Potted History: the BC Years

• Dinosaurs bite dust 10m BC
• Lucy 2m BC
• Cave paintings 50,000 BC
• Pyramids
• Confucius
• Mesopotemians
• 1500 BC Early Greek civilization
• Babylonians & Egyptians
• 1000BC Ionians develop basic geometry, mathematics & astronomy.
• Euclid
• Plato
• Aristotle
• Etruscans
• 753 (21.4) Romulus & Remus found Rome.
• 550 (approx) Buddhism originated in India by Gautama.
• 479BC Confucius died
• 323 Death of Alexander the Great, aged 32, after conquoring most of the East.'Living God'. Major influence on Eastern & Western religions.
• c300 Roman republic
• 221BC First united Chinese Empire under Qin Shi Huangdi.
• Cleopatra
• 49 Roman republic becomes Empire under Julius Ceasar
• 44 Julius Caesar killed by Brutus
• 44-31 Triumpherate, Mark Antony. Octavius. Carassis rule empire.
• 43 BC Cicero, orator, writer + Statesman dies.
• 31 Gaius Octavius (Caesar Augustus - J.C. nephew) becomes Roman Emperor after defeating Mark Antony at Actium.

Potted History: 1900 to 2000ad

• 1900 (30.11) Oscar Wilde dies in Paris
• 1901 (1.1) Australia becomes a Federation. Before each state was seperate colony.
• 1901 Marconi sends S from Newfoundland to Cornwal.
• 1901 (21.1) Death of Queen Victoria-accession of Edward vii
• 1901 Picasso's 1st exhibition in Paris.
• 1902 (July) 1st Tour de France
• 1903 Wright brothers fly
• 1904 Puccini's opera Madam Butterfly premieres in Milan.
• 1905 Einstein theory of relativity.
• 1911 End of Chinese Empire.
• 1910 Chanel opens salon in Rue Cambon.
• 1912 Titanic sinks.
• 1913 Apolphe Pegond jumps from aircraft at 200m & becomes 1st to successfully use parachute.
• 1914 WW1
• Klimt
• 1916 1st battle of Somme. Lasted 5mths, 1million dead. Gained allies just 325 sq km.
• 1917 (oct) Tzar Nicholas of Russia executed.
• 1925 A.A. Milne writes Winnie-the-Pooh.
• 1928 Mickey Mouse debuts in Steamboat Willie.
• 1928 Philo Farnsworth invents electronic TV
• 1929 Stock market crash.
• End of Raj in India?
• 1929 Arthur Ransome writes Swallows and Amazons
• 1930? George Orwell writes 1984.
• 1939-45 WW2
• 1941 Orson Welles directs Citizen Kane.
• 1941 (7.12) Pearl Harbor
• 1941 (11.12) Hitler declares war on USA.
• 1944 Allied forces liberate Paris after 4yrs of Nazi occupation.
• 1945 (7.8) U.S. drops atom bombs on Hiroshima - 117 000 casualties.
• 1945 (30.4) Adolf Hitler commits suicide.
• 1947 Christian Dior introduces the New Look.
• 1950s Eniac 1st computer.
• 1951 Catholic church permits discussion of evolutionalist principles.
• 1952 Coronation of Elizabeth 2nd
• 1952 Edmond Hilary climbs Everest.
• 1953 (25.12) Tangiwai disaster kills 151.
• 1954 Roger Bannister 1st under 4min mile.
• 1957 USSR launches Sputnic satellite.
• 1959? Louis de Bernieres born.
• 1961 Oral contraceptive becomes available in UK on national health.
• 1961 (12.4) Uri Gagarin in space.
• 1961 (13.8) Berlin Wall erected.
• 1963 (28.8) Martin Luther King gives 'I have a dream' speach.
• 1963 (23.11)JFK shot in Dallas.
• 1965 First large unit of U.S. troops arrive in Vietnam.
• 1967 Dr Christiaan Barnhard preforms first heart transplant.
• 1968 Apollo 8 is launched on its way to man's 1st orbit of the moon.
• 1969 Neil Armstrong on moon.
• 1971 Coco Chanel died (b19.10.1883 Saumur, France)
• 1972? Stanley Kubrick makes 2001
• 1973 (8.4) Picasso dies age 92.
• 1974 Nixon resigns after Watergate.
• 1979 Margaret Thatcher becomes 1st female P.M. of Britian
• Berlin wall falls.
• 1980 John Lennon murdered in New York.
• 1984 Labour Government under David Lange defeated Muldoon's National government.
• 1985 Rainbow Warrior bombed in Auckland harbour.
• 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster.
• 1993 U.S.A. enters war in the Middle East.
• 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union - 11 of 12 former Republics proclaim birth of Commonwealth of Indep. States
• 1997 Britain hands over Hong Kong to the Chinese.
• 1999 (1.6) Estimated world popn. 6 billion.

Potted History: 1800 to 1900ad

• 1800 Population of the world estimated at 1 billion.
• 1814 Napoleon exiled to Elba - Burboun reign restored.
• 1815 Napoleon defeated by British & Prussian forces at battle of Waterloo.
• 1818 (to 1848) Emily Bronte.
• 1819 Factory act passed in Britain - no children under 9, under 16 less than 12hrs per day in textile mills.
• 1821 Napoleon Bonaparte dies in exile in St Helena.
• Napolean III crowned.
• 1831 (27.12) Darwin sets sail on Beagle for 5years.
• 1837 Queen Victoria take throne. (1819-1901)
• 1840 The Treaty of Waitangi signed.
• 1840 Potato famine in Ireland begins (lasts through to 1851)
• 1840 Deportation of convicts to Australia officially ends. ?
• 1843 Hong Kong proclaimed a British crown colony.
• 1844 Samuel Morse sends message from Washington to Baltimore.
• 1846 Anesthetic 1st used in a Massachusetts Hospital.
• 1851 (12.8) Isaac Singer granted patent on his Sewing Machine.
• 1859 Darwin publishes 'Origins of the species'.
• 1860 Paris commune.
• 1861 - 1865 American civil war.
• End of slavery in the USA.
• 1864 Waikato Wars
• 1865(26.5) end of U.S. Civil War.
• 1867 Alfred Nobel demonstrates dynamite in England
• Louis Pastor.
• 1874 (b.30.11) - 1965 Winston Churchill
• 1877 Edison records + plays back sound.
• 1879 (1.1) Edison demonstrates light bulb.
• 1880 Ned Kelly is wounded & captured.
• 1881 (25.10) Pablo Picasso born in Malaga, Spain.
• 1887 (12.8) Edison makes 1st sound recording of 'Mary had a little lamb'.
• William Morris
• Liberty opens in London.
• Bell conducts 1st successful telephone experiments.
• Charles Worth goes to Paris.
• 1889 Eiffel Tower opened in Paris.
• 1893-7 Penny Farthing the rage.
• 1896 Marconi makes prototype radio

Potted History: 1000 to 1800ad

• Richard Lion Heart comes to Rule Britain (French)
• 1066 Battle of Hastings
• 1066-87 Rule of William the Conqueror
• 1076 Irnerius rediscovers the Roman Digest of Law in Bologne.
• 1086 Doomsday book compiled for William the Conqueror.
• 1098 after 5mth siege Antioch falls to Crusaders.
• Ghengis Khan sweeps across Poland,Hungry defeating Europe's best.
• 1215 King John signs Magna Carta granting more liberty to his barons.
• 1314 Robert the Bruce crushes the English under Edward 11 at Battle of Bannockburn.
• 1347 The Black Death hits Europe. In less than 20 years 1/2 popn. of Europe dead.
• 1397 Medici start lending money internationally. Begins Italian Renaissance.
• 1429 English are defeated by French forces lead by Joan of Arc at seige of Orleans.
• 1450s Guttenburg develops 1st printing press.
• ? First books printed in English by Caxton.
• 1490s? Leonardo di Vinci
• Templars stamped out by the French
• 1492 Columbus discovers the Americas
• 1509 Henry 8th ascends the throne.
• Catherine of Aragon(d1536) - Mary1
• Anne Bolyne(ex1536) -Elizabeth1
• Jane Seymour(d1537) - Edward.vi
• Anne of Cleves (d1557)
• Catherine Howard (ex1542)
• Catherine Parr (d 1548)
• 1514 Copernia proposes that the earth rotates around the sun.
• 1515? Luther nails list on church door
• 1527? Death of Machiavelli.
• 1531 Henry 8th breaks from Rome to form Church of England.
• 1533 Atahualpa, king of the Inca, executed by Pizarro, after paying ransom of 1 room gold + 2 of silver
• 1547 Death of Henry 8th (b1509)
• 1547 Edward vi takes throne (1537-53)
• 1553 Rule of 'Bloody' Queen Mary i. (1516-58)
• 1558 Elizabeth i. reign. (1533-1603)
• 1564 (21.4) Shakespeare born
• 1566 French astrologer, physician & prophet Nostradamus dies.
• 1587 Mary Queen of Scots beheaded
• 1558 (23.7) British forces assemble to combat the Spanish Armarda.
• 1591 Galileo takes up of Prof. of Mathematics of Padua.
• 1603 James i (vi Scotland) takes crown. (1566-1625)
• 1611 Henry Hudson, famous for trying to find Asian route via Arctic, set adrift in Hudson bay by mutineers.
• 1613 The Globe Theatre burns down.
• 1616 (18.4) Death of Shakespeare (51yrs)
• 1619 First Africans brought to America by Dutch, the beginning of slavery.
• 1620 (21.12) Pilgrims go ashore from the Mayflgwer at Plymouth.
• 1625 Charles i. to throne. (1600-beheaded 1649)
• 1644 Cromwell's forces defeat British royalists..
• 1649 Charles ii.-restored 1660. (1630- 85)
• 1653 (16.12) Oliver Cromwell becomes Lord Protector of England Scotland + Ireland.
• ?Reformation in England.
• 1666 Fire of London.
• 1688 William + Mary offered joint monarchy over England + Holland.
• 1687 Isaac Newton publishes Principia Mathematica, 20 years after apple.
• The Mayflower
• 1720s onward - good weather in Eng. for 30yrs.=popn. increase + slave trade money +.technology = industrial revolution.
• 1753 Benjamin Franklin flew kite to prove lightning was electricity.
• 1759 m2 chronometer perfected
• 1765 Watt patents steam engine
• 1767 James Hargreaves invents spinning jenny.
• 1769 Cook 'discovers' New Zealand
• American Declaration of Independence.
• 1769? Napolean Bonaparte born in Corsica.
• 1773 (16.12) American colonists stage Boston Tea Party.
• 1775-1817 Jane Austen.
• 1780s? Alessandro Volta produces 1st battery in Italy.
• 1789 (14.7)The storming of the Bastille marks the start of the French revolution.
• 1789 George Washington inaugurated,
• 1792 (30.11) British & Americans sign peace articles in Paris ending American Revolution.
• 1799? Napoleonic era
• Victory in northern Italy , Austria
• Victory (?) in Egypt.
• French lose almost entire navy to English near Alexandria.
• Napoleon named 1st consul
• Crowned as Emperor.

Potted History: 0 to 1000ad

• 14 Augustus dies aged 75 years.
• 14 Tiberius becomes Roman Emperor. Died 16.3.37 aged 78, loathed by his people.
• 33ish Ben Hur
• 37 Gaius (Caligula) Roman Ruler aged 24 - assassinated 24.1.41
• 37 Paul converted from persecutor of Christians to Missinary on the road to Damascus.&
• 41 Claudius (b1.10.10bc)
• 54 Death of Claudius - succession of his stepson Nero.
• 60 Uprising against Romans in Britian lead by Boudicca.
• 68 (8.6) end of Julio-Claudian line when Nero kills himself. Galba becomes Princeps.
• 68-69 The year of 4 Caesars. Nero, Galba, Otho, then Vespasian.
• 70 The great Temple in Jerusalem sacked by Roman troops, lead by Titus (son of Emporor Vespasian.)
• 79 Vespasian dies & is succeeded by son Titus. (First time 'natural' succession)
• 79 (24.8) Mt Vesuvius erupts.
• 138 Hadrian dies.
• 158 Taupo erupts
• 408 Roman legions withdraw from Britannia.
• 410 Collapse of Roman Empire with the sacking of Carthage.
• 500 King Arthur (regional leader) resists invaders at battle of Mt Badgn (Dorset).
• 622 Mohammed begins his flight from Mecca to Medina.
• 700ish? founding of Islam
• 711 Moors invade Spain.
• 750 Charlemagne ressurects standards of learning through monasteries with 7 principles of learning
• 860s onward. Beginning of the Viking invasion of England - which lead toward unification of kingdoms in resistance.
• 900(approx) Invention of the plough.
• 973 Edgar claims crown of England, Scotland & Isles. First United Kingdom.

A1GP 2007 at Taupo, New Zealand

My mate Simon Arkwright (aka The Professor) with his consultancy Sport Research Group gets some great gigs endeavouring to unravel the mysterious behaviours of sports fans, mostly in situations where there is a problem attracting or keeping them.

The model he has developed is called passionEight™ which I could explain but it's better you head off to his website for the full story. It's powerful stuff for decoding your fan or customer issues. The reader's digest version of the passions is this:

Principle #1 – There are 8 passionEight™ Passions

• Passion for Novelty/Occasion relates to the desire to attend an event to experience something new, different or special.
• Passion for People relates to the desire to attend the event with others rather than a strong desire to watch the sport event itself.
• Passion for Player taps into the inclination of fans to form bonds with particular players for whatever reason.
• Passion for Party relates to the entertainment factor which includes the atmosphere in the stands, event enhancement activities and/or the exciting play and players.
• Passion for Contest/Success is about the desire for competition, and success. The focus here is results not style.
• Passion for Community relates to loyalty to, and pride in, a particular community; whether that the cause of that pride and loyalty is territorial, ethnic, religious or cultural.
• Passion for Code relates to the love of the sports code.
• Passion for Team relates to a strong emotional link with a particular team rather than a love of the sports code or feelings of community.

He was kind enough to share the bounty of one of those gigs by getting me a photographer's pass to the A1GP in Taupo in early 2007. Would the A1GP model of fans dividing by a passion for their country work in a nation of rev-heads divided mostly by a passion for a brand of Australian 6 and 8 cylinder motor car? My task was to capture the context of the days of racing and the fans in the stands.

Here's a slideshow of the best images - bugger all of which are of fans!