IT HAPPENED TODAY
1864:
Stephen Foster, US composer of minstrel songs and ballads (The Old Folks At Home, Beautiful Dreamer, etc) died after hitting his head on a chamber pot.
1887:
Sophie Tucker, singer and vaudeville star known in America as “the last of the Red Hot Mamas”, was born in Russia.
1893:
The Independent British Labour Party was formed by Keir Hardie.
1921:
The first British patent for windscreen wipers was registered by Mills Munitions of Birmingham.
1942:
The pilot of an experimental jet fighter became the first to leave his plane via an ejector seat.
1964:
A reluctant Capitol Records released the first Beatles (above) record in the US “to see how it goes”. I Wanna Hold Your Hand became their fastest-selling single — one million copies were sold in the first three weeks.
1982:
A Boeing 737 crashed into a bridge, hitting five ships and killing 78 people, on the Potomac River in Washington DC.
1990:
An army undercover unit shot dead three men robbing a betting shop in west Belfast, causing uproar among republicans. Two of the raiders were hooded and carried replica guns.
2013:
Steve McQueen’s (above) 12 Years A Slave won the coveted Golden Globe for best movie drama.
ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR:
Humans have changed the course of nature and postponed the next ice age through climate change, a study found.
BIRTHDAYS:
Mark O’Meara, golfer, 61; Kevin Anderson, actor, 58; Julia Louis-Dreyfus, actress, 57; Suggs McPherson (below), singer (Madness), 57; Penelope Ann Miller, actress, 54; Ronan Rafferty, golfer, 54; Stephen Hendry, snooker player, 49; Orlando Bloom, actor, 41.