Rewind: 1995

Monday, November 4, 2019

This week marks a milestone in the Challenge Tour’s history, with the season-ending Grand Final celebrating its 25th anniversary.

Packed with historic moments, high drama and agonising heartbreak, the past 24 editions of the Challenge Tour Grand Final have had it all and this year’s tournament will undoubtedly deliver on the suspense and drama which have come to define the event.

Some things, however, have changed in the last 25 years, and here, we take a look at what the world looked like a quarter of a century ago…

Politics

The political landscape in 1995 was slightly different to the present day, with the Conservative Party leading the House of Commons in the United Kingdom, much like 2019, however a Democrat occupied the Oval Office in the White House.

John Major was serving as Prime Minister, while Bill Clinton was into his second year as the 42nd President of the United States. He went on to become the first Democratic incumbent since Lyndon B. Johnson to be elected to a second term and the first Democrat since Franklin D. Roosevelt to be elected president more than once.

The President of the European Commission, the executive branch of the European Union, was Jacques Santer, the former Prime Minister of Luxembourg.

Planes, trains and automobiles

Vauxhall unveiled its new, modern range of large hatchbacks and saloons, known as the Vectra. The Vectra replaced the Cavalier and is manufactured in Luton, England. It went onto be sold additionally as an estate car.

Stelios Haji-Ioannou changed the aviation landscape forever by founding low-cost airline easyJet, which has since expanded into the easyGroup, which incorporates hotels and car hire, amongst others.

Cinema and entertainment

The spy James Bond returned to the big screen, after a six-year hiatus. The 17th film in the series, GoldenEye, became a worldwide hit, with Irish actor Pierce Brosnan receiving rave reviews for his portrayal of 007. The film also became a best-selling game on the Nintendo 64 console, which was released one year after the Grand Final was first played.

Another true great of cinema, the first feature-length fully computer-animated film Toy Story was introduced to theatres as children met Buzz Lightyear and Woody for the first time, while other notable releases included Batman Forever, Pocahontas, Showgirls and Apollo 13.

Sport

Blackburn Rovers won their first, and to date only, Premier League title under manager Kenny Dalglish. In a title race that went down to the final day, Rovers finished one point ahead of Manchester United and 12 ahead of Nottingham Forest, who finished second and third, respectively. The Premiership continued to win over sceptics following its introduction as the replacement for the First Division just three years prior.

Over in the world of Rugby Union, history is made as South Africa beat New Zealand 15-12 to win the World Cup. A symbolic victory for the post-apartheid nation, and recently freed president Nelson Mandela celebrated with the team in iconic scenes which were later portrayed in the movie Invictus. 25 years on, the Springboks have just won their third World Cup and this year made further history as the trophy was lifted by the nation’s first-ever black captain, Siya Kolisi.

Zimbabwe’s Nick Price was World Number One in the golfing world for the first half of the year, before being replaced by Australian Greg Norman on June 18.

Three of the four Major Championships were won by Americans, with Ben Crenshaw pulling on the Green Jacket, Corey Pavin picking up the U.S. Open title, John Daly won the Claret Jug, while Steve Elkington won the US PGA Championship.

Technology

In a landmark year for gamers, two games consoles were released, with differing levels of success.

The Sega Saturn can be viewed as one of the most underrated gaming systems of all time, however numerous factors including an early release date, which upset certain retailers, led it to play second fiddle to the other console release of the year, the Sony Playstation, which was the hottest Christmas gift of 1995.

The year will also be remembered as being a memorable year for computing technology, with the first USB being released. The Universal Series Bus ran at a measly 12MB/s, which is incomparable to today’s 5GB/s speed rate, however that early version is still considered the most successful interconnect device ever.

Another game-changing introduction to the world of technology – and the marketplace – was the online buying and selling site eBay.

Then called AuctionWeb, the site was started by Pierre Omidyar to help his then-fiancée find Pez dispensers for her collection and has grown into the world’s largest online selling platform today.

Other tech milestones of 1995 include the launch of IMDb and the release of Windows 95 (remember that!?).

The European Challenge Tour

What was the outcome of the first Challenge Tour Grand Final, we hear you say? Well, Francis Valera was the first winner of the tournament and therefore secured a European Tour card as one of the 15 graduates. Here is the final Ranking from that year: