From Terminator to the Spice Girls – how well do you know the 80s and 90s?

Ready to play? Illustration: Eliot Wyatt/Guardian

Nostalgia, so they say, ain’t what it used to be. But with the kids once again stepping out in skinny jeans and espadrilles, the Spice Girls (well, most of them) touring like it’s 1996, and Bill & Ted set for another excellent adventure, it seems right now we just can’t get enough of those two glorious decades before the millennium bug messed everything up. And now the 80s/90s revival is set to reach new levels of brilliance, with the return of every floppy-fringed sixth-former’s show of choice: Blockbusters has a new series on Comedy Central.

So as a new series of the hexagonally fixated comedy word quiz hits our screens, test your own knowledge of that time in a Blockbusters stylee ... All together now: “I’ll have a P please, Bob!” (fnarr fnarr).

1. What T was the biggest grossing film of 1997 and the first to take more than $1bn at the box office?

   1. Tangled

   2. Terminator

   3. Titanic

   4. Trainspotting

2. What W was advertised as “the world’s smallest personal hi-fi”?

   1. Walkman

   2. Wayfarer

   3. Webtop

   4. Winradio

3. What C was the name of the first space shuttle, launched on 12 April 1981?

   1. Cambridge

   2. Colorado

   3. Columbia

   4. California

4. What E is the forest moon home of the teddy bear-like stars of Return of the Jedi?

   1. Eadu

   2. Endor

   3. Eritrea

   4. Erehwon

5. What H was the Manchester nightclub famous for popularising acid house music?

   1. Halcyon

   2. Heaven

   3. Hole

   4. Hacienda

6. What N was the revolutionary music-sharing site founded in 1999 by Shawn Fanning and Sean Parker?

   1. Netstars

   2. Nasdaq

   3. Napster

   4. Nester

7. What F had the working title Insomnia Cafe?

   1. Fargo

   2. Frasier

   3. Friends

   4. Futurama

8. What B, first aired on ITV in 1983, returned to Comedy Central in 2019 – with series 2 scheduled to start on 26 September?

   1. Blackadder

   2. Blockbusters

   3. Bullseye

   4. Butterflies

9. What Z was the first name of GB’s controversial barefoot distance runner in the 1984 Olympics?

   1. Zephaniah

   2. Zachariah

   3. Zola

   4. Zadie

10. What S was the nickname given to 90s singer Melanie Brown?

    1. Scary

    2. Sporty

    3. Sexy

    4. Strong

Solutions

1:C, 2:A, 3:C, 4:B, 5:D, 6:C, 7:C, 8:B, 9:C, 10:A

Scores

1. 8 and above.

   Congratulations! You’ve just graduated from Sweet Valley High with an A in awesome! Are you sure you weren’t actually on Blockbusters back in the day?

2. 0 and above.

   Oh dear. Haven’t you heard? There’s supposed to be an 80s/90s revival going on. You’re either absurdly young or absurdly out of touch. Bob Holness would not be happy.

3. 5 and above.

   Good effort – you clearly know your Walkman from your Game Boy. Now dig out some old copies of Smash Hits, get a Rachel cut and before you know it you’ll be Gold Run material.

What B has a brand new series?
The new series of Blockbusters – hosted by Dara Ó Briain – hits our screens at 8pm on Thursday 26 September on Comedy Central.