1962
Some random facts selected from Wikipedia.
Western Samoa became independent from New Zealand.
The Beatles auditioned for Decca Records. They record their first single, 'Love Me Do'.
Pope John XXIII excommunicated Fidel Castro.
Coups and counter-coups and communist alliances... Wars and alliances...
NASA launched Ranger 3 to study the moon. It missed the moon by 22,000 miles... Ranger 4 crashed on the moon... They don't seem to have much more luck with the Mariner program later in the year either...
During a new moon and solar eclipse an extremely rare grand conjunction of the classical planets occurred (that is, the five which can be seen with the naked eye).
The French entry wins the seventh Eurovision Song Contest. (For those of you unfamiliar with this event, check it out next year. It is bizarre and fascinating and draws a huge Australian audience - we even got a video link message this year! There should be plenty on YouTube from it!)
A plane chartered by the US military carrying mainly army personnel to Vietnam disappeared over the western Pacific Ocean. (That is, not in the Bermuda Triangle.)
West Side Story won Best Picture at the 34th Academy Awards.
Juan Carlos of Spain married Princess Sofia of Greece in Athens. (He is the current king of Spain, although Spain was a military dictatorship under Franco at this point in time. He began his reign in 1975, when Spain returned to being a monarchy.)
A heavy smog develops over London... (What, suddenly? This is certainly strange. Nearly as strange as the missing plane and misdirected space vehicles!)
Rwanda and Burundi gained independence from Belgium.
Marilyn Monroe was found dead, cause of death ruled as suicide.
Dr. No, the first James Bond film, premiered in UK theatres. Lawrence of Arabia also premiered in the UK.
I don't normally mention the births, but as I scrolled down the list, 'Tom Cruise' caught my eye. Interesting that he was born in this year...
Amongst the long list of deaths, here are the few I knew or that caught my attention:
Western Samoa became independent from New Zealand.
The Beatles auditioned for Decca Records. They record their first single, 'Love Me Do'.
Pope John XXIII excommunicated Fidel Castro.
Coups and counter-coups and communist alliances... Wars and alliances...
NASA launched Ranger 3 to study the moon. It missed the moon by 22,000 miles... Ranger 4 crashed on the moon... They don't seem to have much more luck with the Mariner program later in the year either...
During a new moon and solar eclipse an extremely rare grand conjunction of the classical planets occurred (that is, the five which can be seen with the naked eye).
The French entry wins the seventh Eurovision Song Contest. (For those of you unfamiliar with this event, check it out next year. It is bizarre and fascinating and draws a huge Australian audience - we even got a video link message this year! There should be plenty on YouTube from it!)
A plane chartered by the US military carrying mainly army personnel to Vietnam disappeared over the western Pacific Ocean. (That is, not in the Bermuda Triangle.)
West Side Story won Best Picture at the 34th Academy Awards.
Juan Carlos of Spain married Princess Sofia of Greece in Athens. (He is the current king of Spain, although Spain was a military dictatorship under Franco at this point in time. He began his reign in 1975, when Spain returned to being a monarchy.)
A heavy smog develops over London... (What, suddenly? This is certainly strange. Nearly as strange as the missing plane and misdirected space vehicles!)
Rwanda and Burundi gained independence from Belgium.
Marilyn Monroe was found dead, cause of death ruled as suicide.
Dr. No, the first James Bond film, premiered in UK theatres. Lawrence of Arabia also premiered in the UK.
I don't normally mention the births, but as I scrolled down the list, 'Tom Cruise' caught my eye. Interesting that he was born in this year...
Amongst the long list of deaths, here are the few I knew or that caught my attention:
- William Faulkner (writer) (whom I never knew was a Nobel Prize laureatte)
- E. E. Cummings (poet)
- Ahmad bin Yahya, King of Yemen
- Eleanor Roosevelt, First Lady of the USA
- Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands
- Erik Scavenius, Prime Minister of Denmark
- Physics: Lev Davidovich Landau
- Chemistry: Max Ferdinand Perutz, John Cowdery Kendrew
- Physiology/Medicine: Francis Harry Compton Crick, James Dewey Watson, Maurice Hugh Frederik Wilson
- Literature: John Steinbeck
- Peace: Linus Carl Pauling
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