All our yesterdays 5

This time, we're looking back to the week of 23rd - 29th. May.

On May 23rd 1934, Bank robbers and murderers Bonnie Parker & Clyde Barrow died in a hail of bullets when they drove their car into an ambush in Louisiana. More than 50 bullets hit the pair.

On May 24th 1989, A British jury awarded libel damages of £600,000 to Sonia Sutcliffe, wife of sex killer Peter Sutcliffe, the 'Yorkshire Ripper' against the satirical magazine, 'Private Eye'. 'Private Eye' had said that Mrs Sitcliffe had sold a newspaper the story of her marriage for £250,000.

On May 25th 1935, Jesse Owens, a 21-year-old athlete from Alabama, set five new world records and equalled a sixth - a world record in itself for a single day's achievement. In fact, he did it all in a single hour. He equalled the 100 yards record, then set new records for the long jump, 220 yards and 2220-yard hurdles, relentlessly breaking the 200m records on the way.

On May 26th 1940, A strange armada of more than 700 boats set sail from Britain across the English Channel as virtually anything that would float made for the beaches of Dunkirk to rescue 380,000 trapped Allied troops.

On May 27th 1958, Jerry Lee Lewis was forced to abandon his British tour when it was revealed this his wife Myra, was only 13 years old. Not only that, he was still married to his first wife Jane when he married Myra. Although now divorced, and  it wasn't illegal to marry a 13-year-old in the Southern states of America, it outraged the British public and the tour ended after only two performances.

On May 28th 1990, IRA gunmen shot dead two Australian tourists in Holland - mistaking them for British tourists. Stephen Melrose and Nick Spanos, both lawyers, had stopped their British-registered car in Roermond, near the German border, when a car pulled up and two men opened fire with machine guns.

On May 29th 1953, Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tanzing Norgay reached the summit of Mount Everest. They were the first to reach the peak of the world's highest mountain.

And finally, this week in 1985, Paul Hardcastle was spending his third of four weeks at the top of the UK charts with his Vietnam-inspired hit, '19'.

If you can't see the video, click here

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All our yesterdays...a look back

 I had a reorganisation of my bookcases recently and in doing so, I came across some books I hadn't seen in ages.

Over the years, I've bought books such as Chronicle of the 20th Century, the NME Rock 'n' Roll Years and On This Day, three books that pinpoint different events from our past.

And it struck me that it might be good to take a look back at what's happened this week in years gone by.

So I thought I'd have a look back at history and see for happened during the week of 25th April - 1st of May across the years.

Here are 8 things that you may or may not remember or even know!

1) On 25th April 1939, actor, Al Pacino was born.

2) On 26th April 1994 South Africa went to the polls in its first-ever multi-racial elections. Millions of black South Africans voted for the first time after years of negotiations between FW de Klerks National Party and the African National Congress. Nelson Mandela became President on the 10th of May.

3) On 27th April 1984, The Philadelphia radio station W-WSH started a 'No Michae; Jackson' weekend in reaction to the pop stars overexposure during the past year

4) On 28th 1961 It was revealed that Britain had applied to join the Common Market. They were turned down. It eventually joined on the 1st January 1973. 

5) On 29th April 1987, the musical, Cabaret was performed in London without music when the orchestra went on strike!

6) On 30th April 1945, In a scene straight out of Wagner's epic music-drama The Ring of the Nibelungen, Adolf Hitler, ended his evil reign. After bidding farewell to the few aides remaining with him in his Berlin bunker hideaway, he retired to his suite and shot himself. His wife of just 48 hours, Eva Braun, took a cyanide potassium tablet. In accordance with Hitler's instructions,  both bodies were burnt.

7) On May 1st 1997, Labour leader Tony Blair was elected as Prime Minister of the UK

And finally, on the 26th April 1975, the Bay City Rollers started their 5th and final week as the UK number one with their cover of the Four Season's hit, 'Bye Bye Baby.' R.I.P. Les McKeowen.

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A nostalgic 'Look at Life' in the 1960s

 

Back in the 1960s, when you went to the pictures you'd usually get two films for your money. The main picture would be supported with a shorter accompanying film.

And there was a series of films, that although I never really took much notice of them then, have become well-loved by me.

They were the 'Look at Life' films which detailed life in the 60s. When you see them now, they're a great social history document, and luckily, many of them have been uploaded to youtube.

Here's a link to a playlist of the films.

And here's an example programme from the collection.

If you can't see the video, click here

We've watched all of these films and often said to ourselves, "Do you remember that?" 

We love these programmes. We hope you do too.

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