Today in history - April 23rd

The winds of change have been blowing hard all week: 6 Premier League football teams announced that they were joining the breakaway European Super League...only to change their minds less than 48 hours later, Joe Biden announced a dramatic U.S. policy change in the fight to tackle climate change and MI5 joined Instagram in a bid to change prejudices and preconceptions about the notoriously (and necessarily) secretive organisation. Here’s a quick look at other changes from history that occurred today - April 23rd.

On April 23rd, 1968, the first decimal coins are issued in Britain in preparation for replacing the system of pounds, shillings and pence by 1971. Coming less than 6 months after sterling’s humiliating devaluation, the new five pence and ten pence coins are greeted with fear, suspicion and hostility by many people. In a desperate bid to change public perception about the change to the change in their pocket, Prime Minister Harold Wilson resorts to driving around the country in a big red bus with the slogan ‘Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes, turn and face the strange, ch-ch changes, don’t you want to be a richer man?’ emblazoned on the side. His gamble pays off; everything turns out hunky-dory.

On April 23rd, 1982, the ZX Spectrum is released. At a mere £125 for the 16k version or £175 to go large by going 48k, it's less than half the price of its main competitor the Commodore 64 and a lot cheaper than the BBC Micro. With unemployment at 3 million for the first time since 1930, its affordability is a game changer in the battle for the personal home computer market in the UK. Within 2 years, inventor Clive Sinclair has a knighthood, sales have gone through the roof and, for two glorious months in 1984, playing Jet Set Willy in the bedroom overtakes playing with your willy in the bathroom as the favourite pastime of boys aged 12-17.

On April 23rd, 1985, the Coca-Cola Company launches ‘New Coke’ - a reaction to its loss of market share to diet soft drinks. CEO Roberto Goizueta defends the change, saying that the drink’s secret formula is not sacrosanct and describing the new flavour as bolder, rounder and more harmonious. 40,000 calls and letters later (including one note, delivered to Goizueta, addressed to "Chief Dodo, The Coca-Cola Company"), harmony’s in very short supply, especially in the South, where New Coke is seen by some as a Communist plot and by others as a surrender to the Yankees (Pepsi being based in New York). A marketing disaster, after 79 days the change is unchanged, and although nobody is fired for the original change – or the humiliating change back – the soft drink landscape is changed forever.

On April 23rd, 2005, the first ever video is uploaded to YouTube, the online video platform that changed the world - and gifted us Justin Bieber. Titled Me at the Zoo, it shows co-founder Jawed Karim in front of the elephant enclosure at the San Diego Zoo. Recently discovered footage shows him then moving on to Tiger Trail, where he proceeds to confound and confuse its resident big cats with a laser pointer.

On April 23rd, 2009, Gamma ray burst 090423 is observed for 10 seconds, the most distant object of any kind and also the oldest known object in the universe. GRB 090423’s discovery is a sea change for boffins everywhere, for whom the burst (and subsequent birth of a black hole) isn’t just bloody brilliant but, according to Joshua Bloom at Berkeley University, also marks “the beginning of the study of the universe as it was before most of the structure that we know today came into being.” #baffling #brainbox #brightasabutton #beyondmycomprehension #bigbang #bigdipper #beltoforion #buzzaldrin #battlestargalactica #bobafett

On April 23rd, 2013, hackers send a message from the Twitter account of the Associated Press claiming that Barack Obama is injured following two explosions at the White House. The Dow Jones Industrial Average plunges 143 points in the resulting flash crash, White House officials are unimpressed, the AP issues an immediate retraction and an apology and hundreds of traders on Wall Street send out for a change of underwear.

Also on April 23rd, 2013, Chris Gayle hits the fastest century in history when he takes just 30 deliveries to reach the 3-figure mark for the Royal Challengers Bangalore against the Pune Warriors in the Indian Premier League. When you consider that it took Colin Cowdrey 535 deliveries to reach his hundred in the Edgbaston Test against the West Indies in 1957, it’s a real kick in the googlies for all those who insist that the pace change of T20 has changed cricket for the worse!

On April 23rd, 2019, Shane Long scores the fastest goal in Premier League history when he nets for Southampton after 7.69 seconds in the 1-1 draw at Watford. Hornets’ boss Javi Gracia almost misses the goal as it’s his job to lock both the home and away changing rooms prior to kick-off following a spate of petty thefts at Vicarage Road.

On April 23rd, 2020, U.S. President Donald Trump suggests Covid-19 might be treated by injecting disinfectant or UV lights into a human body at a White House press briefing. Government officials and disinfectant companies immediately state that to do so would be both extremely dangerous and potentially deadly…and 160 million Americans look at one another and say: “Maybe it is time for a change of president?”