Sotd

After being tried for heresy, Joan Of Arc is executed by burning while tied to a pillar at the Vieux-Marche in Rouen, France, Europe. Twenty five years later her trial will be re-examined, Joan will be declared to have been innocent, and in due course she will be made one of the Patron Saints of France. Her life and martyrdom will inspire two songs by Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark [Joan Of Arc and Maid Of Orleans] and one by Cradle Of Filth [The Death Of Love].

British member of parliament for County Durham, Robert Shafto dies. An incident in which he broke the heart of Bridget Belasyse of Brancepeth Castle, County Durham, is said to have inspired the folk song Bobby Shafto's Gone To Sea.

Five members of a disreputable family known locally as The Black Donnellys is murdered by a vigilante-style mob in Biddulph Township, Middlesex County, Ontario, Canada. The killers are never brought to justice. The song Justice In Ontario by Steve Earle tells the story of how the Donnellys died.

Little Egypt causes a sensation when she dances at The World's Columbian Exposition for Chicago Day, in Chicago, Illinois, USA. Billed as "The Bewitching Bellyrina", her real name was Fahreda Mahzar Spyropoulos and she became "a pioneer of burlesque", doing a dance which came to be known as the hoochie-kootchie. She also provided the inspiration for The Coasters 1961 hit Little Egypt.

Sir Oswald Ernald Mosley, 6th Baronet, of Ancoats, is born in Burton upon Trent, England, UK, Europe. Mosley's despicable activities as leader of the British Union Of Fascists will inspire Elvis Costello to write a scathing attack on him in the 1977 song Less Than Zero. The title of the song will later be borrowed by Bret Easton Ellis as the title of his first novel.

Giacomo Puccini's opera Tosca, is premiered at the Teatro Costanzi, in Rome, Italy, Europe. One song from the opera, E lucevan le stele, will be 'adapted' for Al Jolson's 1920 hit Avalon. Puccini will sue for plagiarism and win.

President William McKinley dies a few days after being shot by assassin Leon Czolgosz during a meet and greet session in The Temple Of Music, at The Pan-American Exposition, Buffalo, New York State, USA. The murder will inspire at least three songs. The first will be White House Blues by Charlie Poole And The North Carolina Ramblers in 1926, followed by the 1929 folk song McKinley's Rag by Riley Puckett. The story of the assassin, Czolgosz, will be told in the song The Ballad of Czolgosz which appears in the Broadway musical, Assassins, written by Stephen Sondheim.

Wenseslao Moguel is captured while fighting in the Mexican revolution. Without trial he is sentenced to be executed by firing squad and is shot nine times including a final bullet through his head at close range by an officer to ensure death. Nevertheless, miraculously, Moguel survives and manages to escape. His story will inspire the 2008 song El Fusilado by Chumbawamba.

Songwriter George M. Cohan reads a newspaper headline announcing that the United States of America has declared war on Germany. The story strikes a chord with Cohan who begins humming a tune which he completes by the end of the day. Cohan calls it Over There, and it will become a huge success, selling over two million copies by the end of the war.

U.S. Highway System Route 66 is established, running from Chicago, Illinois, USA, to Los Angeles, California - a total of 2,448 miles (3,940 km). The road will be immortalised in the song Route 66, written by Bobby Troup and first recorded by The Nat King Cole Trio. Later versions will be recorded by Chuck Berry, The Rolling Stones, The Manhattan Transfer and Depeche Mode to name but a few. The road will also become the subject of the Route 66 television show in the 1960s.

The deadliest tornado in the history of Virginia, USA, hits Rye Cove School in the Appalachian highlands of Scott County in the southwestern part of the state, killing twelve students and one teacher and injuring fifty-four. Scott County native A. P. Carter, of singing group The Carter Family, will volunteer to help in the wake of the tragedy, and will be inspired to compose The Cyclone of Rye Cove which the group will record later in the year.

Among its Books Of The Week, The Spectator lists the recently published short story collection Brief Candles by Aldous Huxley as being one of "the books most in demand at The Times' Book Club." In 1967, Chris White of The Zombies will be inspired by the book to write a song entitled Brief Candles in which each verse tells a brief story.

Two African-American men, Thomas Shipp and Abram Smith, are lynched in Marion, Indiana, USA. Photographs of the lynching will be sold by the thousands, and will inspire school teacher, Abel Meeropol to write the song Strange Fruit, most famously recorded by Billie Holiday in 1939. Strange Fruit is an early example of what will later come to be known as a protest song.

Former Ford motor plant employee Joe Louis defeats Italy's Primo Carnera in the sixth round of a boxing match before a crowd of 60,000 in Yankee Stadium, New York City, USA. "Whether it was the South Side of Chicago, St. Antoine Street of Detroit, or the Hill District of Pittsburgh, Negro communities throughout the nation went crazy with joy," reported the New York Amsterdam Star-News. A folk hero had been born and the song He's In The Ring [Doin' The Same Old Thing] by blues guitarist and singer Memphis Minnie was inspired by Louis' success in the ring.

Aviation pioneer Amelia Earhart disappears over the central Pacific Ocean near Howland Island during an attempt to make a circumnavigational flight of the globe in a Purdue-funded Lockheed Model 10 Electra. Her life and achievements will be celebrated in the song Amelia Earhart's Last Flight by Yodelling Cowboy Red River Dave McEnery. This is thought to have been the first song ever performed on commercial television, at the 1939 World's Fair. In 1972, the British group Plainsong will release an LP entitled, In Search of Amelia Earhart, which includes the song The True Story Of Amelia Earhart. Joni Mitchel will include a tribute song, Amelia, on her 1976 album, Hejira. Songs inspired by Earhart will also be recorded by artists including Bachman-Turner Overdrive, Heather Nova, Deb Talan, Nemo, Tom McRae, John Mclaughlin and Bell XI.

The German battleship Bismarck is sunk in the North Atlantic by two British battle cruisers. From a crew of over 2,200 men, only 114 survive. The incident is recorded in the 1960 song Sink The Bismarck by Johnny Horton, which reached No6 in the USA and No1 in Canada.

Georgia State Governor Eugene Talmadge forces the University of Georgia, to dismiss Walter Cocking, Dean of the College of Education. Talmadge had previously accused Cocking of supporting racial integration and now used his influence as an ex-officio member of The Board Of Regents to have Cocking removed. This and other Talmadge racist activities will inspire the 1942 song Governor Talmadge Blues, made popular by Helen Humes.

Heloisa Eneida Menezes Paes Pinto is born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, South America. In 1962, at the age of seventeen she will be seen walking down to Ipanema Beach by Antonio Carlos Jobim, and will inspire him to write the internationally successful bossa nova song The Girl From Ipanema.

The movie Knock On Any Door, starring Humphrey Bogart and John Derek, is released to cinemas nationwide in the USA. When country singer Faron Young sees the movie he will be so struck by John Derek's line, 'Live fast, die young and leave a good-looking corpse!' that he will write the song Live Fast, Love Hard, Die Young, which will peak at No1 on the Billboard country singles chart in the USA during 1955.

A General Election is held in the UK, and the Labour Party wins with a majority of just five seats, despite polling over one and a half million votes more than the Conservative Party. The election will inspire Calypsonian Lord Beginner to write and record his song General Election, based on events he saw at Piccadilly Circus in London while waiting for the election result to be announced.

The New York Times reviews the recently-published American edition of the John Wyndham science fiction novel The Chrysalids, declaring that it "will be well noted and long remembered". The 1968 song Crown Of Creation by Jefferson Airplane will be inspired by ideas in Wyndham's influential book.

In Tecumseh, Michigan, USA, Henry Lee Lucas commits his first known murder, killing his mother during an argument about how he should care for her in her old age. In 1978, Lucas and an acquaintance, Ottis Toole, will embark on a cross-country murder spree. Lucas will eventually be convicted of murder in eleven different cases. His life and grim crimes will inspire several songs including To Henry Lee Lucas [From Ottis] by Postmortem [1997], Murder Company by Church of Misery [1999], Serial Killer by Macabre and The Ballad of Henry Lee Lucas by Treason Van Arch.

Watch Your Step by rhythm and blues guitarist Bobby Parker peaks at number 51 in the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the USA. The opening guitar riff from this song will inspire The Beatles when they come to write both I Feel Fine [1964] and Day Tripper.

The Berlin Wall is erected overnight, closing off the Western part of Berlin, Germany, Europe, from the Eastern part. This action will inspire the song West Of The Wall, by Toni Fisher which will reach No1 in the Australian Top Twenty singles chart in 1962.

A new medical tv drama series, Ben Casey, begins on ABC-tv in the USA. The show will prove so popular that country singer-songwriter John D. Loudermilk will record and release a single, Callin' Dr. Casey, inspired by the show's leading character.

The movie Breakfast At Tiffany's, starring Audrey Hepburn, is released to cinemas in the USA. The film will inspire the 1995 hit song Breakfast At Tiffany's by Deep Blue Something.

Bob Dylan writes the first draft of Blowin' In The Wind in New York City, USA. Inspired by the lyrics of the song, Sam Cooke will record A Change Is Gonna Come in 1963.

Riots break out when James Meredith becomes the first black American to be admitted to the University of Mississippi in Oxford, Mississippi, USA. Bob Dylan will write his song Oxford Town about this violent racist action by white residents of the town, in which two people die and over 75 are injured.

Postal worker William Moore, known for staging lone protests against racial segregation, is murdered on a rural stretch of Highway 11 near Attalla, Alabama, USA. He had been planning to deliver a letter of protest to the Mississippi Governor's mansion but instead he was shot twice in the head at close range with a .22 caliber rifle owned by a certain Floyd Simpson, with whom Moore had argued earlier that day. No charges were ever laid against Simpson. Several songs will be inspired by Moore's death, including William Moore, The Mailman by Pete Seeger [1963] and William Moore by Phil Ochs [1964].

Top racing driver Edward Glenn "Fireball" Roberts Jr., is severely burned when his car crashes during the seventh lap of the World 600 in Charlotte, North Carolina, USA. He will die a little over a month later. Fireball's career, and especially his death, will inspire the song Fireball by Johnny Bond and Red Sovine

Love have two recording sessions in Los Angeles, California, USA, starting at four in the afternoon, for their first album. They cut their Elektra Records debut single, My Little Red Book (composed by Burt Bacharach and Hal David), plus You I'll Be Following. Pink Floyd's manager Peter Jenner will hear My Little Red Book while on a visit to California, and will subsequently attempt to sing the guitar riff to Pink Floyd, whose leader Syd Barrett will attempt to copy Jenner's singing. Barrett's interpretation will become the basic riff of the 1967 Pink Floyd track Interstellar Overdrive.

The drug conviction appeals of two members of The Rolling Stones, stemming from a marijuana bust in February, are heard in London, England, UK, Europe. Guitarist Keith Richards has his conviction overturned and singer Mick Jagger's sentence is reduced to probation. Their experiences in dealing with the legal system will inspire the song We Love You, which opens with the sounds of prisoners being marched into a cell and the door being slammed.

David Bowie plays at the bandstand in Croydon Road Recreation Ground, Beckenham, England, UK, Europe, as part of a free festival designed to raise money for a permanent base for the Beckenham Arts Lab project, which had started life as a folk club in the backroom of the nearby Three Tuns pub. The performance inspires Bowie to compose his song Memory Of A Free Festival.

The contract to design and build Spacelab 1 - a re-useable science laboratory for space flights - is given by the European Space Agency (ESA) to a consortium of companies from eight European countries under the leadership of the German space company ERNO Raumfahrttechnik in Bremen. Kraftwerk's 1978 song Spacelab is a celebration of this major technical step forward. Spacelab will first be launched successfully in 1983 from Kennedy Space Center, Merritt Island, Florida, USA, aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia.

Phyllis Major, the wife of Jackson Browne, commits suicide with an overdose of barbiturates in Hollywood Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA. At least two of Browne's subsequent songs, Sleep's Dark And Silent Gate and The Shape Of A Heart, will be inspired by Major. Also, an earlier song, Ready Or Not, was written about how Browne and Major first got together after meeting in The Troubadour club in Los Angeles.

A lightning strike at Buchanan South power substation shuts off the electricity to most of New York City, USA, for the best part of two days. The Trammps hit single The Night The Lights Went Out, will be inspired by this incident, which is generally known as The New York City Blackout Of 1977.

Psychopathic serial killer Henry Lee Lucas is arrested by Texas Ranger Phil Ryan, initially for unlawful possession of a firearm. He will, however, eventually be convicted of eleven homicides. Lee's crimes are thought to have provided the impetus for the 1996 cover version of the traditional murder ballad Henry Lee by Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds, featuring P.J. Harvey.

Actor Yul Brynner dies, aged 65 of lung cancer, in New York City, USA. Although nominally an actor, he is best remembered for his role as King Mongkut in the musical The King And I, both on stage and in the cinema. Songs which drew inspiration from Brynner include One Night In Bangkok from the 1984 muscal Chess (written by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus of ABBA), and the 1987 album track, Yul Brynner Was A Skinhead, by comedy-punk rockers Toy Dolls.

The MV Tampa, carrying over 400 distressed Indonesians, including women and children in various states of health and stress, who had been rescued from a sinking boat, is refused permission to land on the Australian territory of Christmas Island. According to a subsequent poll, 77% of Australians expressed support for their government's stance. The MV Tampa incident will become a global scandal, and is recorded in the song 77% by Australian band The Herd.

UK Prime Minister Tony Blair sends a memo to US President George Bush, outlining what Blair sees as the major obstacles to building a coalition and securing United Nations approval for military action against Iraq. In the memo, Blair states, "I will be with you, whatever." This is seen as one of the most significant moments in the relationship between Blair and Bush. In 2006, The Pet Shop Boys will release a new single, I'm With Stupid, inspired by the controversial relationship between the two powerful leaders.

While Mary Chapin Carpenter is driving in her car on the first anniversary of 9/11, she hears one of the first responders tell a story on her car radio about how he felt that he and his co-responders hed somehow helped set free the spirits of people trapped in Ground Zero when the planes crashed. He also felt that some of those spirits had travelled with him to Grand Central Station, and caught their usual trains home. She is so moved by the story that she is inspired to write the song Grand Central Station.

While driving home from a recording studio, Kanye West is involved in a serious car crash near the W Hotel in West Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA. The incident, in which West's jaw is broken, will provide inspiration for his debut single, Through The Wire.