Today is my official growing-older day! But as you know: old is gold, so I am becoming vintage by the year (and so are you). When you are thinking about your birthday some random thoughts may arise. From: “My birth month was probably the greatest month to be born in” to the obvious: “Greatest day of the year”. A step further is thinking a bit more serious about the actual events that happened the day you were born. For example: What song was on the #1 position in the hit charts.
I did some research and these were the songs that were on the #1 position on my birthday:
1) US (via Billboard):
Huey Lewis and the News – Stuck with you
2) UK ( via UK Single charts):
The Communards – Don’t leave me this way
3) Dutch Charts (via Michajans.nl):
Bruce Hornsby & the Range – The way it is
So the first one is definitely not my favorite song in history. As much as I love cheese, I don’t like cheesy songs. On the other hand everyone (in my family) was ofcourse happy to be stuck with me since September 25th, so we can take that one literally. And well…I can live with number 2 and 3. These are classics that I hear on the radio, especially at the end of the year when all the lovely Best-Songs-Of-All-Time charts come along. So, that was a piece of my official music chart history.
Now it’s time to take history to another level. Are you ready for some serious history? Some interesting events that took place somewhere in history on the 25th of September:
Nowadays, America is just a plane away. In 1493, Columbus decided it was time for a second trip to America.
Who isn’t familiar with the Pacific Ocean nowadays? Well, that wasn’t always the case. Four hunderd years ago, in 1513, Spanish explorer Vasco Nunez de Balboa discovered the Pacific Ocean. He was the first European who first laid his eyes on the Pacific Ocean.
Blogs are the new newspapers since +/- 2006. However, newspapers are still alive in this digital era and have been around here for some centuries. In 1690, the first U.S. newspaper ever was published.
You have papers and very important piece of papers that still influence our lives today (in the U.S). In 1789, the Bill of Rights was proposed. Of the originally 12 proposed amendments, 10 were ratified.
Public transport is very common right now and sometimes tends to annoy people. Snow and public transport don’t go well together, right Dutchies 😉 ? On the other hand we have that great OV delay app right now. However, in 1897, British people were more than pleased with public transport, because that is when the first bus service opened.
A good beginning to end slavery started in 1926. In that year, the Slavery Convention was first signed (which was focussed on complete elimination of slavery in all its forms).
It’s raining awards nowadays. You have several awards in the music industry, Hollywood and…even the blog industry! Back in the days, all those awards were not so common. In 1935, the broadway play Winterset (by Maxwell Anderson) premiered, which would later win the first New York Drama Critics Circle award.
Connecting with people is not so hard, connecting with the other side of the Ocean while you are on sea is another story. In 1956, the first Transatlantic communication cable was introduced between Newfoundland and Oban, which carried 36 telephone channels.
Remember the Gangnam style 2 years ago? Ofcourse you do. People who grew up (or went out) in 1960 will remember the Twist of Chubby Checker which hit the #1 position on the 25th of September.
Beatle fans will remember that today in 1965, the Beatle cartoon show aired in the U.S.
1986…take a wild guess?
Paramount (Madison Square Garden) is nowadays one of the most popular halls in the U.S., but it wasn’t that popular a few decades back. After a huge renovation it re-opened in 1991.
In 1997, the world saw the fourth season of ER premiering on tv. The women saw George Clooney.
So, you (and I) have been slightly upgraded with some historical highlights of the 25th of September. Congratulations. Now all we need is a historical upgrade of all 364 days and then you are almost history proof...
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