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Free trivia for seniors: 50 nostalgia quiz questions with explained answers about the 1950s to 1970s, everyday objects of the past, proverbs and general knowledge. Great for care home activities and memory. No sign-up.
Start this quiz →🖨️ Printable version (20 questions + answers)
Do you remember rotary phones, the 45 rpm record or the first steps on the Moon? Can you finish a famous proverb? This nostalgia quiz for seniors travels back to the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, with a French flavour: everyday objects, songs, films, sport, school days and proverbs. The questions are simple and every answer is explained. It is ideal for care home activities, an afternoon with the grandchildren, or simply keeping the mind active while having fun. The printable version, with its answer key, works well for group sessions.
This quiz currently has 50 questions, ranging from easy to hard, available in French, English and Spanish when the Spanish translation is available.
Warm up before the quiz with these 10 trivia questions and their explained answers: click a question to reveal the answer.
Answer: … we have ideas. This slogan from the energy-saving campaigns launched after the oil crisis has remained a common expression, often used ironically. The same crisis led France to adopt summer time in 1976 and to speed up its nuclear programme.
Answer: 1969. On 2 March 1969, the prototype took off from Toulouse. In service from 1976, it flew from Paris to New York in about 3 h 30, twice as fast as an ordinary plane. Its last commercial flight was in 2003.
Answer: … do as you please. This weather saying warns that April often brings cold snaps: better keep your warm clothes until May. The English have a similar one: ‘Ne'er cast a clout till May be out’.
Answer: 1903. Organised by the newspaper L'Auto to boost its sales, the first Tour had six stages, some longer than 400 km, ridden day and night. It was won by Maurice Garin, a former chimney sweep.
Answer: The 45. Its name comes from its speed: 45 revolutions per minute. The ‘EP’ offered four tracks, while the larger 33 rpm LP was a full album. People played them on a record player, often dancing the twist or a slow dance.
Answer: The ticket puncher. Sitting in his booth, the ‘poinçonneur’ made little holes in every ticket. The job disappeared in the early 1970s with the arrival of automatic turnstiles taking magnetic tickets.
Answer: Jacques Anquetil. A time-trial specialist, the Norman won the Tour in 1957 and then four times in a row from 1961 to 1964. His rivalry with Raymond Poulidor gripped all of France, especially their duel on the Puy de Dôme in 1964.
Answer: ‘Beneath the paving stones, the beach’. In May 1968, students and then workers took to the streets, and France saw the biggest strike in its history. Walls were covered with poetic slogans; this one recalled that, under the cobbles torn up for barricades, there was sand.
Answer: The tiercé. Every Sunday, millions of French people filled in their slip at the local café. The tiercé paid more if you named the three horses ‘in order’. The quarté and the quinté+ followed, in 1976 and 1989.
Answer: Le Jeu des 1 000 euros (formerly 1,000 francs). Recorded in a different town each time, in front of the local audience, this France Inter general-knowledge quiz uses questions sent in by listeners. It changed its name in 2002 when the euro arrived.
40 more questions are waiting for you in the quiz!