Britain
Margaret Thatcher resigned
After eleven years in power, the Prime Minister stood down on 22 November 1990.
Born in 1972
It was 1990 when you turned 18
You arrived in 1972. By 1990 — 36 years ago now — the world had moved on. Here's what it looked like.
Turning 36 this year Part of a Millennial
You arrived the year the web was quietly invented.
1990
The world you arrived into
sport
Italia ’90 and Gazza’s tears
England reached the World Cup semi-final and lost on penalties; a nation discovered it loved football again.
1990
What people were listening to
music
Madonna vogued
"Vogue" topped charts in spring 1990, one of the year’s defining singles.
music
Sinéad O’Connor’s "Nothing Compares 2 U"
The Prince-written ballad spent weeks at number one at the start of 1990.
1990
At the cinema and on television
movies
Home Alone
Kevin was left behind in November 1990 and became the biggest family film of the decade.
movies
Ghost
The pottery scene arrived in cinemas in 1990 and won Whoopi Goldberg an Oscar.
1990
Technology looked very different
inventions
The first website went online
In December 1990, Tim Berners-Lee’s World Wide Web served its first page at CERN. Almost nobody noticed.
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Keep exploring
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See the world you were born into →
The full picture for 1972 — music, movies, technology and more.
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Things that are younger than you →
From the NHS to the iPhone — how much arrived after you did?
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Your life in history →
A timeline of your milestones, matched with history.
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Compare 1972 with 1998 →
Two birth years, side by side. Try it with family.