Also in November 1965…
6th: The French composer Edgard Varèse dies at the age of 81 in New York. A student of the composers D’indy, Roussel and
Widor in Paris, Varèse went on to forge much of his career in the US. Works such as his groundbreaking Ionisation for 13 percussionists (1931) demonstrated his emphasis on rhythm and timbre, while his pioneering later works earned him the sobriquet ‘The Father of Electronic Music’. 11th: Within hours of each other, Aeroflot Flight 99 and United Airlines Flight 227 crash while attempting to land at Murmansk Airport and Salt Lake City International Airport respectively. Thirty-two of the 64 passengers and crew of the Soviet Tupolev Tu-124 are killed, as are 43 of the 91 people on board the American Boeing 727.
12th: The famous 330-year-old Manneken Pis statue in Brussels is stolen. Ripped away from its pedestal on the corner of Rue du Chêne and Rue de l’étuve, only the feet and ankles remain. An anonymous phone call will later reveal that it is lying in the city’s Charleroi Canal, from where it is retrieved by divers and taken to Brussels City Museum. 22nd: In Las Vegas, Muhammad Ali successfully defends his world heavyweight boxing title against Floyd Patterson, himself a former champion. The superior Ali toys with Patterson for much of the fight, which the referee stops in the 12th round. One reporter describes the spectacle as like watching someone ‘pulling the wings off a butterfly’. 25th: The British pianist Dame Myra Hess dies aged 75. A renowned performer of composers ranging from Bach to Schumann, she became nationally famous during
The Blitz by organising more than 1,500 lunchtime concerts at the National Gallery in London. Her last concert was at the Royal Festival Hall in September 1961.