1969: Woodstock music festival ends
Thousands of young people are heading home after three days and nights of sex, drugs and rock and roll at the Woodstock music festival.
An estimated 400,000 youngsters turned up to hear big-name bands play in a field near the village of Bethel, New York state in what has become the largest rock concert of the decade.
About 186,000 tickets were sold so promoters anticipated that around 200,000 would turn up. But on Friday night, the flimsy fences and ticket barriers had come down and organisers announced the concert was free prompting thousands more to head for the concert.
Traffic jams eight miles long blocked off the area near White Lake, near Bethel, some 50 miles from the town of Woodstock.
These people are really beautiful
Dr William Abruzzi, chief medical officer
Local police estimated a million people were on the road yesterday trying to get to Woodstock. They were overwhelmed by the numbers but were impressed by a good level of behaviour.
The festival's chief medical officer, Dr William Abruzzi told Rolling Stone magazine: "These people are really beautiful. There has been no violence whatsoever which is really remarkable for a crowd of this size."
Those who made it to the makeshift venue were treated to performances by Janis Joplin, The Who, Grateful Dead, Canned Heat, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Jimi Hendrix, Joan Baez and Ravi Shankar.
High and naked
Rainstorms failed to dampen the spirits of the revellers, many high on marijuana, some dancing naked in the now muddy fields.
The main organiser, 49-year-old dairy farmer Max Yasgur, who provided $50,000 and 600 acres of his land, addressed the crowds on the last day of the event.
"You have proven something to the world... that half a million kids can get together for fun and music and have nothing but fun and music."
There were however two deaths - a teenager was killed by a tractor as he lay in his sleeping bag and another died from a drugs overdose.
In Context
Woodstock, a holiday centre and artists' colony, had held an arts and music fair since 1906 but the 1969 Woodstock festival made the town world famous.
The final cost to the four sponsors - John Roberts, Joel Rosenman, Artie Kornfeld and Michael Lang - was $2.4m.
A film of the concert was release the following year and Woodstock became synonymous with flower power, the hippie culture and anti-Vietnam war protests that dominated the 1970s.
The "Woodstock generation" look back on the event with nostalgia and an anniversary Woodstock festival was held in 1994.
But the second - highly commercialised - anniversary concert in July 1999 ended in riots, fires and at least eight allegations of rape.
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About 400,000 people attended the largest rock concert of the decade
Stories From 18 Aug
1992: Serbian prison camps condemned
1964: South Africa banned from Olympics
1989: Man U sold in record takeover deal
1969: Woodstock music festival ends
1971: British Army shot 'unarmed' disabled man
293 BC – The oldest known Roman temple to Venus is founded.
1587 – Virginia Dare, granddaughter of governor John White of the Colony of Roanoke, becomes the first English child born in the Americas.
1825 - Scottish explorer Alexander Gordon Laing became the first European to reach Timbuktu, now in Mali. He was murdered there the following month.
1872 - The first mail-order catalog was published, by Montgomery Ward.
1909 – Mayor of Tokyo Yukio Ozaki presents Washington, D.C. with 2,000 cherry trees, which President Taft decides to plant near the Potomac River.
1917 – A Great Fire in Thessaloniki, Greece destroys 32% of the city leaving 70,000 individuals homeless.
1962 - Ringo Starr joined The Beatles and made his debut with them at the horticultural society dance in Birkenhead.
1966 - The Tay road bridge was opened by Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother.
1967 - The luxury liner Queen Mary was sold to the Southern Californian town of Long Beach.
1982 – Japanese election law is amended to allow for proportional representation.
2005 – Massive power blackout hits the Indonesian island of Java, affecting almost 100 million people.
(18-08-2011 12:19 )skully Wrote: [ -> ]1872 - The first mail-order catalog was published, by Montgomery Ward.
Ward would unknowingly enable the creation of a powerful global network and with his long time competitor Richard Sears (of Sears-Roebuck fame) changed the direction of the worldwide marketplace. Today, although the actual catalogue has been largely replaced by the internet the mail order industry is worth approximately $100 billion, generates over $2 trillion in incremental sales and supports an estimated 10.9 million jobs either directly related to marketing industry or dependent upon it.
Ward's first catalogue consisted of just a single sheet of paper, but within 20 years it had reached 540 pages. In the 1920s both Ward and Sears-Roebuck even sold mail order kits so you could build your own prefabricated house!
Their major markets were rural areas in the mid-west which had been opened up by the coming of the railroads. Richard Sears had started life as a railroad clerk and realised the opportunities available when he made a quick profit after he bought up a consignment of gold watches going cheap after a local trader refused to accept them. Sears-Roebuck was founded in 1893 but although the company name has been retained to this day, the original partner, Alvah Roebuck, pulled out due to serious ill-health as early as 1895 and was replaced by Chicago clothing manufacturer Julius Rosenwald.
Sears bought out Roebuck's share of the partnership for just $20,000 and as the business became a huge success Sears became a multi-millionaire but in one of those strange, ironic twists of fate, he died in 1914 at the age of just 50. Roebuck recovered from his illness, lived a comfortable but modest life, and lived to be 84.
Roebuck was once asked how he felt about Sears great wealth to which he replied: "Why should I worry? He's dead. Me? I never felt better!"
1987: Gunman kills 14 in Hungerford rampage
A man has shot 14 people dead in the Berkshire town of Hungerford.
Police identified the gunman as Michael Ryan, 27.
Local people described him as a "loner" and a "gun fanatic".
Ryan was armed with an automatic rifle, a pistol and at least one hand grenade when he went on the rampage early on Wednesday afternoon.
His victims included his mother and a police officer who tried to tackle him in Hungerford which lies about 60 miles (96km) west of London.
At least 16 people are known to have been injured.
Ryan's first victim was a woman he shot dead as she picnicked with her two children in Savernake Forest about 10 miles (16km) from Hungerford.
Soon afterwards at 1245, an armed man - identified by witnesses as Ryan - fired at a woman cashier in a nearby petrol station but missed.
Less than 10 minutes later firefighters were called to a house fire in Hungerford where they found the body of a woman believed to be the gunman's mother.
'Fired without warning'
By 1300 Ryan had moved on to Hungerford's main shopping area where he fired indiscriminately killing at least 12 people.
Witnesses spoke of a heavily armed man in combat gear who opened fire without warning.
As police realised the seriousness of the incident armed officers and helicopters were rushed to the area.
But for much of the afternoon Ryan managed to evade the huge manhunt and was only later tracked down to a school on the outskirts of town.
The building is now surrounded by armed police and negotiators have been brought in to persuade the gunman to give himself up.
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Ryan's victims included his mother
Hungerford rocked by gunman massacre
In Context
Michael Ryan later turned his gun on himself and was found dead inside the school by police.
The death toll eventually reached 16.
At the time the incident was the worst mass killing of recent times in Britain.
It led to tighter restrictions on gun ownership with the introduction of the Firearms (Amendment) Act of 1988.
Critics said the legislation did not go far enough to prevent other massacres occurring.
In March 1996 Thomas Hamilton shot dead 16 school children and their teacher in the Scottish town of Dunblane.
Stories From 19 Aug
1987: Gunman kills 14 in Hungerford rampage
1991: Hardliners stage coup against Gorbachev
2003: UN envoy dies in Baghdad bombing
1942: Allies launch daring raid on Dieppe
1960: Moscow jails American U-2 spy pilot
1975: Davis campaigners stop Test match
43 BC – Octavian, later known as Augustus, compels the Roman Senate to elect him Consul.
1561 - Mary Queen of Scots arrived in Scotland to assume the throne after spending 13 years in France.
1692 – In Salem, Massachusetts, five people, one woman and four men, including a clergyman, are executed after being convicted of witchcraft.
1919 – Afghanistan gains full independence from the United Kingdom.
1940 – First flight of the
B-25 Mitchell medium bomber.
1942 - British and Canadian troops launched a disastrous attack on German-held Dieppe. Of the 6,000 troops involved, only about 2,500 returned. The rest were killed or captured.
1944 – World War II: Liberation of Paris – Paris rises against German occupation with the help of Allied troops.
1960 – Sputnik program: The Soviet Union launches the satellite (Sputnik 5) with the dogs Belka and Strelka, 40 mice, 2 rats and a variety of plants.
(19-08-2011 12:24 )skully Wrote: [ -> ]1940 – First flight of the B-25 Mitchell medium bomber.
I'm a wrecking machine, an old wrecking machine.
1989: Marchioness river crash 'kills 30'
At least 30 people died when a pleasure cruiser, packed with young party-goers, and a barge collided on the River Thames.
The captain and second mate of the barge, the dredger Bowbelle, are now under arrest.
Among those still missing are the captain of the cruiser, the Marchioness, and a city banker who chartered the boat to celebrate his birthday.
There are fears the final death toll could be as high as 60.
Divers are still searching below deck where more bodies are expected to be found.
Most of those on board were young people in their 20s.
Both vessels were moving down river towards Southwark Bridge in the early hours of Sunday morning when they collided.
The Marchioness's owners said the 90-ton boat was struck a blow from the 2,000-ton dredger which forced it directly into the larger vessel's path.
They said the Bowbelle then ran over the cruiser forcing it underwater "like a bicycle being run over by a lorry".
Search
So far the owners of the Bowbelle have made no public comment.
Police commandeered other boats to search for survivors who had been tipped into the river after the collision.
Party-goers on other cruisers witnessed the events and some tried to help.
"We were all shouting at the driver to back up to try and rescue some of the people which he did.
"We got back and some of the guys jumped into the water and pulled some of the people onto our boat," said one witness, Rob Elliott.
So far 89 people are known to have survived the crash.
Earlier today some of them left the hospitals where they had been taken after being pulled from the river.
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The Marchioness had been hired for a birthday party
The Marchioness bow was breached within minutes
In Context
A total of 51 people died in the collision.
The Bowbelle's skipper, Douglas Henderson, was acquitted after a trial in 1991.
In April 1995 a jury returned verdicts of unlawful killings in inquests held for those who drowned.
The families of victims campaigned more than 10 years for a public inquiry which began in 2000.
The report published in 2001 criticised Douglas Henderson for failing to set up a proper lookout.
Later that year the Maritime and Coastguard agency ruled Mr Henderson could keep his master's certificate.
In 2002 the first River Thames lifeboat rescue service was started in response to one of the report's recommendations.
Stories From 20 Aug
1989: Marchioness river crash 'kills 30'
1992: Duchess of York in photos row
1978: Two dead after El Al crew ambushed
1970: Bobby Moore cleared of stealing
1992: Iraq jails 'lost' Briton
1741 - Danish navigator Vitus Jonas Bering, commissioned by Peter the Great of Russia to find land connecting Asia and North America, discovered Alaska. His name still graces the Bering Sea and the Bering Strait.
1858 – Charles Darwin first publishes his theory of evolution through natural selection in The Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society of London, alongside Alfred Russel Wallace's same theory.
1866 – President Andrew Johnson formally declares the American Civil War over.
1940 - Radar was used for the first time, by the British during the Battle of Britain.
1940 - As the aerial Battle of Britain raged, Prime Minister Winston Churchill told Parliament: "Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few''.
1953 – The Soviet Union publicly acknowledges that it had tested a hydrogen bomb.
1956 - Calder Hall, Britain's first nuclear power station, began operating.
1975 -
Viking 1, an unmanned U.S. planetary probe, was launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on a mission to Mars.
1977 - The U.S.
Voyager I spacecraft was launched on its journey via Jupiter and Saturn to become the first artificial object to leave the solar system.
(20-08-2011 09:22 )bombshell Wrote: [ -> ]1989: Marchioness river crash 'kills 30'
The Marchioness Disaster prompted remarkably little public sympathy at the time, and it took years for the families of the victims to get answers, let alone justice.
The late-80s was the era of the "yuppies", which was then a new term disparagingly used to describe wealthy young people who had made, in some cases, considerable amounts of money in the wake of state privatisations and the freeing up of stock market regulations and who were now flaunting their wealth. Once it was known that the person for whom the party had been organised, Antonio de Vasconcellos, worked in a merchant bank, public perception was that whilst it was a terrible accident, the victims were a bunch of pissed-up "hooray-Henrys" who had probably in some way contributed to the accident themselves. The reality was that the overwhelmingly majority of the party-goers were ordinary people with ordinary jobs.
The skipper of the Marchioness was the father of the TV presenter Jeff Brazier, and one of the other victims was Francesca, the older sister of future England Rugby star Laurence Dallaglio.
As Bombshell stated, the skipper of the Bowbelle was tried twice but twice the jury were deadlocked and eventually the charges were dropped. Whilst there was outrage that he admitted that he had drunk five pints of lager that night there was no "drink-driving" law for being in charge of a boat at the time (such a law was brought in in 1992, and the limit is now the same as for driving a car).
The final insult for the families was when they discovered years later that many of the victims had had organs and other body parts removed without notification or permission. This led to a thorough investigation by Lord Justice Clarke and his damning report roundly condemned staff at Guy's Hospital mortuary.
The Bowbelle was herself lost seven years after the disaster. Having been sold to a Madeira company she split in half and sank on 25 March 1996 off the coast of Ponta do Sol.
Births:
1942 – Isaac Hayes, American singer, songwriter, and actor (d. 2008)
1948 – Robert Plant, British Musician (Led Zeppelin)
1952 – John Emburey, English cricketer
1954 – Al Roker, American television personality
1956 – Alvin Greenidge, West Indian cricketer
1961 – Joe Pasquale, English comedian
1970 – Fred Durst, American singer (Limp Bizkit)
1971 – Steve Stone, English footballer
1971 – David Walliams, British comedian
1974 – Amy Adams, American actress
1977 – Ivar Ingimarsson, Icelandic footballer
1977 – Mayra Veronica, Cuban model and actress
1977 – James Ormond, England cricketer
1983 – Andrew Garfield, American actor
1983 – Yuri Zhirkov, Russian footballer
1992 – Demi Lovato, American actress and singer