1770: A Year, a Town, and the Sweet Victory of the Vanilla Slice War

Let's dive into the history behind 1770 around the world. Diana Hubert/The Epoch Times

The year 1770 was so chock-full of quirks and peculiarities that even the most stone-faced historian might find themselves stifling a chuckle behind their powdered wig.

It was the year when Marie Antoinette, the soon-to-be queen with a sweet tooth as infamous as her eventual guillotine appointment, tied the knot with Louis XVI.

Louis was destined to learn that being king was far less about feasts and far more about facing the music. He would soon discover that wearing the crown isn’t quite the fairy tale it’s cracked up to be.

Joseph Priestley Discovers the Eraser

Meanwhile, across the soggy English Channel, Joseph Priestley, one of those rare British chemists who could take something blindingly obvious and make it seem like the discovery of the century, proposed using rubber to erase pencil marks.

This revelation, while hardly the stuff of epic poems or symphonies, certainly earned him a place in the hearts of generations of schoolchildren who would one day rejoice at the simple pleasure of correcting their mistakes.

The Last Cuman Speaker Dies

Not to be outdone in the quirky stakes, Hungary decided to put a morose spin on things.

The last speaker of the Cuman language, István Varró, shuffled off this mortal coil in 1770, leaving linguists with one less ancient tongue to wag about. It was the kind of event that sends scholars scurrying to dusty libraries, where they ponder the loss of linguistic history.

Of Wordsworth and Beethoven

But 1770 was not all doom and gloom. This was also the year that welcomed into the world two voices that would echo through the ages.

William Wordsworth, who would go on to wax lyrical about daffodils with such fervour that even the grumpiest of souls might feel a pang of joy, and Ludwig van Beethoven, whose music would one day provide the soundtrack to many a dramatic moment.

The Town of 1770 in Australia

The year’s oddities don’t end there.

As if history had grown tired of the Old World’s shenanigans, it turned its gaze to the far reaches of the globe, where Captain James Cook and the HMS Endeavour crew made their first landing in what would later become Queensland, Australia.

The spot was so momentous that the locals, in a stroke of minimalist genius, decided to name the town “1770.”

A town named after a year? You can almost hear the bureaucrats wringing their hands in glee.

And just to keep things interesting, the Australian government decided that “1770” wasn’t quite fancy enough.

No, they had to go and spell it out as “Seventeen Seventy,” because, after all, why settle for brevity when you can make things delightfully cumbersome?

The War of Vanilla Slices

Yet, history doesn’t merely rest on its laurels in this quirky little town. No, it throws a party every May with an annual festival that is as much a celebration of history as it is an excuse for a good old-fashioned party.

And what’s a festival without a bit of competition?

Enter the Vanilla Slice War! The inaugural battle of this sweet skirmish took place in 2018, when local cafes donned their culinary armour and whipped up their finest versions of this creamy delight.

The judging panel has included surfing legend Layne Beachley, Kirk Pengilly from INXS, and fishing aficionados Scott Hillier and Olivia Degn.

At the heart of this saccharine saga is Phil Geck from the 1770 Marina Cafe. Twice crowned the undisputed champion of the Vanilla Slice War in 2018 and 2019, Geck has cemented his place as the king of this culinary contest.

So, if you’re in the mood for a slice of life with a side of whimsy, look no further than 1770. Here, history doesn’t just come alive, it serves dessert, too, in the most delicious and delightfully quirky way.