What Happened in 2012?
2012 was a year that, in many ways, holds legendary – from doomsday prophecies to colossal sporting events, it’s a period in time many of us who lived through it will remember for years to come.
2012, however, had its fair share of dramatic moments – and in the interest of balance, we are here to share some of the most memorable events from that year to take you back in time.
Here’s a quick breakdown of 2012, month by month.
In this year
January
2012 started with a major transport disaster – as the Costa Concordia, a large passenger cruise liner, suddenly ran aground on January 13th. The event would cause 32 deaths as the ship crashed off Italy’s coast. It remains one of the deadliest passenger shipping disasters in recent
times.
February
Queen Elizabeth II marked her landmark Diamond Jubilee on February 6th, celebrating 60 years she’d spent as reigning monarch of the United Kingdom. She’d see her Platinum Jubilee, celebrating 70 years, in 2022 – before she passed away. She was the UK’s longest-serving
monarch of all time.
March
Shock news for bibliophiles everywhere erupted on March 13th, as the Encyclopedia Britannica
announced it would cease printing physical copies of its cornerstone reference book. Since 2012, the knowledge tome has enlightened us all online – and some say they were ahead of their time in making the leap to digital-only in 2012!
April
Apple skyrocketed to the top of the world’s richest companies as it publicly claimed a value of around $600 billion on April 10th. This made the firm the largest business on the planet in market capital alone. It’s still riding high today, even long after Steve Jobs’ passing.
June
Sad news for conservationists and animal lovers emerged on June 24th, as it was revealed that Lonesome George – a Pinta Island Tortoise – had passed away at around the age of 102 years old. He was the last of his species and therefore considered the rarest animal on the planet at the time of his death.
July
London officially opened the Summer Olympic Games on July 27th, with a lavish opening ceremony directed by Danny Boyle. The event would go down in Olympic history as one of the
most entertaining – could Britain host it again in the years to come? We’ll have to wait and see.
August
NASA announced in August 2012 that its rover, Curiosity, had successfully landed on Mars, and was on route to learning more about the Red Planet for an initial mission of two years. As of the time of writing, Curiosity is still on Mars, making it one of the longest-running space rovers of all time. It can even take selfies!
September
British tennis sensation Andy Murray claimed his first Grand Slam win in the US Open in September 2012, beating Novak Đoković – it was a pivotal moment in his journey toward
becoming a household name. He’d win the Wimbledon Men’s Singles trophy in 2013, cementing him as one of the UK’s best-ever tennis players.
October
On October 14th, Felix Baumgartner went to infinity and beyond with the most daring skydive on record – he leaped from a helium balloon around 24 miles, 128,000 feet, or 39km, above ground – and he was the very first person to break the sound barrier without technological assistance or
machinery.
November
Incumbent US President Barack Obama won a second term in office as leader of the Democrats, beating Republican Mitt Romney to the punch. Obama would take office for the
second time in January 2013.
December
“End of the world” events were held across the globe on December 21st, as this was the date that ancient Maya predicted the world would come to an end. As we all know now… things
turned out a little differently!
2012 was the year of the…
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Celebrity Births in 2012
Blue Ivy Carter (Born January 7th, parents Beyoncé and Jay-Z)
Princess Athena of Denmark (Born January 24th)
Princess Estelle, Duchess of Östergötland (Born February 23rd)
Riley Curry (Born July 19th, parents Steph Curry and Ayesha Curry)
Rachel in Wonderland (Born December 18th)
Famous People we Lost in 2012
Tony Scott, English director, died aged 68
Neil Armstrong, the very first man on the Moon, died aged 82
Whitney Houston, American musician, died aged 48
Donna Summer, American musician, died aged 63
Ray Bradbury, American author, died aged 91
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