1962 – Elvis Presley received an invitation to appear at the Royal Variety Performance. His manager, Colonel Tom Parker graciously declined, citing motion picture commitments. The real reason was that Tom Parker was an illegal Dutch immigrant living in the United States who feared he might not be allowed to return if he left the country.
1964 – Oxfam printed half a million Christmas cards in the UK of a drawing by John Lennon called the Fat Budgie, which was taken from his book ‘A Spaniard in the Works’. All profits from the cards went to help raise money for charity. Oxfam re-printed the cards in 2007 as a limited edition card which again sold thousands.
1965 – The Walker Brothers were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with the Burt Bacharach song, ‘Make It Easy On Yourself’, the trio’s first of two UK No.1’s.
1975 – Rod Stewart was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Sailing’. The song became a hit after it was used in a TV documentary series.
1977 – Meat Loaf released his second studio album ‘Bat Out Of Hell’. His first collaboration with composer Jim Steinman and producer Todd Rundgren, it is one of the best-selling albums of all time, having sold over 43 million copies worldwide (and still sells over 200,000 copies per year). The first single released from the album ‘You Took the Words Right Out of My Mouth’ failed to chart when first released.
1981 – Adam And The Ants were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with their second chart topper ‘Prince Charming’.
1988 – The Hollies were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘He Ain’t Heavy He’s My Brother’ after the song was used on a UK TV beer commercial, the song was originally a hit in 1969 and featured a young Elton John on piano.
1991 – Status Quo put themselves in the Guinness Book Of Records by appearing at four venues in one day, Sheffield, Glasgow, Birmingham and London, performing all four in a 12-hour period.
1997 – Elton John started a six week run at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Something About The Way You Look Tonight’, and ‘Candle In The Wind 97.’ A re-write of his 1974 hit about Marilyn Monroe. This version was raising funds for the Diana, Princess of Wales charity, following her death in Paris.
2000 – Ozzy Osbourne formally requested that Black Sabbath be removed from the nomination list for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Calling the inclusion “meaningless”, Ozzy went on to say “Let’s face it. Black Sabbath have never been media darlings. We’re a people’s band and that suits us just fine.”
2011 – Research conducted by car maker SEAT found that Queen’s ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ was the song most likely to be found on British iPods, with more than 40% of owners having the hit on their players. The Beatles had four songs in the list, a feat also matched by Coldplay. Other favourites included U2, The Killers and Rihanna.
