Triggered by this article (“Brits wish they’d seen these top 25 historical events”), I thought I’d put together my own list of historical events I’d like to have witnessed firsthand. (I know, I wrote a similar post a while back, but times have changed.) They are in no specific order of preference.
- Gunfight at the OK Corral
- Sinking of the Bismarck
- Wright Brothers’ first flight
- Battle at Little Big Horn
- Eruption of Krakatoa, 1883
- 24-hour Le Mans race, 1934 (from several vantage points)
- The Beatles playing at the Cavern club in Liverpool
- Battle of Hastings, 1066
- Any Blaze Starr performance at the Two O’ Clock Club
- Bombing of the Eder Dam by RAF 617 (“Dambusters”) Squadron
- Constitutional Convention, 1787
- Great Fire of London, 1666
- Any Led Zeppelin concert, 1970–71
- London Blitz, September 1940–May 1941
- First performance of Stravinsky’s Rite Of Spring, 1913
- Battle of Rorke’s Drift, 1879
- Borg–McEnroe Wimbledon final, 1980
- Liberation of Paris, 1944
- Trial of Galileo, 1633 (assuming I could speak medieval Italian)
- Battle of Marathon, 490 BC
- 1906 San Francisco earthquake
- Assassination of Julius Caesar
- Alvin York’s heroic action in France, 1918
- The deaths of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
- Queen Victoria’s wedding night
Your choices (any number up to 25) in Comments.
I’d be tempted (assuming I was granted fluency in the relevant languages) to be in the audience for the Crucifixion. It’d be an opportunity to see whether any of it resembled the Biblical description (I suspect the supernatural aspects were later additions).
If we’re only allowed to *observe*, but not interfere, then I’d have to compile a list of lost historical treasures so I could observe where they were hidden. Then it’d be time to go treasure hunting:-).
I like your thinking on this.
I’d only add the assassination of John Kennedy to the list.
Not sure I have 25 to list – here are 10 I would like to see
1. Ronald Reagan 1st inauguration
2. Signing of the Declaration of Independence
3 . Apollo 11 Moon Landing
4. Ancient Egyptians Build the Pyramids
5. Invention of Gunpowder
6. Invention of the Lightbulb
7. Invention of Printing Press
8. Boston Tea Party
9. Invention of Radio
10. Invention of Television
That’s a pretty good list, Kim.
I’d like to add:
Second Virginia Convention, St. John’s Episcopal Church, Richmond, Virginia – Patrick Henry’s Liberty or Death speech, March 23, 1775
Declaration of Independence debates, writing and approval June 7 – July 4, 1776, Aug 2, the actual signing
British surrender at Yorktown, Virginia, Oct 19, 1781
Gettysburg, July 1-3, 1863
What a fascinating idea. But the only one on Kim’s list that interested me was the V&A wedding night. I do see that it was inspired, probably, by the V&A wedding appearing on the Mirror’s list, but the wedding night is a lovely prurient choice. I too would rather see the wedding night than the wedding, but I am guessing it would just be embarrasing for everyone.
My list would include things like …
1. The moment my father met my mother. (And I mean “met”, you dirty minded guys.)
2. The day my great-grandfather stepped off the boat in America.
That kind of thing. Everything else on my list would be similar events from personal or family history, but I can think of a couple others where I have always wanted to be a fly on the wall.
3. The moment that Hemingway found out Hadley left the manuscripts on the train.
4. James Joyce and Nora’s first date.
5. The recapture of Cynthia Ann Parker by the Rangers in 1860. (It didn’t turn out like the Searchers.)
Okay, come to think of it, there is one big thing:
6. The Trinity nuclear test. That would have been a show to see. (It’s also a point of irritation that the site is only open two days a year for visitors.)
I’d like to be standing on that grassy knoll, observant as hell, on 22 Nov 1963.
Still to this day, almost 62 years later, we the people of America still don’t have all the documents and investigation material released to know what REALLY happened…
What are THEY the Government so scared of???
An aerial view of the Battle of Britain.
A seat on the Enola Gay in 1945.
The charge of the Light Brigade in the Crimea.
The construction of Stonehenge.
Hitler’s bunker in April 1945.
Apollo 11 Moon landing (wouldn’t everyone?)
The Wright Brothers first flight.
Captain James Cook’s death in Tahiti.
The D Day landing on the beaches in Normandy.
Alongside Wellington at Waterloo.
Felix Baumgartner’s balloon parachute jump.
John Hanning Speke’s first view of the head of the Nile River.
Edmund Hillary reaching the peak of Mt Everest.
The first gold nugget dug up in the Californian gold rush.
The Bay of Pigs debacle.
I could go on, but the one I really would like to observe is the reaction of the first person to ever eat a raw oyster.
Ooohhhh the Light Brigade Charge… want.
Good list Kim I wrote mine before I read the article or anyone else’s ideas
1) The British march on Lexington Green and its aftermath
2) The Boston Tea Party
3) The discussion and assemblage of citizens to burn the HMS Gaspee
4) The Constitutional Convention that gave us the US Constitution
5) The drafting and debate on the Declaration of Independence
6) The Battle of Gettysburg
7) Seeing off the Corps of Discovery and their Return
8) The Building of the Transcontinental Railroad
9) The battle of Thermopylae
10) The battle of Agincourt
11) Daniel Webster’s orations
12) Dita Von Teese show
13) The first use of anesthesia at Boston General Hospital
14) Florence Nightingale’s work first hand that inspired Clara Barton, Dorothea Dix and so many others to bring care and comfort to the sick.
15) Alexander Flemming’s discovery of penicillin
16) Deely Plaza to see if it really was Oswald who shot JFK
17) The Building of the Panama Canal
18) Mark Twain piloting a river boat on the Mississippi or play pool and smoke cigars with Twain at his house in Hartford CT
19) Sam Colt perfecting the Revolver
20) hunt with Daniel Boone in Kentucky or blaze the Wilderness Trail
21) attend my grandfather’s graduation from medical school in the 1930s
22) an early wagon train across the west
23-25) TBD
23) The events of the 47 Ronin in Japan
24) Commodore Matthew Perry opening up Japan
25) See the Rough Riders take San Juan Hill, but start at their recruitment through disbandment and to at least one of their reunions.
In no particular order.
1. Battle of Yorktown
2. Battle of Hastings
3. Battle of Saratoga
4. M. Luther nailing the 95thesis to the Wittenberg church.
5. Rorkes Drift.
6. A chance to visit Simla during the Raj
7. Omdurman (seeing Mahdists smashed would be entertaining)
8. Declaration of Independence signing
Probably some others. People have already picked some of mine so I tried to come up with something different.
Your list is pretty good though I am too introverted to enjoy modern concerts so they are right out. Also, I am not a big fan of Stravinsky so drop the Rite Of Spring as well. Since we are obviously using time travel some of my choice are way back in prehistory. Some of the following imply, “From a safe vantage.”
What I’d keep:
1. Gunfight at the OK Corral
2. Wright Brothers’ first flight
3. Battle at Little Big Horn
4. Eruption of Krakatoa, 1883
5. Any Blaze Starr performance at the Two O’ Clock Club
6. Bombing of the Eder Dam by RAF 617 (“Dambusters”) Squadron
7. Constitutional Convention, 1787
8. Trial of Galileo, 1633
9. 1906 San Francisco earthquake
10. Alvin York’s heroic action in France, 1918
What I’d add:
11. Zanclean Flood ~5.3 MYA
12. Battle of Iwo Jima
13. Bille Holiday at the Café Society in NYC (1939) or at Carnegie Hall (1948).
14. Eruption of the Toba supervolcano. ~75 KYA
15. Launch of Apollo 11
16. Barringer Impact ~50 KYA
17. Trinity Test
18. Assassination of John Kennedy
19. Boston Tea Party.
20. Need six more
Opps!
20. Breaking the Siege of Vienna (1683).
Any of Eva Cassidy’s live performances in the Blues Alley era. Especiallly “Over the Rainbow”.
I’m sure there are a ton of other things, but that’s fresh in my mind from YouTube surfing last week.
As to the death of Butch Cassidy:
Local yore here in NV has it that Butch died in a mining accident at the Johnnie Mine, Jonnie NV, in 1944.
And there is speculation that he touched, at one time or another, a lot of the different Boom Towns in Western NV, including Goldfield. In the link, there is some talk that Virgil Earp (who was a Deputy Sheriff in Goldfield) was looking for Butch about some robberies in that area. But, Virgil died of pneumonia in the County Hospital in Goldfield in 1905.
https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/ancientlosttreasures/johnnie-mine-my-back-yard-in-pahrump-nevada-t3036-s10.html?sid=334710540f0ed57f6d4d14a6f3df3797
Yeah, grand historical events would be interesting, but I’ve long said that I’d go back to March 21st, 1977, to the Capitol Center in Largo, Maryland to witness a classic concert by the Eagles. The recordings of it are amazing, but to actually BE there? Awesome!
50 years ago I read a sci-fi book (right now I can’t remember the title or the author) where time travel was available. Scene that stuck with me was that the protagonist traveled back to the crucifixion of Jesus. Only problem was that LOTS of other people were doing the same. The place was mobbed with spectators. There were thousands of new folks watching !
I’d like to see the eruption of Toba rather than Krakatoa.
And three battles I’d like to see would be Trafalgar, the raising of the siege of Vienna – the charge of the Polish Winged Hussars – and the battle of Tours. I think I’ll skip the Blitz; my father lived through it.
Other events: I’d like to see Thatcher’s triumphs in 1979 and 1982 again, the Moon landing, the Trinity explosion.