Любов Костова

Today’s digital generation might be quite surprised to find out that sharing short messages of a minimal number of characters existed long before Twitter or mobile text messaging. 160 characters for an SMS – or until recently the 140 characters for a tweet – were quite a luxury 80 years ago. Back then people used to send telegrams with an average length of 10 to 12 words which actually is about 100 characters. One such telegram in 1939 brought to Sofia the news about the establishment of the first British Council office in Bulgaria.

Telegrams are now considered somewhat exotic. The communication devices we all carry in our pockets these days have much greater capabilities. Over the past 80 years the world has changed so much and so quickly. That is why in 2014 the British Council celebrated its global 80th anniversary by putting together a piece of research on the ’80 moments that shaped the world’. Among the top ten most influential moments were the invention of the world wide web, the discovery of a method for mass production of penicillin, the home computer, the terrorist attacks of 9/11, and the movement towards greater equality of women.

We now want to give a similar research to Bulgaria to celebrate the 80th anniversary since the establishment of our first office in the country, which we are marking throughout 2019. With the research on '80 moments that shaped Bulgaria' we want to highlight some of the local and global events, people, trends and achievements that shaped Bulgaria as we know it today.

We reached out to a wide panel of 20 professionals from all walks of life to help us create a long list of 160 nominations in the three categories:

It's your turn now! Check out the nominations, learn more about the stories behind and fill in our survey. Have your say on which of these 160 events, individuals, processes or trends you think have been key in shaping modern Bulgaria.

Join us on this journey to the past which is actually looking into the future!

Lyubov Kostova
Country Director, British Council in Bulgaria

See also