1986—The Year I Was Born: A Daily Record of Events

Steve Pitt is a Toronto-based freelance writer and an award-winning journalist. He has written many young adult and children's books, including Day of the Flying Fox: The True Story of World War II Pilot Charley Fox.

If you were born in 1986, you came into the world the same year that
Aruba became an independent nation, Halley’s comet orbited within
62,400,000 kilometres of earth, Britain banned caning in its schools by
a margin of one vote, and Liberal MP Jean Chrétien resigned from
politics. If you were born in October 1986, you were born the same month
that Calgary was proclaimed the site of the 1988 Winter Olympics, Bill
Vander Zalm led his Social Credit Party to victory in British Columbia,
and fish-shaped neckties became the hottest-selling Christmas gift idea.


Each volume in the Year I Was Born series (which runs from 1984 through
1988) lists one intriguing fact for each day of the year. The birthdays
of famous Canadians are also supplied as a footnote on most dates. The
books have a strong Canadian focus, but major international events are
not ignored. The series is aimed at young trivia buffs who were born in
the featured year, but it also makes good reading for any person who
likes to remember the “good old days.” Highly recommended.