PARTIES IN ANCIENT TIMES
The Greek philosopher Socrates had a large capacity for alcoholic beverages, and at drink and conversation get-togethers called symposium he astounded all who know him with his capacity for remaining sober, even after everyone else in the party had become thoroughly inebriated.
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| Plato's Symposium, depiction by Anselm Feuerbach |
The oldest known party invitation was sent by the Roman Claudia Severa for her birthday party in Northumberland, England around AD100.
The Deipnosophistae ("The professors of dining") is an early 3rd-century AD work by Greek gourmet Athenaeus. This composition on food and food preparation is in the form of an aristocratic dinner party in which a number of learned men, some bearing the names of real persons, such as the famous physician Galen, meet at a banquet and discuss for days food, drink, literature and other subjects. They relate recipes for dishes such as stuffed vine leaves and several varieties of cheesecakes.
FAMOUS PARTIES IN HISTORY
Roller-skates made their first recorded appearance at a party in Carlisle House, London in 1760. Belgian inventor Joseph Merlin rolled into the party while playing the violin wore these first roller skates. It was not a successful introduction as the violinist crashed into a large mirror causing nearly a thousand dollars worth of damage.
For her twenty-first birthday, Marie Antoinette participated in a three-day long gambling party, in which huge amounts of money changed hands.
At George Washington's 1787 farewell party, 56 people drank 60 bottles of claret, 54 bottles of Madeira, 8 bottles of hard cider, 8 bottles of whiskey, 22 bottles of porter, and 7 large bowls of alcoholic punch; the bar tab cost $15 000 in today's money.
Isambard Brunel staged a dinner party in the Thames Tunnel at Rotherhithe for businessmen in 1827 wearing full evening dress.
The sport of badminton derives its name from around 1870, when it was played at a party given by the Duke of Beaufort at Badminton, his estate, and became known as "the Badminton game."
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| Badminton House in the 19th century. |
'Field Tennis' was played in the 18th century, but the game similar to the modern game of lawn tennis was introduced by Major Walter Wingfield at a Christmas party at Nantclywd, Wales, in 1873. His game was called sphairistike.
In 1886 the Prince of Wales (later Edward VII of the United Kingdom) appeared at a dinner party in New York in a short black coat rather than a tailcoat. One of the other guests took the fashion back to Tuxedo Park, an upstate New York countryside enclave for Manhattan's wealthiest citizens. There, the trendy men about town started chopping of their tailcoats, which became known as tuxedos.
The Khodynka Tragedy was a human stampede that occurred on May 30, 1896, on Khodynka Field in Moscow, Russia during a coronation party following the crowning of the last Russian Emperor Nicholas II. 1,389 people were trampled to death in a stampede caused by rumors of beer and pretzels at the festivities.
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| A victim of the stampede |
The first ever cocktail party in England was hosted by noted war artist Christopher R.W. Nevinson on April 26, 1924. Within two years, cocktail parties had changed the English cultural landscape becoming a byword for everything the old disapproved of and the young aspired to.
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| By takomabibelot - Cocktail Party At The Imperial Hotel: March 13, 1961 |
In response to critics calling him a "dictator," Franklin D. Roosevelt once threw a toga party where he played Caesar.
The American Hormel Foods Corporation started marketing Hormel Spiced Ham in the mid 1930s. As it didn't stand out from other brands Jay C Hormel asked his New Year's Eve party guests to help and a Kenneth Daigneau came up with the succinct "spam."
The first Christmas party held at the US Embassy in the USSR in 1934 featured three performing seals, who came into the room balancing a Christmas tree, a tray of glasses, and a bottle of champagne. When the performance ended, the seal's trainer, who was drunk, passed out, and the seals galloped free throughout the house.
Alfred Hitchcock once threw a dinner party where all the food was colored blue.
16-year-old John Lennon first met 15-year-old Paul McCartney at a St Peter's Parish Church party in 1957 in Woolton, Liverpool.
One of most famous parties of the 20th century, Truman Capote’s Black & White Ball was held at the Plaza Hotel in New York City on November 28, 1966. The masquerade ball was held in honor of The Washington Post publisher Katharine Graham and cost Capote a total of $16,000. The Black and White Ball was credited with starting an immediate upsurge in masquerade and costume parties.
During the 1975 Apollo-Soyuz mission, to help USA/USSR relations, astronauts and cosmonauts played smuggled audio recordings of glasses clinking, laughter, and many female voices. Houston radioed to ask what’s going on. "Oh nothing,” they said. “We finished work, just having a party up here."
Actor Will Smith also had a successful career as a rapper under the pseudonym, "The Fresh Prince" as part of a duo with Jeffrey "DJ Jazzy Jeff" Townes. The pair met in 1985 when Townes, who was performing at a house-party near Smith's house, needed a hype man, as his normal guy hadn't shown up. Smith, who was only 17 years old at this point, happily filled in.
The actor Leonardo DiCaprio's face was severely injured when model Aretha Wilson hit him over the head with a broken bottle at a Hollywood party. After pleading guilty in 2010, Wilson was sentenced to prison for two years.
Former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi had a volcano built at his 148 acre estate in Porto Rotondo, Sardinia, in 2006. With fireworks and a small earthquake, it was intended as a surprise at a party. Neighbors, unaware, called out he local fire fighters.
Stephen Hawking once tried to lure time travellers to his house by throwing a party then sending out invitations later. Nobody showed up. The party was a simple affair, with champagne, canapes, and balloons. Hawking himself was there, sitting in his wheelchair and wearing a tuxedo. He even had a banner made that said "Welcome Time Travelers."
FUN PARTY FACTS
The word ‘party’ meaning a part or division, or one side in a dispute dates back to about 1300.‘Party’ was first used for a social event, with food, drink and fun, in the early 18th century.
The term "housewarming" is descended from medieval times when they were thrown for people moving into their new home. Each guest would bring firewood, and build fires in all the available fireplaces, offering firewood as a gift.
Over two million people gather on Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro on the night of 31 December, making of it the world's largest New Year's Eve party.
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| Rio New Year fireworks |
During the reign of Catherine I of Russia, the rules for parties stipulated that no man was to get drunk before 9 o'clock and ladies weren't to get drunk at any hour.
Jane Austen was the earliest known writer to use the expression 'dinner-party' in Emma. She wrote in her 1816 novel. "Dinner-parties and evening-parties were made for him and his lady; and invitations flowed in so fast that she had soon the pleasure of apprehending they were never to have a disengaged day."
Six weeks before the Battle of Trafalgar, Lord Nelson spent an exorbitant £308 (about $550) on port as he was planning a monumental party to mark his forthcoming victory.
J.R.R Tolkien and C.S. Lewis once showed up at a party dressed as polar bears—it wasn't a costume party.
The singer Taylor Swift was born on December 13, 1989. She has a Christmas-themed birthday party every year.
Taylor Swift has trademarked the phrase," "party like it's 1989."
World Party Day designated as a universal day of coordinated events celebrating "universal human right to fun, peace and life" occurs on April 3rd each year. The inspiration is the novel Flight: A Quantum Fiction Novel, by Vanna Bonta published in 1995, which concludes with a synchronized worldwide celebration that occurs on April 3, 2000.
Americans will hold more parties in their homes on Super Bowl Sunday than any other day of the year.
Sources Daily Express, Daily Mail
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