Today in History

On this Day - 21st October:

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  • 1948 UN rejects Russian proposal to destroy atomic weapons
  • 1971 USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
  • 1975 USSR performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya USSR
  • 1994 North Korea signs pact to end their nuclear projects

 

On this Day - 21st October: (MUSIC)

1958 - Buddy Holly

Buddy Holly's last recording session took place at Pythian Temple Studios, New York City.
The songs recorded included 'Raining In My Heart', 'Moondreams' and 'It Doesn't Matter Anymore' which became a No.1 hit.

1965 - The Beatles

Wanting to improve on a previous recording session The Beatles started from scratch on a new song called 'Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)', finishing recordings in three takes.
They also begin working on another new John Lennon song 'Nowhere Man.'

1972 - Chuck Berry

Chuck Berry started a two week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with 'My Ding-A-Ling'/
It was his first and only US and UK No.1, 17 years after his first chart hit.

1976 - The Who

Keith Moon played his last show with The Who at the end of a North American tour at Maple Leaf Gardens, Toronto.
On September 7, 1978, Moon died of an overdose of a sedative Heminevrin, that had been prescribed to prevent seizures induced by alcohol withdrawal.

1992 - George Michael

George Michael took Sony Records to court in a fight over his contract with the company; he lost the case in 1994.
Michael worked with Sony again less than 10 years later.

2006 - John Peel

British broadcaster John Peel left over £1.8m and over 25,000 vinyl records in his will.
Peel died suddenly at the age of 65 from a heart attack in 2004.

 

On this Day - 21st October:

• The Tragedy of Aberfan

1966 116 children and 28 adults died as a coal waste heap slid and engulfed a school in Aberfan, South Wales



The Tragedy of Aberfan - On This Day


Aberfan disaster - Wikipedia

 

On this Day - 22nd October:

1836 Sam Houston

Texan Revolutionary Sam Houston is inaugurated as 1st elected President of the Republic of Texas
Sam Houston - Wikipedia

 

On this Day - 22nd October:

1934 "Pretty Boy" Floyd

Notorious bank robber Charles "Pretty Boy" Floyd is shot and killed by FBI agents in East Liverpool, Ohio
Pretty Boy Floyd - Wikipedia

 

On this Day - 22nd October: (Testwatch)

• 1951 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
• 1956 Great Britain performs nuclear test at Maralinga Australia
• 1962 USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
• 1964 US performs underground nuclear test at Hattiesburg, Mississippi
• 1971 USSR performs nuclear test
• 1981 USSR performs underground nuclear test

 

On this Day - 23rd October:

42 BC: Second Battle of Philippi
In the Roman Republican civil wars at the 'Second' Battle of Philippi - Brutus's army is decisively defeated by Mark Antony and Octavian.

• Brutus commits suicide.

/ / / ...\ \ \ . /\. .
Roman Politician and General . . . . . . / / Roman Emperor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Conspirator and Assaain
Mark Antony . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . .Augustus Caesar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Brutus
Battle of Philippi - Wikipedia

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1642 Battle of Edgehill (UK)


The Royalist Army led by King Charles I beat the Parliamentarian forces at Edgehill (Warwickshire)
Battle of Edgehill - Wikipedia

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1944 Battle of Gulf of Leyte



The Battle of Leyte Gulf began - it was the largest naval battle of WWII near the Philippines and noted as the biggest and most multifaceted naval battle in history.
It involved hundreds of ships, nearly 200,000 participants, and spanned more than 100,000 square miles.
Some of the largest and most powerful ships ever built were sunk, and thousands of men went to the bottom of the sea with them.
Battle of Leyte Gulf - Wikipedia

 

On this Day - 23rd October:
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1915 Women's suffrage march
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Led by Dr. Anna Shaw and Carrie Chapman Catt, founder of the League of Women Voters, suffragettes organized a march down New York's fifth Avenue in support of the up-coming referendum in the state on giving women the vote.
The number of women marching was at least 25,000, though one spectator estimated 40,000 women marched five miles in a peaceful manner, all dressed in white, holding signs such as "“You trust us with the children; trust us with the vote".
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1947 NAACP petition on racism "An Appeal to the World" presented to UN

. . .
Oct. 23, 1947: An Appeal to the World - Zinn Education Project

 

On this Day - 23rd October: (MUSIC)

1962 - Stevie Wonder
12 year old Little Stevie Wonder recorded his first single for Motown Records, 'Thank You For Loving Me All The Way' backed by the Funk Brothers.
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1963 - The Beatles
The Beatles completed the final session for their second album 'With the Beatles' recording 'I Wanna Be Your Man.' The group then drove to London airport for a flight to Stockholm, Sweden to start their first foreign tour. The Fab four were met at Stockholm airport by hundreds of girl fans that had taken the day of school.
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1976 - Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin made their US television debut on Don Kirshner's Rock Concert, they performed ‘Black Dog’ and ‘Dazed And Confused’.
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1980 -
Mark David Chapman quit his security job and signed out for the last time. Instead of the usual "Chappy" he wrote "John Lennon". Chapman would murder Lennon on December 8th of this year outside his New York City home.
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1995 - Def Leppard
Def Leppard gave themselves a place in the Guinness book Of World Records, by playing three gigs in three continents in 24 hours. Tangier, London and Vancouver.
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2002 - Chuck Berry
A federal judge in St. Louis dismissed a lawsuit against Chuck Berry by Johnnie Johnson, a piano player and former collaborator who wanted royalties for more than 30 songs written between 1955 and 1966.
The songs in question included ‘No Particular Place To Go’, ‘Roll Over Beethoven’, and ‘Sweet Little Sixteen’. Johnson's lawsuit argued that he and Berry were co-writers on many of the songs, but because Berry copyrighted them in his name alone, Johnson got none of the royalties.
- The judge ruled that too many years had passed to bring about a royalties suit.
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2007 - Foxy Brown
Rapper Foxy Brown was given 11 weeks in solitary confinement after fighting with another inmate in prison.
She was also said to have been abusive to guards and refused to take a random drug test. Brown was serving a year in jail for violating her probation after a fight she had in a New York nail salon.

 

On This Day - 23rd October
1641 The outbreak of the Irish Rebellion began as an attempted coup d'état by Irish Catholic gentry, who tried to seize control of the English administration in Ireland to force concessions for the Catholics living under English rule. However, the coup failed and the rebellion developed into an ethnic conflict between the native Irish Catholics and the English and Scottish Protestant settlers.


1642 The first major battle of the English Civil War took place at Edgehill in South Warwickshire. Charles I and Prince Rupert led the Royalists and the Earl of Essex led the Parliamentarians. It was an inconclusive result that prevented either faction from gaining a quick victory in the war, which eventually lasted four years.


1843 Nelson's Column in Trafalgar Square was finally completed. It commemorates Admiral Nelson's victory at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. Nelson was born at Burnham Thorpe, Norfolk.


1906 In Britain, women suffragettes, campaigning for the right to vote, held a demonstration at the House of Commons. Ten were arrested and sent to prison.


1922 The shortest term of office this century for a British Prime Minister began on this day when Andrew Bonar Law took office. Due to ill health, he was replaced six months later by Stanley Baldwin.


1931 The birth of Diana Dors, an actress remembered for her 'sex symbol' roles.


1951 Conservative leader, Winston Churchill, wound up his election campaign by denying that he was a warmonger: "If I remain in public life at this juncture it is because I believe I may be able to make an important contribution to the prevention of a 3rd World War."


1954 Britain, the US, France, and the USSR agreed to end the occupation of Germany. On the same day, the Western nations agreed to allow West Germany to enter NATO.


1966 John Surtees, a British racing driver, won the Mexican Grand Prix.


1967 British farmers began slaughtering cattle following a severe outbreak of 'foot and mouth disease.


1972 Access credit cards came into use in Britain.


1987 Former Champion Jockey Lester Piggott was jailed for three years for tax evasion.


1991 The House of Lords ruled that husbands could legally be convicted of raping their wives.


2001 The Northern Ireland peace process reached a historic breakthrough as the IRA announced that they were decommissioning their weapons.


2009 BNP leader Nick Griffin complained to the BBC over his controversial appearance on Question Time, saying that he had faced a "lynch mob". He was robustly questioned about his views on race, immigration and the Holocaust from a largely hostile audience. He criticised Islam, defended a past head of the Ku Klux Klan but insisted that he was "not a Nazi". Critics said the show had given the BNP huge publicity and the BNP claimed 3,000 people registered to join the party during and after the broadcast.


2012 The switchover to digital television in the UK was complete when the analogue TV signal in Northern Ireland was turned off on Tuesday night at 23:30 BST. Simultaneously BBC Ceefax, the world's first Teletext service, launched on 23rd September 1974 took its final bow with a series of graphics on Ceefax's front page.


2013 Prince George, future king and future head of the Church of England was baptised at the Chapel Royal of St James's Palace.


2014 The death, aged 72, of the 1970s singing star Alvin Stardust. He died of metastatic prostate cancer.

 

On this Day - 24th October:

1901 Anna Taylor goes over the top.
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Anna Edson Taylor a 63-year-old schoolteacher named becomes the first person to successfully take the plunge over Niagara Falls in a barrel.
After her husband died in the Civil War, the New York-born Taylor moved all over the U. S. before settling in Bay City, Michigan, around 1898.
Annie Edson Taylor - Wikipedia

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1911 Orville Wright
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Orville found the right wind. He took off in a 40 mph (64.3 kph) upslope wind gusting up the sides of Kill Devil Hills.
He quickly rose to an altitude of 50 feet (15.2 meters) and remained there for 5-1/2 minutes.
He flew again, gliding for 7-1/4 minutes. And again, soaring for 9-3/4 minutes, seeming to hang motionless over the same patch of sand.
These were the first recorded soaring flights, the last one setting a record that would stand for ten years. Orville sent a triumphant message to Wilbur saying, “All our theories are proved.”

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1945 Charter of United Nations comes into effect
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United Nations Charter (Historic Document) - On This Day

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1962 Cuban Missile Crisis:
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Soviet ships approach but stop short of the US blockade of Cuba
Cuban Missile Crisis (Famous Photo) - On This Day

 

On this Day - 24th October:

1963 - The Beatles
On the first day of their first foreign tour, The Beatles spent the day in Stockholm, Sweden, recording a performance for a radio program entitled "The Beatles popgrupp fran Liverpool pa besok i Stockholm", (The Beatles pop group from Liverpool visiting Stockholm). The Beatles, enthused by the chance to play before an audience that wasn't screaming, played seven songs, ‘I Saw Her Standing There’, ‘From Me to You’ ‘Money’, ‘You Really Got a Hold On Me’, ‘She Loves You’, ‘Roll Over Beethoven’ and ‘Twist and Shout.
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1973 - John Lennon
John Lennon began litigation against the US government, accusing the FBI of tapping his his telephone.
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1977 - Keith Richards
Rolling Stone Keith Richards was fined £205 after admitting having cannabis, Chinese heroin, mandrax tablets and a revolver at his Chelsea home in the UK. Later in the evening, Keith and Anita Pallenberg accidentally set fire to their London hotel bedroom.
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1979 - Paul McCartney
Paul McCartney received a medallion cast in rhodium after being declared the most successful composer of all time.
From 1962 to 1978, McCartney had written or co-written 43 songs that had sold over a million copies each
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1998 - Ian Brown
Former Stone Roses lead singer Ian Brown was jailed for 4 months after being found guilty of disorderly behaviour during a flight from Paris to Manchester. Brown had threatened to chop the hands off an air stewardess during a heated exchange.
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2004 - Queen
Queen became the first rock act to receive an official seal of approval in Iran. Western music was still strictly censored in the Islamic republic, where homosexuality is considered a crime, but an album of Queen's greatest hits was released this week in Iran. Freddie Mercury, was proud of his Iranian ancestry, and illegal bootleg albums and singles had made Queen one of the most popular bands in Iran.
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On This Day - 24th October
1537 Henry VIII's 3rd wife, Jane Seymour, died following the birth of a future king, Edward VI.


1857 The founding of the world's first official football club, Sheffield Football Club, in Yorkshire, by a group of former students from Cambridge University. The club's finest hour came in 1904 when they won the FA Amateur Cup, a competition conceived after a suggestion by Sheffield. They are commemorated by the English Football Hall of Fame for their significant place in football history.


1895 The birth of Jack Warner OBE, the English film and television actor who is closely associated with the role of PC George Dixon in the BBC television series Dixon of Dock Green, a part he played until the age of eighty.


1908 Emmeline Pankhurst and her daughter Christabel were sent to prison for ‘inciting the public to rush the House of Commons. Two Cabinet ministers were witnesses for the defense including Lloyd-George, then Chancellor of the Exchequer.


1922 George Cadbury, the English chocolate manufacturer, died aged 83.


1945 The United Nations was formed with the aim to 'save succeeding generations from the scourge of war.'


1961 Malta was granted independence from Britain.


1969 British actor Richard Burton bought his wife, American actress Elizabeth Taylor, a 69.42-carat diamond costing more than half a million pounds.


1976 British Formula One driver James Hunt won the Japanese Grand Prix and secured the world championship.


1983 Civil servant Dennis Nilsen, from North London, went on trial accused of six murders and two attempted murders.


1985 The birth of Wayne Rooney, an English footballer. He made his senior international debut in 2003 becoming the youngest player at that time to represent England.


1986 The UK government broke off diplomatic relations with Syria following revelations of complicity in a plot to blow up an El Al airliner.


1987 Heavyweight boxing champion Frank Bruno knocked out Joe Bugner in Britain's most hyped boxing match, held at White Hart Lane, London. Bruno took home £750,000, Bugner got £250,000.


1995 Britain's main church leaders attacked the setting up of Britain's first National Lottery, accusing it of undermining public culture and damaging society.


2003 The legendary supersonic aircraft, Concorde, made its last commercial passenger flight amid emotional scenes at Heathrow airport. Concorde was retired after 27 years due to a general downturn in the aviation industry after the 11th September terrorist attacks in 2001 and a decision by Airbus to discontinue maintenance support.


2008 'Bloody Friday' saw many of the world's stock exchanges experience the worst declines in their history, with drops of around 10% in most indices.


2012 Sir Norman Bettison resigned as chief constable of West Yorkshire Police, saying that an inquiry into his role after the Hillsborough football tragedy of 1989 was 'a distraction' to the force. At the time he was a South Yorkshire Police inspector who attended the match as a spectator and later took part in an internal inquiry. He denied claims that he helped 'concoct' a false version of events.

 

On this Day - 25th October:

1415 Battle of Agincourt:



Henry V's forces defeat larger French army and the longbow defeats the armoured knight
Battle of Agincourt - Wikipedia
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1854 The "Charge of the Light Brigade"



Charge of the Light Brigade - Wikipedia

Half a league, half a league,Half a league onward,
All in the valley of Death - Rode the six hundred.
‘Forward, the Light Brigade! - Charge for the guns!’ he said:
Into the valley of Death -Rode the six hundred.

‘Forward, the Light Brigade!’ - Was there a man dismay’d?
Not tho’ the soldier knew - Someone had blunder’d:
Their’s not to make reply, - Their’s not to reason why,
Their’s but to do - - - and die:

The Charge of the Light Brigade, a Brave and Foolish Tale - On This Day
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On this Day - 25th October:

(TEST-WATCH)

• 1961 USSR performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya USSR
• 1964 USSR performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya USSR
• 1979 USSR performs underground nuclear test
• 1984 USSR performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya USSR
• 1988 France performs nuclear test at Mururoa atoll

 

On this Day - 25th October: (MUSIC) (1/2)

1958 - Cliff Richard
Cliff Richard made his British radio debut on the BBC's 'Saturday Club.' The show had started life as Saturday "Skiffle" club in 1957 hosted by Brian Matthew and was broadcast from 10am to 12noon Saturday mornings on the BBC Light Programme.

1963 - The Beatles
The Beatles kicked off their first tour of Sweden by playing two shows at Nya Aulan, Sundstavagen, Karlstad, Sweden. The local pop reviewer was not impressed, saying The Beatles should be grateful to their screaming fans for drowning out the group's terrible performance, adding that The Beatles "were of no musical importance whatsoever and that their local support group, The Phantoms, decidedly outshone them.

1986 - Cyndi Lauper
For the first time in the history of the Billboard Hot 100, the top three spots were held by female solo acts. Cyndi Lauper's 'True Colors' held down the No.1 position, followed by Tina Turner's 'Typical Male' at No.2 and Janet Jackson's 'When I Think Of You' at No.3.

 

On this Day - 25th October: (MUSIC) : (2/2)
BORN - and - DIED
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BORN:
1941 - Helen Reddy
Helen Reddy, Australian singer, songwriter who had the 1975 US No.1 & UK No.5 single 'Angie Baby'). Cher had previously turned down the song. Reddy died on 29 September 2020 age 78.
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1944 - Jon Anderson
English singer and songwriter Jon Anderson, who was a member of The Warriors, and Yes who scored the 1983 UK No.28 & US No.1 single 'Owner Of A Lonely Heart'. Anderson is also noted for his solo career and collaborations with other artists, including Vangelis as Jon and Vangelis.
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1984 - Katy Perry
Katy Perry, American singer-songwriter, who scored the 2008 single ‘I Kissed a Girl’ which was a worldwide hit topping the charts in over than 20 countries. Her 2013 single 'Roar' gave the singer her eighth non-consecutive US No.1 hit.
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DIED:
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1992 - Roger Miller
Roger Miller died of died of lung and throat cancer in hospital in Los Angeles. Scored the 1965 UK No.1 & US No.4 single 'King Of The Road’. Miller won eleven Grammy Awards as a songwriter and seven Tony awards for writing the music and lyrics for 'Big River'. The Proclaimers had the 1990 UK No.9 hit with their version of 'King Of The Road.'
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2002 - Richard Harris
Richard Harris, who had the 1968 US No.2 & UK No.4 hit 'MacArthur Park' died of cancer. The 72-year-old Irish-born actor had been undergoing chemotherapy at a private clinic in London. Though he charted three other times, Harris was better known for his acting roles on stage and film, most recently playing Albus Dumbledore in two Harry Potter films.
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2004 - John Peel
John Peel died in Cuzco, Peru of a heart attack, aged 65. He was BBC’s longest-serving radio DJ and the first DJ to introduce the Ramones, The Smiths, Rod Stewart, Blur, the Sex Pistols, T Rex and others to the masses. He founded Dandelion Records in 1969, and was also known for his ‘Peel Sessions’, releases of live radio sessions. Peel was appointed an OBE in 1998.