Pop culture retrospectives: Take a step back in time with Suzanne Harrington 

It’s 15 years since Miley Cyrus twerked, two decades since Britney and Madonna’s kiss, and quarter of a century since Google was founded. Wondering what other retrospectives and anniversaries you’ll be reading about this year? Suzanne Harrington has a look

Suzanne Harrington takes us back to 2013, 2008, 2003, 1998 and 1973.

Hello and welcome to 2023! 2022 is perfectly summed up by permacrisis, Collins Dictionary word of the year, as we continue to be engulfed by an entire A to Z of catastrophes — climate, cost of living, housing, fuel, political, cultural. No better time then to take a stroll down memory lane, and briefly distract ourselves from the surrounding hellscape. Happy new year!

It’s been 10 years since... 2013

US President Barack Obama is sworn in as First lady Michelle Obama looks on during the public ceremonial inauguration on the West Front of the US Capitol January 21, 2013 in Washington, DC. Picture: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Obama is sworn in for a second term. Joseph Ratzinger resigns as Pope, sending a resignation letter in Latin.

Horse meat appears in supermarket ready meals that are meant to contain cow. People freak out, because speciesism.

Robin Thicke releases his rapey Blurred Lines track, Miley Cyrus twerks, Kim Kardashian takes selfies, and everyone is momentarily obsessed with the Harlem Shake.

Margaret Thatcher dies, as does someone she once called a terrorist — Nelson Mandela. Nigel Farage’s UKIP party do well in local elections.

Manchester United icons Alex Ferguson and David Beckham both retire, while in South Africa, runner Oscar Pistorius murders his partner Reeva Steenkamp and tries to blame burglars.

Medical overshare award goes to Michael Douglas, who says his throat cancer is caused by cunnilingus. As a cancer preventative, Angelina Jolie has a double mastectomy.

Colm Toibin’s Testament of Mary makes the Booker shortlist, and Donna Tartt publishes The Goldfinch. Argo wins Best Picture at the Oscars.

A meteor from the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter explodes over the Russian city of Chelyabinsk, breaking a lot of windows.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) confirms that urgent action is needed. Seas are at their most acidic in 300 million years.

Miley Cyrus and Robin Thicke perform onstage during the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards. Picture: Neilson Barnard/Getty Images for MTV

It’s been 15 years since... 2008

Subprime mortgages cause a global financial crisis, known as a credit crunch. Lehman Brothers bank kickstart things by going bankrupt.

Barack Obama wins the election to become the first black president of the US.

Thomas Beatie, the world’s first pregnant man, gives birth to a daughter. His story makes global news.

Russia wins the Eurovision, despite military aggression with neighbouring Georgia, and Beijing hosts the Olympics.

Bhutan holds its first ever general elections, and in Cuba, Fidel Castro steps down after 50 years.

Twilight vampire mania takes hold, Katy Perry kisses a girl and likes it, and Beyonce unveils her alter ego Sasha Fierce.

This March 5, 2006 file photo shows Australian actor Heath Ledger arriving for the 78th Academy Awards at the Kodak Theater in Hollywood. Picture: Robyn Beck/ AFP via Getty Images

The Coen brothers’ No Country For Old Men wins Best Picture at the Oscars, Harrison Ford returns to the Indiana Jones franchise aged 66, and Christopher Nolan’s Batman is released, starring Christian Bale as Batman and Heath Ledger as the Joker.

Heath Ledger dies aged 28 of an accidental overdose of oxycodone, hydrocodone, diazepam, temazepam, alprazolam and doxylamine.

RIP Paul Newman, Charlton Heston, Eartha Kitt, and George Carlin.

The Sex & The City movie is released to great fanfare and anticipation, but turns out to be terrible.

Director/producer George Lucas, actor Harrison Ford and Director Steven Spielberg pose at the Indiana Jones and The Kingdom of The Crystal Skull. Picture: Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images)

It’s been 20 years since... 2003

The Human Genome Project is completed, giving scientists the ability to read our genetic blueprint. In space, the US Colombia shuttle disintegrates over Texas, killing 7 astronauts. On earth, Concorde makes its last ever flight.

In China, there is a respiratory illness epidemic known as SARS, which will revisit the world on a bigger scale in the future.

The US invades Iraq, despite global protests including one million people marching in London. When France objects to the invasion, America renames French fries ‘freedom’ fries, and Bart Simpson refers to the French as “cheese eating surrender monkeys”. Saddam Hussein is captured, and his statue toppled, but no matter how hard they look, there are no weapons of mass destruction to be found.

An earthquake in Bam, Iran, kills 30,000.

Mars comes its closest to Earth in 60,000 years.

Ronaldo makes his Manchester United debut, and Lance Armstrong wins the Tour de France for the fifth time. This is because he is on lots of drugs.

The Tesla electric car company is founded by Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning. The internet gives us Skype, LinkdIn and MySpace. Apple launches iTunes.

A 23 year old American activist, Rachel Corrie, is killed by an Israeli bulldozer, as she protests the demolition of Palestinian homes in Gaza. Her murder causes an international outcry.

In Sweden, a baby called Greta Thunberg is born.

Unknown rappers Kayne West and 50 Cent, from very different backgrounds — the former nerdy and middle class, the latter allegedly shot nine times by a drug dealer — both make their debuts.

Britney Spears, Madonna, and Christina Aguilera perform onstage during the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards at Radio City Music Hall on August 28, 2003 in New York City. Picture: Frank Micelotta/Getty Images

Martin Bashir interviews Michael Jackson and is criticised for taking advantage of the ‘vulnerable’ performer.

Madonna snogs Britney at the MTV Awards and everyone has an opinion about it.

Beyonce is Crazy in Love, and Kelis’s Milkshake brings all the boys to the yard.

RIP June Carter and Johnny Cash, Edwin Starr, Nina Simone and Barry White.

We learn some new words — binge watch, e-cigarette, flash mob, muffin top, unfriend.

It’s been 25 years since...1998

The Drudge Report tells us about 49 year old President Bill Clinton having relations with a 21 year old intern called Monica Lewinsky. He says “I did not have relations with that woman” but she keeps her dress with his DNA on it and he is impeached. Bizarrely, Time magazine make Clinton and Special Prosecutor Kenneth Starr Men of the Year.

The anti-vax movement is born when doctor Andrew Wakefield links the MMR jab to autism. This is later disproved, but the belief that vaccinations are harmful doesn’t go away.

France wins the World Cup. During England v Argentina, David Beckham gets a red card, which makes him deeply unpopular.

A search engine called Google is founded by two Stanford PhDs, Sergey Brin and Larry Page. Apple gives us the iMac. Microsoft is the world’s biggest corporation, trading on the NYSE at $261 billion.

Former White House intern Monica Lewinsky is escorted by police officers, federal Investigators and her attorney William Ginsburg as she leaves the Federal Building on 28 May 1998 in Westwood, California. Picture: Vince Bucci/AFP via Getty Images

Open Diary becomes the first social blogging network, giving us readers comments and friends-only content for the first time.

A blue diamond shape pill called Viagra is approved by the FDA, and Sex & The City appears on our screens for the first time. Both are very well received.

The fatwa against Salman Rushdie for his book The Satanic Verses, issued in Iran in 1989, is retracted by Iranian president Khatami. In Afghanistan, a Saudi named Osama bin Laden issues a new one, this time against “all Jews and Crusaders.”

In Northern Ireland, the Good Friday Agreement is signed. John Hume and David Trimble win the Nobel Peace Prize.

James Cameron’s film Titanic wins 11 Oscars at the 70th Academy Awards.

Ginger Spice quits the Spice Girls midway through a world tour, and Britney, dressed as a school girl, asks us to ‘hit me baby one more time’.

Godzilla and Armageddon are big at the box office, and Buffy The Vampire Slayer is peak TV.

RIP Linda McCartney, creator of Linda McCartney sausages.

Father Ted Dermot Morgan, aged 45, Jack Lord of Hawaii 5-0, Tammy Wynette, who stood by her man.

It’s been 50 years since… 1973

The Vietnam war ends with the signing of the Paris Peace Accords.

Inflation in the UK reaches 8.4%, and 1.5 million workers strike over pay. Britain, Ireland and Denmark join the EEC.

In the US, Roe vs Wade enshrines into law the legal right to abortion, and in Washington the Watergate hearings begin.

The Sydney Opera House opens, and NY’s World Trade Centre is the world’s tallest building.

The first ever mobile phone call is made by inventor Martin Cooper from a Manhattan pavement — the phone weighs over a kilo and is 28cm long.

David Bowie (1947 - 2016) performed at the Hammersmith Odeon, at the last of his Ziggy Stardust concerts, in London, in 1973. Picture: Steve Wood/Daily Express/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Lou Reed releases Walk on the Wild Side, Sacheen Littlefeather collects Marlon Brando’s Oscar, and Bill Jean King wins Wimbledon.

David Bowie releases Aladdin Sane, with the lightning strike make up that today is an iPhone emoji.

On July 3, at London’s Hammersmith Odeon, Bowie shocks his own band, the Spiders from Mars, by announcing the retirement of his alter ego Ziggy Stardust.