 18:08 GMT	13 points
	For those of you complaining that these events took place before you were born. Guess what, there have been thousands of years of stuff before you were born, and I bet you can answer some questions about them, like the American Civil War, the Magna Carta, the Norman Conquest of Britain, the Trojan War, etc. (I know heavy on military, sheesh)

	lulubelles:	Apr 20th, 2009 at 18:14 GMT	-4 points
	JohnJF and Chianerd, i don't see anyone complaining, they're just saying they got a certain score which they think is pretty good considering they weren't born. Give me one example of a complaint!!! In a similar vein, I got 15, and my birth year is '83. Got most but the sports.