There are numerous historical curiosities to be found around the world. Curiosities can range from newly-discovered historical artefacts, to the realization that a particular historical event happened differently to the way you originally thought. However, it all relates to how long such events have been in public knowledge. For instance, there are some historical curiosities that existed at the same time as other things that you might not know about, or even things that you don’t know are as old as you are. So, here are some examples of things that are the same age as each other that you just wouldn’t expect:
In 1912, we all know that the Titanic set off on its maiden (and ultimately final) voyage, but what else happened that year? Well, MDMA, also known as the ‘ecstasy’ drug, was invented, and so were the Girl Scouts. Some random information for you there. We all think of MDMA as a modern drug, but it was only 105 years ago that it began its use as a blood thinner.
Another interesting fact for you: Picasso, our beloved abstract portrait artist, died in the same year that the band Pink Floyd released their well-known album Dark Side of the Moon in 1973. He’s such a famous historical artist and yet also so modern. I always pictured him as some early Victorian mad old badger whose art was just too far ahead of everyone else!
Though somewhat a sad topic, it’s also interesting to note that people started arriving in Auschwitz only a few days after McDonald’s was founded. It feels like a completely different era that the Nazis were delivering their destruction, and yet at the same time across the Atlantic people started buying the Big Mac’s we still eat today.
If she were still alive, Marilyn Monroe would be the same age as Queen Elizabeth II, as they were both born in 1926. I bet you also didn’t know that the pyramids in Egypt were still being made while woolly mammoths walked the earth. It really was a very long time ago…
There are so many things that came about at the same time in history that it seems hard to keep track of each coincidence! However, there are also some things in existence that are the same age as you and me. Here are some for you to start feeling really old, even if you’re a first-year student!
For example, one of the magnificent “curiosities” that came into existence in the same year as many of 2017’s university freshers is Toy Story 2, with the film being released in 1999.
Pokemon trading cards also came out in 1999, which then proved the beginning of an intense obsession with “catching them all.” Also released in 1999 was Ricky Martin’s most famous song “Livin La Vida Loca”, a great dance tune which then inspired the best musical sequence in Shrek 2.
Quite shockingly, 1999 was also the the year when the Euro currency was established, alongside the appearance in popular culture of Family Guy, Spongebob, Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace and the first ever version of MSN – there’s no wonder we were all obsessed with it…
We, as humans, have therefore been very busy over the course of history.
I hope I’ve managed to shed some light on the nearness of history, as it’s very easy to see it all as distant. The whole world developed at such a varied pace, and it’s difficult to believe it sometimes.