# Historical moments you didn't realize occurred so close together **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 30, 2016, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-moments-you-didnt-realize-occurred-so-close-together/744688 "2016-01-30T20:09:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ponch8](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponch8/32/9883_2.png) [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2016, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-moments-you-didnt-realize-occurred-so-close-together/744688/1 "2016-01-30T20:09:31Z")
This week was the 30th anniversary both of Super Bowl XX (Bears whipping the buttocks of New England) on the 26th and of the Challenger space shuttle disaster on the 28th. Both were obviously huge stories in central Illinois when I was growing up (I was 9 at the time). I had no recollection that the events occurred two days apart until just this week. What other events DURING YOUR LIFETIME surprised you when you learned they were so close together? ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2016, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-moments-you-didnt-realize-occurred-so-close-together/744688/2 "2016-01-30T22:27:53Z")
July 18, 1969: Teddy Kennedy drives off the Chappaquiddick bridge; Mary Jo Kopechne drowns July 20, 1969: Apollo 11 lands on the moon ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2016, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-moments-you-didnt-realize-occurred-so-close-together/744688/3 "2016-01-31T00:07:17Z")
I saw it in the news at the time, so no surprise for me, but many people are surprised to learn Mother Teresa died just five days after Princess Di. The latter’s death all but buried the former’s in the news. I know one person who even expressed surprise just in the past couple of months that Mother Teresa was even dead. ---
**Author:** ![Tread](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@Tread](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tread)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2016, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-moments-you-didnt-realize-occurred-so-close-together/744688/4 "2016-01-31T00:17:06Z")
Jan 14, 1973 Elvis Presley’s concert in Hawaii. The first worldwide telecast by an entertainer. Super Bowl VII: The Miami Dolphins Perfect Season Both occurred same day, but in my defense for now realizing it, the concert was televised in the USA a few months later actually . Reason being not wanting to go up against Super Bowl,… but 3 months later?? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2016, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-moments-you-didnt-realize-occurred-so-close-together/744688/5 "2016-01-31T04:06:08Z")
Most people are aware that El Alamein, Guadalcanal, and Stalingrad were major WWII battles. But many don’t realize they were all being fought at the same time. ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2016, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-moments-you-didnt-realize-occurred-so-close-together/744688/6 "2016-01-31T15:54:36Z")
> [@Ponch8](#): > > This week was the 30th anniversary both of Super Bowl XX (Bears whipping the buttocks of New England) on the 26th and of the Challenger space shuttle disaster on the 28th. Heh, these two were what popped to mind upon reading the thread title and the recent attention from their anniversaries. We are similar demographics. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2016, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-moments-you-didnt-realize-occurred-so-close-together/744688/7 "2016-01-31T16:07:23Z")
Not quite what you are asking, but David Berkowitz was active in the summer of 1977, while the Atlanta child murders were in 1979-1981. For some reason, I always “remember” the murders in Atlanta happening first. ---
**Author:** ![kurtisokc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bbce88/32.png) [@kurtisokc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kurtisokc)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2016, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-moments-you-didnt-realize-occurred-so-close-together/744688/8 "2016-01-31T21:32:23Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Most people are aware that El Alamein, Guadalcanal, and Stalingrad were major WWII battles. But many don’t realize they were all being fought at the same time. Considering that WWII battles typically took place over periods of weeks or months rather than days, it is hardly surprising that some of the better known ones would overlap. What I hadn’t realized until just now, though, was that Guadalcanal and Stalingrad both started and ended in the same month (August 1942-February 1943.) ---
**Author:** ![JoseB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/joseb/32/1530_2.png) [@JoseB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoseB)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2016, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-moments-you-didnt-realize-occurred-so-close-together/744688/9 "2016-02-01T12:21:56Z")
Not during my lifetime, but… JFK, Aldous Huxley and C.S. Lewis died on the same day (Nov. 22, 1963). ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2016, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-moments-you-didnt-realize-occurred-so-close-together/744688/10 "2016-02-01T13:13:23Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > I saw it in the news at the time, so no surprise for me, but many people are surprised to learn Mother Teresa died just five days after Princess Di. The latter’s death all but buried the former’s in the news. I know one person who even expressed surprise just in the past couple of months that Mother Teresa was even dead. I heard about Mother Teresa dying, but yeah it was almost totally lost in the media masturbation frenzy that followed Princess Diana’s death, and I’m sure tons of people never heard about it. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2016, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-moments-you-didnt-realize-occurred-so-close-together/744688/11 "2016-02-01T14:13:02Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Most people are aware that El Alamein, Guadalcanal, and Stalingrad were major WWII battles. But many don’t realize they were all being fought at the same time. I, for one, had no idea.