Back in Time – This Day in History – April 16
1947: Grandcamp
By Mick Ferris, Press Association, AP, UPI, calendar.songfacts.com, classicbands.com and thisdayinmusic.com
1457BC: Egyptian forces of Thutmose III defeat a large Canaanite coalition under King of Kadesh at the Battle of Megiddo – the first battle recorded with a reliable account.
1346: The Serbian Empire is proclaimed in Skopje at an Easter assembly and Stephen Uroš IV Dušan crowned Emperor over much of the Balkans.
1521: Martin Luther arrives at the Diet of Worms assembly.
1705: Queen Anne knights Isaac Newton at Trinity College, Cambridge.
1746: The Battle of Culloden, the last battle on British soil: Royalist troops under the Duke of Cumberland defeat the Jacobite army of Charles Edward Stuart.
1789: President-elect George Washington left Mount Vernon, Virginia, for his inauguration in New York.
1799: Napoleonic Wars: The Battle of Mount Tabor – Napoleon drives Ottoman Turks across the River Jordan near Acre.
1816: Lord Byron signs Deed of Separation dissolving his marriage with Lady Byron at her request after one year of marriage.
1854: Premiere of Franz Liszt’s symphonic poem “Mazeppa”. On the same day, San Salvador on El Salvador is destroyed by earthquake.
1862: Dring the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln signed a bill ending slavery in the District of Columbia. The Confederacy conscripted all white men between the ages of 18 to 35.
1881: Bartholomew “Bat” Masterton fights his last gun battle in Dodge City, Kansas against US Army Sergeant Melvin King after being discovered in bed with King’s girlfriend. Masterton took a bullet in the pelvis but got off a fatal shot as he fell.
1889: Birth of Charlie Chaplin in London.
1912: Harriet Quimby becomes the first woman to fly across the English Channel.
1917: Lenin arrives back from exile in Russia to join the Russian Revolution, issuing his “April Theses” calling for Soviets to take power.
1922: Shooter Annie Oakley sets a women’s record by breaking 100 clay targets in a row.
1924: Born on this day: American composer, conductor and arranger, Henry Mancini. His best known works include the theme to The Pink Panther film series, 'Moon River' to Breakfast at Tiffany's, and the theme to the Peter Gunn television series. He died 14th June 1994.
1932: The classic short film “The Music Box” starring Laurel and Hardy is released.
1938: Britain recognises Italy’s annexation of Abyssinia.
1939: The Soviet Union proposes an alliance with Britain and France to counter Nazi Germany; Stalin would later sign a secret agreement with the Nazis – not that it made any difference.
1939: Born on this day: Dusty Springfield, UK singer who had her first UK hit single in 1963 with ‘I Only Want To Be With You’, which reached No.4, a 1966 UK No.1 & US No.4 single with 'You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me’ plus over 15 other UK Top 40 singles. She died on March 3rd 1999.
1943: Swiss scientist Dr. Albert Hofmann discovers the psychedelic effects of LSD.
1945: The Dutch town of Arnhem is liberated by British and Canadian forces. On the same day, the Red Army begins its attack on Berlin and US troops enter Nuremberg.
1947: The cargo ship Grandcamp, carrying ammonium nitrate, blew up in the harbor in Texas City, Texas; a nearby ship, the High Flyer, which was carrying ammonium nitrate and sulfur, caught fire and exploded the following day; the blasts and fires killed nearly 600 people. At the South Carolina statehouse, financier Bernard M. Baruch declared: “Let us not be deceived — we are today in the midst of a cold war.”
1947: Born on this day: Scottish singer-songwriter Gerry Rafferty who with Stealers Wheel had the 1973 US No.3 & UK No.8 single 'Stuck In The Middle With You'. The song was used in Quentin Tarantino's 1992 movie Reservoir Dogs, during the famous 'ear' scene. He is best known for his 1978 solo hit the UK No.3 and US No.2 single 'Baker Street.' He was also a member of late 1960s group The Humblebums with Billy Connolly. Rafferty died on 4th Jan 2011 at the age of 63 after suffering a long illness.
1953: The Queen launches the Royal Yacht HMS Britannia in Scotland.
1956: Buddy Holly releases his first single, "Blue Days, Black Nights", written by Ben Hall. (From ME Music@espofootball)
1956: Chuck Berry records his song Roll Over Beethoven in Chicago.
1962: New Orleans Archbishop Joseph Rummel excommunicated three local Roman Catholics for fighting racial integration of parochial schools.
1963: Martin Luther King Jr. wrote his “Letter from Birmingham Jail” in which the civil rights activist responded to a group of local clergymen who had criticized him for leading street protests; King defended his tactics, writing, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
1964: Sentences totalling 307 years are passed on 12 men who carried out the Great Train Robbery in August 1963.
1964: The Beatles film the chase scenes for A Hard Day’s Night in the Notting Hill Gate area of London. In the evening they record the Lennon/McCartney title track for the film at EMI Studio, Abbey Road. The title came from one of drummer Ringo Starr’s sayings.
1964: The Rolling Stones first album was released in the UK, it went to No.1 two weeks later and stayed on the chart for 40 weeks, with 11 weeks at No.1. The American edition of the LP, with a slightly different track list, came out on London Records on 30 May 1964, subtitled England's Newest Hit Makers, which later became its official title.
1966: Rhodesian Prime Minister Ian Smith breaks diplomatic relations with Britain.
1970: Protestant right-winger Ian Paisley wins a seat in Northern Ireland’s parliament.
1972: Apollo 16 blasted off on a voyage to the moon with astronauts John W. Young, Charles M. Duke Jr. and Ken Mattingly on board. On the same day, Two British soldiers are shot dead by the IRA in separate incidents in Derry.
1972: Electric Light Orchestra make their live debut at Croydon, England's Fox and Greyhound pub.
1978: UK TOP 20 : Singles chart:
1. Brian And Michael - Matchstalk Men And Matchstalk Cats And Dogs
2. The Bee Gees - Night Fever
3. Showaddywaddy - I Wonder Why
4. Suzi Quatro - If You Can't Give Me Love
5. Wings - With A Little Luck
6. Andrew Gold - Never Let Her Slip Away
7. Johnny Mathis And Deniece Williams - Too Much Too Little Too Late
8. Gerry Rafferty - Baker Street
9. Genesis - Follow You Follow Me
10. Blondie - Denis
11. Sheila And B Devotion - Singin' In The Rain
12. The Manhattan Transfer - Walk In Love
13. Dan Hill - Sometimes When We Touch
14. Dr Hook - More Like The Movies
15. Kate Bush - Wuthering Heights
16. Hot Chocolate - Every 1's A Winner
17. Eruption - I Can't Stand The Rain
18. Chic - Everybody Dance
19. The Boomtown Rats - She's So Modern
20. The Michael Zager Band - Let's All Chant
***
1983: US TOP 20: Album chart:
1. Michael Jackson - Thriller
2. Journey - Frontiers
3. Daryl Hall and John Oates - H2O
4. Men At Work - Business As Usual
5. Styx - Kilroy Was Here
6. Duran Duran - Rio
7. Lionel Richie - Lionel Richie
8. Toto - Toto IV
9. Def Leppard - Pyromania
10. Bob Seger - The Distance
11. Pink Floyd - The Final Cut
12. Earth, Wind & Fire - Powerlight
13. Alabama - The Closer You Get
14. Culture Club - Kissing To Be Clever
15. Jane Fonda - Jane Fonda's Workout Record
16. Eric Clapton - Money And Cigarettes
17. Sammy Hagar - Three Lock Box
18. Dexys Midnight Runners - Too-rye-ay
19. U2 - War
20. Thomas Dolby - Blinded By Science
***
1986: Dispelling rumors he was dead, Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi appeared on television to condemn the U.S. raid on his country and to say that Libyans were “ready to die” defending their nation.
1987: Billericay MP Harvey Proctor appears before Bow Street Magistrates charged with gross indecency.
1991: Death of director David Lean aged 83.
1993: The UN Security Council votes to create a safe haven for Bosnian Muslims under siege in the town of Srebrenica.
1994: Duncan Ferguson of Rangers headbutts Raith Rovers defender Jock McStay during a game at Ibrox and although the clash isn’t noticed by the match officials it is caught on camera and he ends up in court charged with assault. He was found guilty and sentenced to three months in prison. The first professional player in Britain to be jailed for a incident on the football pitch.
1996: Britain’s Prince Andrew and his wife, Sarah, the Duchess of York, announced they were in the process of divorcing.
1999: Hockey legend Wayne Gretzky announced his retirement from the NHL after 21 years. He was inducted into the NHL Hall of Fame in November without having to go through the usual three-year waiting period.
2001: During Southend United’s Division 3 match with Mansfield Town at Roots Hall, referee Mike North collapses in the centre circle and dies of a heart attack.
2003: The Bush administration lowered the terror alert level from orange to yellow, saying the end of heavy fighting in Iraq had diminished the threat of terrorism in the United States.
2003: Jerry Lee Lewis files for divorce from his sixth wife, Kerrie McCarver, who was once the president of his fan club.
2004: Super liner Queen Mary 2 embarks on her first Transatlantic crossing.
2007: The Virginia Tech massacre: The deadliest mass shooting in modern American history. Gunman, Seung-Hui Cho, kills 32 people and injures 23 others before committing suicide.
2008: The Supreme Court upheld, 7-2, the most widely used method of lethal injection, allowing states to resume executions after a seven-month halt. Pope Benedict XVI was welcomed by President George W. Bush as only the second pontiff to visit the White House (after John Paul II) and the first in 29 years.
2008: Barbra Streisand donates $5 million to the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles for a women's heart education and research program.
2014: More than 300 people, mostly students, died when a South Korean ferry, the Sewol, sank while en route from Incheon to the resort island of Jeju; 172 people survived.
2018: The New York Times and The New Yorker won the Pulitzer Prize for public service for breaking the Harvey Weinstein scandal with reporting that galvanized the #MeToo movement. Actor Harry Anderson, best known for playing an off-the-wall judge working the night shift of a Manhattan court room on the comedy series “Night Court,” was found dead in his North Carolina home; he was 65.
2018: Kendrick Lamar becomes the first rapper and non classical or jazz musician to win the Pulitzer Prize for music with his album “Damn”.
BIRTHDAYS:
Baroness Joan Bakewell, broadcaster, 88;
Bobby Vinton, singer-songwriter, 86;
Peter Garrett, singer (Midnight Oil), 68;
Ellen Barkin, actress, 67;
Paul Buchanan, singer-songwriter, (The Blue Nile), 65;
Rafa Benitez, football manager, 61;
Jimmy Osmond, singer, 58;
Nick Berry, actor/singer, 58;
Martin Lawrence, actor, 56;
Gabrielle (Louise Bobb) singer, 51;
Max Beesley, actor/muician, 50;
Akon, (Aliaune Thiam), singer, 48;
Lukas Haas, actor, 45;
Freddie Ljungberg, football manager, 44;
Claire Foy, actress, 37;
Paul di Resta, racing driver, 35;
Aaron Lennon, footballer, 34;
Chance the Rapper (Chancelor Bennett) rapper, 28;
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