Topic: On this day in history...

[pete_stutz]

28th January:

1980 The original Ants split up with Adam.
1980 Six Americans who had fled the U.S.embassy in Tehran, Iran, on November 4, 1979, left Iran using false Canadian diplomatic passports. The Americans had been hidden at the Canadian embassy in Tehran.
1982 Italian anti-terrorism forces rescued U.S. Brigadier General James L. Dozier. 42 days before he had been kidnapped by the Red Brigades.
1984 The Smiths' first 3 singles held the top 3 places on the Indie chart.
1985 USA for Africa recorded their Ethiopian Benefit Song. 'We are The World', inspired by Band Aid, and written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie.
1986 The US space shuttle Challenger exploded shortly after take-off from Cape Canaveral, killing the 5 men and 2 women on board, including schoolteacher Christa McAuliffe, the first private citizen ever selected to fly into space.

Famous Birthdays:
1918 Harry Corbett
1921 Alfred Marks
1927 Ronnie Scott
1936 Alan Alda
1944 Bobby Ball
1948 Mikhail Baryshnikov
1956 Peter Schilling
1957 Frank Skinner
1959 Dave Sharp (The Alarm) 1959
1965 Greg Cook (Ricochet) 1965

Died on this day:
1983 Billy Fury

[Wham Bam]

28th January:

Died on this day:
1983 Billy Fury

RIP Billy 

[pete_stutz]

29th January:

1980 Six Iranian held US hostages escaped with the help of Canadians.
1983 "Down Under" by Men At Work reached #1 on UK pop chart.
1983 Stevie Nicks married Warner Brothers promotion man, Kim Anderson. They were divorced the following year.
1985 Oxford dons voted to stop Margaret Thatcher being awarded an honorary degree. It was the first time that an Oxford educated Prime Minister was rejected by his or her alma mater. 
1989 The Willy Russell play 'Shirley Valentine' was awarded The Lawrence Olivier Award by the Society of West End Theatres. Pauline Collins who played the lead role won best actress.

Famous Birthdays:
1943 Tony Blackburn
1945 Tom Selleck
1952 Tommy Erdelyi (The Ramones)
1952 Tim Healy
1953 Louie Perez (Los Lobos)
1954 Oprah Winfrey
1964 Roddy Frame (Aztec Camera)

[pete_stutz]

30th January:

1982 Richard Skrenta wrote the first PC virus code, which was 400 lines long and disguised as an Apple boot program called "Elk Cloner".
1983 Nearly all areas ofthe country were hit by snow as winter weather returned to Britain after one of the mildest January's on record.
1984 Duran Duran began a US tour sponsored by Coca Cola.
1988 Bavaria's Prime Minister Franz Josef Strauss returned from Johannesburg to West Germany with a message from the South African government that it was not yet prepared to release Nelson Mandela.
1989 The U.S.embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan was closed.

Famous Birthdays:
1913 Percy Thrower
1930 Gene Hackman
1937 Vanessa Redgrave
1946 John Bird
1951 Phil Collins
1951 Clifford Leon Anderson (The Cure)
1956 Curtis Strange

Died on this Day:
1982 Stanley Holloway, aged 91.

[pete_stutz]

31st January:

1980 Police stormed the occupied Spanish Embassy in Guatemala, killing 41 people.
1981 “The Tide is High” by Blondie reached #1.
1983 The wearing of seat belts in cars became compulsory in Britain.
1984 Holding onto the Number 1 spot in the UK were Frankie Goes to Hollywood with their controversial debut single, 'Relax'
1985 South African President, P.W.Botha offered to release Nelson Mandela if he denounced violence.
1986 "Down and Out in Beverly Hills" opened co-starring Little Richard.
1988 The government was accused by the British Medical Association of deliberately running down the NHS.

Famous Birthdays:
1951 Phil Manzanera (Roxy Music)
1951 Harry Wayne Casey (KC and the Sunshine Band)
1954 Adrian Vandenberg (Whitesnake)
1956 Johnny Rotten
1961 Lloyd Cole
1966 Al Jaworski (Jesus Jones)

[pete_stutz]

1st February:

1983 At least 6 people died and dozens more were injured as winds of more than 100mph swept Britain.
1984 Nigel Lawson, Chancellor of the Exchequer announced the halfpenny was to be phased out by the end of the year. The coin had been in circulation since 1280.
1985 Glenn Frey (Eagles) appeared on an episode of "Miami Vice" on NBC-TV.
1986 Diana Ross and Arne Naess were married in Geneva.
1988 The Cars disbanded. 

Famous Birthdays:
1921 Peter Sallis
1931 Boris Yeltsin
1942 Terry Jones
1954 Mike Campbell (Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers)
1965 Sherilynn Fenn

[pete_stutz]

2nd February:

1982 "Late Night with David Letterman" premiered on NBC
1982 Hama Massacre: The government of Syria attacked the town of Hama and killed thousands of people.
1985 Foreigner topped the US singles chart with their rock ballad 'I Want To Know What Love Is'.
1986 34 people died during blizzards and freezing weather that swept across much of western Europe.
1986 The Dalai Lama met Pope John Paul II in India
1988 Several protestors abseiled into the House of Lords in demonstration of the controversial clause 28 of the Local Government Bill which forbids local councils from promoting homosexuality.
1989 The final Russian armored column left Kabul, Afghanistan, after nine years of military occupation.
1989 FW de Klerk replaced PW Botha as South Africa's National Party leader

Famous Birthdays:
1933 Les Dawson
1940 David Jason
1942 Graham Nash (Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young)
1947 Farah Fawcett
1949 Ross Valory (Journey)
1951 Ken Bruce

[pete_stutz]

3rd February:

1981 The Who played a charity gig for battered wives at the Rainbow Theatre.
1982 John Sharples of England finished disco dancing after 371 hours
1988 The U.S. House of Representatives rejected President Reagan's request for at least $36.25 million in aid to the Nicaraguan Contras.
1989 20 Soviet villages were evacuated following high fall-out from the Chernobyl disaster.
1989 Alfredo Stroessner, dictator of Paraguay was overthrown in a military coup.

Famous Birthdays:
1959 Lol Tolhurst (The Cure)
1965 Nick Hawkins (Big Audio)

[bigbaldbloke]

Also a non-80s music milestone today. 50 years since the deaths of Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper.

[pete_stutz]

4th February:

1981 A verdict of justifiable homicide was returned on the terrorists who died during the siege of the Iranian embassy following the intervention of the SAS.
1985 20 countries (but not U.S.) signed UN treaty outlawing torture.
1985 U.S. President Ronald Reagan's defense budget called for a tripling of the expenditure on the "Star Wars" research program.
1985 A spokesperson for Hollywood actress Elizabeth Taylor announced she had broken her engagement with businessman Dennis Stein and returned her £90,000 sapphire engagement ring.
1989 The BBC's 'Children in Need' televison and radio appeal raised £17,563,458, £3.5 million more than the previous highest total.

Famous Birthdays:
1915 Sir Norman Wisdom
1947 Dan Quayle 1947
1948 Alice Cooper

Died on this Day:
1983 Karen Carpenter
1987 Liberace

[snappycat]

6/6/09

25 years ago today..the miners strikes began

[snappycat]

01/08/1981

MTV first broadcast, choosing Buggles-Video killed the radio star as it's first video 

[dava]

15/04/1989

A total of 96 fans died as a result of the Hillsborough disaster.

r.i.p 

never forget.

[Lord Villa]

01/08/1981

MTV first broadcast, choosing Buggles-Video killed the radio star as it's first video 

No accounting for taste I suppose.