Category: Fictional

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April 26, 4120 BCE — Bilbo Baggins is recruited by Thorin Oakenshield as a thief

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It was a most Unexpected Party. Bilbo had no idea that he was going to be throwing it, for one thing.

But despite all the misunderstandings that Gandalf had apparently deliberately fostered (who says you can’t have a few laughs while you’re saving the world?), in the end, one bemused middle-aged hobbit with no prior experience at anything more challenging than walking down to the pub had agreed to travel halfway round the world with thirteen dwarves he didn’t know to steal things from a dragon. Because why not?

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June 22, 4119 BCE — Bilbo Baggins returns to the Shire after his adventures

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More than a year after he had departed, and after numerous adventures, after triumphs and losses, Bilbo Baggins returned to his home of Bag End, in the Shire. His long adventures there and back again are completed; he carries with him the One Ring (albeit not yet recognised as such), and believes that all his troubles lie behind him.

He is mildly discombobulated to discover that he has been declared dead and that certain of his relatives are attempting to claim his possessions. The matter is soon sorted out, although Bilbo’s penchant for adventures, the strange company he keeps (elves, dwarves and even wizards come to visit at times), and, we must suppose, a certain jealousy of his wealth, do little to endear him to most other hobbits.

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September 29, 4040 BCE — The Ringbearers take ship from the Grey Havens

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At long last, weary of Middle Earth, the majority of the remaining Noldor Elves take ship for the Uttermost West. Their company includes the bearers of the three Elven Rings; Galadriel, Elrond and Gandalf; and also the hobbits Bilbo and Frodo Baggins, who had each borne the One Ring.

It is an occasion both of sadness and of the rewards of victory, as the peace of the West means forsaking Middle Earth and all there whom they love, forevermore. The departure is witnessed by Frodo’s three closest friends, Merry, Pippin and Sam Gamgee.

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February 17, 1536 — Christopher Walker is the only survivor of a pirate attack

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Christopher Walker was a man of strong will. When he washed ashore on a remote Bangalla beach, he did not just swear vengeance on the pirates, but on all criminals. And he did not merely swear his own life, but those of all his descendants. The Phantom who appears in Phantom comics to this day is the 21st in a unbroken line of mighty crime fighters. Because of this constant succession – and the use of the same costume design for centuries – the Phantom is widely believed to be immortal, and local tribes refer to him as ‘the man who cannot die’ and ‘the ghost who walks’.

First Phantom Sunday strip.jpg
By “<none>” at Image Shack. Retrieved August 11, 2007., Fair use, Link

As mentioned in:

Phantom Shuffle — Austen Tayshus

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May 21, 1929 — The Great King Rat is born

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Little is known of the circumstances of the Great King Rat’s birth, other than its date of May 21st. Even the year is an estimate.

It is known that the Great King Rat would grow up to become a notorious dirty old man, and my feeling is that he was probably involved with organized crime syndicates in London. Given the cause of his death, it seems likely that he did not use condoms.

Queen Queen.png
By May be found at the following website: http://www.queenpicturehall.com/albums/q01q.shtml, Fair use, Link

As mentioned in:

Great King Rat — Queen

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May 21, 1973 — The Great King Rat dies

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Only three facts are known about the circumstances of the Great King Rat’s death: the proximate cause was syphillis, it was forty-four years to the day since his birth, and the date was May 21st. Even the year is an estimate.

It is known that the Great King Rat was, at the time of his death, a notorious dirty old man, and my feeling is that he was probably involved with organized crime syndicates in London. Given the cause of his death, it seems likely that he did not use condoms.

Queen Queen.png
By May be found at the following website: http://www.queenpicturehall.com/albums/q01q.shtml, Fair use, Link

As mentioned in:

Great King Rat — Queen

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2139 — The Volunteers set sail

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Brian May described this song as his own little science fiction story.

It concerns a group who set out in a space ship, sailing ‘across the milky sea’ (which is a reference to both the Milky Way and to a pre-Queen band of Freddie Mercury’s, Sour Milk Sea), in search of a newer and better world. Their quest is ultimately successful, but their return to Earth That Was sees them fall foul of relativistic time dilation.

Queen A Night At The Opera.png
By Source, Fair use, Link

As mentioned in:

’39 — Queen

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2239 — The Volunteers come home

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Brian May described this song as his own little science fiction story.

It concerns a group who set out in a space ship, sailing ‘across the milky sea’ (which is a reference to both the Milky Way and to a pre-Queen band of Freddie Mercury’s, Sour Milk Sea), in search of a newer and better world. Their quest is ultimately successful, but their return to Earth That Was sees them fall foul of relativistic time dilation.

Queen A Night At The Opera.png
By Source, Fair use, Link

As mentioned in:

’39 — Queen

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November 20, 2265 – The starship Enterprise begins its five year mission

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Space… the final frontier.
These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise.
Its five year mission:
to explore strange new worlds,
to seek out new life and new civilisations,
to boldly go where no man has gone before…

Today is the day that it all will have started (time travel weirds English ever worse than verbing), in the year 2265. Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Uhura, Sulu and Scotty started their five year mission, of which, alas, only the first three years were shown on television. (Chekov joined the crew later.)

The first episode of Star Trek was “The Man Trap”, and the date used here is derived from the stardate given in that episode.

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2525 — Something happens. Really.

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Today’s entry in the Rock ‘n’ Roll History of the World could just as easily find a home in the Daft Lyrics Database.

You see, although Zager and Evans were quite happy to prophesy on at 1010 year intervals from 2525, they seem to have somehow forgotten to specify just what would actuallly happen in that year.

Either that, or what man and woman will find in the year 2525 is the year 3535, which seems to suggest that 2525 will be the year in which the human race develops time travel, thus making the doom-saying of the rest of the song trivially easy to sidestep.

In the Year 2525 Single.jpg
By Source, Fair use, Link

As mentioned in:

In the Year 2525 — Zager and Evans