TIME flies by so fast, doesn’t it?
It is quite remarkable how quickly the world has changed in just a few short years, in such unexpected ways.
Would anyone have believed a decade ago we would all soon be forced to stay inside due to a global pandemic?
Would people in 2004, having seen an 18-year-old Wayne Rooney tear Europe apart, have believed that England still would not have lifted any major trophies by 2024? (Over to you in the summer, Gareth).
And would someone in 1984 getting a bad back from lugging around their brick phones around have believed within 40 years people would use their pocket-sized mobiles to watch music videos about Coventry chip shops?
As we approach the new year, reporter Ryan Smith reflects on how the world looked in decades gone by.
2014
The biggest talking point of 2014 was the Scottish independence referendum, where Scotland decided to remain part of the United Kingdom.
The year started with Pharrell Williams’s catchy if somewhat annoying toe-tapper ‘Happy’ topping the charts.
Other huge records to come out in 2014 include Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars’s infectious ‘Uptown Funk’ and the first of Ed Sheeran’s plethora of wedding-classics ‘Thinking Out Loud.’
In sports, Germany won the 2014 FIFA World Cup in a tournament which saw Luis Suarez tear England apart before finding the urge to bite Giorgio Chiellini too great.
This was also the year the Superhero genre really started to dominate the Box Office with smash hits like Guardians of the Galaxy, X-Men: Days of Future Past and Captain America: The Winter Soldier.
2004
The year started with the out-of-this-world news – the Mars Rover had arrived at its destination, while in another huge technological advancement, Facebook was launched.
The summer was dominated by some 18-year-old lad called Wayne Rooney notching four goals at Euro 2004 before injury struck against hosts Portugal, who broke England’s hearts in the Quarter Final.
It was a fabulous year for films with classic flicks such as Spider-Man 2, Shrek 2 and The Incredibles.
This year first introduced people to the Cha Cha Slide, while other number ones included Usher’s nightclub classic ‘Yeah’ and Britney Spears’s Toxic.
And 2004 saw the first ever series of ‘The X Factor’, which was won by Steve Brookstein (remember him?).
1994
May saw the Channel Tunnel officially open, linking Britain with France.
This was also the year German supermarket chain Lidl opened its first 10 British stores, while the first National Lottery draw was held in November, giving British people the hope of becoming millionaires.
It was a golden year for comedy as the first episodes of The Vicar of Dibley and FRIENDS aired.
On the big screen, cinema-goers were treated to masterpieces including Pulp Fiction, The Shawshank Redemption, The Lion King and Forrest Gump.
And Wet Wet Wet dominated the UK charts, with ‘Love Is All Around’ spending an incredible 15 weeks at Number One.
1984
This was the year of the miners’ strike, sparked by the National Coal Board’s plans to close 20 collieries which would have put around 20,000 people out of work.
The first-ever Apple Macintosh computer went on sale in January, which cost around £3,500 for the day’s tech-whizzes to buy.
Cinema Screens were flooded with cult classics in 1984 such as Footloose, GhostBusters, The Karate Kid, The Terminator and Gremlins.
George Michael and Wham dominated the charts, with Careless Whisper, Freedom and Wake Me Up Before You Go, Go all shooting to number one.
But comfortably the biggest song of the year came via Band Aid, a collection of the world’s biggest artists who all collaborated to record ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas’ to raise money for famine relief in Ethiopia.
