HOT TOPICS History

Quiz

1 What A-lister played a hitchhiker in the 1991 film Thelma & Louise (above)?

2 The Boston Celtics are currently contesting the NBA'S Eastern Conference Finals against what team?

3 What country do Granny Smith

apples originate from?

4 What is the collective name for a

group of crows?

5 What band had a 2010 hit with the

song The Time (Dirty Bit)? 1792: The French National Convention voted to abolish the monarchy.

1937: The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien was first published by George Allen & Unwin of London.

1938: A hurricane struck parts of New York and New England, causing widespread damage and claiming some 700 lives.

1985: In North Korea and South Korea, family members who had been separated for decades were allowed to visit each other as both countries opened their borders in an unprecedented family-reunion programme.

1987: NFL players called a strike, mainly over the issue of free agency. (The 24-day walkout prompted football owners to hire replacement players.)

1996: United States President Bill Clinton signed the Defense of Marriage Act denying federal recognition of same-sex marriages, a day after saying the law should not be used as an excuse for discrimination, violence or intimidation against gays and lesbians. (Although never formally repealed, DOMA was effectively overturned by US Supreme Court decisions in 2013 and 2015.)

2001: US Congress again opened the federal coffers to those harmed by terrorism, providing $15 billion to the airline industry, which was suffering mounting economic losses since the September 11 attacks.