1994 in history
Here are some light-hearted facts about 1994, designed to serve as a prep sheet for a radio feature on 1994.
I created this page because when I needed some notes to create a few talking points about 1994 in Ireland I couldn't find any suitable sources, so I thought I'd share what I did find. It applies to 1994 in Britain too.
You can also look at years other than 1994:
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1994
The Lion King hit cinema screens in this year. With songs from Elton John, a hyena voiced by Whoopi Goldberg and the tear-jerking death of Mufasa, it was one of the most successful Disney films of all-time.
The long-running TV series Friends began.
Yahoo! and Amazon were launched in this year.
The first item sold online was a CD of Sting's Ten Summoner's Tales album.
The Channel Tunnel opened to the public, linking England and France. The high-speed rail link (on the English side) came later.
Michael Jackson married Elvis Presley's daughter Lisa-Marie.
Lidl opened its first stores in Britain.
Shops in Britain were permitted to fully open on a Sunday for the first time, but supermarkets were restricted to shorter opening hours which still apply today.
ER aired for the first time.
Ready Steady Cook started on TV.
The first draw in the UK's National Lottery was made on a TV programme presented by Noel Edmonds. The first numbers drawn were 30, 3, 5, 44, 14 and 22, the bonus was 10, and seven jackpot winners shared a prize of £5,874,778.
Four Weddings and a Funeral was released, sending Love Is All Around to number 1 in the charts for 15 weeks.
Forrest Gump was released, turning Tom Hanks into one of the biggest names in the movies - good for audio
Pulp Fiction, Dumb and Dumber, Shawshank Redemption, Muriel's Wedding and Speed were big movies too.
The Vicar of Dibley was first shown on TV - good for audio
The Daily Telegraph became the first national newspaper in Britain to launch an online edition, the Electronic Telegraph.
Nelson Mandela became South Africa's first ever black President.
A Morgan Stanley executive coined the phrase 'Celtic Tiger'.
John Bruton replaced Albert Reynolds as an Taoiseach.
The Eurovision Song Contest came from The Point Theatre in Dublin, presented by Cynthia Ní Mhurchú and Gerry Ryan. Paul Harrington and Charlie McGettigan won for Ireland with Rock N Roll Kids, making it three in a row. The interval act of Riverdance stole the show.
While these facts about 1994 have been checked against third-party sources (and have been used on air before!), they are provided in good faith to inspire your research and no guarantee is made about their accuracy or their uniqueness.
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