USD 
Ends of wars, beginnings of nations, 2025 has a bumper crop of anniversaries including the birth of modern Vietnam and the end of World War II, Oscar Wilde witticisms and Julie Andrews’ mountain romps.
Austria: Waltzing in Vienna
Women fainted, welded-together couples scandalised – the ‘wicked’ waltz of Vienna’s 1800s was a fast and furious dance led by the Waltz King, Johann Strauss. Best known for his Blue Danube waltz, Strauss was born in 1825 and the Austrian capital has a dizzying array of events for his bicentenary. The interactive New Dimensions exhibition serves up the scandal on Strauss, take in a cabaret-style Strauss dinner and show, catch a concert in one of Strauss’ original venues in the House of Strauss or admire his pianos, violins and original scores at the Wien Museum. While in Austria, it’s also the 60th anniversary of The Sound of Music, filmed in Salzburg. Take a SOM tour or book to visit the new exhibition dedicated to Julie Andrews’ mountain romps in the Salzburg Museum.
Ireland: Wilde days
“There is only one thing in life worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about.” The maestro of the one-liner, Oscar Wilde, died 125 years ago, and Ireland commemorates its wittiest son with a new festival. In Our Dreams runs from October 16-20 in Enniskillen in County Fermanagh, where the flamboyant author went to school. In Dublin, visit Trinity College, where Wilde was a scholar, and take a tour of his childhood home, now called Oscar Wilde House, which comes with a barrage of pithy bon mots and stories of the writer, who died in Paris in 1900 after serving two years’ hard labour for gross indecency – the crime of homosexuality. It also runs the Oscariana festival each October.
USA: The Happiest Place on Earth
It’s 70 years since the world’s first Disneyland opened, putting Anaheim, California on the map. The theme of the 70th celebrations is “Celebrate Happy” and the Happiest Place on Earth celebrates with new nighttime parades, and on the birth date, July 17, the debut of a cinematic presentation of Walt Disney’s journey to becoming a global cultural behemoth. The movie will show at the Main Street Opera House theatre each night.
Japan: A plea for peace
A sombre commemoration takes place in Nagasaki as it marks the 80th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August 6 and 9, 1945. Nagasaki Memorial Day conducts its annual commemoration for the victims of the bombing on August 9. It will be followed by the Nagasaki Bunkasai Peace Festival, from September 14 to November 30, with tea festivals, dance and music underpinning a message of peace, remembrance and anti-nuclear advocacy.
United Kingdom: Regency renegades
Beloved British author Jane Austen was born on 16 December, 1775, and the 250th year is marked by the annual Jane Austen Festival, held every September. Most of the action is centred around Hampshire, where she lived and is now buried, and Bath, where her novels ‘Persuasion’ and ‘Northanger Abbey are set. Fill your dance card with a season of country dances, musicals, soirees, promenades, a summer ball in June and a Regency-era style Yuletide ball in December, close to her birthdate. Expect fine white gowns and plenty of smart, red military unforms.
USA: The Big Apple grows up
The city that never sleeps blows 400 candles out on its cake this year. Named New Amsterdam by Dutch settlers in 1625, the city tells its history, from the Indigenous Lenape people to its current incarnation as the Big Apple in a series of art installations at the mayor’s NYC residence, Gracie Mansion, and special performances by the New York Philharmonic. And – jazz hands – it’s also the centenary of F Scott Fitzgerald’s Jazz Age novel, The Great Gatsby, set on Long Island, an hour and an era away from NYC. Catch Gatsby the musical on Broadway until September 7, or take a tour of the Long Island mansions including Oheka Castle and Eagles Nest Vanderbilt Museum.
United Kingdom: End of WWII
On 8 May 1945, Nazi Germany surrendered unconditionally to the Allied nations, now marked as ‘Victory in Europe Day’ (VE Day), followed by Japan’s surrender and the end of WWII on September 2, 1945. Trace the history of the war through the five campuses of the UK’s Imperial War Museums include the Churchill War Rooms; this year is also the 60th anniversary of the death of British wartime Prime Minister Winston Churchill. Also remembered in the commemorations, the liberation of the concentration and death camps across Europe, observed on January 27, the date of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau.
United Kingdom: Golden age of rail
When the Stockton to Darlington rail route opened in northern England in 1825, it was the world’s first public railway, and to the delight of trainspotters worldwide, the UK is celebrating the bicentenary of rail. Ride on the heritage Bluebell Railway, the oldest standard-gauge preserved public railway in the world. Or visit the National Railway Museum in York to admire highly-polished locomotives and great engineering feats. Or make tracks for the new New Hall of the Locomotion museum in Shildon, in Co. Durham, home of the world’s first railway station.
The Vatican: Holy days
Technically a celebration rather than an anniversary, 2025 is a Jubilee Year for Catholics. A year of reflection and affirmation of faith that occurs every 25 years, it’s anticipated more than 30 million pilgrims will visit Rome and the Vatican City this year. During the year, the Holy Doors on the Vatican remain open for pilgrims to walk through as a mark of absolution, to be cemented shut at the end of the Jubilee year, on January 6, 2025. For those with Rome on their 2025 itineraries, the advice is to book everything, and book it early.
Vietnam: Uncle Ho’s legacy
Military pomp, a 21-gun salute and air force flyovers will take over Ho Chi Minh City on April 30 as Vietnam celebrates 50 years since the re-unification of the country’s north and south. This date marks the Fall of Saigon and the subsequent end to the Vietnam War. It’s just one of several major anniversaries this year, including the 95th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of Vietnam and the 135th birthday of pivotal president Ho Chi Minh (May 19), who you can visit in his mausoleum in Hanoi.
