25 years is still 1/4 of a century in any language
In honor of John’s 25th birthday, here’s a list of things that other slightly-more-famous people accomplished by the same age: (Warning — don’t read any further if you’re in your mid-20s, easily depressed and generally unhappy with your lack of accomplishment!)
- The future mythologist Joseph Campbell decided to move to Woodstock to read the classics for five years, nine hours a day. Living on very little, he would make himself readily available as a dinner guest.
- Orson Welles coscripted, directed, and starred in Citizen Kane.
- By this age, Charlie Chaplin had appeared in 35 films.
- P. T. Barnum bought a “160-year-old” slave woman and began a career in show business.
- Janis Joplin made her first recording, “Cheap Thrills,” which grossed over a million dollars within a few months.
- Charles Lindbergh became the first person to fly alone across the Atlantic, thus winning a $25,000 prize. (That’s about $270,000 when adjusted for inflation!)
- Fayette, N.Y. farmhand Joseph Smith founded the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. He claimed he translated the Book of Mormon from some golden tablets revealed to him by the angel Moroni.
- Bavarian painter Aloys Senefelder invented the lithograph.
- French engineer Benoit Fourneyron invented the first waterwheel turbine.
- Sarah Bernhardt scored her first triumph, being asked to repeat her theatrical performance before Napoleon III.
- Activist Mollie Steimer became the first person to be deported from both the United States and the Soviet Union.
- Physician Roger Bannister broke the four minute mile. As he collapsed unconscious into the arms of his trainer, the loudspeaker announced, “The time was three…” The uproar of the fans drowned out the rest of the announcement.
Check out this page if you’d like to see what other people have done by your age.