On this day

(19-04-2012 12:29 )skully Wrote:  1951 - The first Miss World Contest was won by Kiki Haakonson, a 21 year old from Sweden.

The competition was originally staged as part of the Festival of Britain, and called the Festival Bikini Contest after organiser Eric Morley decided that contestants should be judged while wearing the new beachwear sensation.

It was the British press which dubbed it "Miss World" and it was originally planned as a one-time event. But after its inaugural run, Morley turned Miss World into an annual extravaganza. The contest became one of Britain's most successful exports.

Miss World was marked by controversy from the beginning. In the early 1950s, few contestants from non-European countries participated. Morley struggled to recruit foreign delegates. After Ireland and Spain threatened to withdraw from the competition because of their opposition to women being judged in bikinis, Morley banned the two-piece from the event. Kiki Haakanson would be the first and last woman to don a bikini. For the next two decades, Miss World winners wore one-piece bathing suits for the crowning ritual.

In 1959, the BBC broadcast the Miss World competition for the first time, and the contest subsequently became the most-watched event in Britain. At the competition's broadcast peak in the early 70s, the number of viewers was comparable with the audience of a royal wedding but its popularity waned in the 1990s as the format looked dated and it was plagued by accusations of being politically incorrect. For five years it wasn't shown in the UK at all until the fledgling channel 5 picked up the rights in 1998.

Over the years the show has had its share of problems. The 1974 winner, Miss UK Helen Morgan from Barry was forced to resign after just four days when it was revealed that she was an unmarried mother (despite not having broken any competition rules) and in 2002 the contest was held in Nigeria as a northern Nigerian woman, Amina Lawal, was awaiting death by stoning for adultery under Sharia law there, but Miss World claimed they were using the publicity surrounding its presence to bring greater global awareness and action to Lawal's plight (her conviction was eventually quashed on appeal).

When Eric Morley died in 2000 his wife took over the running of the show. The 60th anniversary contest in 2011 held in London was won by Ivian Sarcos of Venezuela but the event was picketed by protesters.



1951 winner Kiki Haakonson and current 2011 holder Ivian Sarcos

1912 - Two major baseball and American football stadiums - Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts and Tiger Stadium in Detroit, Michigan open for the first time.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fenway_Park
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiger_Stadium_(Detroit)

1972 - Apollo 16 lands safely on the Moon despite a seven hour engine crisis that nearly aborted the mission.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates...104093.stm

1974 - The troubles in Northern Ireland claim the 1000th victim. It wasn't to end there - by 1998 and the Good Friday Agreement, 3000 people had lost their lives in Northern Ireland conflicts.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates...525369.stm

2008 - Fernando Lugo elected president of Paraguay.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fernando_Lugo

1534 – Jacques Cartier begins the voyage during which he discovers Canada and Labrador.

1535 – The Sun dog phenomenon observed over Stockholm and depicted in the famous painting "Vädersolstavlan".

1657 – Freedom of religion is granted to the Jews of New Amsterdam (later New York City).

1689 - The siege of Londonderry began when supporters of James II attacked the city. The population nearly starved to death before the siege was raised on 30th July.

1792 - France declared war on Austria, marking the start of the French Revolutionary wars.

1862 – Louis Pasteur and Claude Bernard complete the first (modern) pasteurization tests.

1902 - Scientists Pierre Curie and Marie Curie isolated the radioactive chemical element, radium.

1912 - The Irish-born writer Bram Stoker, author of Count Dracula, died at his London home. He was 65.

1918 – Manfred von Richthofen, aka The Red Baron, shoots down his 79th and 80th victims, his final victories before his death the following day.

1946 – The League of Nations officially dissolves, giving most of its power to the United Nations.

1964 – BBC Two launches with a power cut because of the fire at Battersea Power Station.

1981 - Steve Davis became the world snooker champion at 23 years of age, beating Doug Mountjoy at Sheffield.

1989 - Scientists said that the Earth had narrowly missed being struck by a passing asteroid weighing 400 million tons.

1999 – Columbine High School massacre: Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold kill 13 people and injure 24 others before committing suicide at Columbine High School in Jefferson County, Colorado.

2008 – Danica Patrick wins the Indy Japan 300 becoming the first female driver in history to win an Indy car race.

2010 – The Deepwater Horizon oil well explodes in the Gulf of Mexico, killing twelve workers and beginning an oil spill that would last six months.

Today marks the 20th anniversary since the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert was staged at Wembley Stadium the scene of Freddie and Queen's greatest triumphs from their stage stealing performance at Live Aid in 1985 and then the following year to sell the stadium out and put on 2 back to back gigs at the famous venue on the Magic Tour which sadly proved to be their last with the great Freddie with him being diagnosed with full blown Aids the following year in 1987 which at the time was a relatively new desease and doctors really didn't have the medication back then to slow or cure the illness, Freddie lost his long fight for survival on the 24th November 1991 which came 24 hours after confessing to the world that he was indeed infected with the terrible disease to bring to a sad conclusion and era with Queen.

The Tribute Concert to Freddie was held on the 20th April 1992 and was broadcast live around the world via satelite to 76 Countries, the viewing figure was in it's billions and was the largest event to take place at Wembley since Live Aid 7 years earlier.

The first half featured Metallica, Extreme, Def Leopard, Spinal Tap, Bob Geldof and Guns n Rose's to round off before the 3 remaining members of Queen took to the stage for the second half to play their greatest hit's with some of the top rock and pop stars at the time such as Seal, Lisa Stansfield, George Michael, Elton John, David Bowie, Annie Lenox, Robert Plant, James Hetfield, Axl Rose, Slash, Roger daltrey and Toni Iommi as back up to Brian May on the guitar.

It really was an astonishing line up and each and every artist just like Live Aid did it all for nothing, it was reported that many other artists at the time were keen to offer their services for nothing too including Madonna but she was told to sling her hook having shown no interest in Queen or Freddie previously and would most likely only be interested in performing out of self interest purposes to boost her record sales and popularity, thankfully Queen realised this and only went with artists who were genuine to the cause.

This was called the concert for life and Queen have since continued to support the Aids Charitys with the foundation of the Mercury Phoenix Trust which followed shortly after the event.

753 B.C.E. - Legend says Romulus and his twin brother, Remus, founded Rome.

1509 - Henry VIII became King of England following the death of his father, Henry VII.

1926 - Queen Elizabeth II was born.

1934 – The Surgeon's Photograph, the most famous photo allegedly showing the Loch Ness Monster, is published in the Daily Mail (in 1999, it is revealed to be a hoax).

1960 – Brasília, Brazil's capital, is officially inaugurated. At 9:30 am the Three Powers of the Republic are simultaneously transferred from the old capital, Rio de Janeiro.

1964 - BBC television launched Playschool as the opening programme of their second channel.

1989 – Tiananmen Square Protests of 1989: In Beijing, around 100,000 students gather in Tiananmen Square to commemorate Chinese reform leader Hu Yaobang.

1994 – The first discoveries of extrasolar planets are announced by astronomer Alexander Wolszczan.

(20-04-2012 17:12 )Scottishbloke Wrote:  Freddie was diagnosed with full blown Aids the following year in 1987 which at the time was a relatively new desease and doctors really didn't have the medication back then to slow or cure the illness

Queen...... only went with artists who were genuine to the cause.

Last week saw the anniversary of the death of Ryan White, a teenager from Kokomo, Indiana who in 1984 was diagnosed with AIDS after receiving a contaminated blood transfusion. His condition stabalised enough for him to want to return to school, but once his condition became public his school came under considerable pressure from other parents to ban him, which they did.

After an eight-month battle and four court hearings the ban was overturned but many families in Kokomo believed his presence posed an unacceptable risk. When White was permitted to return to school for one day in February 1986, 151 of 360 students stayed home. He also worked as a paperboy, and many of the people on his route cancelled their subscriptions, believing that HIV could be transmitted through newsprint.

Threats of violence and lawsuits persisted. According to White's mother, people on the street would often yell, "we know you're queer" at Ryan. The editors and publishers of the Kokomo Tribune, which supported White both editorially and financially, were also called homosexuals and threatened with death for their actions.

After finishing the school year, his family moved to Cicero, Indiana, where White enrolled at Hamilton Heights High School. On August 31, 1987, a "very nervous" White was greeted by school principal Tony Cook, school system superintendent Bob G. Carnal, and a handful of students who had been educated about AIDS and were unafraid to shake White's hand.

The publicity of White's trial catapulted him into the national spotlight. Many celebrities flocked to his cause but as with Freddie Mercury some were self-serving whilst others genuinely believed in the issue.

One of his unlikeliest supporters was the then Republican President Ronald Reagan, who set up an AIDS Commission. Reagan's involvement had to be genuine, because it was pointed out that there were no votes in supporting AIDS in the 1980s. In 1988, White was invited to the Whitehouse and spoke before the Commission. White told them of the discrimination he had faced when he first tried to return to school, but how education about the disease had made him welcome in the town of Cicero. White emphasized his differing experiences in Kokomo and Cicero as an example of the power and importance of AIDS education.

His other biggest supporter was Elton John. The full extent of John's involvement was only revealed after White's death but as well as befriending White he had given the family the services of his legal team free of charge, paid a lot of their medical bills and lent the family the downpayment for a new home when they had to move (before you think that stingy from a man with £300 million in the bank, Elton had offered to buy them a home outright but they refused to accept it, so they worked out a compromise deal where the family repaid the loan interest-free and Elton put the repayments into a trust fund for their other child's college fees).

White had been given a year to live when first diagnosed, and had astonished doctors by still being alive five years later, but by early 1990, White's health was deteriorating rapidly. In his final public appearance, he hosted an after-Oscars party with former president Ronald Reagan and first lady Nancy Reagan in California. Although his health was deteriorating, White spoke to the Reagans about his date to his prom and his hopes of attending college.

He never made it to graduation or prom night. At the end of March 1990 he was admitted to hospital where he died on April 8th at the age of 18. Elton John sang at his funeral which was attended by over 1,500 people including Michael Jackson and First Lady Barbara Bush. On the day of the funeral, Former President Ronald Reagan wrote a tribute to White that appeared in The Washington Post. Reagan's statement about AIDS and White's funeral were seen as indicators of how greatly White had helped change perceptions of AIDS.

Elton John set up his own AIDS foundation and since 1991 has donated the profits from all his record sales to the fund (except the proceeds from Candle in the Wind which were shared with Diana's favourite charities).

White is buried in Cicero, close to the home of his mother. In the year following his death, his grave was vandalized on four occasions. As time passed, White's grave became a shrine for his admirers.

1945 - World War II - The Red Army enters and captures several vital outlaying areas of Berlin. It was the start of the final phase for control of the city.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates...560175.stm

1955 - National newspapers are published again for the first time after the maintenance worker's strike.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates...525427.stm

1962 - The Century 21 Exposition becomes the first World's Fair to be opened in the US following World War II. Exhibits featured include the Space Needle.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Century_21_Exposition
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World%27s_Fair

1975 - Ngyuen Van Thieu resigns as president of Vietnam, after a scathing radio and tv broadcast accusing the US of betrayal.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates...935347.stm

1994 - Paul Hill, of the Guildford Four and convicted for an IRA style murder in Belfast, wins his appeal.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates...489571.stm

1662 - King Charles II granted a charter to the Royal Society of London, which became an important centre of scientific activity in England.

1838 - The British steamer Sirius became the first steamship to cross the Atlantic Ocean from England to New York. The voyage took 18 days and 10 hours.

1915 – The use of poison gas in World War I escalates when chlorine gas is released as a chemical weapon in the Second Battle of Ypres.

1930 - The United Kingdom, Japan and the United States signed the London Naval Treaty regulating submarine warfare and limiting shipbuilding.

1943 - Britain discontinued printing £1,000 notes.

1970 – The first Earth Day is celebrated.

1972 - Sylvia Cook and John Fairfax became the first people to row across the Pacific Ocean (the world's largest ocean). They arrived in Australia in their boat Britannia after being at sea for 362 days.

1998 – Disney's Animal Kingdom opens at Walt Disney World near Orlando, Florida, United States.

2000 – The Big Number Change takes place in the United Kingdom.

1348 - English King Edward III founded the Order of the Garter, the first order of knighthood.

1661 - Charles II was crowned King of England, completing the restoration of the monarchy. His father, Charles I, had been beheaded by Oliver Cromwell following the Civil War.

1985 – Coca-Cola changes its formula and releases New Coke. The response is overwhelmingly negative, and the original formula is back on the market in less than 3 months.

1990 – Namibia becomes the 160th member of the United Nations and the 50th member of the Commonwealth of Nations.

30 years ago today
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-17776666