1956 – The first Eurovision Song Contest was held in Lugano, Switzerland. The event was the brainchild of Marcel Baisoncon of the European Broadcasting Union. Seven countries participated and they were each allowed two songs. Both Luxembourg and the winner Switzerland used the same singer for both. Switzerland won with ‘Refrain’ by Lys Assia.
1962 – Elvis Presley was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Good Luck Charm’ his 11th UK No.1 single. It completed his second hat-trick of chart topping singles in the UK.
1964 – Eleven boys were suspended from a school in Coventry, England for having Mick Jagger haircuts and in the same year Ella Fitzgerald became the first artist to have a hit with a Beatles cover when her version of ‘Can’t Buy Me Love’ entered the UK chart.
1989 – Cliff Richard released his one hundredth single, ‘The Best Of Me’, which became his 26th Top 3 UK hit.
1994 –Michael Jackson married Lisa Marie Presley, daughter of Elvis Presley. The couple divorced in 1995. They had first met when the seven year old Lisa Marie attended several of Michael’s concerts in Las Vegas.
1996 – A fire at the home of Eric Clapton caused over one and a half million pounds worth of damage; Firemen arrived on the scene to find Clapton braving the blaze to save his collection of guitars.
1997 – The Manic Street Preachers won the best song award for ‘A Design For Life’ at the 42nd Ivor Novello awards. Other winners included The Spice Girls for Hit of the year with ‘Wannabe’, Elvis Costello for Outstanding Contribution To Music, George Michael won Songwriter Of The Year and Most Performed work for ‘Fastlove.’
1999 – Singer Freddie Mercury, who died in 1991, was honoured on a new set of millennium stamps issued by the Royal Mail. Freddie, who featured on the 19p stamp, was a keen stamp collector, and his collection was bought by the Post Office in 1993.
2000 – Noel Gallagher walked out on his band Oasis during a European tour. The move was put down to a series of burst-ups with his brother Liam. The band drafted in replacement guitarist Matt Deighton for the rest of the European dates.
2002 – A 16ft by 6ft mosaic designed by John Lennon went on display at The Beatle’s Story museum in Liverpool. The mosaic had been built into his swimming pool at his Kenwood home in Surrey where he lived between 1964 and 1968.
2006 – Jamaican reggae singer, songwriter Desmond Dekker died of a heart attack at his home in London. He had one of the first international Jamaican hits in 1968, with the ‘Israelites’.
2007 – Sixties pop star Wayne Fontana was remanded in custody after admitting pouring petrol over a bailiff’s car and setting fire to it. The judge criticized the former lead singer of the Mindbenders, for arriving at Derby Crown court dressed as the Lady of Justice. He had to hand a sword and scales to guards but still wore a crown, cape and dark glasses, claiming “justice is blind”.
