Column: Pop Culture Happenings, June

Paul McCartney tells us to “Live and Let Die,” the first U.S. woman into space goes on a “ride, Sally ride” and the world meets a boy wizard named Harry.

__1973__

50 years ago

On June 1, 1973, Paul McCartney and Wings released the single “Live and Let Die,” the theme song for the upcoming James Bond film. “Live and Let Die,” released June 27, 1973, was the eighth Bond film and the first to star Roger Moore as the fictional British spy, 007; Sean Connery declined to return to the role after “Diamonds Are Forever.”

Based on Ian Fleming’s 1954 novel of the same name, the storyline involves Mr. Big, a corrupt Caribbean prime minister who doubles as a drug lord, played by Yaphet Kotto. “Live and Let Die” also starred Gloria Hendry as Rosie Carver and was the first in the series to feature an African American woman romantically involved with 007. McCartney was asked to write the song before the script was finished, so he based it on Fleming’s novel. The theme reached No. 1 on two of the three major U.S. charts.

__1983__

40 years ago

On June 18, 1983, Sally Ride became the first U.S. woman in space. While a physics student at Stanford University, Ride read about NASA seeking astronaut candidates for the Space Shuttle program; for the first time, they wanted to recruit women. Traveling on the Space Shuttle Challenger during its seventh mission, Ride operated the shuttle’s robotic arm to deploy and retrieve two communications satellites.

As the first American woman to fly in space, Ride was subjected to extreme media attention and was asked such questions as, “Will the flight affect your reproductive organs?” and “Do you weep when things go wrong on the job?” She insisted she saw herself in only one way: as an astronaut.

__1998__

25 years ago

On June 26, 1997, “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone,” the first book in J.K. Rowling’s best-selling Harry Potter series, was published in Britain. Rowling has famously stated, “The idea for Harry Potter fell into my head,” while on a train in London. “A scrawny, little, black-haired, bespectacled boy became more and more of a wizard to me. ... I began to write ‘Philosopher’s Stone’ that very evening.”

The book won multiple awards and was published in the United States the following year under the title “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.” Reaching the top of the New York Times Bestseller List in August 1999, the book has been translated into 73 languages and was made into a film of the same name, as have all six of its sequels. The novel has sold more than 120 million copies, making it the third best-selling book of all time.