1993 Fun Facts, Trivia and History

1993 Fun Facts, Trivia and History

Quick Facts from 1993:

• World-Changing Event: Intel introduced the Pentium family of 32-bit microprocessors.
• The Top Song was Dreamlover by Mariah Carey
• The Movies to Watch include Jurassic Park, Schindler’s List, Sleepless in Seattle, and Free Willy.
• The Most Famous People in America were probably Denzel Washington and Julia Roberts.
• Notable books include The Celestine Prophecy by James Redfield and The Shipping News by E. Annie Prouls.
• Sony (radio) Walkman: $29.98
  Price of Domino’s large pizza, two toppings in 1993: $9.99
• The Funny Guy was: Jeff Foxworthy
  The Other Funny Guy was: Bill Hicks
  The Funny Late Night Host: Jay Leno
• The Conversation: Ted Danson wore blackface and used the n-word at his girlfriend Whoopi Goldberg’s roast at The Friar’s Club.

Significant news events that occurred in 1993:

• January: Bill Clinton was inaugurated as the 42nd President of the United States.
• February: 1993 World Trade Center bombing: In New York City, a van bomb parked below the North Tower of the World Trade Center explodes, killing six and injuring over 1,000.
• March: Rodney King testified at the federal trial of four Los Angeles, California police officers accused of violating his civil rights when they beat him during an arrest.
• April: the Waco siege ended in a fire at the Branch Davidian compound in Texas, resulting in the deaths of 76 people.
• May: the Supreme Court of the United States ruled in Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals that expert testimony must be based on the scientific knowledge that has been established through the scientific method.
• June: the Signing of the Oslo Accords marked the beginning of the peace process between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization.
• July: the Great Flood of 1993 began in the Mississippi and Missouri River basins, resulting in widespread damage and dozens of deaths.
• August: the Chemical Weapons Convention, which banned the production, stockpiling, and use of chemical weapons, came into force.
• September: 47 people were killed in the Big Bayou Canot Rail Accident: An Amtrak Sunset Limited derails on a bridge that a barge had damaged near Mobile, Alabama. It is the deadliest train wreck in Amtrak’s history.
• October: Actor River Phoenix died of drug-induced heart failure on the sidewalk outside the West Hollywood nightclub The Viper Room.
• November: the Maastricht Treaty, which established the European Union, came into effect.
• December: STS-61: NASA launched the Space Shuttle Endeavour on a mission to repair an optical flaw in the Hubble Space Telescope.

“Got Milk?”
– California Milk Processor Board

“The Truth is out there”
– X-Files

A writer by the name of “Lisa Holst” created an article in 1993 that “around 8 spiders crawl into your mouth every year whilst you sleep”, but that “fact” was entirely made up. (snopes.com)

WWF boss Vince McMahon was charged with steroid distribution

Women were forbidden to wear pants on the floor of Congress until .1993.

The first time a state was represented in the U.S. Senate by two women was 1993 with California’s Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer. The state has only been represented by women in the Senate ever since.

June 30, 1993, Gohan saved the world after defeating Cell in Dragonball Z episode 191: The Battle is Over… Thank You, Son Goku.

Dark Horse Comics released a one-shot comic where NBA player Charles Barkley fought against Godzilla.

Reggae singer Snow’s hit single Informer hit No.1 on the Billboard charts in 1993 while he was in jail. He only found out from a fellow inmate who got out, heard the song, and called Snow in jail.

Hawaiian singer Israel Kamakawiwo’ole’s 1993 album Facing Future is the best-selling album of all time by a Hawaiian artist. His version of Over the Rainbow has been licensed for many films, TV shows, and commercials. The album reached platinum status in 2005.

Hocus Pocus was released in July 1993 instead of October due to Disney not wanting it to compete against their other Halloween-themed film, The Nightmare Before Christmas, which was due for release in October by Touchstone Pictures.

Ted Turner, media mogul and founder of CNN, had a cameo in the 1993 movie Gettysburg which Turner Pictures helped produce. He appeared briefly as Confederate Col. Waller T. Patton and is shot during the Pickett’s Charge scene. He also reprised his role in the prequel Gods and Generals.

While filming Mrs. Doubtfire, Robin Williams improvised so much that there were PG, PG-13, R, and NC-17 edits of the film.

Sharon Stone played the same character from 1992’s Basic Instinct in the 1993 Schwarzenegger action movie Last Action Hero.

In the European release of the futuristic film Demolition Man, references to Taco Bell are replaced with Pizza Hut.

Wendy’s founder Dave Thomas dropped out of high school to work full-time and did not graduate until 1993 when he obtained a GED.

The McDonald’s Super Size option started as a cross-promotion for the 1993 Jurassic Park movie. It was called ‘Dino Size’ and was so successful that after the movie left theaters the option remained under its new name ‘Super Size’.

Despite the title of the 1990 novel and 1993 movie Jurassic Park, most of the dinosaurs depicted in these sources were from the Cretaceous period, not Jurassic.

Steven Spielberg received a bachelor’s degree for completing a course on film and electronic arts at university. To pass the advanced filmmaking class exam, he submitted his own, Schindler’s List.

After Steven Spielberg screened Schindler’s List for John Williams to compose the score, Williams was so moved he had to walk outside for several minutes. Upon returning, Williams said that the movie needed a better composer than him to which Spielberg replied “I know, but they’re all dead.”

Cosmonaut Aleksandr Serebrov was the first person to play a videogame in space: Tetris, on his Game Boy, while orbiting Earth on the MIR Space Station in 1993

On Frazier, the character of Roz Doyle (played by Peri Gilpin in Frasier 1993-2003) is named as a tribute to a producer of the television series Wings (having the same creators as Frasier), who died from breast cancer in 1991.

Wheel of Fortune’s Vanna White sued Samsung Electronics in 1993 over its use of a humorous ad featuring a robot turning letters on a game show, alleging a violation of her personality rights. White was awarded $403,000 in damages.

Elvis Presley’s 1961 song Can’t Help Falling in Love With You peaked at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100. In 1993, the UB40 version spent 7 weeks in the #1 spot.

At the 1993 Lollapalooza show, Rage Against the Machine stood on stage naked with duct-taped mouths for 14 minutes in protest against the Parents Music Resource Council. The only sound was feedback from the guitars.

Lowest PGA score of 63 played by Vijay Singh.

Only two players in MLB history have hit a game-winning, bottom-of-the-ninth home run to win the World Series; Bill Mazeroski for the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1960, and Joe Carter for the Toronto Blue Jays in 1993.

The NFL’s’ New England Patriots had the worst record in the NFL from 1989-1993. They went 19-61 during that span.

The 1988 Jamaican Bobsled Team were the underdogs representing the tropical nation in the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, Canada, and were mortalized in the 1993 film Cool Runnings.

Cost of a Superbowl ad in 1993: $850,000

1993 Billboard Number One Songs:
November 29, 1992 – March 5, 1993:
I Will Always Love You – Whitney Houston

March 6 – March 12:
A Whole New World (Aladdin’s Theme) – Peabo Bryson & Regina Belle

March 13 – April 30:
Informer – Snow

May 1 – May 14:
Freak Me – Silk

May 15 – July 9:
That’s The Way Love Goes – Janet Jackson

July 10 – July 23:
Weak – SWV (Sisters With Voices)

July 24 – September 11:
I Can’t Help Falling In Love – UB40

September 11 – November 5:
Dreamlover – Mariah Carey

November 6 – December 10:
I’d Do Anything For Love (But I Won’t Do That) – Meat Loaf

December 11 – December 24:
Again – Janet Jackson

December 25, 1993 – January 21, 1994:
Hero – Mariah Carey