How did I miss that?

Thanks to Erica, setter of last night's pub quiz, for the reminder that Sputnik 1 was launched on October 4th 1957.

Every day is the anniversary of something, and I do occasionally grumble at the obsessive observance thereof. But the 60th birthday of the space age shouldn't slip by unremarked.

I have a clear memory of walking with my father on a sunny day on Wanstead Flats, while he explained to me what this 'sputnik' thing was, and thinking it was very exciting. I was six at the time, so that clarity of the memory is not to be trusted, but I still think it's very exciting.