Pair, duo, twosome; You can call them whatever. But when one’s name is mentioned, we already remember the other one. Some of them were real while others were the results of imagination of creative people. From Salt and Pepper to Knife and Fork in daily liife and from Romulus and Remus to Rolls and Royce in history, the story of pairs is long, and the world of them is amusing. Here are 10 of the most popular pairs in the history, from various fields.
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10 Most Popular Pairs of All Time
1. Louis Lumiere and Auguste Lumiere
Cinema, the most popular and influential art today was the invention of these two French brothers. The first ever cinema screening was held by them on 28 December 1895 in Grand Cafe, Paris.Ten films were screened, including their first film, named ‘Workers Leaving the Lumiere Factory’. The Lumiere brothers were inspired by the device Kinetoscope invented by Thomas Edison. They built a new device, Cinematograph and it realized the exhibition of cinema. . Louis died in 1948 and Auguste in 1954.
2. Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson
If detectives have a king, it is Sherlock Holmes. The world doesn’t like to believe that he is mere a fictional character. Created by British writer Arthur Conan Doyle, Holmes and Watson first appeared in the 1887 novel ‘A Study in Scarlet’. Their adventures took the readers to a new world and Doyle became the most valuable writer of those days. The stories are presented through the diary notes of Dr. Watson. Eventhough Doyle killed Holmes in the story ‘Final Problem’, the protests of Holmes’ fans made him bring the detective back. Holmes and Watson are immortalised through 4 novels and 56 short stories.
3. Orville Wright and Wilbur Wright
We are reminded of them when we see an aeroplane. The Wright brothers from America were interested in inventions in childhood and started various experiments in 1880s. They started a weekly, a newspaper, a cycle shop and finally made the ‘Glider’, the first aeroplane in the world. On 17 December 1903, the historical flight took place, with Orville in the pilot’s seat. It had a duration of only 12 seconds. The same day, Wilbur also flew for 59 seconds. They organised shows in various corners of the world to popularise the flight. Wilbur passed away in 1912 and Orville in 1948.
4. Charles Rolls and Henry Royce
The Rolls-Royce car is the symbol of luxury. It has a story of great partnership behind it, of two people from opposite backgrounds. Henry Royce was born in a poor family while Charles Rolls was from a wealthy one. They met in 1904 via mutual friend Henry Edmunds. Royce was and engineer and Rolls was a businessman. The collaboration resluted in the birth of Rolls-Royce cars, which went on to be one of the most reputed brands in the world. In 1910, Rolls was killed in an aviation accident. Royce died in 1933.
5. Laurel and Hardy
Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy were the comedy duo that had the audience in stitches for a quarter of a century. They first united in the film A Lucky Dog in 1920. They didn’t work together for 6 years, until the film ‘Forty Five Minutes from Hollywood’ in 1926. Their first film as a team was Putting Pants on Philip. They didn’t have to look back then. In the next two years, they appeared together in more than ten films, delighting the audience. They acted together in more than 100 films. They last united in the 1951 film Atoll K. Hardy had become ill then. He died in 1957 and Laurel passed away in 1965.
6. Tom and Jerry
Tom the cat and Jerry the mouse are two of the most popular cartoon characters ever. Created by William Hanna and Joseph Barbara in 1939 for MGM studios, they have been entertaining the children (and quite a few number of adults too) for decades. They first appeared in the name of Jasper and Jinux in the 7 minutes-long cartoon film Puss Gets the Boot. The studio had decided to drop the characters after the film but the Oscar nomination for the film and popluarity it gained among viewers made them think otherwise. With some changes in their names and traits, the cat and mouse continued to run, amusing millions around the globe.
7. Batman and Robin
The story of Batman and Robin is the story of another pair as well, that of cartoonist Bob Cane and writer Bill Finger. They met during a party and decided to create a cartoon series. After long planning and preparation, Batman was born in 1939. Robin was introduced next year, targeting children. The comic became superhit within a small period of time. Batman and Robin, who fought and beat the criminals of Gotham city, went on to be the most popular comic characters ever. The comic later inspired many films, most of which became blockbusters.
8. Barbie and Ken
Barbie and Ken are two of the most popular toy dolls in history, from the company Mattel. Barbie was the creation of Ruth Handler, wife of one of the co-founders of Mattel, in 1959. Barbie is named after Ruth’s daughter Barbara. Ken, first appeared in 1961 as Barbies’s boyfriend, was also named after Ruth’s son, Ken Handler. Millions of dolls of Barbie and Ken were sold in the next decades, making them the most popular toy dolls. In 2004, Mattel declared that Barbie and Ken broke up.
9. James Watson and Francis Crick
They are the scientists who discovered the structure of DNA. They met in 1951 at Cambridge during the research in genetics. They carried the reasearch together and discovered that the structure of DNA is a double helix. The result was published in 1953. They were awarded the Nobel Prize for medicine in 1962. However, their colleague Rosalind Franklin who was instrumental in reasearch went ignored, which was a dark spot in their history.
10. Dominique Lapierre and Larry Collins
Penmanship is usually associated with a single person but the partnership of Dominic Lapierre and Larry Collins was an exception to it. They first met in 1954 and a friendship was formed between them quickly. Their first joint book, titled ‘Is Paris Burning?’ was published in 1965. I will Dress You in Morning (1968), Oh, Jarusalem! (1971), Freedom at Midnight (1975) and Fifth Horseman (1980) are their other popular works. The pair was parted with the death of Collins in 2005 just after the release of their last joint work, ‘Is New York Burning?’.
Written By: Nikhil Rajagopalan