The 1957 launch of the Sputnik satellite by the Soviet Union. I didn't really understand what it was all about, just that it frightened all of the adults in my life and meant that we had to learn more science in school from now on. Then 20 February 1962 I was home sick from school and able to watch the television coverage of John Glenn as he became the first person to orbit the Earth - which was the most exciting thing I had ever witnessed. It was clear that we were now ahead of the Russians and I was so proud. Having JFK assassinated was a terrible thing our whole generation shared, but personally, watching my dignified and always-under-control stepfather weep without ceasing for the following few days shook my psychological foundations more thoroughly than anything else ever had; my concept of manliness changed forever. Men cried; who knew? The British Invasion, yes. @Babs Hunt was right, the Beatles certainly took over the lives of many teenage girls for a few years there. @Chrissy Cross I collected those cards, too, but where did we get them? I can't recall if they were sold as is, or came with records, or what? I had completely forgotten the existence of those things, and now wonder what in the world happened to mine? I only got rid of my Beatle scrapbooks and memorabilia in 1996. I saw them in Portland and Seattle, 3 shows in all. Fun times. John Lennon's murder in 1980 was pretty devastating. Being near the upper part of the Bay Bridge that collapsed onto the level below crushing all those cars during the 1989 San Francisco earthquake was the reason I left the USA and moved somewhere where I thought they did not have earthquakes: Christchurch, New Zealand. But I was wrong, and every single church I ever visited, place I worked at, and apartment I lived in were all destroyed in the terrible 2011 earthquake, [though I had moved on to Australia by then.]
All I remember is they came in a pack like baseball cards did here and you would buy a pack not knowing what cards where in them until you opened it...got a lot of duplicates. Also...a big welcome to the forum @Augusta Heathbourne!
Welcome to the "Oldies but Goodies" Forum @Augusta Heathbourne You will find a little bit of everything here and we all look forward to you adding your bit to it too.