Eight Stupid Historical Occurrences

Photo Credit (Pixels)

1. The Beatles? Thank you, but no!
   On January 1, 1962, John, Paul, George, and Ringo had an audition for Decca Records before they became well-known. In an hour, they performed fifteen songs, some of them were original creations and some popular covers.

The Beatles were instantly rejected by Decca Records, who expressed dissatisfaction and declared that “The Beatles have no future in show business.” We are all aware of what transpired after that! Many people believe that Decca’s rejection was one of the worst errors in the history of the music industry.

2. Harvest of spaghetti

Spoon spaghetti grows on trees, did you know that? Not at all? Indeed, the BBC aired the first images of Italy’s spaghetti harvest back in 1957. It was a revelation when the newscaster showed images of spaghetti strands being removed from blossoming trees, as at the time, not many people in the UK would have known how pasta was made.

The audience took some time to realize they were viewing the news on April 1st. Since then, this tale has grown to become one of the most notorious April Fool’s jokes ever.

3. A fire ruins a patent

Not just any patent, though—the fire destroyed the original patent for the fire hydrant. That’s what we refer to as irony! The identity of the fire hydrant’s creator will never be known because the one and only copy of the patent served as fuel for the 19th-century fire at the US Patent Office. The fire destroyed hundreds of documents, but none as humorous as this one.

4. Invasion by aliens

In 1938, there was widespread fear of an extraterrestrial invasion; nevertheless, it turned out that little green men had not really made it to Earth. Radio listeners mistook a dramatization of H.G. Wells’ “The War of the Worlds” for a breaking news story of an alien invasion during a Halloween special.

Word of the alien attack went from person to person in those days since the audience could not even check to see whether the item was trending on Twitter. Those listeners who tuned in halfway through were unaware that the news reports about the Martians were phony, even though there had been a notice about the fictional broadcast at the beginning.

5. Parody record

In the late 1960s, the editor of Rolling Stone magazine concocted the Masked Marauders record. Greil Marcus had the freedom to write anything he wanted in the magazine, so he penned a humorous review of a made-up album in which he insisted that Mick Jagger, Bob Dylan, and three of the Beatles had created a supergroup

A band that was unknown was contracted by Rolling Stone magazine to replicate some of the parody tracks after readers began asking how they might purchase the record. The phony record got over 100,000 copies sold!

6. The boat scam

Early in the 20th century, the Royal Navy was rife with rivalries, and fleet captains were constantly scheming one another. The commander of the battleship HMS Dreadnought received a fictitious telegraph from Horace de Vere Cole instructing them to be ready for a royal inspection.

Cole dressed up a group of guests, including two of the commander’s cousins and renowned author Virginia Woolf, as members of an Abyssinian royal family. The gang had hours of entertainment on the ship without the commander realizing it was an elaborate practical prank.

7. It’s time for a rest.

Though Big Ben in London is now down for restoration, there have been moments in its history when time seemed to stand still. The time difference was four minutes in 1949. No, the battery had not run out; rather, the minute hand had become stuck due to a flock of birds perching on it.
The minute hand remained motionless as the tiny group of starlings landed for their roost. It took the birds four and a half minutes to take to the air.

8. Melting vehicles using walkie talkies

More recently, there has been news of cars melting in a building. No, this isn’t another April Fool’s hoax; it really did happen. Cars parked on the street started to melt beneath the reflection from the windows of the London skyscraper known as the “walkie talkie” while it was being built.

In 2013, a Jaguar that had been left outside the building for two hours resulted in buckling panels, a melted wing mirror, and a misaligned emblem. The building’s curved design allowed the sun’s rays to reflect back, causing damage. Since then, the parking spots outside have been suspended in order to prevent any additional cars from melting in the summer heat like ice cream.