The World in 1909 the year a man flew the channel

About 306,000 cars were registered in the entire United States. One busy city today parks more than that in its driveways and garages.

Life back then

Shopping often meant a book, not a store. The Sears catalog ran past a thousand pages, and an order posted from a farm came back by rail weeks later, everything from boots to a kit for a whole house. Town families were starting to get a telephone, but most lines were shared, so a neighbour could pick up and listen in. Aeroplanes were the wonder of the year, and people paid to stand in a field and watch one fly for a few minutes. At home the music came from a piano in the parlour and whoever could play it.

The year in 8 events

• 🧭Jan 9 Ernest Shackleton's party turns back about a hundred miles from the South Pole, further south than anyone has been. Their food is almost gone.
• ✊Feb 12 Black and white reformers call for a new civil rights group on Lincoln's 100th birthday. It becomes the NAACP.
• 👑Apr 27 Sultan Abdul Hamid II is pushed off the Ottoman throne after an army revolt in Constantinople. His brother replaces him.
• 🩰May 19 The Ballets Russes dances in Paris for the first time. Its Russian dancers and bold designs startle the city.
• ✈️Jul 25 Louis Bleriot flies from France to England across the Channel in about 37 minutes.
• 🕯️Oct 26 Ito Hirobumi, Japan's most powerful statesman, is shot dead at Harbin railway station by a Korean nationalist.
• ⚖️Nov 30 The House of Lords throws out the government's budget in London, starting a fight over how much power unelected peers should keep.
• 🌉Dec 31 The Manhattan Bridge opens, the second new bridge over New York's East River in one year.

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