April 17th

National Day

• Herbalist day
• World Malbec Day
• National Banana Day

Birthdays

• 1946 – Henry Kelly, Irish radio and television broadcaster (Game for a Laugh, Going for Gold), born in
• Athlone, Ireland.
• 1959 – Sean Bean, English actor (Sharpe, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, Patriot Games, Game of Thrones), born in Handsworth, Sheffield.
• 1971 – Claire Sweeney, English actress (Brookside) and TV Personality (Loose Women, 60 Minute Makeover), born in Walton, Liverpool.
• 1974 – Victoria Beckham (50), English fashion designer and singer who rose to prominence in the 1990s as a member of the girl group the Spice Girls, born in Harlow, Essex.

On This Day

• 1951 – Designated as a National Park in December 1950, the Peak District (which covers Derbyshire, Cheshire, Staffordshire, Yorkshire and Greater Manchester) was officially confirmed as the United Kingdom’s first National Park.
• 1969 – The age at which a person was eligible to vote in Britain was lowered from 21 to 18.
• 1986 – British journalist John McCarthy was kidnapped in Beirut. He was not released until August 1991.
• 2013 – The funeral of Baroness Margaret Thatcher (dubbed the “Iron Lady”). She was the longest-serving British Prime Minister of the 20th century (11 years and 208 days) and the first woman to have held the office.

Music

• 1960 – Touring in the UK, 21-year-old US singer Eddie Cochran was killed when the taxi he was travelling in crashed into a lamppost on Rowden Hill, Chippenham, Wiltshire, (where a plaque now commemorates the event). Songwriter Sharon Sheeley and singer Gene Vincent survived the crash, Cochran’s current hit at the time was ‘Three Steps to Heaven’.
• 1965 – Bob Dylan’s second studio album ‘The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan was at No.1 on the UK chart. The album opens with ‘Blowin’ in the Wind’, which became an anthem of the 1960s, and an international hit for folk trio Peter, Paul & Mary.
• 1971 – All four Beatles had solo singles in the UK charts, Paul McCartney with ‘Another Day’, John Lennon ‘Power To The People’, George Harrison ‘My Sweet Lord’ and Ringo Starr ‘It Don’t Come Easy.’
• 1993 – David Bowie went to No.1 on the UK album chart with his eighteenth studio album Black Tie White Noise. It was his first solo release in the 1990s after spending time with his hard rock band Tin Machine.
• 1994 – Pink Floyd started a four-week run at No.1 on the UK album chart with The Division Bell, their fourth No.1 album.

History

• 1397 – Geoffrey Chaucer told the Canterbury Tales for the first time at the court of Richard II. The tales were told as part of a story-telling contest by a group of pilgrims as they travelled together on a journey from Southwark to the shrine of Saint Thomas Becket at Canterbury Cathedral.
• 1775 – Paul Revere, a renowned silversmith, is better remembered as a folk hero of the American
• Revolution who this night in 1775 made a dramatic ride on horseback to warn Boston area residents of an imminent attack by British troops.
• 1860 – The first world title boxing match took place near Farnborough, Hampshire, when Briton Tom Sayers took on American John Heenan. Despite being 46 lb lighter, Sayers forced a draw after 42 rounds of bareknuckle fighting.
• 1888 – The formation of the English Football League took place at a formal meeting in the Royal Hotel, Manchester.