2020 was a shocker, so let’s celebrate the good memories from the past decade – remember the Chilean miners?

Thankfully, nothing in this list will be in any way nearly as bad as the Year of Covid, writes Konnie Huq

The rescued Chilean miners pose with their national flag in 2010 (AFP via Getty)

We are already a fifth of the way through the 21st century. How is it all going so fast? Only yesterday we were worrying about the Y2K bug and gearing up to enter the new millennium and the novel Noughties. But that’s old news, as are the Teensies or Tensies or whatever you call them. And now the first year of the 2020s is already over.

Of course, 2020 will always be known as the year of Covid, not a great label, but not a great year by anyone’s standards. In fact, one of the worst in ages. So instead of reflecting on the past 12 months and all the doom and gloom, I’ve decided to look back at all the other years of the last decade and pick a memorable/ good event from each.

Thankfully, none will be in any way nearly as bad as the Year of Covid.

2010: The Year of the Chilean Miners

Remember them? Not a band who won the Mercury Music Prize but actual miners from Chile, 33 in total, who got trapped underground in the San Jose copper-gold mine when it collapsed.

The men, located 700 metres underground, and three miles from the mine’s entrance, managed to attach a note to a drill bit that got winched up on day 17, reading: “We are well in the shelter, the 33 of us.” It was a momentous moment, if you’ll excuse the tautology.

After 69 days, and the involvement of every Chilean government ministry, multiple global corporations and even Nasa, all 33 were rescued (relatively) unscathed and with 5.3 million people watching the livestream globally.

Thank goodness it only turned out to be a "miner" incident!

2011: The Year of the Royal Wedding

Not Harry and Meghan (they hadn’t even happened at this point), nor some minor royals that only people who leaf through the pages of Hello! magazine will have heard of, but an actual heir, second in line to the throne: Prince William himself got married to Kate Middleton.

Of course, I knew it was going to happen before everyone else. When they had supposedly broken up back in 2007, I went to see The Bourne Ultimatum in the Fulham Vue multiplex cinema and they were there together looking low-key in baseball caps watching the film. Weirdly no one else seemed to notice. It was admittedly a pretty empty showing and a dark cinema.

FYI both used the public loos after the film and I even said “hi” to a sheepish William as we bumped into each other. Good intel, huh? Well, it was at the time.

2012: The Year of the London Olympics

2012 saw the Summer Olympic come to London with an unforgettable opening ceremony costing £27m, directed by Danny Boyle, celebrating all things British, from the Queen through to James Bond, and the NHS.

London made history as the only place to have ever hosted the modern games three times, having previously done so in 1908 and 1948. But these ones were way better, as none of the others were based at a specially built 490 hectare state-of-the art Olympic Park in Stratford and they certainly didn’t have the monarch parachuting in from a helicopter accompanied by 007.

2013: The Year Same Sex Marriage Act was Passed in the UK

And about bloody time, too, although the first actual marriage was a year later in 2014.

2014: The Year of the Comet Landing

Having embarked on its journey in 2004, the Rosetta spacecraft completed the near impossible mission of landing a robotic lander on a moving comet so it could transmit data back to scientists on Earth. Wow. Bet Haley never saw that coming. Pretty mind blowing.

2015: The Year of the 2015 Climate Change Summit

The Paris Agreement, a legally binding international treaty on climate change was adopted by 196 Parties at COP21. It had been six years in the drafting with the goal of limiting global warming to preferably 1.5C, compared to pre-industrial levels.

The plans included new, and improved climate commitments with President Barack Obama calling the historic global conference "a turning point for the world".

2016: The Year of Trump and Brexit

Why are highs often followed by lows?! The less said the better. At least it was pandemic free, I guess. Moving swiftly on...

2017: The Year England Won the FIFA World Cup

England beat Venezuela to win the FIFA World Cup... for under 20s. We were the global dominators in football (for under 20s), a dream come true for so many. Our national sport, the unifying game and we won the cup. OK, so it’s the under 20s one, but let’s not forget, the children are our future...

2018: The Year of the Other Royal Wedding

This time I am talking about Harry and Meghan. Harry was third in line to the throne, he’s now sixth, as Wills and Kate have been busy in the interim, producing George, Charlotte and Louis, heirs three, four and five.

No wonder Harry and Megs meghxit to California in a couple of years time, I mean earlier this year. Oh, this all very confusing.

2019: The Year Before Covid

Most of us were in ignorant bliss back then. Masks and hand sanitisers were niche by most people’s standards.

Of course, I knew before everyone else. I went to the Fulham multiplex cinema... oops, wrong story. Scrap that. At a Christmas drinks thing in 2019 – that sounds retro, doesn’t it, a drinks thing with people mingling in a confined space chatting in each other’s ears to be heard over the hub bub – a friend of friend, an Oxford virologist spoke of this virus and the impending doom. Most people probably thought, yeah, whatever. Ignorant bliss.

But just think, soon we’ll be able to go back to obsessing over this lesser stuff as there is a vaccine now.

Happy New Year, everyone. Bring on 2021!