60 Fun Facts About Which Came First

Which of these existed first?

Alexander Bain's 'Electric Printing Telegraph' patent predates Bell's telephone by more than three decades.

Which came first?

Teaching at Oxford dates to the 11th century, centuries before the Aztec Triple Alliance formed in 1428.

Which of these 17th-century milestones came first?

Harvard was founded in 1636, half a century before Newton published the Principia in 1687.

Which invention came first?

Karl Drais's foot-propelled 'running machine' of 1817 beat the friction match and the first photograph, both from 1826.

Which of these 18th-century milestones came first?

Arthur Guinness set up at St. James's Gate in 1759, seventeen years before American independence was declared.

Which invention is the oldest?

Hero of Alexandria described a coin-operated dispenser of wine or holy water in the 1st century AD, more than a thousand years before the others.

All happened in 1889. Which came first?

Structural work on the tower finished at the end of March 1889; Nintendo was founded that September as a playing-card maker.

Which toy came first?

The stud-and-tube brick launched in 1958; Barbie followed in 1959, Etch A Sketch in 1960 and G.I. Joe in 1964.

Which of these postwar household items came first?

Raytheon's Radarange went on sale in 1947, stood nearly six feet tall and weighed 750 pounds.

Which of these computing and phone milestones came first?

ARPANET mail introduced the @ address in 1971; Martin Cooper's handheld cell phone call came in 1973.

All launched in 2001. Which came first?

Wikipedia's first edit was made on 15 January 2001; the iPod and Windows XP arrived that October and the Xbox in November.

All from 1928. Which came first?

Kleen Maid Sliced Bread went on sale in July 1928; Fleming noticed his mouldy dish in September and Mickey whistled in November.

Which of these late-1990s tech standards or gadgets came first?

USB 1.0 arrived in January 1996; the first Wi-Fi standard followed in 1997 and Bluetooth in 1999.

All from 2007 or 2008. Which came first?

Netflix's 'Watch Now' service launched in January 2007 with just 1,000 films; the iPhone arrived that June.

Which snack came first?

Nabisco introduced Oreos in 1912; Kit Kat followed in 1935 and the chocolate chip cookie in 1938.

Which of these everyday items came first?

Walter Hunt patented it in 1849 and sold the rights for $400; commercial toilet paper followed in 1857.

Which American landmark opened first?

Opened in May 1883, it was the longest suspension bridge in the world; the Statue of Liberty was dedicated in 1886.

All from 1977 or 1978. Which came first?

Star Wars opened in a handful of theaters on May 25, 1977; the Apple II went on sale that June.

Which board game went on sale first?

Parker Brothers began selling Monopoly in November 1935; Scrabble was trademarked in 1948 and Clue arrived in 1949.

Which sportswear company came first?

Rudolf Dassler founded Puma in 1948 after splitting with his brother Adi, whose Adidas was registered in 1949.

Which burger chain came first?

White Castle opened in Wichita in 1921 and is generally credited as the first fast-food hamburger chain.

Which soft drink came first?

Dr Pepper was first served in Waco, Texas in 1885, a year before Coca-Cola.

All from 1903. Which came first?

Ford incorporated on June 16, 1903; the Tour started in July, the World Series in October and the Wright Flyer flew in December.

Which of these 1860s milestones came first?

The Metropolitan Railway opened in January 1863 as the world's first underground passenger railway.

All from 1961. Which came first?

Kennedy signed the Peace Corps into being on March 1, 1961; Gagarin flew in April and the Wall went up in August.

Which company came first?

Jeff Bezos founded Amazon as 'Cadabra' in July 1994; eBay followed in 1995 and Google in 1998.

Which launched first?

TheFacebook went live on February 4, 2004; Gmail launched that April Fools' Day and YouTube a year later.

Which was built first?

Stonehenge's earliest earthworks date to about 3100 BC, some five centuries before the Great Pyramid.

Which sporting event came first?

Wimbledon has run since 1877; the Stanley Cup was first awarded in 1893 and the World Series in 1903.

Which award came first?

The first Nobel Prizes were handed out in 1901; the Pulitzers began in 1917 and the Oscars in 1929.

Which superhero debuted first?

Superman appeared in Action Comics #1 in April 1938; Batman followed in Detective Comics #27 a year later.

Which cartoon character came first?

Mickey debuted in 1928; Popeye arrived in 1929, Betty Boop in 1930 and Bugs Bunny in 1940.

Which broadcaster came first?

The British Broadcasting Company was set up in 1922; NBC followed in 1926 and CBS in 1927.

Which band formed first?

The Beatles formed in Liverpool in 1960; the Beach Boys started in 1961 and the Stones in 1962.

Which country gave women the vote first?

New Zealand's Electoral Bill got royal assent in September 1893; Finland followed in 1906, the UK in 1918 and the US in 1920.

Which of these 19th-century American icons came first?

Levi's has stitched its arched design on back pockets since 1873; Glidden's barbed wire patent came in 1874.

Which coffee chain came first?

Bill Rosenberg opened the first Dunkin' Donuts in Quincy, Massachusetts in 1950; Starbucks did not open until 1971.

Which spacecraft launched first?

Despite its name, Voyager 2 lifted off on August 20, 1977, sixteen days before Voyager 1.

Which novel was published first?

Defoe's castaway tale appeared in 1719 and is often called the first English novel; Swift's Gulliver followed in 1726.

Which of these restaurant chains opened first?

The Carney brothers opened Pizza Hut in Wichita in 1958; Little Caesars followed in 1959 and Domino's in 1960.

Which car came first?

Beetle production began in 1938 and ran 65 years, the longest of any single-generation car.

Which children's TV show came first?

Fred Rogers' US series began in 1968; Sesame Street premiered in November 1969.

Which of these ways to pay came first?

American Express rolled out traveler's cheques in 1891; Diners Club cards came in 1950 and the first ATM in 1967.

Which of these communication systems came first?

Louis Braille devised his code in 1824 at age fifteen; Morse code followed in the late 1830s.

Which candy bar came first?

The Hershey bar went on sale in 1900; Cadbury Dairy Milk arrived in 1905 and Toblerone in 1908.

Which race came first?

Inspired by the 1896 Olympics, Boston ran its first marathon in 1897 and is the world's oldest annual marathon.

Which breakfast cereal came first?

Will Kellogg made the first flakes in 1894 for patients at the Battle Creek Sanitarium.

Which board game is the oldest?

Go was invented in China more than 2,500 years ago; chess emerged in India roughly 1,500 years ago.

All from 1991. Which of these records came out first?

Metallica's self-titled album landed August 12, 1991; Ten followed on August 27, and Nevermind and Blood Sugar Sex Magik shared September 24.

Which console launched first?

Microsoft's console hit US shelves in November 2005, a full year ahead of the PS3 and Wii.

Which of these late-17th-century events came first?

The fire gutted the medieval City of London in September 1666; the Principia was published in 1687.

Which of these medieval milestones came first?

Work on the cathedral began in 1163 under Bishop Maurice de Sully; Magna Carta was sealed in 1215.

Which of these 15th-century milestones came first?

Gutenberg's movable-type press dates to around 1440; Constantinople fell in 1453 and Leonardo was born in 1452.

Which of these institutions opened to the public first?

The British Museum opened in 1759 in Montagu House; the Louvre followed in 1793 during the Revolution.

Which city's metro opened first?

Budapest's Line 1 opened in 1896, the first on the European continent; Boston followed in 1897, Paris in 1900 and New York in 1904.

Which organization came first?

George Williams founded the YMCA in London in 1844; the Red Cross came in 1863 and the Salvation Army in 1865.

Which watchmaker came first?

Louis Brandt founded the firm that became Omega in 1848; Seiko began in 1881 and Rolex in 1905.

Which social network launched first?

Jonathan Abrams launched it in March 2002; LinkedIn followed in May 2003, MySpace in August 2003 and Facebook in 2004.

Which national park was established first?

Created in 1872, it is widely regarded as the first national park anywhere in the world; Banff followed in 1885 and Yosemite and Sequoia in 1890.

Which home video game console went on sale first?

Released in 1972, it predates the Atari 2600 by five years; Nolan Bushnell saw a demo of it before creating Pong.