Notable Whale Based Success
A celebration of monumental ‘whale based success’ over the last millennium 🐋
2023
Brendan Fraser wins the Oscar for Best Actor for his portrayal of Charlie in award winning film, ‘The Whale’
2022
Wales qualifies for the FIFA World Cup. This is their second appearance in the international tournament (the first,1958)
2013
Blackfish debuts at Sundance, shining a light on atrocities committed against Orcas held in captivity by SeaWorld. The film is met with immense critical reception.
2010
Study is conducted that indicates whales are a positive influence to the productivity of ocean fisheries, colloquially referred to as ‘whale pump’
2008
Three-label bidding war resulted in American rapper and songwriter ‘Wale’ signing with Interscope Records for $1.3 million. The rapper subsequently releases his debut album ‘Attention Deficit’, featuring singles ‘Chillin’ and ‘Pretty Girls’
2007
Discovered that the neocortex of many species of whale is home to elongated spindle neurons that, at that point, were known only in hominids. A strong indication of whale’s intelligence
2006
Twitter launches and decides to feature a Beluga whale being lifted by a flock of orange birds as its emblem for service outages and capacity limits. It is dubbed ‘Failwhale’ by the Twitter community, who mourns its discontinuation in 2013
2005
Independent comedy-drama film ‘The Squid and the Whale’ is nominated for the Grand Jury prize at Sundance. The film features a massive diorama of a sperm whale at the American Museum of Natural History
2003
‘The Snail and the Whale’, written by Julia Donaldson is published. It goes on to be awarded the Giverny Award for Best Science Picture Book and the Blue Peter Award for Best Book Read Aloud. The Times calls it ‘bold and brilliant, wise and wacky’
1995
Thriller film ‘Jaws’, directed by Steven Spielberg, debuts as the highest grossing film of all time. The watershed film, which won countless awards and had a profound impact on American society, featured a group of men’s chance encounter with a great white shark on their vessel, Orca
1986
A massive granite memorial was erected to celebrate the entrance of a humpback whale, named Humphrey, into the San Francisco Bay
1975
A large number of belugas are studied by the US Navy to help improve detection of underwater objects using sonar
1950
Organized whale watching emerges when the Cabrillo National Monument is declared a public venue for watching the migration of gray whales, a spectacle attracting more than 10,000 visitors
1946
The International Whaling Commission places a moratorium on whaling, which leads to a substantial increase in whale population
1871
The phrase ‘a whale of a time’ emerges after being used in a news publication based out of Emporia, Kansas in reference to a German demonstration in Lafayette, Indiana
1851
Herman Melville’s Moby Dick is published by Harper & Brothers. It is met with mixed reviews
1845
Esteemed English Romantic painter William Turner paints ‘Whalers’, an oil on canvas depiction of a whaling ship pursuing a thrashing sperm whale. The painting currently resides in the Metropolitan Museum of Art
1770
Blue whales are officially classified by Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus. They become the largest known animal to ever live
1585
Alessandro Farnese and Francois, Duke of Anjou were greeted on their ceremonial entry into the port city of Antwerp by floats inscribed "Neptune and the Whale"
What did we miss?
Please email us at hello@orkabeveragecompany.com if we missed any major events related to the success and acclaim of our favorite marine mammal. Now, back to Energy Water…