The Year of the Tiger is upon us, and luckily it’s only the Year of the Tiger and not the real deal. As we bid farewell to the Ox, we usher in everything that’s fierce, orange and stripy. Fantastic. But as well as looking forward to what the following 12 months will bring, we’ve also been taking a trip back through the last century to see what happened in previous Tiger years. Here are the highlights.

 

1902 (8th February 1902 – 28th January 1903)
The 20th century dawned with the Year of the Pig, and by the time the Tiger rolled around in February 1902, the Victorian period had just finished for the British Empire, and the Dowager Empress Cixi was doing her best to nurse imperial China back to political and economic health after years of Manchu rule and the Boxer Rebellion. Theodore Roosevelt was president of the United States, and the 2nd Boer War was raging in South Africa. The Berlin underground system was opened, and King Edward the 7th was crowned in England. The first cinema in America opened in Los Angeles, and celeb births included Tallulah Bankhead, aviator Charles Lindberg, and Hunanese dissident writer Shen Congwen. 1902 also saw the death of Levi Strauss, the inventor of blue jeans.

1914 (26th January 1914 – 13th February 1915)
The year 1914 will forever be associated with the start of the First World War. The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife in Sarajevo on June 28th, set the wheels in motion for what would be one of the most important and disastrous wars in history. Throughout this Year of the Tiger, battles were fought across Europe, while Pope Benedict XV was elected after the death of his predecessor Pope Pius X. Woodrow Wilson was president of the US, and the Mexican Revolution was in progress.

China was still reeling after the 1911 revolution, and imperial rule had come to an end after thousands of years, making way for the Republic of China. Unsurprisingly, for such a violent year, no Nobel Peace Prize was awarded… However, the good news (for future generations) was that Jackie Chan’s father Charles was born, along with mountaineer Tenzing Norgay and US president-to-be, Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

1926 (13th February 1926 – 1st February 1927)
By the time the next Tiger Year came around 12 years later, the world was still recovering from the First World War, and was heading towards what would be known as the Great Depression. Dictators were coming to power across Europe – Franco in Spain, Pangalos in Greece, Carmona in Portugal – and the Kuomintang carried out their Northern Expedition (Bei Fa) to take power from rebel warlords in the north of China. The March 18 Massacre during an anti-warlord rally in Beijing was described by poet Lu Xun as “the darkest day in the history of the republic”.

Things in Britain weren’t so stable either. A state of martial law was declared on May 9th because of the coal miners’ strike. On a happier note, A. A. Milne’s beloved Winnie the Pooh was first published in October, and lothario Hugh Hefner came into the world. China’s future president Jiang Zemin was born, and Harry Houdini pulled off his best ever disappearing act – he died.

1938 (31st January 1938 – 18th February 1939)
The Great Depression was in full force throughout this Tiger Year, and Hitler was gathering force. The Nazis annexed Austria on 12th March and began the long wrangling over Sudentenland that got the rest of Europe involved. Kristallnacht happened on 9th November, and the Spanish Civil War was going on. Over in Asia, China and Japan locked horns in the Sino-Japanese War, and Chiang Kai-Shek moved his government to Chongqing.

1938 also saw the first Academy Awards to happen in a Tiger Year, and the birth registers included Etta James, Kofi Annan, and Evel Knievel.

1950 (17th February 1950 – 5th February 1951)
The next tiger Year fell bang in the middle of the century, when the West was booming. 1950 saw the first mass produced computers, the advent of credit cards in the United States, the invention of the television remote control, and the first organ transplant.

China was into its first full year as the People’s Republic, and the PRC was recognised as a country by various Western nations. By the end of the year, Chiang Kai-Shek had finally retreated to Taipei, and the last of the Kuomintang troops were disbanded. Further east, the Korean War broke out, and would continue till 1953.

1950 was a good year for cartoons. The Eagle comic was launched, and the Peanuts comic strip started to appear in newspapers. ABBA frontwoman Agnetha Fältskog was born, along with exuberant British clairvoyant Derek Acorah.

 

1962 (5th February 1962 – 24th January 1963)
The Swinging Sixties were in full force when the Tiger visited the zodiac next. Under President Kennedy, America was embroiled in the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Civil Rights Movement, and the rumblings of the Vietnam War. Kennedy made his famous “Ich bin ein Berliner” speech in support of West Germany against the communist east part of the city. Meanwhile, China was disputing borders with India in the Sino-Indian conflict.

The showbiz world was shaken by the death of Marilyn Monroe from an overdose (accident, suicide or murder? We still don’t know…) and the Beatles were finalising their line up in preparation for world domination. Over in France, a girl was born who would grow up to be the tragic, huge-bosomed Eurotrash queen, Lolo Ferrari.

1974 (23rd January 1974 – 10th February 1975)
The Tiger dropped in on the funky, soulful Seventies, donned his flares, and primped his ‘fro. He was just in time to see Nixon resign after the Watergate affair, and watch the Sears Tower in Chicago become the world’s tallest building. The world’s population topped four billion, and India became the sixth country to go nuclear. Inflation reached a peak, plunging the world into global recession.

On the entertainment front, the Beatles were history, but Paul McCartney was developing his solo talent with new band Wings. Good news for fans of the Spice Girls – Posh (Victoria Beckham) was born, along with Leonardo DiCaprio and Alanis Morissette.

1986 (9th February 1986 – 28th January 1987)
1986 was the International Year of Peace, and was relatively unwarlike, apart from the Iran-Contra affair. The Soviets launched the Mir space station, and the European Community started to develop. Halley’s comet made its second trip of the century to the solar system, and Maradona scored what’s said to be the greatest goal of all time against England in the World Cup. Prince Andrew married flame-haired floozy Sarah Ferguson, and the Queen visited China with her sidekick/husband Prince Philip in October.

In Asia, President Marcos of the Philippines stood down after two decades, and basketball player Chen Jin was born in China.

The world said goodbye to French intellectual Simone de Beauvoir, royal homewrecker Wallis Simpson, and the legendary Scatman Crothers.

1998 (28th January 1998 – 15th February 1999)
The most recent Tiger year came towards the end of the millennium. World politics were shocked and incensed by Clinton’s indiscretions involving a young intern and a cigar, while transsexual diva Dana International won the Eurovision Song Contest for Israel.

In Northern Ireland, the Good Friday Peace Agreement was signed, but the Omagh bombing in August threw the nation back into conflict. The Kosovo crisis began, and the Russian economy was in a bad way. In China, the Yangtze burst its banks, leading to the death of 12,000 people and injuries to many more.

James Cameron’s Titanic scooped 11 Academy Awards, the most Oscars a film had ever won. A record that may be eclipsed in this Year of the Tiger by new Cameron epic Avatar. Actress Elle Fanning and actor Jaden Smith (the new Karate Kid) were born, and Chinese artist Zhang Chongwen shuffled off his mortal coil.

So what can past Tiger Years teach us about what to expect for the next one? Honestly, we have no idea. Who knows what big world events will occur, which future stars will be born, and how the economy will shape up? We’re just looking forward to seeing what unfolds and we welcome your predictions for the upcoming year. Happy New Year. Go get ‘em Tiger!

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