What Interesting/Important Happened in 1968?
Do you think you know everything you need to know about the year of your birth?
Well, you still haven’t read our article about the most interesting happenings from 1968 full of fun facts.
But better later than never. So, what you’re waiting for?
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Céline Dion and Kylie Minogue Were Born
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Do you prefer powerful ballads or moving, energetic songs? Whatever the case, 1968 was the year that brought us two divas to give us some of both.
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When we say Céline Dion, we automatically start singing: Near, far, wherever you are… Yes, My Heart Will Go On was an Oscar-winning song, and it is officially one of the best songs of the last century, but there is much more to know about Dion’s successful career.
She first stepped on the stage at only 5 in her family’s piano bar. She was only 20 years old when she became the winner of the 1988 Eurovision Song Contest while representing Switzerland and singing Ne Partez Pas Sans Moi.
That was the moment when the whole world found out about her name and remembered her perfect voice for good.
And now, Céline is the best-selling French artist of all time with her French album D’eux. At the same time, she is the most successful musician in the world when it comes to concerts as well. Her tour A New Day… (2003-2007) remains even today the highest-grossing one in history.
Well, we could go on and on…
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Maybe Céline is the most successful Canadian musician of all time, but Kylie Minogue is the highest-selling female Australian artist in history with more than 70 million records sold worldwide.
Besides, after releasing her album Disco in 2020, she became the first female musician with a chart-topping album in the UK across five consecutive decades ever!
However, music is not what she first started to do. It was acting, and she was only eight when she filmed her first role in The Sullivans, an Australian drama. Just a couple of years later, she was back on TV screens with an Australian soap opera Neighbours.
Moreover, she starred in movies as well – The Delinquents, Moulin Rouge!, Jack & Diane, Holy Motors, and San Andreas.
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Will Smith and Hugh Jackman Were Born
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Speaking of acting, we should all celebrate the year 1968 because that’s when two of our favorite actors from Hollywood were born. So, in honor of that fact, let’s remind ourselves of some interesting facts about Will Smith and Hugh Jackman.
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First, we started to enjoy his music back in the late 1980s. The Fresh Prince was such a refreshment with his cool uplifting songs!
And then, the historical moment came – The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air began broadcasting on NBC television, and we were able to get a great dose of Will Smith being in his best element.
After that, Smith was about to become a blockbusters actor, and he achieved that goal. Today, he is considered to be the most bankable actor in the world. His movies earned more than $7 billion!
Plus, he is a record-breaker – he has starred in eight consecutive movies with more than $100 million of gross!
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When we talk about Hugh Jackman, we talk about another record-breaker. He holds the Guinness World Record for playing Wolverine in the X-Men series. Officially, he has the „longest career as a live-action Marvel superhero“.
But, acting is not his only talent. Just like Will Smith, Jackman is an accomplished musician. Okay, maybe he has not recorded four studio albums like Smith, but he plays even three instruments: the violin, the guitar, and the piano.
And do we have to mention his great roles in two even greater musicals, Les Misérables and The Greatest Showman? The first one brought him a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor and the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor as well, and for the second one, he won a Grammy Award for Best Soundtrack Album.
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Martin Luther King Was Murdered
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Not much time passed since he had been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his outstanding insisting on civil rights back in 1964, Martin Luther King was murdered just four years later, in April 1968.
On that fatal day, he was at a balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, when he was shot in the head. Unfortunately, he didn’t have any chance to survive and passed away just an hour later in hospital.
Simply, everybody who was against any kind of violence just like King himself, couldn’t believe that he was murdered in such a violent way. More than 300 000 people attended his funeral.
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Yuri Gagarin Died
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He was the first person in the history of mankind to see Earth from space in 1961. He even thought he wouldn’t come back home, so he wrote a letter for his wife to say his last goodbye. Fortunately, he landed on Earth safe and sound, but only a few years later – he died in a plane accident at the age of 34.
Gagarin and flight instructor Seryogin were flying in their MiG-15UTI when it crashed near Kirzhach.
After their tragic death, their ashes were interred in the walls of the Kremlin. An asteroid was named by Gagarin – 1772 Gagarin, and a crater on the Moon as well.
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The First Interracial Kiss on TV
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What we take for granted nowadays, someday in the past was extremely controversial. For example, before 1968, never in history did happen for an African-American woman to play the lead role in any movie or series.
But then, Star Trek came to light. African-American actress Nichelle Nichols played Nyota Uhura, a translator and communications officer. In season 3, episode 10 of the series, a kiss between her and Captain James Kirk happened.
This historical moment is now remembered as the first interracial kiss that was broadcasted on US television. Appropriately to the situation, Captain Kirk says in the same episode: Where I come from, size, shape or color makes no difference!
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Summary
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Well, we hope we managed to upgrade your knowledge about many different spheres of life.
However, there are many more interesting articles waiting for you here on our site.
Do you wonder what are the biggest highlights of the following 1969? If you do, please be free to check out our next article!
