It's 2022, folks, which means another year of inventions, life-changing events, historical figures doing whatever it is they do and a host of once-in-a-lifetime occurrences that make each year so uniquely special. Including, of course, living through the third year of a global pandemic; but we're not going to talk about that.
There are so many formidable things that will happen this year that will make it to the history books, but it's also a great time to think back to see what humanity has accomplished up to this point. To celebrate the past and appreciate it in our current context, let's take a peek back in time to see what pieces of our world today are celebrating their one-hundredth birthday this year!
Century-old things and people in 2022
Radio-broadcasted football
Football as a sport has been around for far longer than 1922, of course, but the game first reached new audiences in October of that year when the game between Princeton and the University of Chicago was broadcast on the radio across the country.
Slalom skiing
It's apt that the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games are happening this year, as it's also exactly a hundred years since the slalom skiing sport was first developed. The rules for what we know today as slalom skiing were created by Arnold Lunn, and the very first race took place on the slopes in Murren, Switzerland.
Not Betty White
Alas, television's favorite lady passed away on December 31, 2021, just weeks before what would have been her hundredth birthday. Her career spanned over eight decades and her contribution to the silver screen earned her five Emmys and global renown, as well as a Guinness World Record for the longest TV career for an actress.
Vegemite
Don't knock it until you try it, because this yeasty spread has certainly stirred strong feelings in both its followers and its opposors for a full century, so there must be something to it.
Vegemite is the Australian version of Britain's Marmite spread, which was a popular table staple in Aussie households. Dr. Cyril P. Callister, a chemist working for the Fred Walker Company, was tasked with creating a new version of Marmite that Australia could patent as its own without straying too far from the original.
Thus, vegemite was created in 1922 using brewers yeast, giving the strong spread a high source of Vitamin B that's made it a doctor-recommended snack for years.
Time, Inc.
Time as a concept is eternal, but Time as the magazine has only been around a century as of 2022.
Founder Henry Luce established the company in 1922 and had the first magazine published by March 1923, an issue which contained pieces on new films, word of the first helicopter, news on tax and law changes and opinion pieces on T.S. Eliot's new poem, "The Waste Land."
Time, Inc. later went on to establish additional publications like Life, People, Entertainment Weekly, InStyle, Fortune and Sports Illustrated.
The BBC
One century later, the British Broadcasting Company (BBC) still plays a significant role in the daily life of Britons at home and abroad. Founded on October 18, 1922, the BBC began by broadcasting daily radio programs from a small studio in London before expanding to more news, music, programs and more.
In the past one hundred years, the BBC has broken news on both the World Wars, broadcast events regarding the monarchy, hosted musicians who have gone on to change music history and developed television programs that have come to shape culture and society as we know it. And, of course, it gave us "The Great British Bake Off," so there's that, too!
Maidenform
If you are a person who wears a bra, then you have the Maiden Form Brassiere Co. to thank for the constant, ahem, support over the years.
This year marks the hundredth year of the modern bra, an invention that emerged just as the flat-chested style of the 1920s was making its mark on the fashion of the decade. The square, boxy look that was popular among flapper circles was not particularly popular across the board, however, as it made it difficult to find undergarments that fit the look.
Enid Bissett and Ida Rosenthal, both owners of a dress shop in 1922 New York City, started working on a dress design that incorporated two separate cups built into the bust of the dress. Customers loved the overall style and feel of these built-in supports and began to request the cups as a separate item of clothing to wear with other clothes. Thus, the modern-day bra was born!
State Farm
Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there, and they have been for one hundred years!
State Farm Insurance was founded by farmer-turned-insurance salesman George Jacob Mercherle in 1922, originally insuring nothing more than a single line of auto insurance.
Today, State Farm is the United States' largest home and car insurer and has ranked on Fortune 500's biggest companies list.
Just think about all the people, inventions and events that have shaped our last century here on Earth, and imagine just how different the world will look a century from now!
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Featured photo courtesy Pixabay/KeithJJ
Colleen Ford is a South African who now lives on Oahu in Hawai'i. She loves to travel, camp, spearfish and hike. She's also part of a super cool canoe club and is pretty decent at it. Colleen enjoys Star Wars and also not being cold ever.
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