Back in Time – This Day in History – April 15

1939: Marty Wilde

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

1450: The French defeat the English at the Battle of Formigny in the 100 Years’ War.

1452: Artist and inventor Leonardo da Vinci was born in or near the Tuscan town of Vinci.

1469: Birth of Guru Nanak, founder of Sikhism.

1534: Thomas Cromwell is appointed chief secretary to Henry VIII.

1689: France’s Louis XIV declares war on Spain.

1729: Bach’s “St Matthew Passion” premieres in Leipzig.

1738: Premiere in London of “Serse”, an Italian opera by Handel.

1755: Samuel Johnson’s “A Dictionary of the English Language” is published in London.

1793: The Bank of England issues the first £5 note.

1817: The first U.S. public school for the deaf, Connecticut Asylum for the Education and Instruction of Deaf and Dumb Persons (now the American School for the Deaf), was founded at Hartford, Conn.

1865: Otto von Bismarck is elevated to the rank of Count of Bismarck-Schönhausen. On the same day, US President Abraham Lincoln dies nine hours after being shot while ttending the play “Our American Cousin” at Ford’s Theatre in Washington.

1874: The first ‘Impressionist’ exhibition opens in Paris, featuring the work of Claude Monet, Edgar Degas, Pierre-August Renoir, Camille Pissarro and Bertha Morisot.

1894: Born on this day: Bessie Smith, US blues singer, 'Empress Of The Blues'. Songs include, 'Downhearted Blues', 'St Louis Blues', and 'Nobody Knows You When You're Down And Out'. Died in a car accident on 26th September 1937.

1896: The first modern Summer Olympic Games close in Athens.

1902: Russian minister of interior and head of secret police, Sipyengin, is assassinated by the ‘Terror Brigade’ of the Socialist Revolutionaries.

1912: The RMS Titanic sinks after hitting an iceberg with the loss of more than 1,500 passengers and crew.

1923: Insulin becomes generally available for diabetics.

1931: Spanish Republicans formed a new government as King Alfonso sailed into exile.

1939: Happy Birthday!!!: Marty Wilde, English singer and songwriter. He was one of the first generation of British pop stars to emulate American rock and roll and scored the 1959 UK No.2 single 'A Teenager In Love', and over 10 other UK Top 40 singles. He is the father of 80s singer Kim Wilde.

In the picture: 1962: With Kim, then aged three.

***

1942: George VI awards the George Cross to the people of Malta.

1943: The Ayn Rand novel “The Fountainhead” was first published by Bobbs-Merrill Co.

1944: The Soviet army captured the Polish city of Tarnopol from German occupation. When Nazi Germany took the city in 1941, it murdered thousands of Jews, and in 1944, the Soviets killed some 4,500 Germans and destroyed much of the city.

1945: During World War II, British and Canadian troops liberated the Nazi concentration camp Bergen-Belsen. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who died on April 12, was buried at the Roosevelt family home in Hyde Park, New York.

1947: Jackie Robinson, baseball’s first black major league player, made his official debut with the Brooklyn Dodgers on opening day at Ebbets Field. (The Dodgers defeated the Boston Braves, 5-3.)

1955: Ray Kroc opens the first McDonald’s fast food restaurant in Des Plaines, Illinois.

1956: Mitch Miller, music director of Columbia Records, engages in a spirited debate with Allan Freed over the "potentially negative effects of Rock 'n' Roll on teenagers" on Eric Sevareid's news program on CBS-TV. Two psychiatrists also joined the discussion. Miller made no secret of the fact that he hated Rock music, and was quoted as saying, "It's not music. It's a disease."

1957: Jerry Lee Lewis released 'Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On' on Sun Records. Written by Dave "Curlee" Williams the song was first recorded by American R&B singer Big Maybelle. The record reached No. 3 on the Billboard pop chart, No. 1 on the country charts, and No. 8 in the UK.

1959: Cuban leader Fidel Castro arrived in Washington to begin a goodwill tour of the United States. Secretary of State John Foster Dulles resigned for health reasons (he was succeeded by Christian A. Herter).

1961: France wins it’s second outright Five Nations Rugby Championship with an 15-3 victory over Ireland at Lansdowne Road, Dublin.

1962: UK TOP 20: Album chart:

1. Elvis Presley - Blue Hawaii
2. Cliff Richard - The Young Ones
3. Helen Shapiro - Tops With Me
4. Original Soundtrack - West Side Story
5. George Mitchell Minstrels - The Black And White Minstrel Show
6. The Shadows - The Shadows
7. Original London Cast - Sound Of Music
8. Dorothy Provine - The Roaring Twenties Songs From The Tv Series
9. Karl Denver - Wimoweh
10. Original Soundtrack - South Pacific
11. Buddy Holly And The Crickets - The Buddy Holly Story
12. Frank Sinatra - I Remember Tommy
13. George Mitchell Minstrels - Another Black And White Minstrel Show
14. Original London Cast - Oliver
15. Dave Brubeck - Time Further Out
16. Chris Barber And Acker Bilk - Best Of Barber And Bilk Volume 1
17. Shirley Bassey - Shirley Bassey
18. Ted Heath And His Music - Big Band Percussion
19. Chris Barber And Acker Bilk - Best Of Barber And Bilk Volume 2
20. Original Broadway Cast - My Fair Lady

***

1964: George Best and Pat Jennings make their senior international debuts for Northern Ireland in a 3-2 victory over Wales at the Vetch Field in Swansea.

1967: France wins it’s fourth outright Five Nations Rugby Championship with an 11-6 win over Ireland at Lansdowne Road, Dublin.

1967: Nancy Sinatra and Frank Sinatra started a four week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Somethin' Stupid'. They became the only father and daughter act ever to score a No.1 single. UB40 singer Ali Cambell covered the song in 1995 with his daughter Kibbi. Robbie Williams had a 2001 UK No.1 with his version of the song featuring Nicole Kidman.

US TOP 20 : Singles chart:

1. Nancy Sinatra & Frank Sinatra - Somethin' Stupid
2. The Turtles - Happy Together
3. Petula Clark - This Is My Song
4. Four Tops - Bernadette
5. The Monkees - A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You
6. The Five Americans - Western Union
7. Tommy James And The Shondells - I Think We're Alone Now
8. The Mamas & The Papas - Dedicated To The One I Love
9. Aretha Franklin - I Never Loved A Man (The Way I Love You)
10. Martha & The Vandellas - Jimmy Mack
11. Arthur Conley - Sweet Soul Music
12. The Beatles - Penny Lane
13. Herman's Hermits - There's A Kind Of Hush
14. Harpers Bizarre - The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy)
15. Buffalo Springfield - For What It's Worth (Stop, Hey What's That Sound)
16. The 4 Seasons Featuring the "Sound of Frankie Valli" - Beggin'
17. Simon & Garfunkel - At The Zoo
18. The Platters - With This Ring
19. The Supremes - The Happening
20. Brenda & The Tabulations - Dry Your Eyes

***

1970: President Richard Nixon asked Congress for legislation to prohibit dumping of polluted dredge waste into the lakes. A record 136,505 see Celtic beat Leeds at Hampden Park to reach the European Cup Final.

1971: George C Scott became the first actor to refuse an Oscar for best actor (Patton). He had warned the Academy months in advance that he would do so if he won. Scott believed that every dramatic performance was unique and could not be compared to others.

1972: A member of the British Army is shot dead by the IRA in the Divis area of Belfast. On the same day, a member of the IRA is shot dead by British soldiers at Joy Street in the Markets area of Belfast.

1974: Members of the Symbionese Liberation Army held up a branch of the Hibernia Bank in San Francisco; a member of the group was SLA kidnap victim Patricia Hearst, who by this time was going by the name “Tania” (Hearst later said she’d been forced to participate).

1980: Existentialist philosopher and writer Jean-Paul Sartre dies in Paris aged 74.

1981: Journalist Janet Cooke says her Pulitzer award winning story about an 8-year-old heroin addict was fabricated. The Washington Post relinquishes the Pulitzer Prize.

1982: Death of Dad’s Army star Arthur Lowe aged 66 after a stroke.

1984: Comedian Tommy Coopers suffers a heart attack and dies on live TV during a performance at the London Palladium.

1985: South Africa said it would repeal laws prohibiting sex and marriage between whites and non-whites.

1986: The United States launched an air raid against Libya in response to the bombing of a discotheque in Berlin on April 5; Libya said 37 people, mostly civilians, were killed.

1988: Comedy actor Kenneth Williams dies from an overdose aged 61 on the eve of going into hospital for surgery.

1989: The worst disaster in football history when 94 Liverpool fans are crushed to death at Hillsborough Football Stadium, Sheffield, during the FA Cup semi final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest. Two more die later.

1989: Roy Orbison's single "You Got It" climbs to #9 in America four months after his death. The song was written by Jeff Lynne and Tom Petty and appeared on Orbison's "Mystery Girl" album that was released posthumously. It's his first Top 10 hit in that country since "(Oh) Pretty Woman" in 1964.

1990: Death of actress Greta Garbo (Gustafson) aged 84.

1992: Billionaire Leona Helmsly is sent to jail in the US for tax evasion.

1994: Olympic champion figure skater, John Curry OBE dies from AIDS aged 44.

1996: Milli Vanilli singer Rob Pilatus was jailed for 90 days by a Los Angeles judge for three violent attacks and parole violation.

1998: Pol Pot, the notorious leader of the Khmer Rouge, died at age 72, evading prosecution for the deaths of two million Cambodians.

1999: The body of country singer Tammy Wynette is exhumed in an attempt to settle a dispute over how the country music legend died.

2001: Joey Ramone (Jeffrey Ross Hyman) singer with The Ramones, dies aged 49 after losing a long battle with lymphatic cancer.

2008: Death of drummer with The Nice, Brian “Blinky” Davison, aged 65.

2009: Death of broadcaster and MP Clement Freud aged 84.

2010: Volcanic ash from the eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland leads to the closure of airspace over most of Europe.

2011: Singer Christina Aquilera divorces music executive Jordan Bratman.

2013: Two bombs made from pressure cookers exploded at the Boston Marathon finish line, killing two women and an 8-year-old boy and injuring more than 260. Suspected bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev died in a shootout with police; his brother, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, was tried, convicted and sentenced to death.

2014: After sending a distress signal, a South Korean ferry capsized off the country's southern coast, an incident that killed about 300 people.

2017: Suicide car bomb targets buses carrying Syrian evacuees at Rashidin, 126 killed including 70 children. On the same day, guitarist Alan Holdsworth dies aged 70.

2018: A seven-hour battle over territory and money broke out among inmates armed with homemade knives at the Lee Correctional Institution in South Carolina, leaving seven inmates dead and 22 injured in the worst U.S. prison riot in a quarter-century. At the Academy of Country Music Awards, held in Las Vegas six months after the deadly shooting at a country music festival there, Jason Aldean paid tribute to the 58 people killed; he spoke after he was named entertainer of the year for the third consecutive time. (Aldean had been performing at the Las Vegas festival when the shooting began.)

2019: A devastating fire collapsed the roof and spire of Notre Dame Cathedral, but fire officials said they managed to avoid the total destruction of one of Paris' most recognizable landmarks.

2019: English songwriter Les Reed died age 83. His major songwriting partners were Gordon Mills, Barry Mason and Geoff Stephens, although he wrote songs with many others such as Roger Greenaway, Roger Cook, Peter Callander, and Johnny Worth. Reed co-wrote around sixty hit songs, and is best known for 'It's Not Unusual', 'Green, Green Grass of Home' and 'Delilah', (hits for Tom Jones) as well as 'The Last Waltz' (Engelbert Humperdinck).

BIRTHDAYS:

Claudia Cardinale, actress, 83;

Marty Wilde (Reg Smith), singer-songwriter, 82;

Jeffrey Archer (Baron Archer of Weston Super Mare), author, 81;

Dave Edmunds, singer-songwriter/guitarist, 77;

Benjamin Zephaniah, poet/actor, 63;

Dame Emma Thompson, actress/screenwriter, 62;

Linda Perry, songwriter/producer/singer, (4 Non Blondes), 56;

Oscar Harrison, drummer, (Ocean Colour Scene) 56;

Graeme Clark, bassist (Wet Wet Wet) 55;

Samantha Fox, model/singer, 55;

Frankie Poullian, bassist (The Darkness) 54;

Ed O’Brien, guitarist (Radiohead) 53;

Katy Hill, TV presenter, 50;

Luke Evans, actor, 42;

Patrick Carney, drummer (The Black Keys) 41;

Natalie Casey, actress, 41;

Seth Rogen, actor/screenwriter, 39;

Emma Watson, actress, 31;

Felipe Anderson, footballer, 28;

Maisie Williams, actress, 24.