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April 14, 1967 –The Bee Gees released their single in England, New York Mining Disaster 1941, on this date. There was no mining disaster in New York in 1941, although there was one in McIntire, Pennsylvania which killed 6 people. The song though appears to have been vaguely inspired by the Aberfan tragedy in SouthContinue reading “We first heard about the New York Mining Disaster 1941”

April 14, 1883 –Leo Delibes’ opera Lakme, premiered in Paris on this date. The main reason you’ve probably even know this opera is because of the duet, Viens and Mallika sing, Les Liens en Fleurs (The Flower Duet) in Act I has become widely used in ads, as well as in films (I’ll stop now.)Continue reading “Impress your friends with this knowledge”

April 14, 2006 –The bio-pix film about the 1950s pinup and bondage model Bettie Page, The Notorious Bettie Page, directed by Mary Harron and starring Gretchen Mol was released in the US, on this date. A good friend of Bettie’s, Hugh Hefner held a private screening of this movie for Bettie Page and a smallContinue reading “The Notorious Bettie Page premiered”

April 14, 1969 –The bizarre 33 1/3 Revolutions Per Monkee TV special starring The Pre-fab four, The Monkees, aired on NBC TV, on this date. This TV special was going to be the first of three such specials starring The Monkees, but the other two were scrapped after this one turned out to be aContinue reading “This was the last time they were all the Monkees for a while”

April 14, 1945 – Tex Avery retooled his Warner Brothers cartoon, Dangerous Dan McFoo, and remade it for MGM as The Shooting of Dan McGoo. It was released on this date. This is probably the better version, but what do I know.

It’s International Plant Appreciation Day. Cut flowers fade away, while a potted plant, especially a flowering one, brings long-lasting pleasure. But after the clip you may want to see some plants cut down. So now you know.

April 13, 1964 –Sidney Poitier became the first African-American male to win the Best Actor Academy Award for the 1963 film Lilies of the Field, on this date. However, whatever satisfaction Poitier felt winning this award was undercut by his concern that he won not because Hollywood had shown enlightened thinking, but rather he wasContinue reading “First time win”

April 13, 1967 –A very silly film, loosely Loosely based on the first James Bond novel by Ian Fleming, Casino Royale, directed by John Huston, Ken Hughes, Robert Parrish, Joe McGrath and Val Guest and starring (among others) Peter Sellers, Ursula Andress, David Niven, Woody Allen, Joanna Pettet, Orson Welles, Daliah Lavi, Deborah Kerr, WilliamContinue reading “Casino Royale premiered (no, not that one)”

April 13, 1973 –The Wailers, led by Bob Marley, release their fifth studio album, Catch a Fire on this date. The first album on their new label, Island Records, it makes Marley and the Wailers international recording stars and brings reggae music to the forefront.

April 12, 1966 –While on his way to a business meeting, Jan Berry, one half of the rock and roll duo Jan and Dean, crashed his Corvette into a parked truck on Whittier Drive, near the intersection of Sunset Boulevard, in Beverly Hills, receiving severe head injuries and falling into a month long coma. Strangely,Continue reading “In an eerie coincidence”