LETTER: The start of a new millennium in 2011

THE BBC North-West carried a report concerning a young boy whose 10th birthday fell on October 10th 2010 and the young lady reading the news on that day announced the date as the tenth day of the tenth month of the tenth year.
By The Newsroom
Published 6th Jan 2011, 13:21 BST

Unwittingly, perhaps, she had thereby admitted, on behalf of BBC North-West, that the vast majority of the unthinking masses had celebrated the advent of the 21st Century and third millennium AD one year too soon on December 31st 1999.

To their great shame, the Christian churches had also fallen into the same trap. They had all overlooked the very important fact there was no Year Zero. In the very early days of Christianity a point in time had been chosen to mark the date of birth of Jesus Christ and all dates in the Christian era have their origin in that date and are designated years AD.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

All the years preceding that origin are designated years BC (Before Christ).

This means, therefore, a person who had been born in the middle of the year six BC would have been 20 years old in the middle of the year 15 AD. His life so far would have spanned 5.5 of the years BC and 14.5 years of the years AD.

Midnight on New Year’s Eve 2010 marked the end of the first decade of the 21st century and of the third millennium AD.

MR RICHARD JOHNSON

LEAVERHOLME CLOSE,

CLIVIGER

Related topics:BBC