Back in Time – This Day in History – April 8

2013: Margaret Thatcher

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

217AD: Roman Emperor Caracalla is assassinated.

1455: Alfonso de Borgia is elected Pope Callistus III.

1781: Premiere of Mozart’s violin sonata

1783: Catherine II of Russia annexes the Crimea.

1820: The Venus de Milo is discovered on the Aegean island of Milos.

1864: The United States Senate passed, 38-6, the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution abolishing slavery. (The House of Representatives passed it in January 1865; the amendment was ratified and adopted in December 1865.)

1886: Gladstone introduces the first Irish Home Rule Bill into the House of Commons.

1908: Herbert Asquith succeeds Henry Campbell-Bannerman as Prime Minister.

1911: An explosion at the Banner Coal Mine in Littleton, Alabama, claimed the lives of 128 men, most of them convicts loaned out from prisons.

1913: The 17th Amendment to the Constitution, providing for popular election of U.S. senators (as opposed to appointment by state legislatures), was ratified. President Woodrow Wilson became the first chief executive since John Adams to address Congress in person as he asked lawmakers to enact tariff reform.

1918: Actors Douglas Fairbanks and Charlie Chaplin pitch Third Liberty Loan bonds in front of the Sub-Treasury (now Federal Hall National Memorial) in New York City.

1929: Born on this day: Jacques Brel, Belgian singer, songwriter. Marc Almond, Alex Harvey, David Bowie, Dusty Springfield, Ray Charles, Frank Sinatra, Nina Simone, The Kingston Trio and Gavin Friday have all covered his songs. Brel has sold over 25 million records worldwide, including over 12 million albums and singles in France and Belgium. He died of cancer 9th October 1978.

1935: Bartok’s 5th String quartet premieres in Washington D.C.

1941: Joe Louis TKOs Tony Musto in Round 9 for the heavyweight boxing title.

1952: President Harry S. Truman seized the American steel industry to avert a nationwide strike. (The Supreme Court later ruled that Truman had overstepped his authority, opening the way for a seven-week strike by steelworkers.)

1953: Jomo Kenyatta convicted of involvement with the Mau Mau rebellion in Kenya and sentenced to seven years jail.

1956: The Johnny Burnette Trio (with brother Dorsey) make the first of three appearances on Ted Mack's Amateur Hour on ABC-TV.

1960: The United States Senate passed the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1960. President Dwight D. Eisenhower would sign it into law on May 6, 1960.

1961: A suspected bomb exploded aboard the passenger liner MV Dara in the Persian Gulf, causing it to sink; 238 of the 819 people aboard were killed.

1963: “Lawrence of Arabia” won the Oscar for best picture at the Academy Awards; Gregory Peck won best actor for “To Kill a Mockingbird” while Anne Bancroft received best actress honors for “The Miracle Worker.”

1964: The Supremes record 'Where Did Our Love Go' at Motown Studios in Detroit. The song would become their first US No.1 single. Originally founded as the Primettes in Detroit, Michigan, in 1959, the Supremes were the most commercially successful of Motown's acts and are, to date, America's most successful vocal group with 12 No.1 singles on the Billboard Hot 100.

1965: UK TOP 20 : Singles chart:

1. Unit Four Plus Two - Concrete And Clay

2. The Rolling Stones - The Last Time

3. Yardbirds - For Your Love

4. Cliff Richard - The Minute You're Gone

5. Donovan - Catch The Wind

6. Them - Here Comes The Night

7. Tom Jones - It's Not Unusual

8. Marianne Faithfull - Come And Stay With Me

9. Herman's Hermits - Silhouettes

10. The Who - I Can't Explain

11. The Searchers - Goodbye My Love

12. The Supremes - Stop In The Name Of Love

13. Bob Dylan - The Times They Are A-Changin'

14. Keely Smith - You're Breakin' My Heart

15. Seekers - I'll Never Find Another You

16. Gerry And The Pacemakers - I'll Be There

17. Dave Berry - Little Things

18. The Kinks - Everybody's Gonna Be Happy

19. The Barron Knights - Pop Go The Workers

20. Sandie Shaw - I'll Stop At Nothing

***

1967: Sandie Shaw won the Eurovision Song Contest held in Vienna representing Britain with the song 'Puppet On A String'. She became the first UK female artist to win the contest.

1972: US TOP 20: Album chart:

1. America - America

2. Neil Young - Harvest

3. Nilsson - Nilsson Schmilsson

4. Paul Simon - Paul Simon

5. Bread - Baby I'm-A Want You

6. Yes - Fragile

7. The Allman Brothers Band - Eat A Peach

8. Roberta Flack - First Take

9. Don McLean - American Pie

10. Al Green - Let's Stay Together

11. Carole King - Music

12. Jimi Hendrix - Hendrix In The West

13. Aretha Franklin - Young, Gifted And Black

14. Michael Jackson - Got To Be There

15. The Rolling Stones - Hot Rocks 1964-1971

16. George Carlin - FM & AM

17. Sonny & Cher - All I Ever Need Is You

18. George Harrison - The Concert For Bangla Desh

19. Blood, Sweat & Tears - Blood, Sweat & Tears Greatest Hits

20. The Osmonds - Phase-III

***

1973: Death of artist Pablo Picasso aged 91.

1974: Hank Aaron hit his 715th home run, breaking Babe Ruth's longstanding career record. Aaron played two more seasons, ending with 755 home runs, a total eventually surpassed by Barry Bonds, who had 762.

1977: Israeli premier Yitzhak Rabin resigns.

1983: Illusionist David Copperfield makes the Statue of Liberty disappear.

1985: American songwriter John Fred Coots, who co-wrote Pat Boone's US chart topper "Love Letters In The Sand", as well as the children's Christmas classic "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town", died at the age of 87. In all, Coots wrote over 700 songs.

1986: Clint Eastwood is elected mayor of Carmel, California.

1990: Ryan White, the teenage AIDS patient whose battle for acceptance had gained national attention, died in Indianapolis at age 18.

1992: Former tennis great Arthur Ashe confirmed he had AIDS. He said he contracted the disease from a blood transfusion.

1993: Marian Anderson, the first African-American singer to appear at New York's Metropolitan Opera, died at age 91.

1994: An electrician working at Kurt Cobain’s house discovers the Nirvana front man’s body.

1995: Oliver McCall defeats Larry Holmes for the heavyweight boxing title.

1997: Singer, songwriter Laura Nyro died from ovarian cancer.

1998: Ronnie Wood was rescued, along with 11 other passengers, in the nick of time, from a boat when an engine caught fire off the coast of Rio de Janeiro.

2000: Papillon, ridden by jockey Ruby Walsh and trained by his father Ted Walsh wins the Grand National.

2001: Tiger Woods wins his second US Masters title.

2003: Lisa Marie Presley, daughter of Elvis Presley, releases her first solo album, To Whom It May Concern. It debuts at #5 in America.

2005: About 250,000 mourners attended a 3-hour funeral mass for Pope John Paul II in Rome's St. Peter's Square while about 1 million others gathered nearby. Among those in attendance were U.S. President George W. Bush and about 100 other world leaders.

2008: American Airlines grounded all 300 of its MD-80 jetliners after an FAA review found faulty wiring in nine of them. Over the next five days, American canceled about 3,300 flights, disrupting travel of more than 100,000 passengers.

2009: Somali pirates hijacked the U.S.-flagged Maersk Alabama; although the crew was able to retake the cargo ship, the captain, Richard Phillips, was taken captive by the raiders and held aboard a lifeboat. (Phillips was rescued four days later by Navy SEAL snipers who shot three of the pirates dead.)

2010: Malcolm McLaren, former manager of The Sex Pistols died aged 64.

2013: Margaret Thatcher died (aged 87). She was the Conservative Prime Minister from 1979 to 1990 and the first woman to hold the post of British Prime Minister. Her newspaper obituaries were, predictably, deeply divided over her legacy. (From Prof. Frank McDonough@FXMC1957)

BIRTHDAYS:

Dame Vivienne Westwood, fashion designer, 80;

Roger Chapman, singer (Family) 79;

Steve Howe, guitarist (Yes) 74;

Izzy Stradlin, guitarist/songwriter (Guns n Roses) 59;

Donita Sparks, singer/guitarist (L7) 58;

Julian Lennon, singer-songwriter, 58;

Robin Wright, actress, 55;

Patricia Arquette, actress, 53;

Katee Sackhoff, actress, 41;

Taylor Kitsch, actor, 40;

Ezra Koenig, singer/guitarist (Vampire Weekend), 37;

Matthew Healy, vocalist (The 1975) 32;

Isaac Hempstead-Wright, actor, 22.