Little Women is publishedLouisa May Alcott's novel about the four March sisters, written reluctantly and fast, becomes an instant success and a lasting classic.September 30 in history
A date of new voices: a classic novel, a writer's birth, a young nation at the UN, a cartoon in prime time, and a pop station born of pirates.
September 30 has a habit of introducing newcomers. In 1868 Louisa May Alcott, who had not wanted to write a book for girls, saw the first volume of Little Women published in Boston. In 1924 Truman Capote was born in New Orleans, the future author of In Cold Blood and, like Alcott, a writer who drew on the people closest to him. In 1947 Pakistan, little more than a month old, took its seat at the United Nations.
The later anniversaries belong to broadcasting. In 1960 The Flintstones brought a Stone Age family to American prime time and showed that animation could carry an evening sitcom. In 1967 the BBC launched Radio 1, its answer to the outlawed pirate stations, with Tony Blackburn welcoming listeners to “the exciting new sound”. Across a century, the date links a Concord family home, a Kansas crime story, a diplomatic chamber, a cartoon suburb, and a breakfast show, each the start of something that outlasted its first day.
Little Women is publishedLouisa May Alcott's novel about the four March sisters, written reluctantly and fast, becomes an instant success and a lasting classic.
Truman Capote is bornThe New Orleans-born writer behind Breakfast at Tiffany's and In Cold Blood helped blur the line between fiction and reporting.
Pakistan joins the United NationsLittle more than a month after independence, Pakistan takes its seat at the UN, the start of a long role in its diplomacy and peacekeeping.
The Flintstones premieresHanna-Barbera's Stone Age family arrives on ABC as the first animated series in prime time, and the first animated sitcom on television.
BBC Radio 1 goes on airThe BBC answers the outlawed pirate stations with a pop channel of its own, launched by DJ Tony Blackburn on a Saturday morning.