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Founding of The Rolling Stones

Rolling played their first concert The Stones on July 12, 1962 and thus launched a phenomenal career. With estimated album sales of 240 million units, the group has released 30 studio albums, 28 live albums and 26 compilations to date. Current members Mick Jagger (born 1943), Keith Richards (b. 1943), Ron Wood (b. 1947), Steve Jordan (b. 1957) are still actively performing concerts all over the world despite their well-deserved age. This summer they took their fans on a European tour to celebrate the band's 60th anniversary.

The unforgettable Marilyn Monroe

On August 5, 1962 the famous movie actress icon, model, singer and producer Marilyn Monroe, whose real name was Norma Jeane Mortenson, died in Los Angeles. She was only 36 years old. In the last years of her private and professional life, she struggled not only with addiction to sedatives, but also with a better position and role. Much has been written and filmed about her controversial personality and swing career. However, one of the legendary events relates to our year, when Marilyn sang the song "Happy Birthday Mr. President". Her $12,000 dress by French designer Jean Louis became iconic, and she made it clear through her singing and body language that there was more than friendship between her and the president, even though it was never reliably proven.

J.F. Kennedy's legendary speech

On September 12, 1962 one of the most legendary and famous speeches by politicians in history was made at Rice University's football stadium in Houston. The speech "We choose to go to the Moon" was spoken by the then US president J.F. Kennedy in front of 35,000 spectators present and millions of other people watching TV screens, and signified the national goal to safely transport people to the moon and then back to Earth by the end of the decade.

The most famous part of Kennedy's speech can be considered a timeless challenge that can be applied in general terms: "We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things - not because they are easy, but because they are hard. Because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one we intend to win, and the others, too.

With huge public support and an influx of government money, work began feverishly on the landmark project. The Americans were under great pressure from the success of Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, who had become the first man in space a year earlier. They therefore wanted to quickly take steps to gain American supremacy in space as part of NASA's Apollo program.

The path to fulfilling Kennedy's task was extremely difficult, because at that time the concept of manned flights into space was completely new, and the preparation required a lot of scientific work in a very short time.

Although the Americans finally got what President Kennedy had promised them in 1962 in July 1969 - Neil Armstrong and Edwin Buzz Aldrin stepped onto the surface of the moon, Kennedy himself did not live to see this historic moment.

1962 World's Fair in Seattle (Century 21 Exposition)

Space themes and enthusiasm carried throughout 1962, which also influenced the theme of the 30th World's Fair, held April 21 - October 21, 1962 in Seattle. The theme was " Living in the Space Age" (Life in the space age). The 184-meter-high Space tower became the symbol of the exhibition, which was visited by almost 10 million people Needle designed by Victor Steinbrueck and John Graham Jr. The popularity of the tower is proven by the fact that up to 20,000 people went up to it by lift a day, which was more than 2.3 million visitors for the entire exhibition. To this day, the luxury restaurant SkyCity is located at the top and the tower is a landmark of the city of Seattle.

Fashion house Dolce & Gabbana

In November 1962, Stefano Gabbana, one of the most influential fashion designers in the world was born in Milan, Italy. He founded the luxury fashion brand Dolce & Gabbana together with Domenico Dolce. There is no doubt that this brand belongs to the giants of today's fashion world. Their collections are inspired by the charm of old Sicily, especially the already iconic classic men's suit with stripes strongly evokes the style of old Sicilian mobsters. The D&G signature for women's dress is a deep neckline, an accentuated waist, flared hips and a gently tapered knee area. Beautiful models are decorated with lace, crystals and various embroideries.

The birth of LED lighting

Thomas Alva Edison. Who does not know this inventor, who became famous thanks to his many inventions and patents in which he participated. For example, he perfected and patented the light bulb as we know it today. On the other hand, the American scientist Nick Holonyak Jr. is far from having such a famous name, but even his shining invention is still commonly used today. In 1962 he succeeded in preparing a diode that emitted visible red light instead of infrared light. Today we know his invention under the abbreviation LED or Light Emitting Diode. Thanks to the development of new materials, the color range gradually increased, up to today's most used white light. Nick Holonyak won numerous awards for his discovery and himself said about the "magic diode" at the time: "I know that I am at the very beginning, but I also know that this achievement has huge potential... there is no doubt that the possibilities of this little thing go far beyond what we are seeing now'. He was right. Today we cannot live without LEDs and we encounter them practically everywhere around us.

James Bond

In 1962 the first part of the now cult series about James Bond was filmed. The character of agent 007 was created by writer Ian Fleming and the first movie was released in 1962 under the name Dr. No. The lead role was played by Sean Connery. It was followed by 24 more feature films. The author of the book, Ian Lancaster Fleming (1908-1964), was a naval officer, journalist, bank clerk and, during World War II, assistant chief of the Secret Service in the British Navy. He became famous precisely as the creator of James Bond, who he invented during a vacation in his Jamaican residence, Golden Eyes. Being an enthusiastic bird watcher, he chose the name for his novel's hero after the renowned American ornithologist James Bond, an expert on Caribbean birds. So far, the last Bond film was released in 2021 under the title No Time to Die.

The success of the Czechoslovak team at the World Cup in Chile

The World Cup in Chile in 1962 is one of the greatest achievements of our sport. On June 17, the final match of the world championship took place at the National Stadium in Santiago de Chile, from which the Czechoslovak players, led by Josef Masopust, took home the silver. However, given the uncertain prognosis and conditions our players were operating in at the time, this silver really does have the sheen of gold. Our team confidently reached the final, where the favored Brazilians finally beat them 3:1. Even so, the Czechoslovak footballers left the field to the thunderous applause of almost 70,000 spectators in the stands. To this day, this event is considered one of the sensations of our football history.

Cottage cheese popsicle MÍŠA

Popsicle Míša, a frozen cream composed of cottage cheese, cream and sugar and covered in chocolate topping, as we all know it well since childhood, started to be produced in 1962 at the Laktos factory in Prague's Vysočany. It has been at the top of the list of popularity among Czech desserts for several generations. The product at that time, unlike today, had the shape of a cuboid with a volume of 33 ml, was wrapped in parchment paper with the typical teddy bear logo and was not on a stick. At that time, eighteen dairy workers hand-made and packed around a thousand pieces of this delicacy per hour.

At the turn of the 1960s and 1970s, Míša's production moved to Zdounky in the Kroměříž district, and as a result of the modernization, the ice cream gained a better consistency, production efficiency increased by up to 140 percent, and overall its taste improved. There it also acquired its present form, i.e. a popsicle shape with a volume of 55 ml with a stick.

Today, the frozen cream is backed by the food holding company Unilever, and it also offers strawberry, apricot, sour cherry and forest fruits flavors. But a classic is a classic, and we absolutely love the original cottage cheese version the most.

World Theater Day - March 27

The International Theater Institute, the most important international non-governmental organization for the performing arts, proposed at its regular congress in June 1961 to declare one day a year as World Theater Day. Its purpose and goal was to reflect on the mission and role of the theater, to support the efforts of theatergoers to promote moral and social values through artistic means. UNESCO accepted this initiative and since 1962 this international festival of theater workers has been celebrated every year on March 27. Various theater shows, open days, important premieres, ceremonial openings of new theater buildings, cultural centers, halls, etc. are held all over the world. In many countries, theaters also play for free or at a significant discount on this day.

However, a kind of "central" celebration is the so-called International Message, when every year the International Theater Institute invites one important world personality from the theater field to share their thoughts on the theater as a way to connect the nations of the world. This message is translated into more than 20 languages and is read before theater performances all over the world, as well as disseminated to the public both in print and in audiovisual form.

On March 27, 1994 the author of the International Message was former president Václav Havel.

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2023!

Your Magniflex team