Welcome to day 221 of the year! Known as National Rice Pudding Day and Book Lovers Day. If you were born today, you were likely conceived the week of November 16th 2022 and have the star sign “Leo”.
1984 – Daley Thompson of Great Britain scores 8,797 points to win the Olympic decathlon in Los Angeles.
Todays birthdays
1938 – Rod Laver (85), Australian former tennis player, born in Rockhampton City, Australia.
1954 – Pete Thomas (69), English rock drummer (Elvis Costello and the Attractions), born in Sheffield, England.
1959 – Michael Korrs (64), American fashion designer, born in Long Island, New York, United States.
1968 – Gillian Anderson (55), American actress (X-Files), born in Chicago, Illinois, United States.
1990 – Bill Skarsgård (33), Swedish actor (Pennywise – It, It Chapter Two), born in Stockholm, Sweden.
The day today
1979 – Brighton becomes the first major resort in Britain to agree to set aside part of its seafront to nudists.
1980 – Ten original Gerald Scarfe drawings for Pink Floyd’s album The Wall were stolen from the foyer of Earls Court where they were being exhibited.
1984 – Daley Thompson of Great Britain scores 8,797 points to win the Olympic decathlon in Los Angeles.
1986 – Queen ended their Magic European tour at Knebworth Park, Stevenage, with over 120,000 fans witnessing what would be the band’s last ever live performance with Freddie Mercury.
1994 – During an Oasis gig at The Riverside in Newcastle upon Tyne, guitarist Noel Gallagher was hit in the face by a man who had jumped on the stage. Noel refused to carry on playing and after leaving the stage a mob of over 300 people attacked the band’s bus as they were leaving.
Today in music
1975 – The Bee Gees started a two week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Jive Talkin’, the group’s second US No.1 it made No.5 in the UK.
1980 – ABBA scored their eighth UK No.1 single with ‘The Winner Takes It All’. Taken from their ‘Super Trouper’ album. By this time, both couples were divorced. Also on this day; AC/DC scored their first UK No.1 album with Back In Black. It was the first AC/DC album recorded without former lead singer Bon Scott (who died on 19 February 1980 at the age of 33), and was dedicated to him. The album has sold an estimated 49 million copies worldwide to date, making it the second highest selling album of all time, and the best selling hard rock or heavy metal album, as well as the best selling album ever released by a band.
2005 – The Magic Numbers walked out of an appearance on UK music show Top Of The Pops after presenter Richard Bacon said the band had been put in a “fat melting pot of talent.” The band left the studio in protest at the “derogatory, unfunny remarks”.
2007 – Amy Winehouse cancelled a series of European shows after being admitted to hospital suffering from “severe exhaustion”. The 23-year-old singer was taken to University College London Hospital and later discharged. In the past few weeks she had pulled out of the T in the Park festival – also citing “exhaustion”, Liverpool’s Summer Pops event and concerts in Norway and Denmark.
2015 – Little Mix were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Black Magic’. It was released as the lead single from their third studio album, Get Weird.
Historical events
1721 – Prisoners at Newgate Jail were used as ‘guinea pigs’ to test vaccines used against disease.
1757 – Thomas Telford, Scottish civil engineer was born. He built the Menai suspension bridge in Wales, plus a further 1200 bridges and more than 1000 miles of roads in Britain. The new town of Telford in Shropshire is named after him.
1796 – Horatio Nelson captured from the French, the island of Elba, to which Napoleon Bonaparte was later exiled.
1870 – The Elementary Education Act was passed. It gave compulsory, free education to every child in England and Wales between the age of five and 13.
1902 – Following a six-week delay due to an emergency appendectomy, Edward VII was crowned in Westminster Abbey following the death of his mother Queen Victoria. Edward was the first British monarch of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, which was renamed the House of Windsor by his son, George V.