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January 7th
1536 - Died this day, Catherine of Aragon, first wife of England's King Henry VIII. 1537 - Died this day, Alessandro de' Medici of Florence, was assassinated. 1558 - Calais, the last English possession on the mainland of France, was regained by the French. 1598 - Boris Godunov seized the Russian throne on the death of Feodore I. 1610 - Galileo discovered the 4 major moons of Jupiter. They were named Io, Europa, Gannymede and Callisto. 1782 - The Bank of North America opened in Philadelphia, making it the first commercial bank in the United States. 1785 - French aeronaut/balloonist Jean-Pierre Blanchard successfully made the first air-crossing of the English Channel from the English coast to France. Mr. Blanchard and his American passenger, Dr. John Jeffries, had to shed all of their clothes as the wind died and the balloon’s airbag cooled too quickly over the sea. The first ever international air package was delivered too, but to whom? 1789 - The first national US elections were held. The electors chosen by the voters unanimously picked George Washington as president and John Adams as vice president. 1800 - Born this day, Millard S. Fillmore, US Vice-President [1849-1850], 13th US President [1850-1853], second Vice-President to inherit the office [became President when Zachary Taylor died]. Died 8 March 1874 in Buffalo, New York. Married Abigail Powers, daughter of Lemuel Powers and Unknown, in Feb 1826. (Abigail Powers was born in 1798 in Saratoga County, New York, died on 30 March 1853 and was buried in Buffalo.) The cause of death was pneumonia. Also married Caroline C. McIntosh. (Caroline C McIntosh was born in 1813 and died in 1881.) 1844 - Born this day, Bernadette Soubirous, who became St. Bernadette and whose visions led to the foundation of the shrine at Lourdes, France. 1845 - Born this day, Louis III, last king of Bavaria (1913-18). 1873 - Born this day, Adolph Zukor, film executive. 1887 - Thomas Stevens completed the first worldwide bicycle trip, after starting his trek in April 1884. Stevens and his trusty bike traveled 13,500 miles, arriving back in San Francisco, California almost three years later. 1894 - W. K. Dickson received a patent for motion picture film. A demonstration included a 47-frame film (about 2 seconds) that showed a man sneezing. 1895 - Korea proclaimed its independence from China. 1896 - Fannie Farmer's first and now famous cookbook was published. She became known as ‘the mother of level measurement’ and the cookbook became a best seller. 1904 - Marconi Co. established 'CQD' as the first international radio distress signal, but it didn't last long. Two years later, 'SOS' became the radio distress signal because it was more convenient - meaning quicker - to send by wireless radio. 1911 - Mary Pickford, 'America's Sweetheart', married her first husband, Owen Moore. She divorced him 9 years later, and 26 days after the divorce was granted, married Douglas Fairbanks. 1912 - Born this day, Charles Addams, cartoonist, The New Yorker; TV and films, The Addams Family. Died 29 September 1988. 1921 - Born this day, Charles Loloma, jeweller, designed American Indian jewellery. Died 9 June 1991. 1922 - Born this day, Vincent Gardenia, Tony Award-winning actor, (The Prisoner of Second Avenue; Emmy Award-winner [1990]: Age-Old Friends [HBO]; L.A. Law, Breaking Away, All in the Family, The Super, Skin Deep, Moonstruck, Little Shop of Horrors, Death Wish series, Bang the Drum Slowly, The Hustler). Died 9 December 1992. 1922 - Born this day, Jean-Pierre Rampal, musician, flutist, recitals world wide, played with New York, Los Angeles, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, Indianapolis, Houston, Minnesota, San Francisco, San Diego and Cincinnati symphony orchestras. Died 20 May 2000. 1924 - George Gershwin completed the incomparable score of Rhapsody in Blue. Incidentally, George was only 26 years old at the time. And, George didn’t even have an interest in music until his family got him a piano when he was twelve. Nine years later he had his first hit, Swanee, with lyrics written by Irving Caesar. No matter how you hear it, Rhapsody in Blue will remain the signature of one of the most influential of composers, songwriters and pianists in American music history. 1926 - George Burns and Gracie Allen were married by a Justice of the Peace in Cleveland, Ohio. They had been a comedy team for 4 years prior to getting married, and worked successfully for decades together in radio, film, and television until Allen's fatal heart attack in 1964. 1927 - The first day of transatlantic telephone service which began between New York and London, 31 calls were made charging £15.00 for three minutes. 1928 - Born this day, William Peter Blatty, screenwriter, author, (The Exorcist, The Ninth Configuration, Darling Lili, What Did You Do in the War, Daddy?, Promise Her Anything, A Shot in the Dark). 1929 - Born this day, Terry Moore (Helen Koford), actress, (Beverly Hills Brats, Kill Factor, Peyton Place, Come Back, Little Sheba, Gaslight). 1929 - The debut of Buck Rogers 2429 A.D. took place in newspapers around the nation. The comic strip title was later changed to Buck Rogers in the 25th Century. It was the first sci-fi comic strip. 1929 - Tarzan, one of the first adventure comic strips, first appeared. 1930 - Born this day, Jack Greene (The Green Giant), singer: CMA Male Vocalist, Album, Single and Song of the Year: There Goes My Everything [1967]). 1930 - Born this day, Douglas Kiker, newscaster, journalist, writer. 1931 - As the Great Depression was getting under way, a report to President Hoover estimated that four-million to five-million Americans were out of work. 1934 - Flash Gordon comic strip, by Alex Raymond, debuted. 1936 - Born this day, Eldee Young, of Young/Holt Unlimited (Soulful Strut) and the Ramsey Lewis Trio (Hang On Sloopy). 1937 - Born this day, Ian La Frenais, screen, scriptwriter. 1938 - Born this day, Paul Revere, Paul Revere, singer, keyboards, Paul Revere & the Raiders, 1971 US No.1 single Indian Reservation, plus 14 other US Top 30 hit singles. 1938 - Born this day, Lou Graham, golf, (US Open Champion [1975]). 1939 - Born this day, Maury Povich, TV talk show host. 1940 - On this day in 1940, Gene Autry's musical variety show premiered on CBS radio, where it ran for the next 16 years. In 1934, producer Nat Levine was looking for a guy who could sing, ride a horse, and act in western movies. Autry wasn't an actor but had already established a loyal radio audience, so Levine put him in numerous B-grade westerns. Playing the lead role in a long-running series of Saturday matinee films, Autry became 'America's favourite cowboy'. In 1940, his musical variety radio show, Gene Autry's Melody Ranch, debuted and took only one hiatus, when Autry joined the Army Air Corps after taking his oath on the air in 1942 (Roy Rogers took his place on the television show while he was gone). He became America's favorite TV cowboy in 1950 when he debuted The Gene Autry Show, which ran through to 1956. In each episode, he and his sidekick, Pat Buttram, rode from town to town, maintaining law and order. From Back in the Saddle Again to yuletide mainstays such as Rudolph the Rednosed Reindeer and Frosty the Snowman, Autry's music has etched itself into Americana. Autry was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1969. 1941 - The NBC Blue radio network presented the first installment of The Squeaky Door. You might not remember the show by its original title, but how about when it became known as Inner Sanctum? 1941 - Good-for-Nothin’-Joe was recorded by the sultry Lena Horne. The classic song was recorded with Charlie Barnet and his Orchestra on Bluebird Records. 1942 - Born this day, Paul Revere, singer, musician, keyboards, (group: Paul Revere and The Raiders: Hungry, Kicks, Him or Me-What’s it Gonna Be, Indian Reservation). 1942 - Born this day, Danny Williams, singer, 1961 UK No. 1 with Moon River. 1944 - Born this day, Mike McGear, brother of Paul McCartney, The Scaffold, 1968 Christmas UK No.1 single Lily The Pink. 1945 - Born this day, Dave Cousins, vocals, guitar, The Strawbs, 1973 UK No.2 single with Part Of The Union. 1946 - Born this day, Andy Brown, drums, The Fortunes, 1965 UK No.2 and US No.7 single You've Got Your Troubles. 1947 - Born this day, Jann Wenner, journalist, publisher, (Rolling Stone magazine). 1948 - Born this day, Kenny Loggins, musician, singer, songwriter, (I’m Alright, This is It, Welcome to Heartlight, Danger Zone; Grammy Award-winning songwriter [w/Michael McDonald]: What a Fool Believes; duo: Loggins and Messina [1971-76]: Your Mama Don’t Dance). 1984 US No.1 and UK No.6 single Footloose from the film Footloose. 1949 - The announcement of the first photograph of genes was presented at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. 1950 - Born this day, Erin Gray, actress, (Starman, Silver Spoons, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, T-Force, A Dangerous Place, Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday, Breaking Home Ties, Six Pack, Born Beautiful, The Ultimate Imposter). 1950 - Ernest Tubb made his first appearance at The Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tennessee. Ernest also did a 15-minute radio program each day that became very popular in West Texas. So popular, in fact, that he bought the radio station that had aired the program for years and years. The radio station was KGKL in San Angelo, Texas. 1951 - Born this day, Helen Worth, actress, (Gail [Potter, Tilsley, Platt] in Coronation Street). 1952 - Born this day, Sammo Hung [Samo Hung Kam-Bo], actor, director, producer, fight choreographer. 1953 - President Harry S. Truman announced the development of the hydrogen bomb. 1954 - The Duoscopic TV receiver was unveiled. The TV set allowed a person or group to watch two different shows at the same time. It was a primitive, picture-in-picture, split-screen that was tested in New York City and Chicago. The set was a product of DuMont Laboratories; which owned the DuMont Television Network. 1955 - Died this day, Sir Arthur Keith, Scottish anthropologist. 1955 - The first black singer at the Metropolitan Opera was Marian Anderson, who appeared as Ulrica in Verdi's The Masked Ball. 1957 - Born this day, Katie Couric, TV magazine show hostess. (Today). 1958 - The Flying V guitar, which is a favourite of rock musicians, was patented by the Gibson Guitar Company. 1958 - Died this day, Dr. Petru Groza, premier of Romania, at the age of 74. 1959 - Born this day, Kathy Valentine, bass, The Go-Go's, 1982 US No.2 single We Got The Beat, 1982 UK No.47 single Our Lips Our Sealed. 1961 - The Avengers made its debut in England (the show went to America four years later). John Steed was a supporting character in this early version of the show, and his male partner, Dr. David Keel, was the lead. Emma Peel didn't arrive until 1965. 1963 - Gary 'US' Bonds sued Chubby Checker, claiming Dancing Party sounded too much like Quarter To Three (the suit was settled out-of-court). 1964 - Britain introduced internal self-government and cabinet responsibility in the Bahamas. 
1964 - Born this day, Nicolas Cage (Nicholas Coppola), actor, (The Best of Times, The Rock, Con-Air, Face Off, Gone in 60 Seconds, Captain Corelli's Mandolin, Leaving Las Vegas, Vampire’s Kiss, Raising Arizona, Racing with the Moon, Moonstruck, Peggy Sue Got Married, The Cotton Club, Birdy, Valley Girl; nephew of director Francis Ford Coppola and actress Talia Shire). 1966 - Born this day, Carolyn Bessette Kennedy, publicist, socialite. Died in 1999. 1967 - The BBC began showing the highly successful drama serial The Forsyte Saga. 1968 - Postage rates increased in America by a penny (one cent). It took the cost of sending an ounce of mail up to six cents. 1970 - The Friends of Distinction recorded Love Or Let Me Be Lonely. Didn't make the UK chart. 1970 - The Woodstock bill became due: five months after the three-day Woodstock festival in upstate New York, local farmers sued Max Yasgur, whose land had been used for the concert, for $35,000 in damages. 1970 - Led Zeppelin kicked off an 8-date UK tour appearing at Birmingham Town Hall. 1973 - Appearing live, was David Bowie, at Newcastle City Hall. 1974 - Carly Simon and James Taylor became parents when their daughter Sarah Maria was born. 1975 - The OPEC countries agreed to raise the price of crude oil by 10 per cent. 1975 - Led Zeppelin fans rioted before a Boston concert, causing $30,000 in damage and the concert to be cancelled. 1977 - Born this day, Dustin Diamond, actor. 1977 - Andy Gibb was at No.1 on the US singles chart with I Just Want to be Your Everything, a song written by his Bee Gee brother Barry. 1979 - Vietnamese forces, aided by Cambodian insurgents, captured Phnom Penh after a two-week invasion and overthrew the Khmer Rouge regime of Pol Pot. 1980 - Hugh Cornwall of The Stranglers was found guilty of possession of heroin, cocaine and cannabis. He was fined £300 and sentenced to three months in Pentonville prison. 1980 - Died this day, Larry Williams, aged 45 from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. The Beatles and The Jam had covered his songs. Had a 1957 US No.5 and UK No.21 single Short Fat Fannie. 1982 - Singles reviewed in this weeks Smash Hits included Haircut 100 with Love Plus One, XTC Senses Working Overtime and Robert Palmer with Some Guys Have All The Luck. OMD had the front cover plus interviews with Adam Ant, Squeeze and Dollar. 1985 - Yul Brynner returned to the Broadway stage as The King and I returned to where Yul first began his reign, 33 years before. Through his career to that date, Brynner appeared in 4,434 shows without missing a single performance. 1987 - US Government sources said the combined local, state, and national debt had risen to $10,047 per person in the US. The Federal debt, alone, amounting to $7,650 per person. 1989 - Died this day, Japan’s Emperor Hirohito. Born 29 April 1901 in Tokyo. After 62 years on the throne, the longest reign in Japanese history. 1989 - Featured in this weeks Melody Maker a list of artists favourite singles from 1988, Wendy James chose Orinoco Flow by Enya, Sinead O'Connor picked Birthday by The Sugarcubes and Tanita Tikaram had Don't Worry, Be Happy by Bobby McFerrin on her list. 1989 - Kylie Minogue and Jason Donovan started a three week run at the top of the UK singles chart with Especially For You. 1990 - Appearing at Wembley Arena, London, Chris Rea on his Road To Hell tour. 1990 - The leaning tower of Pisa was closed for the first time in 807 years so work could begin in order to stop it leaning any further. 1990 - Jeffrey Lundgren, a self-proclaimed prophet and leader of a breakaway religious sect wanted for the slayings of five Ohio followers, was arrested in California at a motel near the Mexican border. 1991 - US Secretary of Defense Richard Cheney announced he was canceling the US Navy's A-12 Stealth attack plane project. 1991 - Loyalist troops attacked Haiti's presidential palace, rescuing President Ertha Pascal-Trouillot and capturing the coup plotters. 1993 - The EPA released a long-awaited report that classified environmental tobacco smoke as a carcinogen. 1993 - R.E.M. played a Greenpeace Benefit show at the 40 watt Club, Athens, Georgia, for 500 people. The show was recorded on a solar powered mobile recording studio. 1996 - Robson and Jerome went to No.1 on the UK album chart with Robson and Jerome. 1996 - An immense storm system dumped up to three feet of snow onto the Mid-Atlantic and New England states. 1997 - A federal judge threw out a $600,000 judgment against Elizabeth Taylor in a contract dispute with actress Cicely Tyson. Tyson claimed she was improperly fired from a 1983 production of The Corn is Green by a company affiliated with Taylor, but US District Judge John Martin ruled Taylor was not personally liable. 1997 - In Los Angeles, Heidi Fleiss, known as the Hollywood Madam, was sentenced to 37 months in prison for cheating on her taxes, laundering call-girl profits, and conspiring to hide her wrongdoing. According to news sources, Fleiss choked back tears, saying, "I'm sorry. I'm a different person now". 1997 - Representative Newt Gingrich, R-Georgia, was re-elected Speaker of the House and then reprimanded for violating House rules and misled the House Ethics Committee in its probe of possible political use of tax-exempt donations. 1998 - At a time when her association with President Clinton was not yet public, former White House intern Monica Lewinsky reportedly denied in an affidavit filed in the Paula Jones case that she had had an affair with him. 1998 - A federal jury in Denver was unable to agree on a penalty for Terry Nichols, convicted in December 1997 in connection with the April 1995 bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City. That meant he would not face the death penalty. 1999 - President Clinton's impeachment trial opened in the Senate. He would later be acquitted. 2001 - Rui Da Silva featuring Cassandra went to No.1 on the UK singles chart with Touch Me. 2002 - Jon Lee, drummer with Feeder was found hanged at his Miami home. He was aged 33. 2002 - Chancellor Gordon Brown and his wife Sarah mourned the loss of their 10-day-old baby daughter, Jennifer. 2003 - The Beatles Book Monthly closed down after 40 years, author Sean O’Mahony who set up the magazine in 1963 said there was nothing more to say, as the number of things the former Beatles are doing gets less and less as the years go by. |
Trivia
Trivia - petty details or considerations, matters or things that are very unimportant, inconsequential, or nonessential; trifles; trivialities.
Trivial - of very little importance or value; insignificant: "Don't bother me with trivial matters." Trivially - unimportant, nugatory, slight, immaterial, inconsequential, frivolous, trifling.