Prof Frank McDonough

PHOTO OF THE DAY. Norwich City council has a state of the art computer delivered (1957). 📷 Norwich Evening News

USA No.1 on this day in 1973: Gladys Knight & The Pips - Midnight Train To Georgia youtu.be/rhnRyQCeqXI?si… via @YouTube

UK No.1 on this day in 1973: David Cassidy- Daydreamer youtu.be/XM8Huok8jGI?si… via @YouTube

27 October 2013. Lou Reed died (aged 71). He was lead guitarist, singer and songwriter for influential underground rock band Velvet Underground and also had a successful solo career, spanning 5 decades. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2014.

27 October 1988. Charles Hawtrey (George Hartree) died (aged 73). He was best known as a regular participant in the “Carry On” films series, appearing in 24 of the 31 films. Regardless of the historical setting, Hawtrey always wore his trademark round metal-rimmed glasses.

27 October 1986. British government, led by Margaret Thatcher, deregulated financial markets in what became known as the “Big Bang”. In one fell swoop, the City of London moved to electronic trading and became a financial stock market centre to rival New York’s Wall Street.

27 October 1978. Egyptian President Anwar Sadat (left) and Israeli Prime Minister, Menachem Begin, were named as the joint winners of the Nobel Peace Prize. The announcement came shortly after the conclusion of the Camp David talks which led to 1979 Egypt-Israeli Peace Treaty.

27 October 1975. Bruce Springsteen became 1st rock star to appear simultaneously on the covers of Time and Newsweek magazines. The articles were written in response to the breakthrough success of his critically acclaimed album Born to Run, released two months earlier.

27 October 1967. Abortion Act, allowing women abortions for medical reasons, was given Royal assent. It became operative on 27 April 1968.

27 October 1963. Last episode of ITV’s children's puppet TV series, Fireball XL5, was broadcast. In the series Colonel Steve Zodiac leads the defence of the Earth from numerous interstellar threats. It had ran for 39 episodes since 28 October 1962. youtube.com/watch?v=6ifS...

27 October 1962. Rudolf Anderson (aged 35) of the US Air Force, became the only casualty of the Cuban missile crisis when his high-altitude Lockheed U-2 plane was shot down over Cuba.

27 October 1958. Simon Le Bon, lead singer of Duran Duran, was born in Bushey, Hertfordshire. Duran Duran have sold over 100 million records worldwide, had 14 UK Top 10 singles, and 21 US Billboard Hot 100 singles.

27 October 1957. Glenn Hoddle was born in Hayes, Middlesex. His heyday was with Spurs and he played 53 times for England. He said disabled people were paying for sins from a previous life in a Times interview. This led to his dismissal as England manager in 1999.

27 October 1939. John Cleese was born in Weston-super-Mare. He co-founded Monty Python, the comedy group responsible for the cult sketch show Monty Python’s Flying Circus and its subsequent offshoot films. He also co-wrote and starred in the classic BBC sitcom Fawlty Towers.

27 October 1936. American Wallis Simpson was granted a divorce from her 2nd husband Ernest. This left her free to marry Edward VIII. Her relationship with the king had not been mentioned during the divorce proceedings.

27 October 1932. Acclaimed poet Sylvia Plath was born in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. She’s best known for 2 of her poetry collections: The Colossus and Other Poems and Ariel and her novel The Bell Jar. Plath was awarded a posthumous Pulitzer Prize in Poetry in 1982.

27 October 1931. General Election was won by the National Government led by Labour rebel Ramsay MacDonald who joined forces with the Tories under Stanley Baldwin and the breakaway National Liberals. It was the last time a general election was held on a Tuesday.

27 October 1914. British dreadnought HMS Audacious became 1st British battleship sunk by the German Navy in the “Great War of 1914-18”. The British public was not told about this sinking until 1918.

27 October 1914. Welsh poet Dylan Thomas was born in Swansea. His works include the poems “Do not go gentle into that good night” and “Death shall have no dominion” and the play Under Milk Wood. In 2009, he was ranked 10th in a BBC poll to find the UK’s favourite poet.

27 October 1904. 1st line of the New York underground system was officially opened. An average of 5:66 million passengers use the system daily making it the busiest transit system in the USA and 7th busiest in the world.

27 October 1858. Roland Macy opened Macy’s Department Store in New York City. The flagship store covers almost an entire New York City block with about 1.1 million square feet of retail space. The store organises the annual Thanksgiving Parade.

27 October 939. King Æthelstan died (aged about 45). He was the son of Edward the Elder and King of the English from 927 to 939. Historians view him as 1st King of England and one of the greatest Anglo-Saxon kings. He never married, had no children and was succeeded by Edmund.

PHOTO OF THE DAY. Johnny Cash and Elvis Presley (1956). 📷 google images

USA No.1 on this day in 1979: The Temptations I Can't Get Next to You youtu.be/B9dde4p6OBU?si… via @YouTube

UK No.1 on this day in 1980: Barbra Streisand - Woman in Love youtu.be/hQLGCX8D-1Y?si… via @YouTube

26 October 1989. Nigel Lawson, Chancellor of the Exchequer, resigned, citing “policy differences” with Conservative Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher. Lawson had told Mrs Thatcher that she had a choice between him and sacking her personal economic adviser, Sir Alan Walters.

15 October 1971. 1st episode of the BBC drama series The Onedin Line was broadcast. It was set in Liverpool from 1860 to 1886, revolving around a fictional shipping company. There were 8 series, totalling 91 episodes until 26 October 1980. youtube.com/watch?v=I_X9...

26 October 1965. The Beatles received MBE’s from Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace. John Lennon later claimed they smoked pot in the toilets, but George Harrison later commented: “John made that up. It never happened.”

26 October 1962. Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev offered to end the Cuban Missile Crisis by taking missile bases out of Cuba in exchange for a promise by the US government not to invade Cuba.

26 October 1952. Hattie McDaniel died (aged 59). She was best known for her role as "Mammy" in Gone with the Wind for which she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress and thereby became the 1st African-American to win an Oscar.

26 October 1951. Winston Churchill became Prime Minister for the 2nd time following the Conservative victory in the General Election. At 76 Churchill became the 2nd oldest British PM in history behind Liberal, William Gladstone, who was 83 when he formed his last government.

26 October 1947. Hilary Clinton was born in Chicago, Illinois, USA. She served as US secretary of state from 2009 to 2013. She was 1st woman nominated for president of the United States by a major political party. She is also the only First Lady to be elected as a Senator.

26 October 1942. Bob Hoskins was born in Bury St Edmunds. He rose to acting fame in the classic Dennis Potter BBC TV drama series, Pennies From Heaven, before starring in many films such as The Long Good Friday, Mona Lisa and Who Framed Roger Rabbit?

26 October 1929. London’s buses began to be painted predominantly red (pictured is a 1930 model). In fact, the bus roofs remained largely white or silver, to reflect sunlight and thereby reduce heat in the summer.

26 October 1905. Sweden accepted the independence of Norway following a referendum in that country which had taken place on 13 August 1905.

26 October 1863. 12 London football clubs met at the Freemasons’ Tavern in London to form the Football Association. After 6 further meetings, the FA came up with 13 fundamental rules of Association Football which were approved in the FA Minute Book on 8 December 1863.

26 October 1859. Steam clipper Royal Charter, powered by a coal fired engine, was wrecked in a storm near the Anglesey coast. The precise number of dead has been estimated from surviving records at 450, making it the highest death toll of any shipwreck on the Welsh coast.

26 October 1775. George III told Parliament the American colonies had started a rebellion to end British rule. He pledged to stop it.

26 October 1640. Treaty of Ripon was signed. It restored peace between Scotland and Charles I of England. Under its terms Scottish forces continued to occupy Northumberland and Durham, but war was curtailed. It led to the calling of the English “Long Parliament”.

26 October 899. Alfred the Great died (aged 50 or 51). He was known as “King of the Anglo-Saxons”. How he died is unknown, but he suffered throughout his life from a painful illness that modern doctors think was a severe form of Crohn’s disease.

PHOTO OF THE DAY. Leeds United defender, Jack Charlton, having a cigarette after a team photo (1970).📷 Mirrorpix

USA No.1 on this day in 1967: Lulu- To Sir With Love youtu.be/0_UpW8V6B3c?si… via @YouTube

UK No.1 on this day in 1969: The Archies - Sugar, Sugar youtu.be/j3plj_Xplus?si… via @YouTube

25 October 2022. Rishi Sunak became the 57th person to become UK prime minister. He was the 11th Conservative PM since 1945, the 1st non-white PM and the 1st British Asian PM. He also led the Conservatives to their worst election defeat since 1906 in July 2024.

25 October 2022. Conservative Liz Truss resigned as prime minister on her 50th day in office. Her premiership was marked by turmoil and a disastrous budget that sent financial markets into a tailspin. Truss is the shortest-serving prime minister (49 days) in British history.

25 October 2015. Historian Lisa Jardine died (aged 71). She was fluent in 5 different languages and as comfortable with the sciences as she was with the humanities. Her father was the philosopher and mathematician Jacob Bronowski.

25 October 2015. Leading historian of the Holocaust David Cesarani died (aged 58). He died shortly after completing a major general history of the Holocaust entitled The Final Solution.

25 October 2004. John Peel (John Robert Parker Ravenscroft) died from a heart attack (aged 65) while on holiday in Peru. He was a champion of new rock talent outside the commercial mainstream. He was the longest serving original BBC Radio 1 DJ broadcasting from 1967 to 2004.