1 9 3 9 – 1 9 9 5 With the on-air cool of Alan Freed and the smokestack growl of Howlin’ Wolf, Robert Weston Smith – a…
Browsing: Pop Culture
Masturbation, homosexuality, the Pill, frigidity, transsexuality, impotence and flatulence — complete with sound effects — were all taboo subjects on radio until they were brought…
While the first-wave feminism of the 19th and early 20th centuries focused on women’s legal rights, especially the right to vote, the second-wave feminism of…
Brothers Donald and James Herzog developed Wooly Willy in 1955 while working at their father’s toy factory (the Smethport Specialty Company in Smethport, Pennsylvania). The…
1 9 4 1 – 1 9 6 4 (UK) This BBC radio music, comedy and variety programme was originally transmitted in May 1941. Intended as…
World Cup Willie, a roguish little lion with a Union Jack jersey, emerged as one of the leading personalities of the 1966 World Cup competition.…
Royal socialite turned fashion designer, Diane Von Furstenberg changed the way women looked at dressing when her revolutionary wrap dress melded function and fashion in…
Named after Philip K Wrigley (1894–1977) who assumed his father’s position as CEO of the Wrigley Company in 1932 and dedicated the entire output of…
Wrigley’s launched their Spearmint brand in 1893. As the name implies, the gum is flavoured with the spearmint plant. Originally given away free with the…
The launchpad for the wind-up marvels called Wrist Racers (from Knickerbocker) was worn around the wrist like a watch, which meant you had to lie…
Action figures had many faces in the early 80s – the blonde brawn of He-Man, the buzz-cut ruggedness of G.I. Joe – but few were as…
X-Ray Spex came about in 1964 when Harold von Braunhut (the mastermind behind Sea Monkeys) repackaged an optical effect made popular by a device called…
It wasn’t like pinball machines hadn’t been sexy before – many a lad had pumped his pocket money into Slick Chick just to spend more time with those…
Inspired by the Alien films and countless other sci-fi suspense flicks, this game sent a group of unlucky scientists and soldiers into a series of…
A classic vertically-scrolling shoot-em-up Namco arcade game (distributed by Atari), Xevious sent your ‘Solvalou’ craft into solo battle against the invading Xevious armies. Unfortunately, the…
In addition to debating whether 2000 or 2001 would mark the “real” beginning of the new millennium, the Western World pondered the effect the Y2K…
The first version of Yahtzee was invented by a moneyed Canadian couple in 1956 aboard their yacht, of all places. Among the couple’s boating coterie,…
Born Muhammad Abed Ar’ouf Arafat, Yasser Arafat was a Palestinian nationalist politician, cofounder of al-Fatah in 1957, president of the Palestinian Authority, and leader of…
Any kid who had to make long car trips knew very well the pleasures of a good Yes & Know book. After spending so much time in…
Yitzhak Rabin was an Israeli Labour politician and the nation’s prime minister from 1974 to 1977 and again from 1992 to 1995. As a former…