The Year I Was Born

 

It's a fact of life that the older you get the more you tend to look back on previous years, times and events. I decided to have a look back at what was going on in the year I was born: 1952. Before that, I can tell you I was born on a Tuesday, it was the Year of the Dragon, my zodiac sign was/is Pisces and it's now been, as of today, 25,404 days on this planet! Oh and I am seemingly a 'baby boomer', a little guy who was born between 1946 - 1964; something to do with a spike in sexual activities by married couples (and others) after WWII.

 

So I thought I'd take a look back in history and check out the major topics, events and other stuff that was going on when Ian Oliver entered this world. I shall limit these historical examples to the UK.

 

Firstly, Princess Elizabeth became Queen Elizabeth II following the death of her father King George VI. Britain created and detonated its first atom bomb as part of Operation Hurricane. The first pop music charts were produced by NME showing the American singer, Al Martino, at Number 1 with Here in My Heart. A one-shilling charge (£0/1/0) was introduced for prescription drugs dispensed under the National Health Service. Sooty, Harry Corbett's glove puppet bear, first appeared on BBC Television (loved that little guy). Tea rationing ended, after 13 years, as announced by the Government mostly due to the end of WWII. Agatha Christie's play The Mousetrap started its run at the New Ambassadors Theatre in London; went to see this great play years ago!

 

Sooty, Harry Corbett's glove puppet bear, first appeared on BBC Television. British troops remained in Korea, where they have spent the last eighteen months, after a breakdown of talks that were aimed at ending the Korean War. Tea rationing ended, after thirteen years, as announced by the Government two days earlier. Agatha Christie's play The Mousetrap started its run at the New Ambassadors Theatre in London. It would still be running in London as of 2021, having transferred next door to St Martin's Theatre in 1974.

 

Born in 1952:  Sharon Osbourne, Tim Healey, Douglas Adams, Alan Wells, Liam Neeson, Alexi Sayle, Joe Strummer, Mel Smith, Clive Anderson, Jenny Agutter . . .

Died in 1952: King George VI, Sir Stafford Cripps, Gertrude Lawrence, Waldorf Astor, etc.

 

And lastly, there was the Great Smog of London. The toxic mix of smoke and fog that descended on 5 December, 1952 was unlike anything the city had seen before and killed over 4,000 people. So, a horrific example of how hellish the weather was in some instances 69 years ago. That kind of toxic atmosphere is just a bit like the hellish pollution being emitted from 250-odd coal-fired power stations in China!