On This Day......

[Bez]

28th March..

1965: Thousands join Dr King in Alabama rally
Dr Martin Luther King has taken a crowd of nearly 25,000 people to the steps of the state capital of Montgomery, Alabama to highlight black grievances.
The procession marks the end of a five-day march which started in Selma last week and it brings to a close a month of civil rights protests in Alabama.
Troops policed the roads surrounding the capital and army helicopters hovered overhead as the crowd swelled to nearly 25,000.
Dr King, who addressed the protesters from a podium in the square, described the trek as "one of the greatest marches in the history of America".
"Our aim is not to humiliate and defeat the white man, but to win his friendship and understanding," he added.
Dr King tried to present a petition of black grievances to Governor George Wallace but he refused to meet the delegation.
The civil rights leader said he would ask trade unions to refuse to transport or use the state's products and he urged the Federal Government and the Treasury to withdraw all assistance from the area.
Dr King also said that demonstrations would have to continue where essential conditions remained unmet.
When the march began last week, large bombs were planted at a black church, a funeral parlour and a leading black lawyer's home.
They were later discovered and detonated by experts from the army base at Anniston, Alabama.
To prevent further attacks, US President Lyndon Johnson gave the marchers the protection of nearly 3,000 troops, plus FBI and local police assistance.
But three days ago Viola Liuzzo, a white civil rights advocate who had been ferrying demonstrators to their homes, was shot dead on a lonely stretch of road near the route of the march.
Meanwhile, leaders of the Ku-Klux-Klan movement have reportedly tried to contact President Johnson to dicuss his aversion to their organisation. There was no immediate response from the US President, who recently launched a scathing attack on the group, describing it as "a band of hooded bigots, whose loyalty was not with the United States

[Bez]

Music history for March 28th........


1943 - Sergei Rachmaninoff died.

1958 - Eddie Cochran recorded "Summertime Blues."

1964 - Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum in London announced the Beatles would be cast in wax.

1966 - Gary Lewis recorded "Green Grass."

1967 - Van Morrison recorded "Brown Eyed Girl."

1969 - Joe Cocker played his first American concert.

1970 - Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young's "Woodstock" was released.

1976 - Genesis began its first North American tour since Peter Gabriel's departure. Phil Collins was the new lead singer.

1979 - Eric Clapton and Patti "Layla" Boyd were married. Patti was George Harrison's ex-wife.

1982 - In Los Angeles, David Crosby was arrested for possession of Quaaludes and drug paraphernalia, driving under the influence of cocaine and carrying a concealed .45-caliber pistol.

1986 - More than 6,000 radio stations of all format varieties played "We are the World" simultaneously at 10:15 a.m. EST.

1995 - Lyle Lovett and Julia Roberts announced that they were separating. They had been married for 21 months.

1996 - Phil Collins announced that he was leaving Genesis to concentrate on his solo career.

1999 - Freaky Tah (Lost Boyz) was killed by a ski-masked gunman who came up behind him and fired a single gunshot into his head. Freaky Tah was 27 years old.

2002 - The National Museum of American History put a cornet that had belonged to Louis Armstrong on display.

2002 - Gloria and Emilio Estafan obtained a permanent restraining against Venezuelan actor-singer Juan Carlos Diaz

[Bez]

29th March...


1981: Triumph at first London Marathon
Thousands of people have jogged through the normally quiet Sunday streets of the capital to compete in the first ever London marathon.

Pounding along the 26 mile (41.84 km) route from Greenwich Park, in south east London, to Buckingham Palace, 6,700 participants turned out in drizzle to complete the gruelling run.
The boom of a 25 lb (11.34 kg) cannon sent the marathon runners, ranging from a 15-year-old girl to septuagenarians, on their way at 0900 BST.
The sportsmanship of the event was evident as American Dick Beardsley, 24, and Norwegian Inge Simonsen, 25, won the race crossing through the tape hand in hand after two hours, 11 minutes and 48 seconds.
Joyce Smith, a Briton was the first female to cross the finishing line, in 2:29:56.
About seven hours after the start Marie Dominque de Groot, 30, from Paris and David Gaiman, 47, from East Grinstead ran past the finish line holding hands as the final contestants across the line.
Most finished
An estimated 80% of those who took part are understood to have crossed the finish line and participants included celebrities such as Jimmy Saville, who raised £50,000 for charity.
More than 22,000 people wanted to run but the figure was kept to 7,590 by police.
The race, taking in the banks of the Thames and the City of London, contained more turns than its New York sister event and was 30 yards longer than the official marathon distance.
At regular intervals 1,000 volunteer helpers marked the route, joined by 500 special constables, 26 first-aid stations and 300 St John Ambulance personnel while cardiac unit was on hand at Constitution Hill. The marathon is the brainchild of Chris Brasher, former Olympic Steeplechaser and was organised with a budget of £100,000 from which 2,000 foil blankets, 75 portable lavatories, 400 gallons of coffee and 50,000 plastic cups were supplied

[Bez]

30th march.......


1981: President Reagan is shot
President Ronald Reagan has been shot and wounded after a lone gunman opened fire in Washington.

He is currently undergoing emergency surgery at George Washington University Hospital but there are unconfirmed reports he walked in unaided.
Initial reports claim he may have a punctured lung.
Five to six shots were fired as he left the Washington Hilton Hotel where he had been addressing a union convention, about one mile from the White House.
A man, firing at close range, also wounded White House Press Secretary James Brady in the head.
A Secret Service official and a Washington policeman were also injured before the gunman was pushed to the ground by police.
The president had appeared from the hotel smiling and walked towards his limousine turning momentarily to acknowledge calls from the waiting press.
A burst of gunfire was then heard before the president was bundled into a bullet proof limousine and whisked away.
First Lady Nancy Reagan is understood to be on her way to the hospital to visit her 70-year-old husband.
The attacker is described as being in his twenties and blonde.
He was pinned to the wall by secret service agents and he has now been arrested.
The assassination attempt has sent shock waves around the country where memories of the murder of president John F Kennedy remain vivid.
President Reagan has only been in office for 69 days and the attack leaves the running of the country in some confusion as his vice-president George Bush is currently on his way back from Texas.
Until the arrival of Vice-President Bush it is unclear who is in charge. The American Stock Exchange has stopped trading and the Academy Awards have been postponed until tomorrow night in the wake of the attacks.

[Bez]

March 30

1947 Tucker announces car concept
Preston Tucker announced his concept for a new automobile to be named "the Tucker". Having built a reputation as an engineer during WWII when he served as general manager of his company, Ypsilanti Machine & Tool Company, Tucker looked to capitalize on the high demand for cars that post-war conditions offered. No new car model had been released since 1942, and so the end of the war would bring four years worth of car-buyers back to the market. Tucker intended to meet the demand with a revolutionary automobile design. His 1945 plans called for an automobile that would be equipped with a rear-mounted engine as powerful as an aircraft engine, an hydraulic torque converter that would eliminate the necessity of a transmission, two revolving headlights at either side of the carýs fender, one stationary "cyclops" headlight in the middle, and a steering wheel placed in the center of the car and flanked by two passenger seats. However, a series of financial difficulties forced Tucker to tone down his own expectations for the cars. Production costs rose above his projections and investors became more cautious as the Big Three continued their astounding post-war success. To raise money for his project, Tucker sold franchises to individual car dealers who put up $50 in cash for every car they expected to sell during their first two years as a Tucker agent. The deposit was to be applied to the purchase price of the car upon delivery. The SEC objected to Tuckerýs strategy on the grounds that he was selling unapproved securities. It was just one intervention in a continuous battle between Tucker and federal regulatory bodies. Tucker loyalists espouse the theory that Tucker was the victim of a conspiracy planned by the Big Three to sabotage independent manufacturers. More likely, though, Tucker was the victim of an unfriendly market and his own recklessness. Unfortunately for his investors, the SEC indicted Tucker before he could begin mass production of his cars. He was acquitted on all counts, but his business was ruined. In the end, only fifty-one Tuckers were produced and none of them were equipped with the technological breakthroughs he promised. Still, the Tucker was a remarkable car for its price tag. Whether as an innovator silenced by the complacent authorities or a charlatan better fit to build visions than cars, Preston Tucker made a personal impact in a post-war industry dominated by faceless goliaths.

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[Bez]

1990: Violence flares in poll tax demonstration
An anti-poll tax rally in central London has erupted into the worst riots seen in the city for a century.
Forty-five police officers are among the 113 people injured as well as 20 police horses.
A total of 340 people have been arrested in the heart of London's West End, popular with musical and theatre goers, as cars have been overturned and set alight.
Four tube stations have been shut for safety reasons as police try to clear the streets, with much of central London now cordoned off.
Demonstrators have attacked police with bricks and cans.
Fire fighters attempting to extinguish the blazes have been hit with wood and stones.
Restaurants have been forced to close early by the violence which left shop windows smashed and many businesses with their contents looted.
Eyewitness reports describe a cloud of black smoke over Trafalgar Square.
Peaceful protests

The violence erupted just after 1600 BST following a peaceful march against the poll tax which saw up to 70,000 people take to the streets in protest at the new government levy.
A group of protesters involved in a sit-in at Whitehall, close to the Downing Street entrance, refused to move after requests from police and stewards.
As police arrested offenders, placards and cans were thrown from the crowd and the trouble spread to Charing Cross Road, Pall Mall, Regent Street and Covent Garden.
David Meynell, deputy assistant commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, in charge of the operation, said a peaceful march had been "completely overshadowed by the actions of about 3,000 to 3,500 people in minority groups".
He said they "without any doubt at all" had launched "a ferocious and sustained attack on the police". The Home Secretary David Waddington is expected to make a statement to the House of Commons on the rioting tomorrow.

[Bez]

RAF FOUNDED:
April 1, 1918

On April 1, 1918, the Royal Air Force (RAF) is formed with the amalgamation of the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS). The RAF took its place beside the British navy and army as a separate military service with its own ministry.
In April 1911, eight years after Americans Wilbur and Orville Wright made the first flight of a self-propelled, heavier-than-air aircraft, an air battalion of the British army's Royal Engineers was formed at Larkhill in Wiltshire. The battalion consisted of aircraft, airship, balloon, and man-carrying kite companies. In December 1911, the British navy formed the Royal Naval Flying School at Eastchurch, Kent. In May 1912, both were absorbed into the newly created Royal Flying Corps, which established a new flying school at Upavon, Wiltshire, and formed new airplane squadrons. In July 1914, the specialized requirements of the navy led to the creation of RNAS.
One month later, on August 4, Britain declared war on Germany and entered World War I. At the time, the RFC had 84 aircraft, and the RNAS had 71 aircraft and seven airships. Later that month, four RFC squadrons were deployed to France to support the British Expeditionary Force. During the next two years, Germany took the lead in air strategy with technologies like the manual machine gun, and England suffered bombing raids and frustration in the skies against German flying aces such as Manfred von Richthofen, "The Red Baron." Repeated German air raids led British military planners to push for the creation of a separate air ministry, which would carry out strategic bombing against Germany. On April 1, 1918, the RAF was formed along with a female branch of the service, the Women's Royal Air Force. That day, Bristol F.2B fighters of the 22nd Squadron carried out the first official missions of the RAF.
By the war's end, in November 1918, the RAF had gained air superiority along the western front. The strength of the RAF in November 1918 was nearly 300,000 officers and airmen, and more than 22,000 aircraft. At the outbreak of World War II, in September 1939, the operational strength of the RAF in Europe had diminished to about 2,000 aircraft.
In June 1940, the Western democracies of continental Europe fell to Germany one by one, leaving Britain alone in its resistance to Nazi Germany. Nazi leader Adolf Hitler planned an invasion of Britain and in July 1940 ordered his powerful air force--the Luftwaffe--to destroy British ports along the coast in preparation. The outnumbered RAF fliers put up a fierce resistance in the opening weeks of the Battle of Britain, leading the Luftwaffe commanders to place destruction of the British air fleet at the forefront of the German offensive. If the Germans succeeded in wiping out the RAF, they could begin their invasion as scheduled in the fall.
During the next three months, however, the RAF successfully resisted the massive German air invasion, relying on radar technology, more maneuverable aircraft, and exceptional bravery. For every British plane shot down, two Luftwaffe warplanes were destroyed. In October, Hitler delayed the German invasion indefinitely, and in May 1941 the Battle of Britain came to an end. British Prime Minister Winston Churchill said of the RAF pilots, "Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few."
By the war's end in 1945, the strength of the RAF was nearly one million personnel. Later, this number was reduced and stabilized at about 150,000 men and women.

[Bez]

2nd April


1982: Argentina invades Falklands
Argentina has invaded the British territory of the Falkland Islands in the south Atlantic.

The islands, off the coast of Argentina, have been a cause of friction between the two countries since Britain claimed them in 1833.
The Argentine flag is now flying over Government House in the Falkland Islands' capital, Port Stanley.
The head of the country's military junta, General Leopoldo Galtieri, has welcomed the "recovery" of "Las Malvinas" - the Argentine name for the Falklands.
General Galtieri said Argentina had been left with no option other than military action.
The invasion followed months of sabre-rattling and a build-up over the past few days of Argentine war ships off the Falkland Islands, home to about 1,800 people.
'Unprepared'
At 0600 on Friday Argentina began "Operation Rosario" when a unit of Argentine troops landed near Port Stanley.
The leader of the Argentine forces, Rear Admiral Jorge Allara, had contacted the Falklands' governor, Rex Hunt, to appeal for a peaceful surrender.
But the request was rejected and the 80 members of the Royal Marine regiment stationed on the island and 20 locals were mobilised.
But by early afternoon they were vastly outnumbered by about 3,000 Argentine troops.
After an attack on Government House during which one Argentine soldier is said to have been killed, Rex Hunt ordered the British troops to surrender.
No Falkland Islanders or Royal Marines died in the fighting though one serviceman is reported to be badly wounded.
The British Government has cut diplomatic ties with Argentina and started to assemble a large naval taskforce to reclaim the islands.
Questions are being asked as to why the government was so unprepared given two recent "invasions" by Argentine civilians of another British territory in the region. In the latest incident in March they planted a flag on South Georgia, an uninhabited island 800 miles (1287 kilometres) north east of the Falklands.

[Bez]

April 3

1996 MOMA displays Jaguar
The Museum of Modern Art in New York City placed a Jaguar E-Type in its permanent exhibit. The E-Type was just the third car to be honored by the curators of the museum's permanent exhibit. Released in 1961, the E-Type was the first model released by Jaguar Motors after a disastrous fire destroyed the company's production facilities in 1957. The car's sleek lines made it an immediate success. Jaguar founder Sir William Lyons first made an impact in the automobile industry when he bolted a care body he designed onto the frame of an Austin Seven Car. His car, the Austin Swallow, was so successful that Lyons determined to manufacture his own automobiles. The E-Type is the epitome of Jaguar's exquisite feel for body design. The car is literally a work of art.

[Bez]

POCAHONTAS MARRIES JOHN ROLFE:
April 5, 1614

Pocahontas, daughter of the chief of the Powhatan Indian confederacy, marries English tobacco planter John Rolfe in Jamestown, Virginia. The marriage ensured peace between the Jamestown settlers and the Powhatan Indians for several years.
In May 1607, about 100 English colonists settled along the James River in Virginia to found Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement in America. The settlers fared badly because of famine, disease, and Indian attacks, but were aided by 27-year-old English adventurer John Smith, who directed survival efforts and mapped the area. While exploring the Chickahominy River in December 1607, Smith and two colonists were captured by Powhatan warriors. At the time, the Powhatan confederacy consisted of around 30 Tidewater-area tribes led by Chief Wahunsonacock, known as Chief Powhatan to the English. Smith's companions were killed, but he was spared and released, (according to a 1624 account by Smith) because of the dramatic intercession of Pocahontas, Chief Powhatan's 13-year-old daughter. Her real name was Matoaka, and Pocahontas was a pet name that has been translated variously as "playful one" and "my favorite daughter."
In 1608, Smith became president of the Jamestown colony, but the settlement continued to suffer. An accidental fire destroyed much of the town, and hunger, disease, and Indian attacks continued. During this time, Pocahontas often came to Jamestown as an emissary of her father, sometimes bearing gifts of food to help the hard-pressed settlers. She befriended the settlers and became acquainted with English ways. In 1609, Smith was injured from a fire in his gunpowder bag and was forced to return to England.
After Smith's departure, relations with the Powhatan deteriorated and many settlers died from famine and disease in the winter of 1609-10. Jamestown was about to be abandoned by its inhabitants when Baron De La Warr (also known as Delaware) arrived in June 1610 with new supplies and rebuilt the settlement--the Delaware River and the colony of Delaware were later named after him. John Rolfe also arrived in Jamestown in 1610 and two years later cultivated the first tobacco there, introducing a successful source of livelihood that would have far-reaching importance for Virginia.
In the spring of 1613, English Captain Samuel Argall took Pocahontas hostage, hoping to use her to negotiate a permanent peace with her father. Brought to Jamestown, she was put under the custody of Sir Thomas Gates, the marshal of Virginia. Gates treated her as a guest rather than a prisoner and encouraged her to learn English customs. She converted to Christianity and was baptized Lady Rebecca. Powhatan eventually agreed to the terms for her release, but by then she had fallen in love with John Rolfe, who was about 10 years her senior. On April 5, 1614, Pocahontas and John Rolfe married with the blessing of Chief Powhatan and the governor of Virginia.
Their marriage brought a peace between the English colonists and the Powhatans, and in 1615 Pocahontas gave birth to their first child, Thomas. In 1616, the couple sailed to England. The so-called Indian Princess proved popular with the English gentry, and she was presented at the court of King James I. In March 1617, Pocahontas and Rolfe prepared to sail back to Virginia. However, the day before they were to leave, Pocahontas died, probably of smallpox, and was buried at the parish church of St. George in Gravesend, England.
John Rolfe returned to Virginia and was killed in an Indian massacre in 1622. After an education in England, their son Thomas Rolfe returned to Virginia and became a prominent citizen. John Smith returned to the New World in 1614 to explore the New England coast. On another voyage of exploration in 1614, he was captured by pirates but escaped after three months of captivity. He then returned to England, where he died in 1631.