That was the year when Fatimid invaders began to build a grand enclosure to house their new mosques and palaces – a private city known to its residents as al-Qahera, and eventually to the world as Cairo.
Even for a city inured to grand announcements that go nowhere, this is momentous.
Some are on a grand scale – such as Spain's concentrated solar power stations which, by super-heating molten salts that hold their heat for many hours, can generate clean power from the sun at night.
One project considered by Bin Laden, reported in the Guardian last month, was the creation of a grand alliance of militant groups in Pakistan and Afghanistan under the umbrella of al-Qaida.
After a successful year on the doubles circuit in which she made three grand slam finals with Dellacqua, she has plenty of experience on the big stage, which will serve her well when she takes on the top players.
INDIEGOGO iOS/Android Indiegogo is the main rival to crowdfunding website Kickstarter: a place where musicians, film-makers, gadget makers and others try to raise money for their grand schemes.
Comprising three once grand houses, and furnished with antique mirrors, desks, cabinets, clocks, statues, lamps and paintings, it's like an underfunded museum with comfortable beds.
Every judge worth listening to makes Djokovic favourite to win the final, favourite to win Wimbledon and favourite to add the US Open to his Australian title for the first grand slam sweep in tennis since Rod Laver's second one in 1969.
