Also on this day

First paper money introduced in North America by colony of Massachusetts.

258 killed in New Zealand’s worst natural disaster, the Hawke’s Bay earthquake.

Astronaut Eileen Collins, pictured, becomes the first woman to pilot the Space Shuttle.

(later to become a huge country music star) joked back, “Well, I hope your ol’ plane crashes”, a remark that haunted him for years.

Tommy Allsup, Holly’s guitarist, was also supposed to be on the flight but lost his place to Valens on the toss of a coin.

Holly’s pregnant wife, Maria Elena, who learnt of his death from TV reports, had a miscarriage. An investigation found that Peterson wasn’t qualified to fly in the conditions, which required the pilot to work by instruments alone.

Despite his age, Holly had a huge number of unreleased recordings. Demand for his music was so great that he had hits for years, with the final “new” album, Giant, released in 1969.

He was called the single most creative force in rock ’n’ roll. Rolling Stone put him at 13 in its 100 greatest artists and the name the Beatles was inspired by the Crickets.

In 1971, Don McLean recorded American Pie, mourning the loss of innocence of 1950s rock ’n’ roll – the refrain “the day the music died” is a lasting tribute to that fateful event.

Last week I asked, which composer, whose works included The Magic Flute, was born this day in 1756. The answer is Mozart. This week’s question is: Which German inventor, credited with bringing the printed word to Europe, died on this day in 1468?

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