1997 History, Trivia and Fun Facts

Quick Facts from 1997:

• World Changing Event: On August 31st, 1997, Princess Diana, aged 36, was killed in a car accident in France.
• The Top Song was Candle in the Wind 1997/ Something About The Way You Look Tonight by Elton John
• Influential Songs include: Missing You by Puff Daddy, 112 & Faith Evans, The Old Apartment by Barenaked Ladies and Wannabe by The Spice Girls
• The Teletubbies– Tinky Winky, Dipsy, Laa-Laa, Po, and Noo-noo their housekeeper were introduced on BBC2.
• The Movies to Watch include Good Will Hunting, Amistad, The Fifth Element, As Good As It Gets, Contact and Titanic
• People Magazine’s Sexiest Man Alive: George Clooney
• The 1997 Amtrak Reform and Accountability Act set a $200 million maximum limit for the “allowable awards to all rail passengers, against all defendants, for all claims, including claims for punitive damages, arising from a single accident.”
• Notable books include: Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone by J.K. Rowling and Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom
• IBM’s “Deep Blue” chess-playing computer defeated chess champion, Garry Kasparov
• Price of AM/FM Cassette Sony Walkman in 1997: $44.99
  Plymouth (or Dodge) Neon: $11,395.00
• The Funny Late Night Host: Jay Leno
• The Song: Celine Dion at first declined to sing My Heart Will Go On. Then she recorded it in one take and that demo was later released as the main theme song for Titanic. Now it’s one of the all-time best-selling singles and has become her Signature Song.

“The Quotes:”
“Oh my God! They killed Kenny!”
– South Park

“There are some things that money can’t buy. For everything else there’s MasterCard”
-Mastercard

“I’m king of the world!”
– Leonardo DiCaprio, in ‘Titanic’

The Scandals:
Marv Albert went on trial for felony charges of forcible sodomy, which involved the alleged repeated biting of an unnamed female sex partner.

Eddie Murphy was stopped by the police with a transsexual prostitute. He explained that it was all a misunderstanding; he was merely giving the young lady/ man a ride.

The Globe tabloid paper revealed an affair between Frank Gifford and Trans World Airlines flight attendant Suzen Johnson. The incident was at first not believed by his wife, Kathie Lee Gifford.

Shania Twain’s album Come On Over broke 3 different music records including best-selling Country music album, the best-selling album by a female, & best-selling album by a Canadian.

The full-size Krackel bar was discontinued in 1997, although is still available as a Hershey Miniature.

The record for keeping the original 1996/1997 Tamagotchi alive is Age 89 days. In an unrelated story, Tamagotchi’s creators won the 1997 Ig Nobel Prize in Economics “for diverting millions of person-hours of work into the husbandry of virtual pets.”

14-year-old Nathan Zohner was able to get 43 out of 50 of his classmates to vote to ban “Dihydrogen Monoxide” for his science fair project. His project aimed to prove that the use of true facts can lead the ignorant public to false conclusions. He won first prize. Dihydrogen Monoxide=water

WebMD went online in 1997.

A 1997 Pokemon episode, Cyber Soldier Porygo, caused 700 seizures also caused additional seizures when news reports aired a clip while covering the story

Ethernet inventor Robert Metcalfe predicted that the internet would collapse in 1996, promising to eat his words if not. In 1997, he took a printed copy of his column that predicted the collapse, put it in a blender with some liquid, and then drank the paper drink.

In 1997, Bill Gates invested $150 million in Apple to save it from going bankrupt.

Pfizer’s Lipitor has been reducing cholesterol since 1997.

Purell was launched as a product for consumers. It had been used by healthcare workers since 1988.

In Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, a pot-bellied pig named Lulu saved her owner, having a heart attack. Lulu heard the owner’s cries of pain then forced her way out of the yard and played dead on the road. Lulu successfully stopped a car and guided help to the owner, she survived.

The “purple paint law” became official in Texas on September 1, 1997. It’s a warning signified by painting fence posts purple that trespassers can be held criminally liable for entering the property without the express permission of the owner.

On April Fools Day 1997, Wheel of Fortune host Pat Sajak and Jeopardy host Alex Trebek swapped shows for the day.

Mr. Fred Rogers, when receiving his Lifetime Achievement Award at the 1997 Daytime Emmys, asked his audience to take “ten seconds to think of the people who have helped you become who you are.” People cried.

Katrina and the Waves, the band best known for the lone hit, Walking on Sunshine in 1985, won the Eurovision Song Contest in 1997.

White Town’s 1997 hit Your Woman was a direct sample of Al Bowlley’s 1932 recording My Woman.

LeAnn Rimes was the youngest person ever to win the ‘Best New Artist’ Grammy.

Metallica’s Better Than You (1997) won the 1998 Grammy for Best Metal Performance. The song was not a single and despite the award, Metallica has never, as of 2019, performed the song live.

Titanic won 11 Oscars.

Martin Scorsese was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award in 1997 by the American Film Institute. Since that time he has made Gangs of New York, The Aviator, The Departed, Hugo, The Wolf of Wall Street, and The Irishman.

Toe wrestling is actually a competitive sport. Every year they hold a championship in England. But in 1997 the Olympic Committee turned the sport down on the basis that they just couldn’t decide if it was a winter or a summer sport.

The fans of Philidelphia’s Eagles at Veteran Stadium created enough trouble that the city appointed a Judge to the stadium to hold court, locally known as Eagles Court. It ended when Lincoln Financial Field replaced Veterans Stadium in 2003.

Cost of a Superbowl ad in 19907: $1,200,000

1997 Billboard Number One Songs:
December 7, 1996 – February 21, 1997:
Un-Break My Heart – Toni Braxton

February 22 – May 21:
Wannabe – Spice Girls

March 22 – May 2:
Can’t Nobody Hold Me Down – Puff Daddy and Mase

May 3 – May 23:
Hypnotize – The Notorious B.I.G.

May 24 – June 13:
MMMBop – Hanson

June 14 – August 30:
I’ll Be Missing You – Puff Daddy/Faith Evans/112

August 30 – September 12:
Mo’ Money, Mo’ Problems – The Notorious B.I.G. featuring Puff Daddy and Mase

September 13 – October 3:
Honey – Mariah Carey

October 4 – October 10:
4 Seasons of Loneliness – Boyz II Men

October 11, 1997 – January 16, 1998:
Candle In The Wind 1997 – Elton John