How videos went viral
QUESTION What was the first video to go viral?
Viral videos are so-called because, like a medical virus, they can spread quickly, in their case through email or the internet. and such is the speed of modern connectivity that videos like this can make global stars of the performers.
a good example is the Korean pop star Psy, whose song Gangnam Style — with its distinctive horse-riding dance — swept the internet in 2012. it was the first video to have one billion hits on YouTube and has now reached nearly 3.1 billion.
Viral videos began circulating before YouTube came on the scene in 2005, originally via email. Some point to a couple of short cartoons directed by Matt Stone and Trey Parker, the creators of the irreverent TV show South Park.
in 1992, they released a short cartoon called Jesus vs. Frosty with early incarnations of the now familiar characters of Stan, Kyle, Cartman and Kenny building a snowman and putting a magic hat on it to make it come to life. Unfortunately, Frosty turns out to be a deranged monster.
The cartoon came to the attention of Fox Studios executive Brian Graden, who commissioned the pair to create a video Christmas card. They came up with Jesus vs. Santa, where the two argue who is more important, ending up with a Mortal Kombat- style fight. These videos were widely disseminated in 1995 under the title Spirit Of Christmas.
However, far more people will remember 1996’s Dancing Baby — a 3D animation of a baby performing a cha- cha. it was created by developers at autodesk, a Californian software company, as part of a set of 3D tools called Character Studio.
ron lussier, working for lucasarts at the time, tweaked the original file and shared it with co-workers via email, triggering the baby’s internet travels.
in late 1996, web developer John Woodell created a highly compressed animated file called a GiF, which allowed it to spread via even the slowest internet connection.
in 1998, the baby entered mainstream culture when it began appearing as a recurring hallucination on the TV comedy-drama series ally McBeal.
Mary Baines, Telford, Shropshire.
QUESTION The Swan Inn in Dawlish, dating from 1642, has a chart of the names of landlords and landladies who have run it from the 17th century. Can any other pub beat this record?
SeVeral pubs claim to be Britain’s oldest. Ye Olde Trip To Jerusalem, in Nottingham, claims it was established in aD 1189, the year richard the lionheart became king and soon after Pope Gregory Viii called for a Third Crusade. However, there are no documents verifying this.
Other pubs that claim to be the oldest include Nottingham rival Ye Olde Salutation inn (1240) and Ye Olde Fighting Cocks in St albans, Herts, which claims to have opened its doors in aD 793!
The Feathers Hotel in ludlow, Shropshire, originally an inn, has the oldest continuous licence. This was granted in 1619 to lawyer rees Jones.
The Fleur de lys in Pilley, in the New Forest near lymington, has a list of landlords going back to Benjamin Stones in 1498, but though the foundations might date from this time, the building is 16th or early 17th century.
The name of the pub is thought to have derived from a 13th- century window (since destroyed) in the parish church of nearby Boldre, which showed the coat of arms of the Dauphin of France.
The first documentary evidence for a landlord is ananias Hale, who pulled pints at the Fleur de lys from 1654 to 1668 and appears in the Boldre church marriage register in 1654.
Paul Goodman, Melton Mowbray, Leics.
QUESTION Was Donald Trump the first U.S. President to have a rabbi speak at his inauguration?
NO, raBBiS have officiated at several presidential inaugurations.
The role of clergy began in 1937, when President Franklin roosevelt invited two clergymen to pray. Harry Truman included prayers from his good friend rabbi Samuel Thurman in 1949.
rabbis also officiated at the inaugurations of John F. Kennedy (1961), lyndon B. Johnson (1965) and richard Nixon (1969). The 1977 Jimmy Carter and 1981 ronald reagan inaugurations did not feature a rabbi, but reagan’s 1985 one did. There was then a long hiatus until Donald Trump’s inauguration on January 20, 2017.
Brian Doolan, Holland-on-Sea, Essex.