OK boomers: The oldest of you are turning 80 in 2026, the vanguard of a “rock n' roll” and “TV age” generation that left an imprint on popular culture like no other.
During the 18 years of the “baby boom” from 1946 to 1964, around 76 million Americans were born. The spike in births was magnified by couples reuniting after World War Two and the postwar prosperity that followed. Better educated and wealthier than previous generations, boomers made popular culture more inclusive and helped grow a consumer-driven economy.
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FILE - The cast of "Gilligan's Island," from left, Russell Johnson, as the professor; Jim Backus as Thurston Howell III; Natalie Schafer, as Mrs. Howell III; Alan Hale Jr., as the skipper; Bob Denver, as Gilligan; Judith Baldwin replacing original cast member Tina Louise, as Ginger, and Dawn Wells, as Mary Ann, posing during filming of a two-hour reunion show, "The Return from Gilligan's Island," in Los Angeles, Oct. 2, 1978. (AP Photo/Wally Fong, File)
FILE - Women's rights spokeswoman Gloria Steinem attends a news conference at the American Civil Liberties Union office in New York, July 12, 1973. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)
FILE - The undated photo of former heavy weight champion Muhammad Ali. (AP-Photo/David Bookstaver, File)
FILE - The cast of "Gilligan's Island," from left, Russell Johnson, as the professor; Jim Backus as Thurston Howell III; Natalie Schafer, as Mrs. Howell III; Alan Hale Jr., as the skipper; Bob Denver, as Gilligan; Judith Baldwin replacing original cast member Tina Louise, as Ginger, and Dawn Wells, as Mary Ann, posing during filming of a two-hour reunion show, "The Return from Gilligan's Island," in Los Angeles, Oct. 2, 1978. (AP Photo/Wally Fong, File)
FILE - Workers carry a poster of Bruce Lee as part of an exhibition marking the 35th anniversary of his death, on July 18, 2008, in Hong Kong. (AP Photo/Vincent Yu, File)
FILE - A package with a picture of a TV set with knobs is pictured in 1994. (AP Photo, File).
Here are 20 questions to see how well you know — or remember — about the indelible imprint made on pop culture by baby boomers and those who catered to their tastes. No Google or ChatGPT allowed. You don't have to be a boomer to get them right, but it doesn't hurt.
1. What was in the first Swanson TV dinner?
2. What two other “junk food” favorites were created by the inventor of the orange, powdered drink Tang?
3. Name all three astronauts who were part of the Apollo 11 moon landing in 1969?
4. Who is “the cat who won't cop out when there's danger all about?”
5. What did Simon and Garfunkel call themselves before adopting their eponymous name?
6. What TV show teased, “The thrill of victory ... and the agony of defeat?”
7. What was the name of the feminist magazine activist Gloria Steinem helped found?
8. Actor and martial artist Bruce Lee died just before the release of which of his films?
9. Which girl group did Darlene Love sing for?
10. What was comedian Freddie Prinze's catchphrase from the 1970s TV show, “Chico and the Man?”
11. In which country did the “Rumble in the Jungle” take place?
12. How many castaways can you name from the TV show “Gilligan’s Island?”
13. What TV sitcom star from the 1970s once washed dishes at a Harlem eatery with Malcolm X?
14. In what city was baby boomer singer Gloria Estefan born?
15. What was the last Beatles album to be released?
16. What legendary TV shows were mainstays on Saturday nights for CBS in 1973 in what some call the greatest network TV lineup ever?
17. In what year did boxer Cassius Clay change his name?
18. What toy became a worldwide sensation when it was popularized by Wham-O in 1957?
19. Who was tennis player Billie Jean King's opponent in the “Battle of the Sexes?”
20. What was the real name of “Dr. Seuss?”
Answers:
1. Turkey, dressing, potatoes and peas. 2. William A. Mitchell also invented Pop Rocks and Cool Whip. 3. Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins. 4. John Shaft. 5. Tom and Jerry. 6. ABC’s “Wide World of Sports.” 7. Ms. 8. “Enter the Dragon.” 9. Trick question: She was lead singer of The Blossoms, but she also sang songs that were credited to The Crystals. 10. “Looking good!” 11. Zaire. 12. Gilligan, The Skipper, Ginger, The Professor, Mary Ann, Thurston Howell III and Eunice “Lovey” Howell. 13. “Sanford and Son” star Redd Foxx. 14. Havana, Cuba. 15. “Let It Be," though “Abbey Road” was the last they recorded together. 16. “All in the Family,” “MASH,” “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” “The Bob Newhart Show” and “The Carol Burnett Show.” 17. 1964. 18. The Hula Hoop. 19. Bobby Riggs. 20. Theodor Geisel.
Scott Stroud in Nashville and Terry Spencer in Fort Lauderdale contributed to this report.
Follow Mike Schneider on the social platform Bluesky: @mikeysid.bsky.social
FILE - Women's rights spokeswoman Gloria Steinem attends a news conference at the American Civil Liberties Union office in New York, July 12, 1973. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)
FILE - The undated photo of former heavy weight champion Muhammad Ali. (AP-Photo/David Bookstaver, File)
FILE - The cast of "Gilligan's Island," from left, Russell Johnson, as the professor; Jim Backus as Thurston Howell III; Natalie Schafer, as Mrs. Howell III; Alan Hale Jr., as the skipper; Bob Denver, as Gilligan; Judith Baldwin replacing original cast member Tina Louise, as Ginger, and Dawn Wells, as Mary Ann, posing during filming of a two-hour reunion show, "The Return from Gilligan's Island," in Los Angeles, Oct. 2, 1978. (AP Photo/Wally Fong, File)
FILE - Workers carry a poster of Bruce Lee as part of an exhibition marking the 35th anniversary of his death, on July 18, 2008, in Hong Kong. (AP Photo/Vincent Yu, File)
FILE - A package with a picture of a TV set with knobs is pictured in 1994. (AP Photo, File).
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran fired more missiles at Israel and Gulf Arab states Thursday, demonstrating Tehran’s continued ability to strike its neighbors even as U.S. President Donald Trump claimed the threat from the country was nearly eliminated.
Iran’s attacks on Gulf states along with its chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz have disrupted the world’s energy supplies with effects far beyond the Middle East. That has proved to be Iran’s greatest strategic advantage in the war. Britain held a call with nearly three dozen countries about how to reopen the strait once the fighting is over.
Trump has insisted the strait can be taken by force — but said it is not up to the U.S. to do that. In an address to the American people Wednesday night, he encouraged countries that depend on oil from Hormuz to “build some delayed courage” and go “take it.”
Before the U.S. and Israel started the war on Feb. 28 with strikes on Iran, the waterway was open to traffic and 20% of all traded oil passed through it.
Iran responded defiantly to Trump’s speech, in which the American president claimed U.S. military action had been so decisive that “one of the most powerful countries” is “really no longer a threat.”
A spokesman for Iran’s military, Lt. Col. Ebrahim Zolfaghari, insisted Thursday that Tehran maintains hidden stockpiles of arms, munitions and production facilities. He said facilities targeted so far by U.S. strikes are “insignificant.”
Just before Trump began his address — in which he said U.S. “core strategic objectives are nearing completion” — explosions were heard in Dubai as air defenses worked to intercept an Iranian missile barrage.
Less than a half-hour after the president was done, Israel said its military was also working to intercept incoming missiles. Sirens sounded in Bahrain, home to the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet, immediately after the speech.
Attacks continued across Iran on Thursday, with strikes reported in multiple cities.
Trump posted footage on social media showing what he said was the collapse of Iran's biggest bridge and threatening, “Much more to follow.”
Earlier Thursday, Iran state media reported that the B1 bridge that’s under construction was attacked. Two semiofficial news agencies reported that two people were killed. It was not immediately clear if the footage Trump shared was the B1 bridge, reportedly the tallest in the Middle East.
Even amid the conflict, families went to a park in Tehran to play games and grill food to mark the last day of Iranian New Year, or Nowruz.
In Lebanon — where Israel has launched a ground invasion against Iran-backed Hezbollah militants — Israeli strikes have killed 27 people in the past 24 hours, the Health Ministry said.
More than 1,900 people have been killed in Iran during the war, while 19 have been reported dead in Israel. More than two dozen people have died in Gulf states and the occupied West Bank, while 13 U.S. service members have been killed.
More than 1,300 people have been killed and more than 1 million displaced in Lebanon. Ten Israeli soldiers have also died there.
Iranian attacks on about two dozen commercial ships, and the threat of more, have halted nearly all traffic in the waterway that connects the Persian Gulf to the open ocean.
Since March 1, traffic through the strait has dropped 94% over the same period last year, according to the Lloyds List Intelligence shipping data firm. Two ships are confirmed to have paid a fee, the firm said, while others were allowed through based on agreements with their home governments.
Saudi Arabia piped about 1 billion barrels of oil away from the Strait of Hormuz in March, according to maritime data firm Kpler, while Iraq said Thursday that it had started to truck oil across Syria to avoid the strait.
The 35 countries that spoke Thursday, including all G7 industrialized democracies except the U.S., as well as the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, signed a declaration last month demanding Iran stop blocking the strait.
Thursday’s talks were focused on political and diplomatic measures, but British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said military planners from an unspecified number of countries will also plot ways to ensure security once fighting ends, including potential mine-clearing work and “reassurance” for commercial shipping.
No country appears willing to try to open the strait by force while the war is raging. French President Emmanuel Macron, while on a visit to South Korea, called a military operation to secure the waterway “unrealistic.”
But there is a concern that Iran might limit traffic through the waterway even after U.S. and Israeli attacks cease.
The conflict is driving up prices for oil and natural gas, roiling stock markets, pushing up the cost of gasoline and threatening to make a range of goods, including food, more expensive.
On Thursday, Brent crude, the international standard, rose again and was around $108, up about 50% from Feb. 28.
Though the oil and gas that typically transits the strait is primarily sold to Asian nations, Japan and South Korea were the only two countries from the region joining Thursday's call about the strait. The supply of jet fuel has also been interrupted, with consequences for travel worldwide.
Weissert reported from Washington and Rising from Bangkok. Associated Press writer David McHugh in Frankfurt, Germany, contributed to this story.
A boy who fled with his family following Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon sits inside the van they are using as shelter in Sidon, Lebanon, Thursday, April 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)
A family enjoys their time during the annual public picnic day, known as Sizdeh Bedar, an ancient tradition, marking the 13th and last day of Iranian New Year, or Nowruz, holidays, at Mellat park in Tehran, Iran, Thursday, April 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
Mourners gather during a funeral procession for Alireza Tangsiri, head of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy, and others killed in Israeli strikes in late March, in Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, April 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
A firefighter extinguishes a car at the site of Israeli airstrikes, in Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, April 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
People take cover in a bomb shelter as air raid sirens warn of incoming Iranian missile strikes in Bnei Brak, Israel, Wednesday, April 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)
Members from the Popular Mobilization Forces attend a funeral of fighters who were killed in a U.S. airstrike, in Tal Afar, Nineveh province, north of Baghdad, Iraq, Thursday, April 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)
Members from the Popular Mobilization Forces attend a funeral of fighters who were killed in a U.S. airstrike, in Tal Afar, Nineveh province, north of Baghdad, Iraq, Thursday, April 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)
The Indian flagged LPG carrier Jag Vasant transporting liquefied petroleum gas, is seen at the Mumbai Port in Mumbai, India, after it arrived clearing the Strait of Hormuz, Wednesday, April 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)
President Donald Trump speaks about the Iran war from the Cross Hall of the White House on Wednesday, April 1, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, Pool)
President Donald Trump walks from the Blue Room to speak about the Iran war from the Cross Hall of the White House on Wednesday, April 1, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, Pool)
President Donald Trump speaks about the Iran war from the Cross Hall of the White House on Wednesday, April 1, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, Pool)
President Donald Trump speaks about the Iran war from the Cross Hall of the White House on Wednesday, April 1, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, Pool)
