1991 History, Trivia and Fun Facts

• Politics: The USSR dissolved, Mikhail Gorbachev resigned, and Boris Yeltsin took leadership in Russia.
• The Top Song was (Everything I Do) I Do It For You - Bryan Adams
• The Big Movies included Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves and Beauty and the Beast
• The Silence of the Lambs won all of the Big Five Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Writing (Original or Adapted).
• Minimum Wage in 1991: $4.25 per hour
  Price of a Nissan Maxima GXE: $16,999.00
  Barbie Beach Buggy (battery powered): $229.99
• The World Population was ~ 5,304,000,000
• US Life Expectancy: Males: 72.0 years, Females: 78.9 years
• And... A mysterious hum started being heard by many (but not all) residents in Tao, New Mexico. Tinnitus has been ruled out.

In 1991, Bill Gates borrowed a business book, Business Adventures by John Brooks, from Warren Buffett. He never returned it.

In 1990, the high school dropout rate in Sevierville, Dolly Parton’s hometown in Sevier County, TN, was over 30%. In 1991, she launched The Buddy Program, offering 7th and 8th graders $500 if they graduated. The dropout rate for those classes dropped to 6%, and has generally retained that average to this day.

A high profile court case forced the British Government to clearly define the difference between a cake a biscuit. In the end the Government published an official ruling that a cake is defined by its propensity to harden over time, whereas a biscuit has a propensity to soften.

It was Freddie Mercury's dying wish for Bohemian Rhapsody to be reissued in order to raise money for AIDS charities. When the song was rereleased in late 1991, it topped the charts, staying at #1 for five weeks for the first time since its debut in 1975.

"Teen Spirit" was a real deodorant - one of Kurt Cobain's friends spray painted "Kurt Smells Like Teen Spirit" on his wall because Kurt's then-girlfriend wore Teen Spirit, which led to the title of the 1991 Nirvana hit song. Rolling Stone Magazine originally gave Nirvana's Nevermind a 3-star rating. They now give it 5 stars and rank it as the 17th greatest album of all time.

It was Super Bowl XXV (1991) with New Kids On The Block that the halftime show switched from marching bands to pop/rock music performances.

When Whitney Houston's version of the Star Apangled Banner became a hit in 1991, she donated all of the proceeds to the Red Cross Gulf Crisis Fund. When it charted again after 9/11, the proceeds were donated to the New York Firefighters 9/11 Disaster Relief Fund and the New York Fraternal Order of Police

20 paintings were stolen from the Amsterdam Van Gogh Museum and were then recovered 35 minutes later because the robbers got a flat tire.

Marshall Ledbetter blockaded himself in the Florida State Capitol building and demanded, among other things, a large Gumby's pizza, weed, 666 donuts, $100 worth of chinese food, and a phone call with Ice Cube. He was caught with none of his demands met.

A man found a first printing of the Declaration of Independence, inside the frame of a $4 painting he'd bought at a flea market in Adamstown, PA. It sold at auction for $2.4 million.

A time capsule was buried in Sir Frederick Banting Square, on the scientist's 100th birthday, Nov. 14, 1991. Banting was part of a team that received the 1923 Nobel Prize in Medicine for the isolation of insulin. The time capsule will be opened once a cure for diabetes has been found.

The main villains of Psycho (1960), The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974), and The Silence of the Lambs (1991) were all loosely based on the same person: Wisconsin serial killer Ed Gein. 'Silence Of The Lambs' won the big five Oscars - Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress and Best Writing.

Only three films that have won all of the Big Five Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Writing (Original or Adapted). Those films were: It Happened One Night (1934), One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), and The Silence of the Lambs (1991).

Disney's Beauty and the Beast was the first animated movie to be nominated in the best picture category at the Oscars.

In a scene in Hook, there is a couple kissing on a bridge while Tinkerbell is flying over, dropping fairy dust on them and sending them flying. The couple was actually an uncredited cameo by George Lucas, and Carrie Fisher.

Christian Bale's stepmother, Gloria Steinham, was a feminist who protested the 1991 publication of the novel, American Psycho, due to its portrayal of violence toward women. In 2000, Bale went on to star as the title character of the novel's film adaption.

UNSUNG HERO - Tim Berners-Lee came up with the idea of making 'links' on his own compter, then others, creating "The Information Mine" (TIM) later renamed the "World Wide Web." He renounced patent rights because it "would have scuppered the whole thing. It never would have taken off."

Cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev launched into space as a Soviet citizen, but returned to earth as a Russian citizen - he was in orbit when the Soviet Union dissolved on December 26, 1991.

The May 5, 1991 Calvin and Hobbes strip criticized the naming of The Big Bang as not evocative of the wonders behind it, and coined "Horrendous Space Kablooie," an alternative that achieved some informal popularity among scientists and was often shortened to "the HSK."

Liz Taylor married hubby # 7, Larry Fortensky, at Michael Jackson's Neverland Ranch. They met in a rehab center.

Jason Alexander threatened to quit Seinfeld in the third season. After the table read of "The Pen", which features only Jerry and Elaine, Alexander pulled Larry David aside and said "if you write me out again, do it permanently." In 9 seasons, that was the only episode he wasn't in.

In 1991 the #55 Mazda 787B is the only car with a non-reciprocating engine to win the 24 hours of Le Mans. Its wankel engine was so good (930 bhp from a 2.6l engine) that after winning the race it was banned.

After the Australian 1 and 2 cent coins were phased out in late 1991, they were melted down and used in the Sydney 2000 Olympics as Bronze Medals. Not all of them, of course.

The record for the most passengers on an airplane was set in 1991 when 1086 Ethiopian jews were evacuated on a Boeing 747 to Jerusalem. The plane landed with 1088 passengers as two babies were born during the flight.

It became a lot easier for many to quit smoking when Nicoderm CQ's nicotine patch was approved by the FDA.

The Calloway Golf Company's 'Big Bertha' club was introduced. The club revolutionized how the game of golf would be played.

Cost of a Superbowl ad in 1991: $800,000

Sega Game Gear, Sega CD add-on, Super Ninto Entertainment System, Philips' CD-i, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles toys and action figures, Rollerblade Barbie, Super Soaker water gun, K'Nex, Myst

Video Games: Sonic the Hedgehog, Lemmings

1990's Pogs craze was single handedly started by a 5th grade teacher in Hawaii. She showed the game she used to play as a little girl to her class in 1991. Pogs originated from Hawaii as early as 1927.

Wizard Magazine (1991-2011)

Allure began publication

Game Informer began publication

Reminisce began publication

FamilyFun began publication

(according to boxofficemojo)
1. Terminator 2: Judgement Day
2. Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves
3. Beauty and the Beast
4. Silence of the Lambs
5. City Slickers
6. Hook
7. The Addams family
8. Sleeping With The Enemy
9. Father of the Bride
10. The Naked Gun 2 1/2: The Smell of Fear

The Addams Family, Backdraft, Beauty and the Beast, Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey, Cape Fear, City Slickers, Father of the Bride, Fried Green Tomatoes, Highlander 2: The Quickening, Hook, Hot Shots!, JFK, The Naked Gun 2 1/2: The Smell of Fear, The Prince of Tides, The Rocketeer, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, The Silence of the Lambs, Sleeping with the Enemy, Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, Teenage Mutant Turtles II, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Thelma and Louise