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April 15, 1966 –Decca Records released the fourth British studio album of The Rolling Stones, Aftermath, on this date. Brian Jones, who was The Stones guitarist until his death in 1969, played the dulcimer on the album, an instrument you play on your lap by plucking or strumming the strings. Jones could learn just aboutContinue reading “Aftermath went on sale”

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 special is notable as the Monkees‘ final performance as a quartet until 1986, as Peter Tork left the group at the end of the special’s production.

April 14, 2017 –Harry Styles’s debut single Sign of the Times, knocked Ed Sheeran’s Shape Of You 13-week run off the top of the UK charts, on this date. The former One Direction star achieved his first No.1 as a solo artist with this release – the first from his self-titled debut album. Styles premieredContinue reading “Sign of the Times topped the charts”

April 14, 1969 –During the live broadcast of the 41st annual Academy Awards Ceremony, the first Oscar ceremony to be televised worldwide, it was announced Katherine Hepburn and Barbra Streisand tied for Best Actress Oscar on this date. Both Streisand and Hepburn received 3,030 votes each; it was the first exact tie in a principalContinue reading “A tie at the Oscars”

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.

April 14th, 1956 –The first professional quality videotape machine was introduced by Ampex at the National Association of Broadcasters convention in Chicago. Magnetic videotape recording had been introduced early in the 1950s, but were considered unfeasible to replace kinescopes for broadcasting. The machine was first used in a coast-to-coast network TV broadcast in the NovemberContinue reading “The AMPEX videotape machine was first demonstrated”

April 13, 1883 –Alferd Packer, one of the few people in the US ever to be jailed for cannibalism, having allegedly killed and eaten five of his traveling companions while trapped in the Rocky Mountains during fierce winter weather, was sentenced to death in Colorado. During the trial, the judge supposedly said: “Damn you, AlferdContinue reading “The sweetest meat you’ll probably never eat”

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 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 “A first for the Oscars”

April 13, 1984 –Jonathan Demme’s look at the homefront during WW II, Swing Shift, starring, Goldie Hawn, Kurt Russell, Christine Lahti, Fred Ward and Ed Harris, premiered in the US on this date. The film reportedly went through a major bout of re-shoots and editing; some say this was due to the tensions between GoldieContinue reading “Swing Shift opened”