Wonderful Land

I was born in 1962. It was quite a dull year apart from my entry into the world 😄. I don’t know much about 1962. I do remember suggesting to the Soviets that they place some missiles in Cuba, but it caused a bit of a crisis. And I remember suggesting that the Beatles release Love Me Do. Things went well for them after that, but they never really thanked me 😢.

Anyway, joking aside, one thing that fascinates me is Wonderful Land by the Shadows, which was in the charts when I was born.

Here are my favourite songs from 1962:

• Can’t Help Falling In Love – Elvis Presley
• Stranger On The Shore – Archer Bilk
• Midnight In Moscow – Kenny Ball & His Jazzmen
• Moon River – Danny Williams
• March Of The Siamese Children​ – Kenny Ball & His Jazzmen
• Tonight – Shirley Bassey​
• Wonderful Land – The Shadows
• Telstar – Tornados
• It Might As Well Rain Until September​ – Carole King
• Love Me Do – The Beatles

Here’s some noteworthy movies:

• Lawrence of Arabia
• To Kill a Mockingbird
• The Manchurian Candidate
• Dr. No
• Cape Fear
• Birdman of Alcatraz
• Mutiny on the Bounty
• The Longest Day

Here are some 1962 events:

• Cuban Missile Crisis brings the world to the brink of nuclear war
• Marilyn Monroe is found dead in Los Angeles
• The Sino‑Indian War erupts along the Himalayan border
• Telstar enables the first live transatlantic TV broadcast
• Pope John XXIII excommunicates Fidel Castro
• A massive avalanche on Huascarán in Peru kills 4,000 people
• Rwanda is granted internal self‑government by Belgium
• Nelson Mandela faces charges in South Africa during the apartheid crackdown
• IRA officially ends its Border Campaign
• Irish peacekeeping troops deployed to the Congo

Here are some famous people who passed away in 1962:

• Marilyn Monroe — Actor & cultural icon
• Eleanor Roosevelt — Former U.S. First Lady & diplomat
• Stuart Sutcliffe — Original Beatles bassist
• Niels Bohr — Nobel‑winning physicist
• Adolf Eichmann — Nazi war criminal executed in 1962
• Wilhelmina of the Netherlands — Former Queen of the Netherland

Now, this being a Christian blog, how am I to weave anything Christian into it? I could mention that I was born again in 1980, when I was 18 – born spiritually from above.

John 3:3
Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again

1 Peter 1:23
For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.

John 3:7
‘You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’

Here’s a couple of songs from August 1980, the month of my spiritual rebirth. Some might wonder why I include secular music in a Christian blog, but I like all music, particularly songs that transport me back in time. Maybe a time might come when I’ll fondly remember some 2025 songs 😂.