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January 10th
1645 - Archbishop of Canterbury William Laud, was beheaded at Tower Hill for treason. 1738 - Born this day, Ethan Allen, American Revolutionary War hero. Died 12 February 1789. 1840 - Uniform Penny Postage was introduced nationally in Britain by Sir Rowland Hill. 112,000 letters were posted in London on the first day. 1861 - Florida became the third state to secede from the Union to join the Confederacy. 1863 - The world's first underground railway service, London's Metropolitan line, was opened by Prime Minister Gladstone. It ran between Paddington and Farringdon Street and stopped at seven stations. Begun in 1860, it carried 9,500,000 passengers in its first year. 1877 - Born this day, Frederick Gardner Cottrell, invented the elecrostatic precipitator, used for pollution control and air ionizers. 1883 - Born this day, Francis X. (Xavier) Bushman, actor, (The Rosary, Neptune’s Daughter, The Thirteenth Man, Dick Tracy, Hollywood Boulevard, David and Bathsheba, Sabrina, The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini). Died 23 August 1966. 1904 - Born this day, Ray Bolger (Raymond Wallace Bulcao), dancer, actor, (The Wizard of Oz). Died 15 January 1987. 1908 - Born this day, Paul Henreid (Paul Georg Julius Hernreid Ritter Von Wassel-Waldingau), actor, (The Madwoman of Chaillot, The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, Deep in My Heart, Casablanca, Goodbye, Mr. Chips; director: Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Battle in Blue, Battle Shock, Tall Lie). Died 29 March 1992. 1911 - Major Jimmie Erickson shot the first photograph from an airplane while flying over San Diego, California. 1912 - The first flying boat, designed by Glenn Curtiss, made its maiden flight at Hammondsport, New York. 1917 - Born this day, Jerry Wexler, producer and record company executive. Co-owner of Atlantic records, vice president at Warner Brothers, worked with Ray Charles, Phil Spector, Dr John, Dusty Springfield, Dire Straits, Bob Dylan. 1920 - The League of Nations held its first meeting in Geneva. It later became the United Nations. 1921 - Born this day, Rodger Ward, auto racer. 1922 - Arthur Griffith was elected president of the newly formed Irish Free State. 1925 - Born this day, Dorothy Malone, actress. 1925 - Born this day, Max Roach, jazz drummer, composer, (Freedom Now Suite; educator: taught at Lennox, MA School of Jazz and Yale; Professor of Music at University of Massachusetts, Amherst). 1926 - Fritz Lang's gripping silent film, Metropolis, opened in Berlin. 1927 - Born this day, Johnnie Ray, singer, (1957 UK No.1 single Yes Tonight Josephine, Cry, Please Mr. Sun, The Little White Cloud That Cried, Walkin’ My Baby Back Home, 1956 UK No.1 and US No.2 single Just Walking in the Rain. Died 24 February 1990 in Los Angeles, California, USA. Over 20 top 40 singles between 1952 and 1960. 1927 - Born this day, Gisele MacKenzie (Marie LaFeche), singer, (Your Hit Parade, Hard to Get). 1928 - Born this day, Donald Brooks, fashion designer. 1928 - Born this day, Maurice Bernard Sendak, author, illustrator. 1929 - Tintin and his dog Snowy, cartoon creations of Belgian artist Herge (Georges Remi), made their first appearance in Vingtieme Siecle. 1933 - Born this day, Anton Rodgers, actor, (May to December). 1934 - Marinus van der Lubbe was guillotined in Germany for allegedly burning down the Reichstag. 1935 - Born this day, Ronnie Hawkins, singer (Mary Lou). 1936 - After nearly 16 years of marriage and reigning as the 'King and Queen' of Hollywood, film actors Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford divorced. (Another source says 1935). 1939 - Born this day, Sal Mineo (Salvatore Mineo, Jr.), singer, (Start Movin’, Lasting Love; actor: The Gene Krupa Story). Died 12 February 1976. 1939 - Born this day, Bill Toomey, US Decathlon Olympic Gold Medalist [1968]. 1939 - Born this day, Scott McKenzie [Phillip Blondheim], in Jacksonville, Florida, singer, 1967 UK No.1 single San Francisco, Be Sure To Wear Some Flowers In Your Hair, also auditioned for The Monkees. In 1988 Scott co-wrote the Beach Boys hit Kokomo with former Papa, John Phillips. (More info see here.) 1942 - Popular film actor Mickey Rooney, 21, married little-known actress Ava Gardner, 19. 1943 - President Franklin D. Roosevelt sailed from Miami, Florida to Trinidad to become the first American President to visit a foreign country during wartime. 1943 - Born this day, Jim Croce, US singer, songwriter, (You Don’t Mess Around with Jim, 1973 US No.1 single Time In A Bottle, Bad, Bad Leroy Brown, I’ve Got a Name). Died in plane crash on the way to a concert on 20 September 1973. 1943 - The quiz show, The Better Half, was first heard on Mutual Radio. The wartime radio program brought four married couples to compete in stunts involving traditional concepts of, 'manhood' and 'womanhood'. 1944 - The first mobile electric power plant was delivered, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 1944 - Born this day, Frank Sinatra, Jr., singer, bandleader, (It’s All Right). 1945 - Erskine Hawkins waxed a classic for Victor Records. The tune, with the Erskine Hawkins Orchestra, was titled Tippin’ In. 1945 - Born this day, Rod Stewart [Roderick David Stewart], born on 10 January 1945, in London, England. Played with The Hoochie Coochie Men, joined Steampacket, Shotgun Express, Jeff Beck Group, The Faces. He went to school with future Kinks Ray and Dave Davis. The Faces split in 1975, guitarist Ron Wood was on permanent loan to the Stones, bass player Ronnie Laine went on to form Slim Chance and drummer Kenny Jones joined The Who. His biggest hit was the 1971 UK and US No.1 single Maggie May / Reason To Believe. Rod has scored over 40 UK Top 40 singles including 6 No.1's. Rod married New Zealand model Rachel Hunter in 1990. 'I Found the girl that I want, I won't be putting my banana in anybody's fruit bowl from now on', said Rod. They split in 1999. In 1990, Patricia Boughton filed a lawsuit against Rod claiming that a football he kicked into the crowd during a concert at the Pine Knob Music Theatre had ruptured a tendon in her middle finger and as a result made sex between her and her husband 'very difficult'. Rod won a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 1999 Ivor Novello songwriting awards. (1971 UK and US No.1 single Maggie May, Reason To Believe, You Wear It Well, Angel, What Made Milwaukee Famous, Oh No Not My Baby, Farewell, Sailing, This Old Heart Of Mine, Tonight's The Night, The Killing Of Georgie, I Don't Want To Talk About It, First Cut Is The Deepest, You're In My Heart, Hotlegs, Da Ya Think I'm Sexy, Tonight I'm Yours, Baby Jane, Every Beat Of My Heart). 1945 - Born this day, Ronny Light, songwriter, Nashville studio musician. 1945 - Born this day, Martin Turner, guitar, Wishbone Ash, 1972 UK No.3 album Argus and eight other top 40 albums. 1945 - The Los Angeles Railway, with 5 streetcar lines, forced to close. 1946 - The first radar signal to moon, was sent from Belmar, New Jersey. 1946 - Born this day, Neal Smith, drums, Alice Cooper Band, 1972 UK No.1 single School's Out. 1946 - Born this day, Aynsley Dunbar, drums, Journey, 1981 US No.14 single Who's Crying Now, with Whitesnake, 1987 UK No.9 single Is This Love, 1987 US No.1 and UK No.9 single Here I Go Again. 1946 - Born this day, Bob Lang, musician, bassist, Wayne Fontana and The Mindbenders, 1965 US No.1 and UK No.2 single Game Of Love, also with the Mindbenders, 1966 UK No.2 single A Groovy Kind Of Love. 1946 - Attempting to leave behind the seven year carnage of World War II (WWII), ambassadors from 51 nations met in London on 10 January 1946, for the first session of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly. The UN was a body dedicated to preventing future global conflict, replacing the ineffective and discredited League of Nations. The idea for a new international peace keeping organisation was first raised in 1941 by President Franklin Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and was supported by the other Allies the following year, in the Declaration by United Nations. In the Moscow Declaration of 1943, China, Great Britain, the United States, and the Soviet Union affirmed the need to replace the League of Nations, and at the Dumbarton Oaks Conference in 1944, diplomats from those four countries drew up a proposal. A charter was drawn up by delegates from 50 nations and ratified (approved) later in the year. It called for a dominant body, a General Assembly of all members, as well as a 'Security Council', composed of eleven members (five of them - China, France, Britain, the United States, and the USSR - permanent). The Security Council alone had authority to intervene in international disputes, only after full votes of support by its permanent members. The Secretariat, led by the secretary general (the first was Norwegian statesman Trygve Lie, foreign minister of Norway’s wartime government-in-exile), carries out the UN’s businesses. At the invatition of the US Congress, the UN located permanently in New York City. John D. Rockefeller, Jr., using his family’s inexhaustible fortune, donated prime Manhattan real estates along the East River. By 1952, the main headquarters buildings were completed on the international land (owned by no country). 1947 - Finian’s Rainbow opened on Broadway in New York City. The musical played for 725 performances. Years later, Petula Clark would star and sing in the celluloid version on the silver screen. 1948 - Born this day, Donald Fagen, musician, vocals, keyboardist, Steely Dan, 1974 UK No.37 album Pretzel Logic, 1975 UK No.13 album Katy Lied, 19754 UK No.38 album Can't Buy A Thrill originally released in 1973, 1976 UK No.11 album The Royal Scam, 1977 UK No.5 album Aja, 1978 UK No.41 album Greatest Hits, 1980 UK No.27 album Gaucho, 1982 UK No.44 album Gold, 1973 US No.11 single Reeling In The Years. 1948 - Born this day, Cyril Neville, musician, percussionist, singer, (group: The Neville Brothers: LP: FiYo on the Bayou. With the Meters, Sophisticated Cissy, Cissy Strut. 1989 UK No.47 single With God On Our Side. 1949 - The Radio Corporation of America, sometimes known as RCA, announced a new 7-inch, 45 rpm phonograph record. Soon, the 45, the record with the big hole in the middle, would change the pop music business. RCA even manufactured a record player that played only 45s - with a fat spindle that made stacking wax really simple and automatic for those romantic times when hands were just too busy to be flippin’ records. 1949 - Born this day, George Edward Foreman, boxer, oldest heavyweight champion at the age of 45 [5 November 1994]. 1950 - Ben Hogan, appearing for the first time in a golf tournament since a car accident a year earlier, tied ‘Slammin’ Sammy Snead in the Los Angeles Open. Hogan lost in a playoff. 1951 - Died this day, Sinclair Lewis, the first US novelist to win the Nobel prize. 1951 - Donald Howard Rogers piloted the first passenger jet on a trip from Chicago to New York City. He got to the Big Apple in one hour and 42 minutes. 1952 - Cecil B. DeMille's circus extravaganza, The Greatest Show on Earth, opened in the US starring Betty Hutton, Cornel Wilde, Charlton Heston, and Dorothy Lamour, the film did well at the box office, and won Oscars for Best Picture and Best Writing. Famous clown Emmett Kelly appeared in a cameo. 1953 - Born this day, Pat Benatar [Andrejewski], Grammy award-winning singer, (Crimes of Passion [1980], and Fire and Ice [1981], Hit Me with Your Best Shot, 1985 UK No.17 single Love Is A Battlefield). 1953 - Born this day, Bobby Rahal, auto racer. 1955 - US contralto, Marian Anderson, became the first black singer to perform at New York's Metropolitan Opera House. She appeared as Ulrica in Verdi’s The Masked Ball. Born in 1902, she had a voice remarkable for its richness and range. She toured Europe in 1930, but in 1939 she was barred from singing at Constitution Hill, Washington, DC, because she was black. In 1958 she was appointed an alternate delegate to the United Nations. 1955 - In South Africa, African National Congress leaders announced protests against planned evictions of blacks from Johannesburg. 1955 - Born this day, Luci Martin, Chic, 1978 US No.1 and UK No.7 single Le Freak. 1955 - Born this day, Michael Schenker, 1982 UK No.5 album One Night At Budokan. 1956 - Elvis Presley recorded his first tunes as an RCA Victor artist. Recording at The Methodist television, radio and TV Studios in Nashville, Elvis sang Heartbreak Hotel, I Was the One, I’m Counting On You, I Got a Woman and Money Honey. Heartbreak Hotel was No.1 by 11 April 1956 and stayed there for eight weeks. It was No.1 on the pop and rhythm and blues charts and No.5 on the country music list. 1957 - Harold Macmillan became the new Prime Minister. He was appointed only 20 hours after Sir Anthony Eden resigned from the post. 1958 - Born this day, Caroline Langrishe, actress. 1958 - Born this day, Shawn Colvin, singer, songwriter, musician, guitarist, 1995 UK No.40 single with Mary Chapin Carpenter, One Cool Remove. 1958 - Jerry Lee Lewis has his only UK No.1 single with 'Great Balls Of Fire.' 1958 - The release date for the Elvis Presley single Jailhouse Rock was put back a week because Decca Records pressing plant in the UK were unable to meet the advance orders of 250,000. 1960 - El Paso, a hit tune by Marty Robbins, held the record for the longest No.1 song up to this date, the song was 5 minutes and 19 seconds long. It caused many radio station Program Directors problems, because the average record length at the time was only about 2 minutes. Programming on radio at the time didn't allow for records much longer than that, e.g. a 2-minute record, 3 minutes of commercials, a 60 second promo, a 2-minute record, etc). 1960 - Nasser laid the foundation stone of the Aswan High Dam. 1961 - Died this day, Dashiell Hammett, former detective with the Pinkerton Agency, who wrote The Maltese Falcon and influenced a generation of crime writers including Raymond Chandler. Aged 66. 1963 - The Chicago Cubs become the first baseball club to hire an athletic director. He was Robert Whitlow. 1963 - Born this day, Claire King, actress, (Emmerdale Farm). 1963 - Sylvia Plath, writing under the name Victoria Lucas, published her only novel, The Bell Jar. 1964 - England's That Was the Week That Was debuted on American TV. 1964 - Panama severed diplomatic relations with the United States after what it termed 'unjustifiable aggression' by US troops the previous day. 1964 - The first US Beatles album, Introducing The Beatles, was released on Vee-Jay records. 1964 - Born this day, Brad Roberts, vocals, guitar, Crash Test Dummies, 1994 UK No.2 and US No.4 single MMM MMM MMM MMM. 1965 - Born this day, Joey Santiago, Pixies, 1990 UK No.28 single Velouria. 1965 - Born this day, Nathan Moore, Brother Beyond, 1988 UK No.2 single The Harder I Try. 1965 - A brand new TV series from Peter Cook and Dudley Moore started, Not Only But Also, with tonight's special guest John Lennon. 1967 - Born this day, Trini Alvarado, actor, (The Frighteners, Little Women, Stella, The Chair, Mrs. Soffel, Rich Kids). 1969 - Elvis Presley’s single, Don’t Cry Daddy entered the Top 10 on the pop charts. If you listened to this song carefully, you would hear a vocal duet with country artist Ronnie Milsap. 1969 - The final issue of The Saturday Evening Post appeared after 147 years of publication. It returned in limited publication years later. Norman Rockwell’s art was a popular item in the 'Post'. 1969 - Sweden announced it had established diplomatic relations with North Vietnam, the first Western country to do so. 1970 - Nigerian troops captured the secessionist Biafran capital of Owerri. 1971 - Died this day, Gabrielle 'Coco' Chanel, fashion designer, in her suite at the Paris Ritz hotel. She was 87. Her No5 perfume was a world best seller. 1973 - Cliff Richard appeared on the Cilla Black Show, singing six entries chosen to represent Britain in the Eurovision Song Contest, Power To All Our Friends, was picked by TV viewers. 1973 - Born this day, Aerlee Taree, Arrested Development, 1992 UK No.2 single People Everyday. 1976 - C.W. McCall went to No.1 on the US singles chart with Convoy. It made No.2 in the UK. C.W. McCall was in fact an advertising agent, his real name was Bill Fries. 1976 - Deep Purple split up at the end of a UK tour. David Coverdale went on to form Whitesnake, Jon Lord and Ian Paice formed a band with Tony Ashton. The classic line up of Blackmore, Gillan, Glover, Lord & Paice reformed in 1984. 1976 - Died this day, Howlin' Wolf, blues artist, in hospital following brain surgery. 1977 - Keith Richards was fined £750 with £250 costs after being found guilty of possessing cocaine. He was also fined £25, for driving without an MOT or car tax. 1978 - The Sex Pistols make their US TV debut on the show Variety. 1979 - Born this day, Chris Smith, Kris Kross, 1992 US No.1 and UK No.2 single Jump. The duo of Chris Smith and Chris Kelly were 12 and 13 when they recorded the song. 1979 - Richard Carpenter entered a chemical dependency treatment center in Topeka, Kansas. 1981 - John Lennon's Imagine started a four week run at No.1 on the UK singles chart, 10 years after it was recorded. The song was voted by the viewers of BBC TV as the best lyrics of all time in a poll broadcast in 0ctober 1999. 1981 - Linda Ronstadt opened on Broadway in The Pirates of Penzance. 1984 - Singer, Cyndi Lauper became the first female recording artist since Bobbie Gentry in 1967, to be nominated for five Grammy Awards: Album of the Year, Best New Artist, Best Pop Vocal Performance (Female), Record of the Year and Song of the Year. She went one better for copping the award for Worst Hair Colouring by a Woman on the Planet. Girls Just Want to Have Fun. 1984 - In Bulgaria, 50 people were killed when a Bulgarian Tupolev 134 crashed as it was about to land at Sofia airport. 1985 - Sir Clive Sinclair launched his C5 electric tricycle at a cost of £399. 1986 - The uncut version of Jerome Kern’s musical, Showboat, opened at the Kennedy Centre in Washington, DC. It marked the first time in almost 60 years that the four-hour version of the classic production had played. 1987 - Appearing at The Old Five Bells, Northampton, were James, tickets were £3.50. 1989 - Appearing at The Borderline, London, were Texas, tickets were £5. 1990 - Time Incorporated acquired Warner Communications for the sum of $14.1 billion. Thus commenced Time Warner, one of the world’s largest media and entertainment conglomerates. 1990 - China lifted martial law, imposed after the June 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre. 1992 - Escaped fugitive Donald G. Fletcher was found and arrested in Tempe, Arizona. Fletcher had fled from Brazoria, Texas, after he pleaded guilty to beating his 11-year-old stepson to death with his fists. The case was featured on the television program America's Most Wanted, and the arrest was the result of response to a TV viewer's tip. Fletcher abused the boy, Patrick Johnson, and two younger stepsons for a year before brutally pummeling Patrick to death. Patrick died from the beating because he was not taken immediately to the hospital. Patrick was beaten to death for not doing his homework. 1993 - According to press reports, Princess Diana, who was separated from her husband, wanted to divorce Prince Charles. 1994 - Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan agreed to abolish trade tariffs and form a common market. 1994 - US President Bill Clinton, visiting Kiev, announced a deal under which Ukraine would give up the world's third largest nuclear arsenal. 1996 - Israel freed hundreds of Palestinian prisoners to jubilant relatives in the West Bank and Gaza, days before the first Palestinian national elections. 1996 - The third day of the ‘Blizzard of 1996’ saw the northeastern US buried under 1.5 to 3 feet of snow. The big storm caused $1 billion in damage and killed 100 people. New York City had the heaviest snowfall in 48 years. 1997 - Right-winger Arnoldo Aleman was sworn in as president of Nicaragua in what was billed as the first democratic, peaceful transfer of power in the country's modern history. 1997 - Died this day, Kenneth Georges Pickett, vocalist with the 60's band Creation, aged 54 of a heart attack. 1997 - James Brown got a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. 1999 - Norman Cook scored his third UK No.1 single under the name of Fatboy Slim with Praise You, his other No.1's were with the Housemartins and Beats International. 2000 - It was reported that Sean Conlon from boy band Five had been offered a place with Rugby team Hunslet Hawks after training with the team over Christmas. Sean was offered the place of reserve half-back. 2001 - Died this day, Bryan Gregory, founder member of The Cramps, after suffering a heart attack. 2002 - Transport Secretary Stephen Byers said "certain aspects" of Britain's railways had got worse under the Labour Government. 2003 - A haul of 500 Beatles tapes known as the 'Get Back sessions', which were stolen in the 1970's, were found after UK police cracked a major bootleg operation in London and Amsterdam. Five men were arrested. |
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.