Posted in 1920s, 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, Art & Design, Australia & New Zealand, Before my time, Rest of World, Sport, UK & Ireland, US & Canada on Jul 23rd, 2008
1896 ATHENS, Greece
Dates: from 6 to 15 April 1896.
Participants: 14 National Olympic Committees (NOCs), 43 events, 241 athletes (men only).
Officially opened by: King George I.
The Games of the Olympiad in Athens were financed by a donation of approximately one million drachmas from a rich businessman, Georges Averof, and by the sale of souvenir stamps and […]
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Posted in 1920s, 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, Before my time, Food & Drink, Products, UK & Ireland on Jul 3rd, 2008
Some people chew it, some people smoke it, but no-one seems to sniff tobacco anymore.
In our local pub (very oldy worldy CAMRA type), there’s a rack by the door filled with little metal pots. They have funny flavours written in old school lettering on the lids. This is snuff and you won’t find many pubs […]
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Posted in 1920s, 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, Before my time, Sport, UK & Ireland on Jun 6th, 2008
1780
Diomed, owned by Sir Charles Bunbury, wins the inaugural running of the Derby
on Thursday, May 4.
1784
The distance increases from a mile to a mile and a half which still prevails today,
though from 1991 the offi cial distance has been one mile, four furlongs and 10
yards.
1794 The smallest fi eld of four goes to post and […]
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Kevin & Perry were two teenagers depicted by Harry Enfield and Cathy Burke respectively. The whole thing began on the midnight of Kevin’s 13th birthday where he transformed, werewolf-like, into a sullen, lazy and badly-dressed teenager who frequently reminded his parents that he hated them. Middle England went wild for this sketch and all its […]
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I can push a Push Pop, can you push a Push Pop?
I remember these Push Pops being advertised at us very cynically during children’s TV shows so much that my mates and I all rushed out to the shops to buy them.
We soon learned that Push Pops tasted pretty horrible and also, probably owing to […]
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Remember getting spokies in your Frosties? Remember trying to out-do your friends with the number you could fit on your bike? It used to make a racket but we loved spokies. They’re still widely available - especially the Disney ones. Some clever people used to get flashing ones or spokies that made a noise […]
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Christmas would not be complete without repeats of this fantastic series of films. There are so many memorable moments, the Chinese orphan, Short Round, driving a car with boxes tied to his feet in Temple of Doom, the fight next to aeroplane propellers in Raiders of the Lost Ark and the infamous Venice boat chase […]
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This was, very possibly, the album of the 1990s. Nirvana didn’t produce one better and, for me, only Pearl Jam’s 10 has stood the test of time anything like as well as Nevermind by Nirvana.
It amazes me a little to think this album dropped onto the scene in the very beginning of last decade, released […]
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Posted in 1920s, 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, Before my time, Rest of World, Sport, UK & Ireland on Apr 4th, 2008
A comprehensive history of the Grand National from its official beginning in the 1800’s. From paintings to photo finishes and radio commentary to internet broadcasting.
1839
The Grand National was run at Aintree for the first time on Tuesday, February 26 and a horse named Lottery took the honours. Captain Martin Becher was unseated from his mount, […]
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Beltran de Osorio y Diez de Rivera, the “Iron” Duke of Albuquerque (1919-1994), was a Spanish aristocrat obsessed with horse-racing. After receiving a film of the Grand National as a gift for his eighth birthday, the Corinthian Duke set his sight on England’s greatest equestrian prize: “I said then that I would win that race […]
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Posted in 1970s, Sport, UK & Ireland on Apr 2nd, 2008
It was 35 years ago that Red Rum gained the first of his three Grand National victories, earning him pride of place in racing’s record books. Bred to be a sprinter, Red Rum won the world’s best-known chase in 1973, 1974 and 1977 as well as finishing second on his other two starts to become […]
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Posted in 1950s, Sport, UK & Ireland on Apr 1st, 2008
1956 was the year that the Queen Mother’s favourite, Devon Loch, tried to jump a phantom fence and landed on his belly. This left the way clear for ESB. Afterwards, The Queen Mother famously said “That’s racing”. Watch this video from 06:15 for the bizarre footage of the event from British Pathe.
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The Getalong Gang is a fine exemplar of everything that a cartoon should be: informative, fun and featuring a moose AND a caboose.
2 words you don’t often hear in the same sentence these days, more’s the pity, are ‘moose’ and ‘caboose’. A caboose is of course the single train cart club house that the getalong […]
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Clueless typifies teenage girls in the 90’s. Well, how every girl wanted to be in the nineties anyway. For some reason, I always thought that Alicia Silverstone (who plays the main character Cher) was the same actress as Joan Hart (who plays Clarissa and Sabrina, the Teenage Witch). Compare these two images yourselves.
Every young teenage […]
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Sharky and George was originally a French Canadian animation that was then translated into English. The two fishy detectives solved underwater crime, Seacago style. The show is full of marine puns on everyday words -like Silly-Clam Valley
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