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As we are heading towards the end of yet another year with Christmas on its way, I thought I would start a thread about 2018 in general and the highs and lows of it - the good and the bad stuff that has happened. My own 40th birthday was in 2018 and so I suppose that my own life feels a bit different has result of that. I do feel that these sort of threads actually help to put things in perspective and to look back on the last few months.
I was thinking of all the things that have happened this year, and I thought that I would make a list of them - the ten main things that I will remember 2018 for - and here they are:
1) The Royal Weddings of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle (and also Princess Eugenie's wedding as well, and not to mention the birth of Prince Louis of Cambridge).
2) England getting to the semi-finals in the World Cup and then losing - kudos to Gareth Southgate and Harry Kane (another Harry who made it big in 2018). That 6-1 win against Panama was such a real cracker!
3) The heatwave we had in June and July for a few weeks which coincided with the World Cup - cue all windows open, unlike in recent weeks of course. I think it would give 1976 a run for its money in any case.
4) SuRie being interrupted on stage during the Eurovision Song Contest by a protester, and her refusal to sing her song again. Saturdays in May had never been so exciting!
5) The continuation of Brexit in Parliament, going towards the "hone stretch" of it all - as well as the "Vote of No Confidence" on Theresa May.
6) Ronnie O'Sullivan "Christening himself" with his water after beating Mark Allen in Snooker, as well as overtaking Stephen Hendry's record.
7) Toys "Я" Us closing down, bringing an end to decades of toy advertising over Christmas and on Children's TV. There's no longer millions of toys all under one roof, and no more Geoffrey the Giraffe either.
8) The announcement that heterosexual couples can legally have civil partnerships in the same way that same sex couples can - a victory for social equality and society together.
9) The heavy snow in February which was given its first red warning with a danger to life - an ironic contrast to the heatwave that we had just a few months later. The walk to the nearest postbox in the snow felt like a mile away in the snow.
10) Marking the 100th anniversary of the end of World War One - paying tribute to our ancestors 100 years ago.
We also lost a lot of people as well in 2018 - Geoffrey Hayes, the well-respected presenter of children's TV series Rainbow died aged 76, meaning that Geoffrey the Giraffe wasn't the only Geoffrey from children's television that we said goodbye to this year. We also lost Professor Stephen Hawking, Katie Boyle, Eric Bristow and Jim Bowen (not a very good year for Darts), and Postman Pat author John Cunliffe (not a very good year for the old weekday ITV 12.10 pm slot either). Just a few of the people we lost in 2018.
At the end of last year, I wrote down the names of 12 famous people who were, shall we say, were still alive but were getting on a bit in their years, and I had predicted that any of them could have gone during 2018. I was absolutely correct with four of them which I had included on the list, and those four happened to be Ken Dodd, Jim Bowen (who passed away a couple of days after Dodd), Denis Norden and George Bush senior. Even I am astonished as to how accurate I was with predicting those four!
What will you remember 2018 for as a year? Was it an Annus Mirebilis, or was it an Annus Horribilis, as they say in the Royal Household?
I was thinking of all the things that have happened this year, and I thought that I would make a list of them - the ten main things that I will remember 2018 for - and here they are:
1) The Royal Weddings of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle (and also Princess Eugenie's wedding as well, and not to mention the birth of Prince Louis of Cambridge).
2) England getting to the semi-finals in the World Cup and then losing - kudos to Gareth Southgate and Harry Kane (another Harry who made it big in 2018). That 6-1 win against Panama was such a real cracker!
3) The heatwave we had in June and July for a few weeks which coincided with the World Cup - cue all windows open, unlike in recent weeks of course. I think it would give 1976 a run for its money in any case.
4) SuRie being interrupted on stage during the Eurovision Song Contest by a protester, and her refusal to sing her song again. Saturdays in May had never been so exciting!
5) The continuation of Brexit in Parliament, going towards the "hone stretch" of it all - as well as the "Vote of No Confidence" on Theresa May.
6) Ronnie O'Sullivan "Christening himself" with his water after beating Mark Allen in Snooker, as well as overtaking Stephen Hendry's record.
7) Toys "Я" Us closing down, bringing an end to decades of toy advertising over Christmas and on Children's TV. There's no longer millions of toys all under one roof, and no more Geoffrey the Giraffe either.
8) The announcement that heterosexual couples can legally have civil partnerships in the same way that same sex couples can - a victory for social equality and society together.
9) The heavy snow in February which was given its first red warning with a danger to life - an ironic contrast to the heatwave that we had just a few months later. The walk to the nearest postbox in the snow felt like a mile away in the snow.
10) Marking the 100th anniversary of the end of World War One - paying tribute to our ancestors 100 years ago.
We also lost a lot of people as well in 2018 - Geoffrey Hayes, the well-respected presenter of children's TV series Rainbow died aged 76, meaning that Geoffrey the Giraffe wasn't the only Geoffrey from children's television that we said goodbye to this year. We also lost Professor Stephen Hawking, Katie Boyle, Eric Bristow and Jim Bowen (not a very good year for Darts), and Postman Pat author John Cunliffe (not a very good year for the old weekday ITV 12.10 pm slot either). Just a few of the people we lost in 2018.
At the end of last year, I wrote down the names of 12 famous people who were, shall we say, were still alive but were getting on a bit in their years, and I had predicted that any of them could have gone during 2018. I was absolutely correct with four of them which I had included on the list, and those four happened to be Ken Dodd, Jim Bowen (who passed away a couple of days after Dodd), Denis Norden and George Bush senior. Even I am astonished as to how accurate I was with predicting those four!
What will you remember 2018 for as a year? Was it an Annus Mirebilis, or was it an Annus Horribilis, as they say in the Royal Household?
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