Question
What are the century anchor days you need to memorise?
Answer
A doomsday for each century's "00" year: 1800s → Friday, 1900s → Wednesday, 2000s → Tuesday, 2100s → Sunday.
| Century | Anchor | # |
|---|---|---|
| 1700s / 2100s | Sunday | 0 |
| 1800s / 2200s | Friday | 5 |
| 1900s / 2300s | Wednesday | 3 |
| 2000s / 1600s | Tuesday | 2 |
The pattern repeats every 400 years (the Gregorian leap-year cycle), so 1700s and 2100s share Sunday, and so on. For most everyday dates you only need the middle rows: Wednesday for the 1900s and Tuesday for the 2000s.
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Question
What are quick memory hooks for the two most-used century anchors?
Answer
2000s = Tuesday ("Y2K → Twos-day"); 1900s = Wednesday.
- 2000s → Tuesday: the year 2000 doomsday was a Tuesday — think "Y2K, Twosday" (2 = Tuesday's number).
- 1900s → Wednesday: the workhorse anchor for 20th-century dates.
From those two you can reach the others via the 400-year cycle if needed, but almost every birthday or modern date you'll be asked about lives in the 1900s or 2000s, so nail those two first.
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