1170 - In Essex, a dragon is reportedly seen over St. Ostwyth; it is described as a "wonderfully large dragon ... borne up from the Earth through the air.” It purportedly kindled the very air and in so doing, destroyed a house.


1809 - Lord Byron's English Bard and Scotch Reviewers is published.


1839 - Russian composer Modest Mussorgsky is born.






1913 - The manuscript of Virginia Woolf's first novel, The Voyage Out, is delivered to Gerald Duckworth.




1918 - The Russian Bolshevik Party becomes the Communist Party.








1930 - Jazz legend Ornette Coleman, trumpet, violin, and saxophone player is born in Fort Worth, Texas.










1932 - Keely Smith, vocalist for and wife of wild man Louis Prima, is born in Norfolk, Va.










1933 - Lloyd Price is born in Kenner, La. His 1959 No. 1 hit, Stagger Lee, was so violent Dick Clark asked him to tone down the lyrics when he appeared on American Bandstand.







1942 - Get your viola out and prepare to make a racket. The Velvet Underground's John Cale is born in Garnant, Wales.









1945 - Robin Trower, guitarist with Procol Harum, is born.



1954 - CBS newsman Edward R. Murrow critically reviews Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy's anti-communism campaign.



1957 - Blue Monday by Fats Domino peaks at #5 on the pop singles chart.


1963 - In The New Yorker review of Oscar Wilde's letters, W. H. Auden writes: "From the beginning Wilde performed his life and continued to do so even after fate had taken the plot out of his hands."


1965 - Three white Unitarian ministers, including the Rev. James J. Reeb, are attacked with clubs on the streets of Selma, Alabama, while participating in a civil rights demonstration. Reeb later dies in a Birmingham, Alabama hospital.


1968 - This year's edition of Who's Who in America becomes the first to include notable rock stars other than Elvis Presley and the Beatles. Making the cut are the Rolling Stones, the Doors, the Grateful Dead, the Jefferson Airplane, the Mamas & the Papas, the Monkees, and Donovan. Jimi Hendrix and Bob Dylan are inexplicably omitted.


1969 - Jacksonville, Florida mayor Hans Tansler, cancels a Doors show scheduled for tonight at the Veteran's Memorial Sports Coliseum.




1969 - CBS cancels The Smothers Brothers' Comedy Hour, a variety show notable for its satiric humor and musical appearances by the Beatles, the Doors, and the Who. This is in the wake of the controversy over the on-air censorship of guest star Joan Baez. The brothers had refused to censor comments about her husband, who was going to jail for objecting to the draft.







1972 - In what will become a trend, pop artists unite to perform for a presidential candidate: Carole King, James Taylor and Barbara Streisand among others, play a benefit show for Democratic presidential hopeful George McGovern at the Forum in Los Angeles.









1989 - Controversial American photographer Robert Mapplethorpe dies at 42.











1994 - After gaining a loyal following of readers with works like Flower, Fist and Bestial Wail (1959) and It Catches My Heart in Its Hands (1963), Charles Bukowski dies in San Pedro, California.









1998 - A few weeks after celebrating his 100th birthday, one of America's favorite comedians, George Burns, dies.
 





Doors History Spotlight: Miami Fallout




Despite the fact that the Doors aren't scheduled to play in Tampa, the mayor of Tampa announces on WFLA-TV that he will not allow the band to play there. He also states that his position reflects the mayors of five of Florida's largest cities, who are presently discussing methods to prevent "questionable" rock performers from ever appearing in Florida. The is the first of many Doors shows to be cancelled in the wake of the Miami Incident.

For more day-by-day history go to HistoryUnlimited.net