Portrait of Timothy Garton Ash

Birthday profile

Timothy Garton Ash

Timothy Garton Ash, English historian and author

Born
July 12, 1955
Age in 2026
71
Zodiac sign
Cancer
Birth year
1955

About Timothy Garton Ash

Timothy Garton Ash (born 12 July 1955) is a British historian, author and commentator. He is Professor of European Studies emeritus at the University of Oxford and a Senior Fellow of Stanford University's Hoover Institution. Most of his work has been concerned with the contemporary history of Europe, with a special focus on Central and Eastern Europe. In 1989, George Kennan described him as a 'historian of the present'. He has written about the former Communist regimes of that region, their experience with the secret police, the Revolutions of 1989, and the transformation of the former Eastern Bloc states into member states of the European Union. He has also examined the role of Europe in the world and the challenge of combining political freedom and diversity, especially in relation to free speech. He directed the European Studies Centre at St Antony's College, Oxford, from 2000 to 2006, He subsequently founded the Dahrendorf Programme at the European Studies Centre, and directed it from 2010 to 2024.

Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.

The world when Timothy Garton Ash was born

Timothy Garton Ash was born in 1955. The year snapshot below places that birthday in its cultural and historical setting: the music and films people were following, the headlines shaping public life, and the everyday prices families encountered.

Culture in 1955

  • #1 song"Rock Around the Clock" – Bill Haley & His Comets
  • Top movieMarty
  • Top TV showThe $64,000 Question
  • Best-selling bookLolita – Vladimir Nabokov

Headlines and milestones

  • Major sports momentBrooklyn Dodgers win their first World Series
  • Top headlineRosa Parks sparks the Montgomery Bus Boycott
  • Technology milestoneDisneyland opens in Anaheim, California
  • Defining fadJames Dean and rebel culture
  • Notable inventionVelcro commercially available
  • World population2.77 billion

United States snapshot

  • U.S. leaderDwight D. Eisenhower
  • Sports championBrooklyn Dodgers (World Series)
  • Also wonSyracuse Nationals (NBA)
  • U.S. population165.3M

1955 versus 2026

These figures put everyday life in Timothy Garton Ash's birth year beside the site's latest United States snapshot.

Measure19552026
Gas$0.29$3.45/gal
Average home$10,950$435,000
Average income$6,200$67,500
Minimum wage$0.75$7.25/hr (federal)
Movie ticket$0.50$11.95
Postage stamp$0.03$0.73
Population165.3M341 million

Sources and editorial standards

This profile combines a biographical source with structured birthday and historical context. Sources recorded for this profile: Wikipedia, Library of Congress. See our editorial policy for sourcing, corrections, and review standards.

Read the source biography on Wikipedia. Wikipedia text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.