The Top 10: Timespan Quirks

How recent was Cleopatra? Whose grandsons are still alive today? How old are the Rolling Stones? A collection of amazing history facts

Cleopatra’s reign was closer to the present day than to the building of the Great Pyramid

On Monday this week, the Berlin Wall had been down for longer than it had been up: it lasted 28 years from 1961 until 1989. This reminded me of other examples of what Mr Memory calls “timespan quirks”.

1. Cleopatra’s reign, 51-30BC, was closer to the present day than to the building of the Great Pyramid, c. 2560BC. Thanks to Tom Doran.

2. Horatia Nelson, the daughter of Lord Nelson who saw wooden ships defend Britain, could have met Winston Churchill, who led the country in a war in which nuclear bombs were used. Nominated by Xlibris1.

3. John Tyler, 10th US President, 1841-45, has two grandsons who are still alive. Thanks to Matt.

4. The last widow on a US Civil War pension died in 2004 (it is quite a story). Nominated by Anthony Veitch and Struan Robertson.

5. Nintendo was founded the same year that Vincent Van Gogh painted The Starry Night: 1889. Thanks to DJ Crowhurst.

6. The Somme was closer to Waterloo than to today. Thanks to Ted Morris and Mr Memory.

7. The Rolling Stones’ first single – “Come On”, 1963 – was closer to Campbell-Bannerman’s Liberal government, 1905-08, than to the present day. Nominated by Don Brown London.

8. The 1975 EEC referendum was closer to the end of the First World War than the 2016 EU referendum was to the end of the Second World War. Thanks to Mr Memory.

9. When the first Star Wars film came out in 1977, the French were still using the guillotine, and its last execution was that year. Its use was abolished in 1981. Nominated by Xlibris1.

10. The SDP breakaway from Labour in 1981 was closer to the Second World War than to the present day.

Honourable mention for Florian Dietrich for this footnote to no 1: when the Great Pyramid was built, woolly mammoths were still alive (an isolated population on Wrangel Island in the Arctic Ocean, becoming extinct about 2000 BC).

And for Martin Sykes-Haas for: Tyrannosaurus rex, 68-66 million years ago, lived nearer to T Rex, the band, than to Stegosaurus, 155-150 million years ago.

Next week: Famous people who lived on the same street, such as George Frideric Handel and Jimi Hendrix, in Brook Street, London

Coming soon: Words you have to look up in the dictionary every single time, such as tergiversation

Your suggestions please, and ideas for future Top 10s, to me on Twitter, or by email to top10@independent.co.uk