# 50th Birthday of the Sydney Opera House! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** music\ **Created:** [October 18, 2023, 10:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/50th-birthday-of-the-sydney-opera-house/991749 "2023-10-18T10:56:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2023, 10:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/50th-birthday-of-the-sydney-opera-house/991749/1 "2023-10-18T10:56:56Z")
A Tribute from Tim Minchin and … others. A lot of others! > **['No one likes a show-off': Tim Minchin leads satirical clip for Sydney Opera...](https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/video/2023/oct/18/no-one-likes-a-show-off-tim-minchin-leads-satirical-clip-for-sydney-opera-houses-50th-video?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other)** > > 'No one likes a show-off': Tim Minchin leads satirical clip for Sydney Opera House's 50th – video ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2023, 11:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/50th-birthday-of-the-sydney-opera-house/991749/2 "2023-10-18T11:10:41Z")
I confess my ignorance that the Sydney Opera House is only 50 years old. I don’t know when I thought it was finished/opened, but I thought it was a bit older than that. ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2023, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/50th-birthday-of-the-sydney-opera-house/991749/3 "2023-10-18T11:16:53Z")
Happy birthday, Sydney! LOL ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2023, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/50th-birthday-of-the-sydney-opera-house/991749/4 "2023-10-18T11:28:02Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > I confess my ignorance that the Sydney Opera House is only 50 years old. I don’t know when I thought it was finished/opened, but I thought it was a bit older than that. Me too. Not hugely older, maybe late 1960s instead of early 1970s. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2023, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/50th-birthday-of-the-sydney-opera-house/991749/5 "2023-10-18T11:43:15Z")
It is an amazing building. ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2023, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/50th-birthday-of-the-sydney-opera-house/991749/6 "2023-10-18T11:43:34Z")
[Construction started in 1959](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sydney_Opera_House) so you can be forgiven for that! ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2023, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/50th-birthday-of-the-sydney-opera-house/991749/7 "2023-10-18T12:13:36Z")
My family took a vacation to Oz when I was 15\*, so in 2Q or 3Q of 1974. While there we toured the Opera House site, but only the exterior. I hadn’t remembered it as being newly opened then. It was definitely touted as an architectural masterpiece. * * * \* I’m sure of my age and hence the dates because I was in driver’s ed but didn’t have my license yet. While there Dad let me drive our rental car on the left. Which was easier for me than for him since I didn’t have 30 years of practice doing it the other way. But it did lead to some memorable wrong-way hilarity when I got back to the USA and continued with driver’s ed. 🤪 . Fortunately nobody was injured. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2023, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/50th-birthday-of-the-sydney-opera-house/991749/8 "2023-10-18T13:46:19Z")
Isn’t the actual “birthday” on the 20th of this month? ---
**Author:** ![InternetLegend](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/internetlegend/32/13154_2.png) [@InternetLegend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InternetLegend)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2023, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/50th-birthday-of-the-sydney-opera-house/991749/9 "2023-10-18T13:58:33Z")
For some reason, I remember when it opened! I was twelve years old and half a world away, and I’ve never been to Australia, but it was a big enough deal that it came to my attention in New Mexico. Maybe National Geographic had a story? ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2023, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/50th-birthday-of-the-sydney-opera-house/991749/10 "2023-10-18T15:33:05Z")
Flying in to Sydney on the evening of St Patrick’s Day 2003, I saw the Opera House from my window seat and couldn’t wait to get down there. The city was hopping under a full moon and the party was in full swing by the time I checked into my hotel. I made it out to the Opera Bar, got an Irish whiskey and grabbed a seat to take it all in. What a perfect night! The next morning I got up early to walk around the harbour and saw this: [![](https://media.gettyimages.com/id/1250772194/photo/topshot-australia-iraq-protest.jpg?s=612x612&w=gi&k=20&c=eLX9I-0MW1k4W4wip5DjpZzy5-a95owrAUaaT16UeKM=) ](https://media.gettyimages.com/id/1250772194/photo/topshot-australia-iraq-protest.jpg?s=612x612&w=gi&k=20&c=eLX9I-0MW1k4W4wip5DjpZzy5-a95owrAUaaT16UeKM=) Article on this year’s anniversary of the incident: [It’s been twenty years since activists painted ‘No War’ on the Sydney Opera House](https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/sydney-mornings/david-burgess/102119674) ---
**Author:** ![B.Serum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/b.serum/32/14266_2.png) [@B.Serum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/B.Serum)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2023, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/50th-birthday-of-the-sydney-opera-house/991749/11 "2023-10-18T15:35:58Z")
Never knew the construction was such a fiasco. 99 Percent Invisible: [Cautionary Tales of the Sydney Opera House](https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/cautionary-tales-of-the-sydney-opera-house/) ---
**Author:** ![Llama\_Llogophile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@Llama\_Llogophile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Llama_Llogophile)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2023, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/50th-birthday-of-the-sydney-opera-house/991749/12 "2023-10-18T16:26:07Z")
I visited Australia a few years ago, which had been on my list forever, and really enjoyed it. Spent a lot of time at the opera house, took many many photos. I’m not particularly into architecture, but I found the building fascinating. Almost like an alien structure that was deposited here on Earth. Next door to the opera house are the Royal Botanic Gardens, which I also loved. And the Circular Quay nearby is great to walk. I just loved loved loved Sydney. It felt a bit like San Francisco crossed with a European city. I hope to see it again one day. ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2023, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/50th-birthday-of-the-sydney-opera-house/991749/13 "2023-10-19T03:29:20Z")
And that is the day I first met my life partner, right there under the sails. She was going to an SSO concert and I couldn’t wait for our first date the next night so I arranged to meet her there before she went in. I was already pretty sure she was The One. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2023, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/50th-birthday-of-the-sydney-opera-house/991749/14 "2023-10-19T03:52:57Z")
We saw South Pacific there the night before embarking on a South Pacific cruise (Sydney, Fiji, New Caledonia, Vanuatu). ---
**Author:** ![Mk\_VII](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Mk\_VII](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mk_VII)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2023, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/50th-birthday-of-the-sydney-opera-house/991749/15 "2023-10-19T21:48:38Z")
The design and construction of the Opera House was controversial in its day and extremely challenging technically. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2023, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/50th-birthday-of-the-sydney-opera-house/991749/16 "2023-10-20T00:07:09Z")
> [@Askance](#): > > I was already pretty sure she was The One. That’s definitely worth an “awwww”. 💕