June 7, 2009: Barcelona had just been crowned Champions of Europe, Michael Jackson was rehearsing for his 'This is it tour' and Swine Flu was on the verge of being announced as a global pandemic.
It is also the date that Jenson Button was last victorious in a Formula One race, ten races ago, at the Turkish grand prix.
This statistic would not be so astonishing were it not for the fact that the boy from Frome, Somerset, went on to become world champion.
The season went from one low points finish to another but it mattered little as his rivals put up little fight and he was crowned champion with a race to spare.
In fact, Jenson only finished higher than fifth on one occasion between that victory in Istanbul and clinching the title in Sao Paulo, Brazil five months later.
A worthy champion ?
Before this season there was nothing to suggest Button would ever become an F1 world champion; and since that fifth place finish at Interlagos two weeks ago many have asked the whether Button is a worthy champion. In a word: "no".
Don't get me wrong, he's a nice guy and a talented Formula One driver but it takes so much more to be deemed a rightful F1 world champion.
In living memory it is difficult to think of a less deserving champion than the former Williams and Honda driver.
Here is a list of recent Formula One champions: Hamilton, Raikkonen, Alonso, Schumacher, Hakkinen.
Button is not even fit to tie their shoelaces; even the much-maligned Damon Hill was a serial title threat and had to withstand immense pressure to eventually wrap up his title in 1996 at the season finale at Suzuka, Japan.
Impressive debut
He made his debut amid much fanfare in the year 2000 and made an impressive start to his career with the Williams team, managing to out-perform his more experienced team-mate Ralf Schumacher.
However, the Englishman went on to spend eight largely unsuccessful seasons meandering around some of the worlds most famous race tracks, barely unsettling the established order.
Nevertheless, he did win his maiden grand prix in 2006, in Hungary, but it took him 113 races to reach this milestone and he seemed certain to be consigned to the history books as a mere race winner and not a champion.
That was until a remarkable change of luck at the beginning of this season.
Changing the rules
A dramatic change of the rules, which at the time were described as some of the biggest the sport had ever seen, within Formula One, saw the newly formed Brawn team come up with an ingenious technical advantage.
The chassis of their car gave them an immediate and substantial advantage over their rivals, at least for the first few races of the season, whilst the other teams adapted much more slowly to these new regulations.
Ferrari and McLaren had dropped the ball and were left languishing down the field, which aided the team Brawn effort.
All this fortune meant that a driver whose career was going nowhere was now in a car so far ahead of the rest that it was almost impossible not to win races.
No competition
Button's other stroke of luck was that his team-mate was another Formula One also-ran, Rubens Barrichello, who, like the Briton, took more than 100 races to win a grand prix.
To the 29-year-old's credit he took full advantage and won six of the first seven races whilst his car was so much better than the competition.
But that sixth victory proved to be his last of the season and he ended up winning the title more through the fact that his competitors were left tripping over themselves or that the best drivers on the grid; Fernando Alonso, Lewis Hamilton, Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel were all in inferior machinery.
So the man from Somerset effectively reversed into winning this year's title, but what about the style in which he achieved his success.
Lacklustre champion
I spoke to Gemma Briggs, The Guardian's weekly Formula One columnist, about Button's recent title win. who said: “He's not a worthy champion. Not at all.''
She continued: “Not just because of his lack of victories in the latter stages of the season but for me he lacks the aggression of a true champion.
“When you compare him to other champions there was a distinct lack of fireworks as he won his world championship in a somewhat lacklustre manner, particularly in comparison to last year's champion Lewis Hamilton who was always making things happen. Button, though, would, in his own serene way, just lead from the front or cruise and collect points in his efforts to win the title, lacking flamboyancy.”
And what of the future? Next year it is inevitable that McLaren and Ferrari will be much more on the pace and Brawn will have a fight on their hands to retain both the drivers and constructors titles they earned this year.
Tough enough?
A renaissance from the top teams is certain, but what is equally sure will be the motivation of the other drivers to topple Button from his lofty perch.
If he thought it was tough to cross the finish line first this year, things are just about to get even tougher.
When the going gets tough, it is difficult to know whether Button is tough enough to get tougher and any talk of a move to McLaren is likely to be much like the wind flying out of the rear of his engine- hot air.
So this season will almost certainly have been just a flash in the pan for Button and if he wins another world title, I will eat my exhaust pipe.
