Today in History

On this Day - 31st December
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1984 - Rick Allen
Def Leppard drummer Rick Allen crashed his Corvette Stingray, on the A57 outside Sheffield, Allen lost his left arm in the accident.
Allen was on his way to a New Year's Eve party at his family's home when a Jaguar passed him.
The driver had been egging Allen on and would not allow him to pass. In his rage to pass this driver, he did not see a turn up ahead and lost control of his car. He was thrown from the car, with his left arm severed due to the seatbelt not being properly fastened.



Def Leppard History 31st December 1984 (Rick Allen's Car Accident In Sheffield) (deflepparduk.com)
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1985 - Ricky Nelson
Ricky Nelson was killed along with six others, when his charted light aircraft crashed in Texas.
It's rumoured that freebasing cocaine caused an onboard explosion.
Nelson had played himself on his parent's US TV The Adventures Of Ozzie and Harriet.' (1958 US No.1 'Poor Little Fool', 1961 UK No.2 single 'Hello Mary Lou' plus over 30 US Top 40 hit singles).



Death of Ricky Nelson - Wikipedia

 

On this Day - 31st December
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( NEW YEARS HONOURS )

1996 - Paul McCartney
Paul McCartney became a Sir after he was listed in the Queen's New Year's Honours List.

2004 - Pete Waterman
Pete Waterman was awarded an OBE for his services to music. Once part of the Stock, Aitken & Waterman team he also booked the first ever tour for The Bay City Rollers, signed Musical Youth and Nik Kershaw during the 70’s and was promotion consultant for John Travolta. Waterman had written and produced more than 200 hit singles in 25 years for acts from Kylie Minogue to Steps.

2009 - Status Quo
Rick Parfitt and Francis Rossi from Status Quo were both appointed OBEs for services to music and charity.

 

On this Day - 31st December
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1961 - The Beach Boys made their live debut using their new name when they appeared at Long Beach Civic Auditorium, California.

1974 Lindsey Buckingham & Stevie Nicks join Fleetwood Mac

1980 - Bruce Springsteen ... and the E-Street Band's "The River Tour" concert at Nassau Coliseum (Uniondale, New York) clocks in at almost 4 hours

2000 - Janet Jackson's estranged husband filed a lawsuit against the singer claiming that Jackson, who had sold more than 40 million records, promised to share equally any assets acquired after their relationship began in 1987.

2006 - George Michael was paid a reported £1.5m for an hour's concert at a Russian billionaire's New Year party.
The unnamed businessman paid for Michael to entertain his 300 guests on his private estate 20 miles outside Moscow.
Michael had just finished the British leg of his Twentyfive tour which included a free concert for nurses in London.

 

On this Day - 1st January:

• 1651 Charles II Stuart crowned king of Scotland

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On 1st January 1651, the Scots crowned Charles II at Scone (this turned out to be the last such Coronation at Scone).
In July, the English army marched into Fife and then captured Perth, while the Scottish forces headed south into England, where they were defeated at the Battle of Worcester on 3 September 1651.

 

On this Day - 1st January:

• 1801 A United Kingdom

The British government's fear of an independent Ireland siding against them with the French resulted in the decision to unite the two countries. This was brought about by legislation in the parliaments of both kingdoms
The Irish Parliament votes to join the Kingdom of Great Britain, forming the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland

 

On this Day - 1st January:

• 1818 Mary Shelley

"Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus" is published



Originally published as a three-volume novel on January 1, 1818, Frankenstein had its notorious beginnings as a now lost ur-story written by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (MWS) in the summer of 1816, when the Shelleys and Claire Clairmont joined Lord Byron and his physician John Polidori in Cologny, near Geneva
During that historically cold and rainy summer, the group amused themselves during the evenings by reading ghost stories aloud, prompting Byron to propose that they each attempt to write one.

Frankenstein - Wikipedia

 

On this Day - 1st January:

• 1724 Glassblower

Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit proposes system for making thermometers and the Fahrenheit temperature scale in a paper to the Royal Society of London and is elected a fellow on its basis

• 1758 The International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature

,,,establish the "starting point" for standardized species names across the animal kingdom, based on the binomial nomenclature by Carolus Linnaeus 10th edition of Systema Naturae

• 1896 'X'-Rated

German physicist Wilhelm Röntgen announces his discovery of x-rays

 

On this Day - 2nd January:

1791 Big Bottom massacre in the Ohio Country



..... marking the beginning of the Northwest Indian War.
Big Bottom massacre - Wikipedia
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1879 Australian fast bowler Fred Spofforth dismisses 3 English batsmen



With consecutive deliveries during the 3rd Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground for Test cricket's first "hat-trick"

England vs Australia 1879: Fred Spofforth claims Test cricket’s first hat-trick | Cricket Country
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1971 Spectator crush at Ibrox Park in Glasgow,



The 1971 Ibrox disaster was a crush among the crowd at an Old Firm football game, which led to 66 deaths and more than 200 injuries.
It happened on an exit stairway at Ibrox Park (now Ibrox Stadium) in Glasgow, Scotland

1971 Ibrox disaster - Wikipedia

 

On this Day - 4th January:

• 1847 Samuel Colt sells his first revolver pistol to the United States government

Samuel Colt sells his first revolvers to the U.S. government
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• 1912 The Scout Association

is incorporated throughout the British Commonwealth by Royal Charter.
The Boy Scouts Association was incorporated throughout the British Empire by Royal charter for "the purpose of instructing boys of all classes in the principles of discipline loyalty and good citizenship".
The Scout Association - Wikipedia

 

On this Day - 4th January:

• 1958 NZ team led by Edmund Hillary reaches the South Pole,

It is the1st to reach the Pole overland using motor vehicles and the 1st since Roald Amundsen in 1911 and Captain Robert Falcon Scott in 1912
Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition - Wikipedia

 

On this Day - 4th January:

• 1967 English land and boat racer Donald Campbell

is killed while driving jet-powered boat Bluebird K7 on Coniston Water in England trying to beat his own water speed record
Donald Campbell - Wikipedia

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. . ,
Bluebird K7 - Wikipedia

 

On this Day - 4th January:

2012 Men Banned From Selling Female Underwear

..in Saudi Arabia

A new law, on the orders of King Abdullah, ends a system where women were forced to buy their underwear from male sellers.
From that day, it wass illegal for any man to work in a lingerie store in the country.
After vigorous campaigning, King Abdullah has royally decreed that men will no longer be allowed to sell female underwear in lingerie shops.
The country had previously only allowed men to work as shop keepers, but after women complained that male lingerie shop keeps made them uncomfortable, a new law was brought in, banning male lingerie shop workers and allowing women to take their place.
https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/saudi-arabia-bans-men-from-selling-lingerie

 

JANUARY 5th:
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1886 The "Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde"


A tale by Robert Louis Stevenson is published by Longmans, Green & Co.

• Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde - Wikipedia

 

JANUARY 5th:
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1971 - "Sonny" Liston

. .

Body of former world heavyweight boxing champion Charles "Sonny" Liston (40) is found by his wife Geraldine at their Las Vegas home; he had been dead for an estimated 6 days; foul play suspected
Sonny Liston: The mysterious death that haunts boxing - BBC Sport

 

JANUARY 6th:

• 1017 Cnut the Great crowned King of England in London by Lyfing, Archbishop of Canterbury
• 1066 King Harold I of England crowned
• 1099 Henry V crowned German king
• 1205 Philip of Swabia becomes King of the Romans
• 1322 Stephen Uros III becomes King of Serbia
• 1355 Charles I of Bohemia is crowned with the Iron Crown of Lombardy
• 1449 Byzantine Emperor Constantine XI is crowned at Mistra.
• 1453 Emperor Frederik III becomes archduke of Austria
• 1690 Joseph I, later Holy Roman Emperor and son of Emperor Leopold I, becomes King of the Romans

 

JANUARY 6th:

1994 US figure skating champion Nancy Kerrigan is attacked



Nancy Kerrigan was attacked after practice by Tonya Harding's bodyguard at the US Championships at the Cobo Arena in Detroit, Michigan, in what would become one of the biggest sports scandals in history.
The hitman was Shane Stant, who used a 21-inch collapsible baton to strike Kerrigan's right leg

Assault of Nancy Kerrigan - Wikipedia

 

JANUARY 6th:

2021 A President's Riot

Supporters of President Donald Trump storm US Capitol in Washington during congressional certification of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris's win, resulting in five deaths and prompting evacuation of lawmakers and vice-president Mike Pence
. . . . . . .
45th US President, - - - - - - - - - - - - 46th US President,
Businessman and TV Personality . . .Joe Biden
Donald Trump . .
. . . .

Capitol riots: Pro-Trump protesters storm the US legislature - in pictures - BBC News

 

JANUARY 7th:

• 1890 African American inventor William Purvis

Purvis received a patent for improving the efficiency of the fountain pen.
His inventions included an updated fountain pen design, improvement to the handstamp, and a close-conduit electric railway system.
William B. Purvis - Wikipedia

 

JANUARY 7th:

• 1927 Harlem Globetrotters play their 1st game in Hinckley, Illinois

. .

Harlem Globetrotters - Wikipedia