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History

At what point do past events become history?

I’m 64 and I’m aware that events in my lifetime like the American involvement in Vietnam are now studied as history. 

What’s the cut off?

Comments

  • The instant they happen.
  • One of my history A level topics of focus was Britain 1951-2007. Wasnt even like stuff my parents told me about, there was events in there I remembered happening in my teenaged years.Given I left school in 2013 it was absolute madness. Quite an interesting period though and did link well with politics A level.
  • I would say its rolling, certainly Thatchers Britain of the 80s and Cool Brittania of the mid 90s would be fair game for historians, The World at War series came out early/mid 70s so personally I would say between 20-30 years after the event? 

    For instance
    Clive Mendonca - History
    BFG - Current affairs
    Yet both are covered in the museum

    It's a very good question though and one to be debated without an objective right answer,

    I guess it's all about the historiography and what is relevant to the person considering the question. 
  • History is dead. Everything is a lie.
  • edited March 2020
    History is dead. Everything is a lie.
    Blimey and I thought COVID-19 was a threat to my day job!! 
  • 45 years.
    Fact.
  • Agree with stig

    The moment something has happened its in the past and is therefore history
  • c 1972 Modern History 'A' Level stopped in 1945.

    In literal terms, as already said, anything that has happened is history.
  • Charlton Life on a Friday night is some good stuff 
  • Agree with stig

    The moment something has happened its in the past and is therefore history
    Agreed, I’ve been to the pub tonight! I’m now home, the pub is now history
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  • I took ('modern' - post 1918) History O Level in the early 80s, and picked up a miserable 'D'!!! At the time, I only needed an English Lang O Level (and to pass the 'entrance' test) for the job I wanted to do, and so everything else took a back seat, whilst I made no real effort other than in English! 

    Hindsight, of course, is wonderful, and it really pees me off when I think of my attitude at that time.

    History now absolutely fascinates me. I've a particular interest in WWI (bolstered by a few humbling trips to the Ypres salient), and the events surrounding the holocaust are also of great interest (if that's the correct phraseology?). 

    Have even discovered a new found curiosity in the monarchy, because I get really annoyed when I watch 'The Chase' and don't know some of the answers to the questions covering that topic! The period around the 'reformation' is fascinating. 

    As my folks always said, "you must try harder at school"!! 
  • Agree with stig

    The moment something has happened its in the past and is therefore history
    Agreed, I’ve been to the pub tonight! I’m now home, the pub is now history
    If it even exists at the moment, seeing as you're not observing it so therefore have no way of knowing for sure.
  • The last time we beat millwall is officially historical 
  • Agree with stig

    The moment something has happened its in the past and is therefore history
    Agreed, I’ve been to the pub tonight! I’m now home, the pub is now history
    If it even exists at the moment, seeing as you're not observing it so therefore have no way of knowing for sure.
    The Schrödinger Arms
  • Stig said:
    The instant they happen.
    I agree totally. A further debate though is, what is worthy to be considered 'history' for study? 

    As a secondary school History teacher for nearly all of my career, I found the limitations of the examination syllabi, and National Curriculum in later years, very frustrating. 
    After school, so many adults seem to return to and enjoy history of all kinds. The human story element seems to have been squeezed out of history in schools for the pursuit of source recognition and bias etc. Very worthy and valuable, but so is the human story. 
  • Thanks all.

    FWIW I think it’s fifty years but I can see the arguments given here are all valid.

    I used to think history begins when all those alive when something happened were dead.
  • Why 50 years though? That's just an arbitrary number.
  • There are perspectives, national myths and inherited grievances. Each new set of circumstances is informed and formed by what went before.
    This is an approach I’ve been involved in recently

    https://www.parallelhistories.org.uk/

  • @Redmidland’s teenage years = Ancient History 😉
  • Marksist persective
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  • Wiggish?
  • I have always considered 'history' being the moment the last witness to a given event dies. Anything that disappears from living memory becomes history.

    I'm not interested enough to look, but I would imagine that according the Cambridge or Oxford dictionaries the word 'history' would have lots of meanings.
  • Bonne for Lapslie. Reasonable change that, glad to see Bows making an early change. Lapslie was working hard but struggled to really get in the game. Can we get a fast start to a second half for a change. An early goal could change everything. 
  • Boro timewasting already. I’ll take that. 
  • Bonne for Lapslie. Reasonable change that, glad to see Bows making an early change. Lapslie was working hard but struggled to really get in the game. Can we get a fast start to a second half for a change. An early goal could change everything. 
    Boro timewasting already. I’ll take that. 
    Is that history?
  • Stig said:
    Why 50 years though? That's just an arbitrary number.
    Any number in this is arbitrary.
  • iainment said:
    Stig said:
    Why 50 years though? That's just an arbitrary number.
    Any number in this is arbitrary.
    Which begs the question,  why do you need a number to define history? 

    Try finding a definition that's not number based and you've a better chance of finding one that's not arbitrary. 

    Clue: There's one at the top of the thread.  ;)


  • I like that it’s 50 years though 🙂
  • Marksist persective
    ?🙄
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