Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Simpsons fans unearth Homer’s ‘real age’ in surprising Easter egg

Fans have gleaned the character’s age from a brief image of his driver’s licence

Louis Chilton
Wednesday 13 May 2020 14:20 BST
Comments
Swarm of 'killer bees' break free from box in Simpsons episode

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Some eagle-eyed fans of The Simpsons celebrated a notable in-universe milestone on 12 May: Homer Simpson’s birthday.

The date is commemorated thanks to a classic Simpsons episode which gave viewers a fleeting look at Homer’s driving licence, where the date of birth was written in tiny print.

Even though Homer’s age has long been said to be 39, his birth date, which reads “05-12-56”, means that in the year 2020, he would be turning 64.

People posted about the occasion on Twitter, noting their surprise at the character’s advanced age.

“How can Homer be 64?” asked one commenter.

“Seems too young, but grandpa simpson is still around, so I guess they just started young,” joked another. ”Of course, Bart is in his 40’s so all things are relative.”

Of course, The Simpsons has always had a fairly lax attitude to continuity.

With a few exceptions, the series has always reverted to the “status quo” at the end of each episode, with events seldom carrying over from one episode to the next.

The series has also presented multiple conflicting versions of some key events, such as Marge and Homer’s courtship – which was initially shown to occur in the 1970s and early 1980s, but was later moved to the 1990s in the 2008 episode “That 90s Show”.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in