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
Michael Jackson married Elvis Presley's daughter Lisa-Marie.
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 in England today.
Spice Girls formed.
Nelson Mandela became South Africa's first ever black President.
Racing driver Ayrton Senna of Brazil was tragically killed during the San Marino Grand Prix in Imola (Italy).
A Morgan Stanley executive coined the phrase 'Celtic Tiger'.
John Bruton replaced Albert Reynolds as an Taoiseach.
1994 Launches
Yahoo! was launched in this year.
Amazon was launched in this year, after Jeff Bezos left his job at D.E. Shaw.
The first item sold online was a CD of Sting's Ten Summoner's Tales album.
Mobile phone firm Orange launched with their famous strap-line, "the future's bright, the future's Orange".
The Channel Tunnel opened to the public, linking England and France. French President Mitterrand's speech compared "Paris to Calais at 200mph" with "a leisurely look at the English countryside". This reportedly caused considerable embarrassment, and England soon sped up their end of the line.
Lidl opened its first stores in Britain.
The Daily Telegraph became the first national newspaper in Britain to launch an online edition, the Electronic Telegraph.
1994 in Film
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.
Forrest Gump was released, turning Tom Hanks into one of the biggest names in the movies.
Other big films include True Lies, The Flintstones and Speed.
Four Weddings and a Funeral was released, sending Love Is All Around to number 1 in the charts for 15 weeks.
Pulp Fiction, Dumb and Dumber, Shawshank Redemption and Muriel's Wedding were big movies too.
1994 in TV
Big TV shows of the year (not premiers): Heartbeat, Casualty, You've Been Framed!, London's Burning and The Bill.
The long-running TV series Friends began.
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.
The Vicar of Dibley, SMart, Room 101 and Soccer AM were first shown on TV.
Madonna appeared on The David Letterman Show, where she swore 12 times.
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. You can use the facts however you wish: most people just take a couple of points they remember and talk around then.
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