1Ming Campbell
In 1967, British politician Ming Campbell beat O.J. Simpson in a 100m sprint race at Stanford University, with a time of 10.2 seconds.
2. In 1968, a school teacher named Jane Elliott divided her class by eye color to teach them about discrimination. The kids got discriminatory pretty quickly.
3. In 1963, there was a Canadian band called "Four Niggers and a Chink". They broke up in 1969 and then got back together in 1990. In 1990 they went by "Bobby Taylor and the Vancouvers."
4. In 1969, General Motors Holden (Australia) produced a concept car complete with climate control, a rear-facing camera and in-car navigation.
5. In 1966, two American teenagers found two child mummies in a cave in Mexico, smuggled them back to California, and ditched them in a friend's garage until the friend's mother discovered the mummies 14 years later.
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6Lenny Bruce
In 1962, comedian Lenny Bruce was arrested for using the word "schmuck" on stage. "Schmuck" is a Yiddish swear word for "penis", and is considered deeply offensive in Yiddish speaking communities.
7. In the 1960s, American preacher Solomon Burke was once booked to sing at a KKK rally. It was only when he showed up that the organizer noticed that he was black.
8. In 1968, NBC quit the coverage of the AFL match between the Oakland Raiders and the New York Jets in the final minute to broadcast the television film, Heidi. Oakland scored two touchdowns in that minute to win the game 43–32 in a legendary comeback.
9. In 1967, Jimi Hendrix opened for The Monkees. He played 8 of the 29 dates, then flipped off the audience, threw down his guitar, and walked off.
10. In 1963, Brian Blessed saw a woman in labor in a park. She recognized him from TV series Z Cars and said “please Mr. Blessed, I’m having a baby.” He not only delivered the baby but he bit through the umbilical cord.
11Smile band
In 1968, an astronomy student, a dental student, and a bass player formed a band called 'Smile.' By 1970 the Smile faded, and in 1971 they renamed the band to Queen.
12. In 1966, French teen pop star named France Gall did not know her huge hit song (she thought was about a lollipop) had a risqué double meaning. Upon learning this, she went into hiding for weeks.
13. In 1967, Sweden switched from left-hand driving to right-hand driving. All vehicles had to come to a complete stop at 04:50, then carefully change to the right-hand side of the road and stop again before being allowed to proceed at 05:00.
14. In 1969, an experimental book named The Unfortunates was published. It shipped as a 'book in a box' consisting of 27 unbound sections with the first and last chapter specified. The remaining sections range from a single paragraph to 12 pages in length and are designed to be read in any order.
15. In 1964, a group of college students used garden spades to tunnel under the Berlin Wall into East Berlin, allowing 57 people to escape to the West. The students moved enough dirt to fill four eighteen-wheeler big rigs; one of them went on to design tunnels professionally.
16Richard Nixon
In 1969, in response to one of the largest ever anti-war demonstrations, Richard Nixon wanted Army helicopters to hover over protesters and blow out their candlelit vigil.
17. In the 1960s the New York-based Anarchist group "Black Mask" disrupted cultural events by handing out made up flyers of art events to the homeless with the lure of free drinks
18. In the 1960s, Pirate Radio boats in international waters would broadcast pop & rock to 10's of millions of British listeners. The BBC, which until then mostly catered to classical tastes, was forced to restructure and meet the demand for these genres.
19. In 1966, Ronald Reagan wrote Jelly Belly a thank you letter for "keeping the state gov running smoothly" as the jelly beans worked as an alt. to smoking, allowing them to get through meetings and make decisions.
20. In the 60s, the CIA sponsored a Harvard study where an undergraduate student was humiliated and subjected to "brutalizing psychological experiments". The student who had the worse reaction to the experiment was Ted Kaczynski who later became the Unabomber.
21Paul McCartney
In 1966, Paul McCartney penned a song under the name Bernard Webb to see if he could produce a hit without his name. It was recorded by Peter and Gordon and reached #14 on the charts.
22. In 1962, an intruder climbing the fence at a Minnesota air base set off the "sabotage alarm" in all bases in the area. In one base, due to wrong wiring, the Klaxon was sounded ordering nuclear-armed aircraft to take off, and the pilots believed World War 3 has started. The original intruder was a bear.
23. During the 1968 invasion of Czechoslovakia by Warsaw Pact soldiers, road signs in towns were removed or painted over to confuse invading troops—except for those indicating the way to Moscow.
24. In 1969, a musician named Jim Sullivan recorded an album called “U.F.O.“, which featured strange lyrics about leaving his family and being abducted by aliens. Sullivan disappeared 6 years later without a trace, the only piece of evidence being his abandoned car found on a desert road.
25. In 1963, San Francisco Giants Manager Alvin Dark joked, "they'll put a man on the moon before [Giants pitcher] Gaylord Perry hits a home run." On July 20, 1969, less than an hour after Neil Armstrong's historic moonwalk, Perry smacked his first career homer.
