2019 in history
Here are some light-hearted facts about 2019, designed to serve as a prep sheet for a radio feature on 2019.
I created this page because when I needed some notes to create a few talking points about 2019 in Ireland I couldn't find any suitable sources, so I thought I'd share what I did find. It applies to 2019 in Britain too.
You can also look at years other than 2019:
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2019
The Irish government discovered that their new printer was too big to fit in the building. A total of €808,000 was spent keeping it in storage while the building was redesigned; once it was installed, staff refused to use it because they wanted special training.
Prince Andrew gave an interview to Emily Maitlis on BBC Newsnight, in which he claimed to have no ability to sweat, and to distinctly remember being at the Woking branch of PizzaExpress.
A photo of four men standing outside a nightclub in Birmingham inexplicably went viral. It was so popular, there was even a statue to them at the spot.
Travel operator Thomas Cook collapsed, leaving 21,000 without jobs and 600,000 customers stranded abroad. A massive repatriation operation followd to get everybody home.
21 year-old Kylie Jenner was named the world's youngest ever billionaire.
A major fire broke out at the Notre-Dame Cathedral.
The US government partial shutdown became the longest in history.
Mothercare closed their stores.
Taylor Swift reacted strongly to the news that the rights to her first six albums had been sold to Kanye West's manager Scooter Braun, calling it her "worst case scenario". This inspired her to release 'Taylor's version' of the albums.
Coleen Rooney posted on Twitter that she had investigated who was leaking stories from her private Instagram account to The Sun, concluding that "it was... Rebekah Vardy's account". The claim, which Rebekah Vardy denied, went viral, with people loving Coleen's detailed work and storyteling.
Britain's deadline for claiming compensation for miss-sold PPI passed. It had been intensivey advertised everywhere for years.
Taylor Swift began re-recording her own version of her music, after Scooter Braun acquired the rights to her original works.
Theresa May resigned as British Prime Minister, and was replaced by Boris Johnson.
Boris Johnson later secured a majority in a general election, despite hiding in a fridge to avoid answering questions in the campaign period.
Phibsborough was ranked 27th on Time Out's list of the coolest neighbourhoods in the world.
Katie Taylor became the world lightweight champion, and received a hero's welcome in Bray.
Cork's Shakey Bridge was replaced but, as a protected structure, the new bridge was legally required to wobble.
2019 in Film
Avengers: Endgame was the biggest film of the year.
Other big films include The Lion King, Toy Story 4, Frozen II, Captain Marvel, Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker, Spider-Man: Far from Home, Aladdin, Jumanji: The Next Level, Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw, John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum and How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World.
Joker was the most successful R-rated film of all time.
2019 in TV
Big TV shows of the year (not premiers): I'm a Celebrity, Strictly Come Dancing, Line of Duty, Britain's Got Talent and The Great British Bake Off.
Amber Gill and Greg O'Shea won this year's Love Island, however it was runner-ups Molly-Mae Hague and Tommy Fury who would go on to become hugely successful influencers.
Manhunt was new on TV.
The final season of Game of Thrones was broadcast, with a rogue coffee cup attracting attention.
Supermarket Sweep was relaunched with Rylan Clark-Neal hosting.
While these facts about 2019 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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