1960 – Lonnie Donegan was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘My Old Man’s A Dustman’, his third No.1. He became the first British artist to enter the UK chart at No.1; the only other artist to achieve this feat at this time was Elvis Presley. The song which was recorded live at the Bristol Hippodrome was a music hall novelty song.
1964 – Madame Tussauds, London unveiled the wax works images of The Beatles, the first pop stars to be honoured.
1966 – Rolling Stone Mick Jagger was injured during a gig in Marseilles, Southern France after a fan threw a chair at the stage. He required eight stitches in the cut.
1967 – Jimi Hendrix set fire to his guitar live on stage for the first time when he was appearing at The Astoria in London, England. It was the first night of a 24 date tour with The Walker Brothers, Cat Stevens and Engelbert Humperdink. The Fender Stratocaster burned on stage by Hendrix sold for £280,000 at a 2008 London auction of rock memorabilia.
1975 – The Bay City Rollers TV series Shang-A-Lang premiered on ITV. It featured the band in comedy sketches and performing their songs to a live studio audience made up of their teenage fans.
1976 – A then unknown Sex Pistols opened for The 101’ers at The Nashville Rooms in London. The 101ers were a pub rock band, notable as being the band that Joe Strummer left to join The Clash.
1984 – Marvin Gaye was shot dead by his father at his parent’s home in Los Angeles, California. The argument started after his parents squabbled over misplaced business documents, Marvin Gaye attempted to intervene, and was killed by his father using a gun he had given him four months before. Marvin Sr. was sentenced to six years of probation after pleading guilty to manslaughter.
2002 – Bee Gee Barry Gibb bought his childhood home in Keppel Road, Chorlton, Manchester. He said that he was going to clean the house up, rent it out and put a plaque on the wall.
2004 – Coldplay singer Chris Martin was accused of attacking a photographer after leaving a London restaurant with his wife Gwyneth Paltrow. A Coldplay spokesman said photographer Alessandro Copetti had been running after Gwyneth’s taxi and tripped. Mr Copetti said he had been taking pictures of the singer and his wife outside a restaurant when Chris Martin kicked him from behind.
2007 –U2 singer Bono accepted an honorary knighthood at a ceremony in Dublin. Fellow band members The Edge and Adam Clayton joined the frontman’s wife and four children at the British ambassador David Reddaway’s official residence.
2017 – George Michael’s funeral took place, three months after his sudden death at the age of 53. His family said a ‘small, private ceremony’ was attended by family and close friends. The coroner’s verdict on his death only came three weeks before his funeral. Tests were ordered because an initial post-mortem examination was inconclusive.
