Welcome to day 187 of the year! Known as Virtually Hug a Virtual Assistant Day and Kissing Day. If you were born today you were likely conceived the week of October 13th 2022.
1988 – An explosion aboard the North Sea oil rig Piper Alpha, off the coast of Aberdeen, resulted in the loss of 167 lives. It is the world’s deadliest ever oil rig accident.
Famous birthdays
1925 – Bill Haley, American rock vocalist known as the father of Rock ‘n’ Roll (Rock Around the Clock), born in Highland Park, Michigan (d. 1981)
1935 – Tenzin Gyatso (88), Tibetan spiritual leader of Tibet’s Lamaistic Buddhists (14th Dalai Lama), born in Taktser, Qinghai, China.
1946 – Sylvester Stallone (77), American actor and director (Rocky, Rambo, Cobra), born in NYC, New York.
1975 – Curtis “50 cent” Jackson (48), American rapper and businessman, born in Queens, New York.
1987 – Kate Nash (36), English singer songwriter and actress, born in London, England.
The day today
1952 – The last of the trams in London ends it’s journey ending nearly 100 years of trams in London.
1957 – Future Beatles John Lennon and Paul McCartney were introduced to each other when Lennon’s band, the Quarrymen, performed at the St. Peter’s Church Hall fête in Woolton, Merseyside.
1978 – Eleven people died and seventeen were injured in a blaze on the Penzance to Paddington sleeper train.
2005 – The International Olympic Committee announced that the 2012 Olympic Games would be held in London.
2016 – South African paralympian Oscar Pistorius is sentenced to six years in jail for the murder of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp in 2013.
Today in music
1968 – The Rolling Stones scored their fifth US No.1 single when ‘Jumpin Jack Flash’ hit the top of the charts.
1972 – David Bowie appeared on the UK music show Top Of The Pops playing his new single ‘Starman’, his first hit since 1969’s ‘Space Oddity’ three years before. The single peaked at No.10 and stayed on the charts for 11 weeks.
1996 – ‘Three Lions by comedians Baddiel and Skinner and The Lightning Seeds was at No.1 on the UK singles chart, (the official song of The England Football team).
2003 – Beyonce featuring Jay-Z started a three-week run at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Crazy In Love.’
2008 – Dizzee Rascal with Calvin Harris and Chrome started a four week run at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Dance Wiv Me’.
Historical events
1685 – Battle at Sedgemoor: King James II defeats the Duke of Monmouth.
1885 – The first successful rabies vaccine was successfully tested on a 9-year-old boy in France. Louis Pasteur had been working on a rabies vaccine in France for many years, and on this day, he administered the first vaccine to a human.
1907 – Tom Reece takes 5 weeks to compile the highest recorded billiards break in a match (499,135) in London, his ‘cradle’ cannon method is soon banned.
1912 – King Gustaf V officially opens the fifth Summer Olympics in Stockholm.
1942 – Anne Frank and her family take refuge in a secret sealed-off area of an Amsterdam warehouse to escape being sent to Nazi concentration camps.