What Interesting/Important Happened in 1980?
Would you like to learn all about the most important and the most interesting happenings of the year of your birth?
Say no more – we read your mind. All you need to do is keep on reading!
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Alfred Hitchcock Died
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If you love old-school movies and the feeling of tension, altogether with some horror elements, Hitchcock works are the right thing for you. Unfortunately, this great artist died in 1980 of kidney failure, leaving all the lovers of his movies in grief.
His work gathered, believe it or not, 46 nominations for the Academy Award! However, interestingly, beside six wins, Hitchcock never won an Oscar for Best Director.
But, instead of that, one of his most famous thrillers, Vertigo, from 1941, was pronounced the greatest movie ever by the British Film Institute.
So, maybe you’ve watched all of Hitchcock’s most popular movies, but do you know some about his debuts? The first movie he ever made was The Mountain Eagle, but, unfortunately, you can’t see it, not even an excerpt – it is simply lost.
Are you worried about how did Hitchcock handle the fact that his debut movie disappeared? Don’t be, he was actually happy, as he thought it was „a very bad movie“. It is, on the other hand, at the top of the list of the British Film Institute’s most wanted movies.
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Christina Aguilera Was Born
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She is still considered to be one of the best female vocalists who have ever sung on this planet. Her beauty and talent are what you find once in eternity, and she was born in 1980, just like you!
The whole world got to know Christina Aguilera in 1999 when she released her self-titled debut album, which immediately reached number one on the US charts. Just think of Genie in a Bottle and What a Girl Wants for an instant flashback.
She was only 19 back then, and she was even younger when she won her first talent show singing I Wanna Dance With Somebody by Whitney Houston – only 8! It’s no surprise she instantly became famous as the little girl with the big voice.
Later, she even confirmed the title while singing in The Mickey Mouse Club, along with Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake.
And, in the end, years and years later, Aguilera finished at number 58 on Rolling Stone’s list of 100 greatest singers of all time. Would you agree with the ranking?
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John Lennon Was Murdered
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The Beatles had millions and millions of fans all around the world, maybe more than any other music band ever. And it was all a great thing till one of them shot John Lennon to death on the 8th of December in 1980 at the age of 40.
It was such a tragic day for rock’n’roll and for all the other fans of his around the globe who were shocked by this cruel act. Unfortunately, even three of them committed suicide the very same day they found out about the murder of their idol.
So, in honor of one of the greatest musicians in the history of music, let’s all remind ourselves of this tragic happening.
Lennon just returned to his home residence – the Dakota in New York City, together with his wife Yoko Ono, after a long session of recording at the studio. At the archway of the building, he was shot by Mark David Chapman.
According to the killer’s words, what cost Lennon his life was his statement of the Beatles being more popular than Jesus, as well as the lyrics of some of his songs such as God and Imagine.
After shooting him, Chapman was still standing beside Lennon’s body, reading The Catcher in the Rye, a novel that inspired him to commit a crime until the police came to arrest him.
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Pac-Man Was Released
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Back in your childhood, it can’t be you missed this legendary game. Or maybe you still play it from time to time? Maybe it gets on your nerves, but it’s a sweet pain, admit it. Well, interestingly, Pac-Man was released in 1980, the year of your birth!
In 1979, all the computer games were meant to be played by boys only, mostly thematizing war or some popular sports. But then, Japanese game-developing company – Namco, came to the idea of making a game that would be interesting for girls too.
And that’s how the game for everyone from 7 to 77 with some great speed in hands was invented.
Maybe you didn’t know about that, but Pac-Man was originally called Puckman. However, its inventors changed the name in fear of the letter P being confused with some other letter by mistake. They wanted the game to be appropriate for kids as well, though.
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The First Solo Summit of Mount Everest
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Close your eyes and imagine the view from the highest point on the Earth. Isn’t it breathtaking? Well, Reinhold Messner was the first man to experience such a beautiful feeling of standing at more than 8,000 meters of height and seeing the world below with his eyes wide open in 1980.
Messner stepped on the Mount Everest ground for the first time in 1978, together with Peter Habeler. They reached the peak without any use of supplemental oxygen, and that was simply unbelievable.
Two years later, Messner came back to do it all by himself – and he did it.
Besides, what he also managed to do during his lifetime was ascend all fourteen peaks over 8,000 meters on the planet! Moreover, he was the first man alive to cross Greenland and Antarctica without dog sleds or snowmobiles. He crossed even the Gobi Desert all alone.
Wanna find out more about his accomplishments and every detail of his adventurous and more than dangerous trips? Just take some time to read some of his books – they include all you need to know and there are more than 80 of them!
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Summary
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The year 1980 brought some really big happenings for sure.
However, the following 1981 was not any different. Just switch to our next article and you’ll see!
