Born in 1928

Turns 98 in 2026

Gifts for someone born in 1928

Front Page: Canada edition. The year is filled in; add their name in the editor. “Your name” is a placeholder. Light news is selected. A new keepsake, not an original newspaper.

BACK TO 1928 · Canada

A little history to go with their gift.

Women gained equal parliamentary voting terms with men in Britain, Amsterdam hosted the Summer Olympics, and Carl Theodor Dreyer’s film about Joan of Arc reached audiences. The year brought changes in civic rights, international sport and silent cinema.

What happened in 1928?

Nations sign a pact renouncing war

The United States and 14 other nations signed the Pact of Paris in August 1928.

Office of the Historian, U.S. Department of State · U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian

Amelia Earhart flies into history

Amelia Earhart crossed the Atlantic as a passenger in June 1928, becoming the first woman to make the flight and an international aviation celebrity.

Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum

Amsterdam hosts the ninth Summer Olympics

Amsterdam hosted the ninth Summer Olympics from July 28 to August 12, 1928, bringing athletes from many countries to the Dutch capital.

Olympic World Library · Olympic World Library

Lacoste and Wills win at Wimbledon

René Lacoste and Helen Wills won the men’s and women’s Wimbledon singles titles in 1928.

Wimbledon · Wimbledon

Firsts and new ideas

Baird sends pictures across the Atlantic

John Logie Baird made the first transatlantic television transmission in 1928, sending images from London to Hartsdale, New York.

Science Museum Group Collection

Fleming notices penicillin’s antibacterial action

Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin’s antibacterial action in 1928 after mould contaminated a culture plate in his laboratory.

Nobel Prize Outreach · Associated Press

Number ones and music in 1928

Chart positions belong to the country and chart named in each record.

Let’s Do It enters the songbook

Cole Porter’s Let’s Do It was published in 1928 for the musical Paris, joining sophisticated wordplay to the fast-growing commercial song market.

Levy Music Collection, Johns Hopkins University

Mack the Knife begins on the Berlin stage

Mack the Knife began in Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht’s The Threepenny Opera, which premiered in Berlin in 1928.

Library of Congress

Prices and everyday money in 1928

Canada figures in the money of the time. Units and sources matter: these are not today's prices.

Recorded prices and earnings, 1928
Item or measureThenUnit and source
Fresh eggs$0.4781 dozen
Statistics Canada, Canada Year Book Historical Collection
Storage eggs$0.4121 dozen
Statistics Canada, Canada Year Book Historical Collection
Milk$0.1211 imperial quart
Statistics Canada, Canada Year Book Historical Collection
Plain white bread$0.0771 lb
Statistics Canada, Canada Year Book Historical Collection

Planning the birthday

Someone born in 1928 turns 98 in 2026. Before their birthday they are one year younger. Choose the birth year for the print; add the full date in the editor if you know it.

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