Today in History

On this Day - 12th October: (Music)

1994 - Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd played the first of a 15-night run at Earls Court, London, England.
Less than a minute after the band had started playing 'Shine On You Crazy Diamond', a scaffolding stand holding 1200 fans, collapsed, throwing hundreds of people 20 feet to the ground.
. . . .
It took over an hour to free everyone from the twisted wreckage, ninety-six people were injured, with 36 needing hospital treatment. Six were detained overnight with back, neck and rib injuries. Pink Floyd sent a free T-shirt and a note of apology to all the fans who had been seated in the stand that collapsed.
The show was immediately cancelled and re-scheduled.
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2005 - Tommy Lee



Motley Crue drummer Tommy Lee suffered minor burns at a concert in Casper, Wyoming during a pyrotechnics explosion.
Lee was treated at a local hospital for the injuries to his arm and face, which occurred while he was suspended from a wire 30 feet above the stage.
The 43-year-old played one more song before the concert was cut short.
"He didn't look good so we chose to err on the side of caution," said singer Vince Neil
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Today in History October 13th

1944 Ernest Jenkins receives the Silver Star from Gen. George Patton



Ernest Jenkins receives the Silver Star from Gen. George Patton. Jenkins had been driving Maj. Charles Ketterman in a Jeep when they were ambushed in the French town of Chateaudun. The two men liberated the whole town!

 

On this Day - 14th October:

1066 Battle of Hastings:
William, Duke of Normandy and his Norman army defeat the English forces of Harold II who is killed in the battle

Battle of Hastings - Wikipedia

 

On this Day - 14th October:

1322 Robert the Bruce of Scotland defeats King Edward II of England

The Battle of Byland was a significant battle fought in 1322 during the Scottish Wars of Independence, between the forces of King Edward II of England and King Robert I ('the Bruce') of Scotland. King Edward had invaded Scotland in August 1322, but had been unable to bring the Scottish king to battle.


Battle of Old Byland - Wikipedia

 

On this Day - 14th October:

1586 Mary Queen of Scots goes on trial



The trial of Mary, Queen of Scots, began at Fotheringhay Castle in Northamptonshire. ... Mary Queen of Scots had, at first, refused to appear before Elizabeth I's commission, but had been told by William Cecil that the trial would take place with or without her.

14 October 1586 - Trial of Mary, Queen of Scots - The Tudor Society

 

On this Day - 14th October:
(Test-watch)

• 1953 Great Britain performs nuclear test at Emu Field, Australia
• 1958 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
• 1962 USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
• 1969 USSR performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya USSR
• 1970 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
• 1970 USSR performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya USSR
• 1978 China performs nuclear test at Lop Nor, PRC

 

On this Day - 14th October:
(NOBEL Awards)
.
1964 Martin Luther King Jr. announced as winner of the Nobel Peace Prize
.
1976 Nobel Prize in Economics awarded to American economist Milton Friedman
.
1986 Nobel Peace Prize awarded to Auschwitz survivor Elie Wiesel, for his efforts to ensure the Holocaust was remembered
.
1991 Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi wins Nobel Peace Prize
.
1994 Nobel Peace Prize awarded to Yasser Arafat, Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres
.
2019 Nobel prize for Economics awarded to Esther Duflo, Abhijit Banerjee and Michael Kremer for research on ways to fight poverty

 

On this Day - 14th October: (MUSIC)

1957:
The Elvis Presley classic, ‘Jailhouse Rock’ was released.
It become his ninth US number one single and stayed on the Billboard chart for nineteen weeks.
The film clip from the movie where he sang the song is considered by many historians to be the first rock video.
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1967:
The second series of The Monkees TV show started on BBC TV in the UK.
Plans for the shows to be screened in colour were dropped, so it was aired in black & white.
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1969:
Police in New Jersey issued a warrant for the arrest of Frank Sinatra in relation to his connections with the Mafia.
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1972,
Michael Jackson went to No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Ben’, his first solo No.1. a No.7 hit in the UK.
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1988,
Def Leppard
Became first act in chart history to sell seven million copies of two consecutive LPs, with Pyromania’ (released in 1983) and ‘Hysteria.’
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1990,
Multi-Emmy and Grammy award-winning American composer, pianist and conductor, Leonard Bernstein died of pneumonia.
Composed music for the 1957 musical ‘West Side Story’, and ‘On The Waterfront’.
Bernstein conducted the New York Philharmonic aged 25 and wrote three symphonies, two operas, five musicals, and numerous other pieces.
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2004,
Eric Clapton
was suspended from driving in France after being caught speeding at 134mph in his Porsche 911 Turbo near Merceuil. He was given a 750 euro (£515) fine and his UK licence was confiscated. After paying his fine Clapton posed for photographs with French police and then left the scene in his Porsche – with his secretary behind the wheel.

 

On this Day - 14th October: (MUSIC)

"Happy Birthday" - Born on this day

1930 - Robert Parker
American R&B singer and musician Robert Parker. He was best known for his 1966 hit, 'Barefootin''
He played with most of New Orleans' musicians, including Fats Domino, Irma Thomas, and Huey "Piano" Smith.
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1940, Cliff Richard
Cliff Richard, (Harry Webb). Britain's most successful solo artist, his first hit was in 1958 the UK No.2 single 'Move It', then 1959 UK No.1 single 'Living Doll'.
Then in 1979 he had a UK No.1 single 'We Don't talk Anymore', plus over 100 UK Top 40 hits). He once worked as a clerk at Fergusons TV factory.
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1946, Justin Hayward,
Songwriter, lead singer, and guitarist with English rock band The Moody Blues who had the 1965 UK No.1 & US No.10 single 'Go Now' and the hits singles including 'Go Now', 'Nights in White Satin' and 'Question'.
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1948 Marcia Barrett
Marcia Barrett, from German vocal group Boney M, who had the 1978 UK No.1 & US No.30 single 'Rivers Of Babylon' and with more than 150 million records sold, they are one of the best-selling artists of all time.
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1952 - Chris Amoo
From the British soul group The Real Thing, who had the 1976 UK No.1 single 'You To Me Are Everything'.
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1958 Thomas Dolby
Singer who in 1984 had a UK No.17 single 'Hyperactive'.
Also member of Camera Club and Lene Lovich band.
As a producer worked with Joni Mitchell and Prefab Sprout.
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1974, Natalie Maines,
Singer, songwriter with the Dixie Chicks
With sales of 27.2 million albums in the US alone, they have become the top selling all-female band and biggest selling country group in the US during the Nielsen SoundScan era (1991–present).
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1975, Shaznay Lewis,
Singer from British girl group All Saints, who had the 1998 UK No.1 and US No.4 single 'Never Ever'.
The group's debut album, All Saints (1997), went on to become the third best-selling girl group album of all time in the U
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1978, Usher,
Had the 1998 UK No.1 single 'You Make Me Wanna' and 1998 US No.1 single, 'Nice & Slow'.
His 2004 album Confessions sold over a million copies in the US in its first week of release, selling the greatest amount of records in one week for any R&B artist). To date, his worldwide sales stand at 43 million albums and 75 million records overall, making him one of the best-selling music artists of all time

 

On this Day - 16th October:

1813 Battle of Leipzig:
= The largest battle in Europe prior to WWI, Napoleon's forces defeated by Prussia, Austria and Russia
Battle of Leipzig - Wikipedia
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1859 Abolitionist John Brown
= Brown, a staunch abolitionist, and a group of his supporters left their farmhouse hide-out en route to Harpers Ferry.
Descending upon the town in the early hours of October 17th, Brown and his men captured prominent citizens and seized the federal armory and arsenal.
John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry - Wikipedia
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1916 Margaret Sanger
= Together with her sister Ethel Byrne and activist Fania Mindell, Sanger opened the 1st birth control clinic in the US at 46 Amboy St, Brooklyn .
Women lined up down the block to get birth control information and advice from Sanger, Byrne, and Mindell
America's First Birth Control Clinic | History Today

 

On this Day - 16th October:

1847 "Jane Eyre".
Charlotte Brontë publishes her book under the pseudonym Currer Bell.
The book, about the struggles of an orphan girl who grows up to become a governess, was an immediate popular success.

1913 "Pygmalion"
George Bernard Shaws' play premieres in Hofburg Theatre in Vienna, Austria in a German translation by Shaw's Viennese literary agent and acolyte, Siegfried Trebitsch.
- Its first New York production opened on 24 March 1914 at the German-language Irving Place Theatre.

1938 "Billy the Kid"
Aaron Copland's & Eugene Loring's ballet premieres in Chicago
Billy the Kid (ballet) - Wikipedia

1939 "The Man Who Came to Dinner"
George Kaufman and Moss Hart's comedy opens at the Music Box Theatre, NYC; runs for 739 performances
The Man Who Came to Dinner - Wikipedia

1950 "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe"
The first edition of C.S. Lewis' book is released in London
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe - Wikipedia

1972 "Pacific Paradise"
Performed in the Maori language" at the Palace Theater NYC for 5 performances ((Oct 16, 1972 - Oct 21, 1972))

1980 "Brigadoon"
The play opened at thee Majestic Theater NYC and ran for 133 performances
Brigadoon - Wikipedia

 

On this Day - 16th October:

1962 Cuban Missile Crisis
begins as JFK is shown photos confirming the presence of Soviet missiles in Cuba
Cuban Missile Crisis (Famous Photo)
Also known as the October Crisis of 1962, the Caribbean Crisis, or the Missile Scare, was a 1-month, 4 day confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union

. . . . . . . . JF Kennedy - (USA) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Fidel Castro - (CUBA). . .. . . . . . . . . . . . Nikita Khrushchev.- (USSR)
Cuban Missile Crisis - Wikipedia

 

On this Day - 16th October:

1968 "Black Power salute"



During their medal ceremony in the Olympic Stadium in Mexico City 1968, two African-American athletes, Tommie Smith and John Carlos, each raised a black-gloved fist during the playing of the US national anthem, "The Star-Spangled Banner" in protest against racism and injustice against African-Americans
Black Power Salute (Famous Photo)
TOMMIE SMITH:
Smith, who had been drafted by the National Football League's Los Angeles Rams in the ninth round of the 1967 NFL Draft, signed to play for the American Football League's Cincinnati Bengals and was part of the team's taxi squad for most of three seasons as a wide receiver.
A year after his Olympic win, Smith finished his BA in Social Science at San Jose State University and went on to earn a
He later became a track coach at Oberlin College in Ohio, where he also taught sociology and until 2005 was a faculty member teaching physical education at Santa Monica College in Santa Monica, California
- .In 2018, Smith received the Dresden Peace Prize

JOHN CARLOS :
After his track career, he enjoyed a brief stint in the Canadian Football League but retired due to injury. He became involved with the United States Olympic Committee and helped to organize the 1984 Summer Olympics.
In 1985, Carlos became a counselor and in-school suspension supervisor, as well as the track and field coach, at Palm Springs High School in California. In 2003, he was elected to the National Track & Field Hall of Fame.
In April 2008, Carlos was a torch-bearer for the Human Rights Torch,which ran in parallel to the 2008 Summer Olympics torch relay and focusing attention on China's human rights record.
1968 Olympics Black Power salute - Wikipedia

***** On July 16, 2008, Smith and Carlos accepted the Arthur Ashe Award for Courage for the salute at the 2008 ESPY Awards
"We were not Antichrists. We were just human beings who saw a need to bring attention to the inequality in our country. I don't like the idea of people looking at it as negative. There was nothing but a raised fist in the air and a bowed head, acknowledging the American flag – not symbolizing a hatred for it"

 

On this Day - 16th October:

1967 - Joan Baez
Folk singer Joan Baez was arrested during a Protest rally in Oakland, California.

BBC ON THIS DAY | 16 | 1967: Joan Baez arrested in Vietnam protest

2007 - Bertrand Cantat
The French rock star was freed from jail after serving half of an eight-year sentence for killing his actress girlfriend.
Cantat, singer with Noir Desir, was jailed for the manslaughter of Marie Trintignant after a violent row in a Lithuanian hotel in July 2003. - She died after spending days in a coma
The post-mortem examination suggested that Cantat had inflicted 19 blows to Trintignant's head, causing irreversible brain damage.
In court, Cantat claimed he "slapped" Trintignant four times before putting her to bed.
He claimed he had flown into a jealous rage after she received a text message from her ex-husband

 

On this Day - 16th October:
HAPPY BIRTHDAY: =
.
1938 - Nico

German singer, songwriter, musician, model, and actress Nico (Christa Paffgen), with The Velvet Underground, whose first album, the only one to feature her, was one of the most influential of all time on aspiring musicians.
She had roles in several films, including Federico Fellini's La Dolce Vita (1960) and Andy Warhol's Chelsea Girls (1966).
Nico died on 18 July 1988 from a brain haemorrhage, while on holiday in Ibiza. She had hit her head after falling off her bicycle as a result of a minor heart attack.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
1959 - Gary Kemp

British musician, songwriter and actor Gary Kemp from Spandau Ballet.
They became one of the most successful groups to emerge during the New Romantic era and produced a number of international hits during the 80s including 'True', 'Gold' and 'Through the Barricades.'
He starred with his brother Martin in the 1990 British drama film The Krays
.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
1969 - Wendy Wilson

American singer and television personality and member of the pop singing trio Wilson Phillips.*
She is the daughter of Beach Boys founder Brian Wilson and his first wife Marilyn, who was a member of girl group the Honeys,
Along with younger sister of Carnie Wilson and Chynna Phillips formed Wilson-Phillps * who had a 1990 US No.1 & UK No.6 single 'Hold On').

 

On this Day - 17th October:

1943 Burma railway completed:


= Built by Allied POWs and Asian laborers for use of the Japanese army
Death Railway Completed (Famous Drawing) - On This Day
Burma Railway - Wikipedia
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1956 Chess "Game of the Century":


13-year-old Bobby Fischer defeats 1953 U.S. Champion Donald Byrne in the Rosenwald Memorial Tournament at the Marshall Chess Club in New York City
The Game of the Century (chess) - Wikipedia
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1979 Mother Teresa of Calcutta = awarded Nobel Peace Prize

- Catholic Missionary = Mother Teresa
The Norwegian Nobel Committee has awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for 1979 to Mother Teresa.
She left her teaching post at a Roman Catholic girls' school in Calcutta in order to devote her life to working among the poorest of the poor in the slums of that city
Mother Teresa - Wikipedia
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On this Day - 17th October: (MUSIC)

1962 - The Beatles
In between their lunchtime and night shows at The Cavern Club in Liverpool, The Beatles travelled to Granada TV Centre in Manchester to make their television debut. They appeared live on the local magazine program People and Places performing two songs ‘Some Other Guy’ and 'Love Me Do'.

. . . . .

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1967 "HAIR" premieres on Broadway:


*
Hair (1979) - song Hair - YouTube
*
Hair (musical) - Wikipedia

 

On This Day - 17th October
1091 A tornado struck London. It was Britain's earliest reported tornado. The wooden London Bridge was demolished, and the church of St. Mary-le-Bow in the city of London was badly damaged. Other churches in the area were demolished, as were over 600, mostly wooden, houses.


1346 At the Battle of Neville's Cross, near Durham, the Scots were routed and King David II of Scotland was captured by Edward III of England and imprisoned in the Tower of London for eleven years.


1651 Defeated by Oliver Cromwell at Worcester, Charles II of England fled to France.


1727 The birth of John Wilkes, English political agitator and advocate of press freedom who, despite being elected to Parliament four times, was not allowed to take his seat. Eventually, working, and middle-class support secured him his rightful entry to Parliament where he fought for reforms and religious tolerance.


1855 A steel-making process was patented, by Englishman Sir Harry Bessemer.


1860 The world's first professional golf tournament was held, at Prestwick in Scotland.


1914 German U-boats raided Scapa Flow, the main base of the British Grand Fleet, off the north coast of Scotland in the Orkney Islands.


1936 Newspaper owner Lord Beaverbrook promised King Edward VIII that he would arrange for the British press to remain silent on the subject of his relationship with American divorcee Mrs. Wallis Simpson.


1956 Queen Elizabeth II opened Calder Hall in Cumbria - Britain's first large-scale atomic energy station.

1973 The start of a major world oil crisis when oil-producing Arab states increased prices by 70 percent and cut production in protest at US support for Israel in the Yom Kippur War.


1978 Public pressure led ministers to reduce the number of grey seals to be culled in Scotland.


1980 The Queen made history by becoming the first British monarch to make a state visit to the Vatican, when she met Pope John Paul II.


1985 The House of Lords, in the Gillick case, permitted doctors to prescribe oral contraceptives to girls aged under 16 without parental consent.


1991 Four independent television companies: TV-am, Thames, TVS and TSW lost their licences to broadcast following a 'sealed bid' system of awarding the franchises by the Independent Television Commission.


1996 England international footballer Paul Gascoigne was accused of beating up his wife Sheryl at a hotel in Scotland.


2000 Four people were killed when a high-speed passenger train derailed in Hatfield, just north of London. The accident was a defining moment in the subsequent collapse of Railtrack.


2012 Colin Farmer, aged 61 and a blind stroke victim said that he thought he was going to die when he was shot in the back in Chorley town center with a 50,000-volt Taser stun gun fired by a police officer who mistook his white stick for a Samurai sword.

 

On this Day - 21st October:

• 1797 The USS Constitution

(Old Ironsides) is launched in Boston.
It is renowned in American history.
One of the first frigates built for the U.S. Navy, it was launched in Boston, Massachusetts.
it is the world's oldest commissioned warship afloat.
USS Constitution - Wikipedia
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• 1805 Battle of Trafalgar:

British Admiral Horatio Nelson

Nelson defeats combined French and Spanish fleet, but Victory at a price as he is shot and killed during battle.
'Trafalgar' was a naval engagement between the British Royal Navy and the combined fleets of the French and Spanish Navies during the War of the Third Coalition (August–December 1805) of the Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815)
Battle of Trafalgar - Wikipedia
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1960 1st British nuclear sub HMS Dreadnought



Dreadnought was laid down on 12 June 1959, and launched by Queen Elizabeth II on Trafalgar Day.
The reactor was embarked in 1962 and Dreadnought made her first dive, in Ramsden Dock, on 10 January 1963.
HMS Dreadnought (S101) - Wikipedia

 

1824 Portland cement, the modern building material, was first patented by Joseph Aspdin of Wakefield in Yorkshire. Its name is derived from its similarity to Portland stone, a type of building stone that was quarried on the Isle of Portland in Dorset.

1854 Florence Nightingale and a staff of 38 women volunteer nurses that she trained, were deployed to the Crimea, where the main British camp was based, fighting in the Crimean War. During her first winter at Scutari, ten times more soldiers died from illnesses such as typhus, typhoid, cholera and dysentery than from battle wounds. She had the sewers flushed and ventilation improved. Almost six months after her arrival death rates were sharply reduced.


1868 Sir Ernest Dunlop Swinton, the English inventor of the military tank, was born.


1940 Geoff Boycott, Yorkshire, and England batsman was born.


1950 Korean War: Heavy fighting began between forces from the 27th British Commonwealth Brigade and the North Korean 239th Regiment at the Battle of Yongju, also known as the Battle of the Apple Orchard.


1956 Kenyan rebel leader Dedan Kimathi was captured by the British Army, signaling the ultimate defeat of the Mau Mau Uprising, and essentially ending the British military campaign in Kenya.


1958 The first women peers were introduced into the House of Lords.


1960 Britain launched its first nuclear submarine, HMS Dreadnought, at Barrow. The building is Europe's largest shipbuilding hall at almost 200 ft high and 900 ft long. Launched by Queen Elizabeth II on Trafalgar Day she was commissioned into service with the Royal Navy in April 1963 and continued in service until 1980.


1966 144 people, 116 of them children, were killed in the small Welsh mining village of Aberfan when tons of slush, from a nearby coal slag tip weakened by rain, slid downhill and engulfed the village school, a farm, and a row of terraced houses. The tragedy occurred at the beginning of the school day and on the day before the school closed for the half-term holiday. The children are buried in Aberfan's cemetery, on the hillside above the valley.


1975 Britain's unemployment figure reached 1,000,000 for the first time since World War II.


1982 Gerry Adams & Martin McGuinness made history by becoming the first members of Sinn Fein to be elected to the Ulster Assembly.


1985 In one of Britain's worst motorway crashes, 13 people were killed on the M6 motorway in Lancashire.


1988 A Greek cruise ship sank after a collision with a freighter. All 390 British schoolchildren and 81 teachers were rescued.


1996 Frances Lawrence, widow of headmaster Phillip Lawrence who was stabbed to death by a group of teenagers outside his school gates, launched a 'better citizenship campaign' to promote good behaviour in schools.


1997 'Candle in the Wind' - the re-working of the hit single Elton John sang live at the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales, was declared the biggest selling single in music history.


2011 St Paul's Cathedral was closed to visitors for the first time since World War II because of anti-capitalist demonstrators (the 'Occupy London Stock Exchange' movement) 'camping on its doorstep'. The Right Reverend Graeme Knowles said that the decision had been taken with a heavy heart, for health and safety reasons.


2012 The death (aged 99) of William Walker, the oldest surviving pilot from the Battle of Britain, who was shot down in his Spitfire and wounded in 1940.