Mental Floss has compiled a list of 50 historical events that took place in 1969 and are turning 50 this year. Here are 10 of them (see full list at the link):
- First manned moon landing. On July 21, Neil Armstrong became the first person to step onto the lunar surface, with Buzz Aldrin following him about 20 minutes later.
- Sesame Street. On November 10, television audiences were introduced to Sesame Street.
- Stonewall riots. In the early hours of June 28, The Stonewall Inn--a popular gay bar in New York City’s West Village--was raided by police. The incident sparked a series of riots.
- Monty Python’s Flying Circus. On October 5, Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Michael Palin, and Terry Gilliam changed the face of sketch comedy forever with the BBC debut of Monty Python’s Flying Circus.
- The internet. Many tech-heads citing April 7, as the web’s official birthdate.
- Woodstock. On August 15, a 600-acre dairy farm in New York’s Catskill Mountains became the site of one of the most defining music events in rock-n-roll history.
- Fla-vor-ice. Those plastic tubes of frozen, flavored sugar water made their grocery store debut.
- The Gap. On August 21, Donald and Doris Fisher opened the very first Gap store on San Francisco’s Ocean Avenue.
- The Beatles’ rooftop concert. On January 30, The Beatles made their way to the rooftop of the Apple Corps building for an unannounced performance.
- PBS. PBS was founded as a successor to National Educational Television (NET) and quickly became the country’s preeminent broadcaster of educational, cultured television.