Back in Time – This Day in History – April 4

1968: Martin Luther King

By Mick Ferris, Press Association, AP, UPI, calendar.songfacts.com, classicbands.com and thisdayinmusic.com

1406: Death of Robert III, King of Scots.

1581: Francis Drake is knighted by Queen Elizabeth I aboard the Golden Hind at Deptford.

1617: Death of mathematician and inventor of logarithms, John Napier.

1774: Death of dramatist Oliver Goldsmith.

1814: Napoleon abdicates for the first time in favour of his son.

1841: President William Henry Harrison died of pneumonia after serving one month in office. He was the ninth President of the United States, and the first to die in office. He was succeeded by Vice President John Tyler, the first person to occupy the office without being elected to it.

1850: The city of Los Angeles was incorporated.

1866: Alexander II of Russia narrowly escapes an assassination attempt in St Petersburg.

1887: Susanna Madora Salter was elected as the first female mayor in the United States - in Argonia, Kansas.

1900: Assassination attempt on the Prince of Wales, later King Edward VII.

1913: Born on this day: American blues musician Muddy Waters, In the early 1950s, Muddy Waters and his band recorded several blues classics, 'Hoochie Coochie Man', 'I'm Ready' and 'I Just Want to Make Love to You'. The Rolling Stones named themselves after his 1950 song 'Rollin' Stone', his music influenced Eric Clapton's career, Led Zeppelin's 'Whole Lotta Love', is lyrically based on the Muddy Waters hit 'You Need Love'. Waters died in his sleep from heart failure on 30 April 1983 aged 70.

1917: The U.S. Senate voted 82-6 in favor of declaring war against Germany (the House followed suit two days later by a vote of 373-50).

1933: The USS Akron, a U.S. Navy airship, is destroyed during a major storm off the coast of New Jersey. The tragedy claimed the lives of 73 of the 76 crewmen and passengers.

1939: Faisal II ascends to the throne of Iraq.

1940: Born on this day: Sharon Sheeley, American songwriter. Hits include 'Poor Little Fool' a US No.1 for Ricky Nelson in 1958 and the 1959 hit for Eddie Cochran 'Somethin' Else'. Sheeley became Cochrn's girlfriend and survived the car crash that killed Cochran in 1960. She died on May 17th 2002 aged 62.

1941: German troops conquer Benghazi, Libya.

1944: British troops capture Addis Ababa, Abyssinia.

1945: During World War II, U.S. forces liberated the Nazi concentration camp Ohrdruf in Germany. Hungary was liberated as Soviet forces cleared out remaining German troops.

1949: Representatives of 12 nations gathered in Washington to sign the North Atlantic Treaty, creating the NATO alliance.

1952: Born on this day: Irish guitarist and singer Gary Moore, who was a member of Skid Row and Thin Lizzy. As a solo artist he had the 1979 UK No.8 single 'Parisian Walkways'. His 1990 album Still Got the Blues featured contributions from Albert King, Albert Collins, and George Harrison. Moore died on 6 February 2011 while on holiday in Spain.

1953: The Stargazers were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'Broken Wings.' The first record by any British group to reach No.1. Stargazers' member Fred Dachtler is the father of Clark Datchler of 80s group Johnny Hates Jazz.

1958: Aldermaston march against nuclear weapons. On the same day, Cheryl Crane aged 14, daughter of actress Lana Turner stabs to death organized crime figure Johnny Stompanato, her mother’s boyfriend, in self-defence. The crime was ruled a “justifiable homicide”.

1959: France beats Wales, 11-3 at Stade Colombes to win the Five Nations Rugby Championship outright for the first time.

1960: Charlton Heston wins the best actor Oscar for his role in Ben Hur. On the same day, Senegal declares independence from France.

1960: RCA Victor Records announced that it would be release all Pop singles in mono and stereo simultaneously, the first record company to do so. Elvis Presley's single, 'Stuck on You' was RCA's first mono / stereo release.

1963: UK TOP 20 : Singles chart:

1. Cliff Richard - Summer Holiday

2. Gerry And The Pacemakers - How Do You Do It?

3. Ned Miller - From A Jack To A King

4. The Shadows - Foot Tapper

5. Billy Fury - Like I've Never Been Gone

6. Ronnie Carroll - Say Wonderful Things

7. Cascades - Rhythm Of The Rain

8. The Bachelors - Charmaine

9. Buddy Holly - Brown-Eyed Handsome Man

10. Joe Brown - That's What Love Will Do

11. The Beatles - Please Please Me

12. Paul And Paula - Hey Paula

13. Tommy Roe - The Folk Singer

14. Little Eva - Let's Turkey Trot

15. Springfields - Island Of Dreams

16. Billie Davis - Tell Him

17. Roy Orbison - In Dreams

18. Bobby Vee - The Night Has A Thousand Eyes

19. Elvis Presley - One Broken Heart For Sale

20. Frank Ifield - Wayward Wind

***

1964: The Beatles hold the Top5 spots on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. #5 Please Please Me #4 I Want To Hold Your Hand #3 She Loves You #2 Twist and Shout #1 Can't Buy Me Love. Beatles have another 7 singles on the chart (12 total) in Top100. (From ME Music@espofootball)

1968: Civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated as he stood on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. He was 39.

1968: Bobby Goldsboro received a Gold record for the single, "Honey", which had spent 13 weeks on the Billboard chart, including five weeks at number one. It remains heavily played on the radio to this day and has been covered many times, although Todd Leopold of CNN named it the "Worst Song of All Time" in April 2006.

1970: US TOP 20: Album chart:

1. Simon & Garfunkel - Bridge Over Troubled Water

2. The Beatles - Hey Jude

3. Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin II

4. The Doors - Morrison Hotel/Hard Rock Cafe

5. Santana - Santana

6. Chicago - Chicago II

7. The Beatles - Abbey Road

8. The Jackson 5 - Diana Ross Presents The Jackson 5

9. Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young - Deja Vu

10. Creedence Clearwater Revival - Willy And The Poorboys

11. Frijid Pink - Frijid Pink

12. Tom Jones - Tom Jones Live In Las Vegas

13. B.J. Thomas - Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head

14. Soundtrack - Easy Rider

15. Grand Funk Railroad - Grand Funk

16. Johnny Cash - Hello, I'm Johnny Cash

17. Aretha Franklin - This Girl's In Love With You

18. Three Dog Night - Was Captured Live At The Forum

19. Engelbert Humperdinck - Engelbert Humperdinck

20. Joe Cocker - Joe Cocker!

***

1973: The Elvis Presley Aloha From Hawaii concert, recorded three months earlier, is broadcast in America for the first time when it runs on NBC. The ratings are huge, with a third of households with TV sets tuning in to watch.

1975: More than 130 people, most of them children, were killed when a U.S. Air Force transport plane evacuating Vietnamese orphans crash-landed shortly after takeoff from Saigon. Microsoft was founded by Bill Gates and Paul Allen in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

1975: Microsoft is founded by Bill Gates and Paul Allen.

1976: The film “All the President’s Men,” starring Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman as Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, had its world premiere in Washington, D.C.

1979: Ex-President Zulfikar Ali Bhutto of Pakistan is executed.

1981: Bucks Fizz won the Eurovision Song Contest held in Dublin, with the UK entry ‘Making Your Mind Up’. On the same day, Bob Champion wins the Grand National on Aldaniti at Aintree.

1982: ‘Layla’ was on the UK singles chart. The re-released track originally featured on the Derek and the Dominos, album Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs (November 1970). Inspired by Clapton's then unrequited love for Pattie Boyd, the wife of his friend George Harrison, ‘Layla’ is considered one of rock music's definitive love songs, and features an unmistakable guitar figure played by Eric Clapton and Duane Allman.

1983: The space shuttle Challenger roared into orbit on its maiden voyage. (It was destroyed in the disaster of January 1986.)

1983: Death of actress Gloria Swanson aged 84.

1983: Danny Rapp of Danny And The Juniors, died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. His band achieved two classic 1950's hits, "At the Hop" (#1) and "Rock and Roll is Here to Stay" (#19). He was 41 years old.

1988: The Arizona Senate convicted Gov. Evan Mecham of two charges of official misconduct, and removed him from office; Mecham was the first U.S. governor to be impeached and removed from office in nearly six decades.

1991: Sen. John Heinz, R-Pa., and six other people, including two children, were killed when a helicopter collided with Heinz’s plane over a schoolyard in Merion, Pennsylvania.

1995: Death of broadcaster Kenny Everett aged 50 from an AIDS related illness.

2008: Beyonce Knowles married Jay-Z at his New York apartment.

2008: Procol Harum singer Gary Brooker won back full royalty rights to the band's worldwide hit, ’A Whiter Shade Of Pale’ at London's Court of Appeal. The decision overturned a 2006 ruling that organist Matthew Fisher was entitled to a 40% portion of royalties on the 1967 hit after he argued he had written the song's organ melody. The court ruled there was an 'excessive delay' in the claim being made - nearly 40 years after the song was recorded.

2013: Pulitzer Prize-winning Chicago film critic Roger Ebert died after a long battle with cancer. He was 70.

2014: The United Nations announced that the millionth refugee from war-torn Syria had entered Lebanon.

2018: 21st Commonwealth Games open in the Gold Coast, Australia. On the same day, former footballer Ray Wilkins dies aged 61.

2019: Amazon’s Jeff Bezos and and wife MacKenzie agree a record-breaking $35 billion divorce settlement.

BIRTHDAYS: 

Pick Withers, drummer, (Dire Straits) 73; 

Derek Thompson, actor, 73; 

Christine Lahti, actress, 71; 

Dave Hill, guitarist, (Slade) 69; 

Hugo Weaving, actor, 61; 

Graham Norton, TV host, 58; 

Paul Parker, former footballer, 57; 

David Cross, comedian/actor, 57; 

Robert Downey Jr, actor, 56; 

Karren Brady, football executive, 52; 

David Blaine, magician, 48; 

Stephen Mulhern, TV presenter, 44; 

Johnny Borrell guitar/vocals (Razorlight) 41.