The Toppermost of the Poppermost - UK Number Ones : part 1 - The 50s

[Satchmo Distel]

Will the NME bonus #1 posts go all the way to 1988 or only for as long as when the chart was the most credible, up to around 1969?

[daf]

Well, I hadn't intended to, but having just had a quick look at the 70's & 80s NME charts - there's so many great songs we'd otherwise miss out on, it'd be mad not to . . .

OK, yes - lets do it!

[Captain Z]

I'm enjoying this Russ Conway lark. I found the piece Mark & Lard used for Wheel Of Misfortune:

Russ Conway - Royal Event

They clearly used the 78rpm version, there's a much more common re-recorded 45rpm version but it doesn't quite sound the same.

[purlieu]

My girlfriend's response to that was "imagine this, playing on repeat, forever". I now feel haunted.

[daf]

there's a much more common re-recorded 45rpm version but it doesn't quite sound the same.

This one?

Like Conway's other later polished stereo versions, they're fine, and if those were the only ones that existed, you wouldn't kick them out of bed.

But the mono versions just seem to have more beef, muscle & balls to them.

MONO BALLS RULE!!

[machotrouts]

This fucking shrieks. I've never heard a pitch like it. 1:20 onwards I think can only be heard by bats. I mean, I like a screeching racket – I bought Nicolas Roberts' solo album – but I'm not quite sure how it caught on.

I lost my shit to the Postman Pat theme as a child, though I think it was specifically the version that was played by one of those "rides" you get outside supermarkets, a little fake van that rocks back and forth. I liked the bumping "DVVVVV, dvvvvv, DVVVVV" bassline, with the first "DVVVVV" coming in at the same time as "cat". I assumed that was the actual theme but I looked it up and it's just some gentle guitar shit. Useless. More like Postman fucking Twat

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

My girlfriend's response to that was "imagine this, playing on repeat, forever". I now feel haunted.

Once you equate Conway's relentlessly cheerful, ritzy-ditzy piano stylings with the image of a grinning homicidal maniac advancing upon you with a meat cleaver in his hand, you can never go back.

[famethrowa]

I lost my shit to the Postman Pat theme as a child, though I think it was specifically the version that was played by one of those "rides" you get outside supermarkets, a little fake van that rocks back and forth. I liked the bumping "DVVVVV, dvvvvv, DVVVVV" bassline, with the first "DVVVVV" coming in at the same time as "cat". I assumed that was the actual theme but I looked it up and it's just some gentle guitar shit. Useless. More like Postman fucking Twat

This little fella? https://youtu.be/DWxaZLbjDwo?t=85

[machotrouts]

This little fella? https://youtu.be/DWxaZLbjDwo?t=85

Must be. On reflection I think that banging bassline is just the guitar in very muffled quality.

MONO BALLS RULE!!

[Satchmo Distel]

This one?

Like Conway's other later polished stereo versions, they're fine, and if those were the only ones that existed, you wouldn't kick them out of bed.

But the mono versions just seem to have more beef, muscle & balls to them.

MONO BALLS RULE!!

Geoff Love as well - what's not to like?

[daf]

Everyone's favourite Ding-Dong, its . . .

87.  Bobby Darin - Dream Lover



From : 28 June – 25 July 1959
Weeks : 4
Flip side : Bullmoose
bonus : TV Appearance

Born Walden Robert Cassotto on 14 May 1936 in the East Harlem neighborhood of New York City, Bobby Darin's birth mother, Vanina Juliette "Nina" Cassotto, became pregnant with him in the summer of 1935, when she was 17. Nina and her mother hatched a plan to pass her baby off as Nina's younger brother. Darin believed his mother Nina was his elder sister and Polly his mother, who raised him from birth. In 1968, when he was 32 and considering entering politics, Nina told him the truth, reportedly devastating Darin.

He moved to the Bronx, and graduated from the prestigious Bronx High School of Science. He then enrolled at Hunter College and soon gravitated to the drama department. After only two semesters, he dropped out to pursue an acting career.

Robert Cassotto became Bobby Darin thanks to a malfunctioning 'MANDARIN' restaurant sign - the letters M, A and N on the light-up sign were not working, leaving only "DARIN", from which Cassotto decided that his last name would be Darin.

Darin's career took off with a songwriting partnership, formed in 1955 with Don Kirshner, whom he met at a candy store in Washington Heights. They wrote jingles and songs, beginning with "Bubblegum Pop". In 1956 his agent negotiated a contract with Decca Records.

A member of the Brill Building gang of songwriters, Darin was introduced to singer Connie Francis, for whom he helped write several songs. They developed a romantic interest of which her father, who was not fond of Darin, did not approve, and the couple split up. Francis has said that not marrying Darin was the biggest mistake of her life.

Darin's career finally took off in 1958 when he recorded "Splish Splash". He co-wrote the song with the radio DJ Murray Kaufman (known as 'Murray the K') - The single sold more than a million copies. He made another recording in 1958 for Brunswick Records with a band called "The Ding Dongs". With the success of "Splish Splash" the single was re-released by Atco Records as "Early in the Morning" with the band renamed as "The Rinky Dinks", and made it to number 24 in the US charts.

In 1959, Darin recorded the self-penned "Dream Lover", a ballad that became a multi-million seller. With it came financial success and the ability to demand more creative control of his career.

"Dream Lover" was written by Bobby Darin and recorded by him on March 5, 1959. Darin decided to stretch out some chord changes he found on the piano and add strings and voices. The song was produced by Ahmet Ertegun and Jerry Wexler and engineered by Tom Dowd.

It was released as a single on Atco Records in the U.S. in 1959. It became a multi-million seller, reaching No.2 on the U.S. charts for a week, and No.1 in the U.K. for four weeks during June and July 1959. In addition to Darin's vocal, the song features Neil Sedaka on piano.

Other Versions include :
Duffy Power (1959)  /  Dion (1961)  /  Ben E. King (1962)  /  The Topsiders (1963)  /  The Paris Sisters (1964) 
Gary Lewis & The Playboys (1965)  /  Plasmatics (1979)  /  Dawn Chorus and The Bluetits (1985)

On This Day :

4 July : America's new 49-star flag honoring Alaska statehood unfurled
4 July : Island Records founded in Jamaica
6 July : George Grosz, German cartoonist and painter, dies at 65
9 July : Jim Kerr, (Simple Minds), born in Glasgow, Scotland
11 July : Suzanne Vega, singer, born in Santa Monica, California
15 July : Shep Pettibone, record producer born in Ocean Grove, New Jersey
17 July : Paleoanthropologist Mary Leakey discovers a skull of a new species of early human ancestor, 'Zinjanthropus boisei' that lived in Africa almost 2 million years ago.
17 July : Billie Holiday, jazz singer, dies at Metropolitan Hospital in New York of cirrhosis of the liver at 44
17 July : Film premier of "North by Northwest" directed by Alfred Hitchcock.
18 July : Pauline Quirke, actress, born in Hackney, London
25 July : SR-N1 hovercraft crosses the English Channel from Calais to Dover in just over 2 hours.

[purlieu]

'The Young Ones' by any other name.

[daf]

Yes, I noticed that - First Postman Pat and now Cliff Richard!

Is there no end to these theiving Pop stars?

[machotrouts]

Seeing that record sleeve, particularly while listening to the frolicking teen fluff of the song, forced me to google to make sure this really was the guy who got played in a biopic by a 45-year-old Kevin Spacey.

Robert Cassotto became Bobby Darin thanks to a malfunctioning 'MANDARIN' restaurant sign - the letters M, A and N on the light-up sign were not working, leaving only "DARIN", from which Cassotto decided that his last name would be Darin.

PornHub tried to get me to watch a video with the word "MANCUNT" in the title last night. It's a good thing he didn't see a malfunctioning sign advertising that.

[Satchmo Distel]

Was DLT's head sticking out?

[daf]

Sex-Bot . . . Darling, you're a Sex-Bot, its . . .

88.  Cliff Richard and The Drifters - Living Doll



From : 26 July – 5 September 1959
Weeks : 6
Flip side : Apron Strings

Born Harry Rodger Webb on 14 October 1940 at King George's Hospital, Victoria Street, in Lucknow, which was then part of "British India". His parents were Rodger Oscar Webb, a manager for a catering contractor that serviced the Indian Railways, and Dorothy Marie Dazely.

In 1948, following Indian independence, the family moved from comparative wealth in India, where they lived in a company-supplied flat at Howrah near Calcutta, to a semi-detached house in Carshalton.

When he was 16, his father bought him a guitar, and in 1957 he formed the school vocal harmony group The Quintones, before singing in the Dick Teague Skiffle Group.

Harry Webb became lead singer of the British rock and roll group, 'The Drifters'. The 1950s entrepreneur Harry Greatorex wanted the up-and-coming rock 'n' roll singer to change from his real name of Harry Webb. The name Cliff was adopted as it sounded like "cliff face", which suggested "Rock". And Drifters Ian Samwell suggested "Richard" as a tribute to Webb's musical hero Little Richard.

Before their first large-scale appearance, at the Regal Ballroom in Ripley, Derbyshire in 1958, they adopted the name "Cliff Richard and the Drifters". The four members were Cliff Richard, Ian Samwell on guitar, Terry Smart on drums and Norman Mitham on guitar.

For his debut session, Norrie Paramor provided Richard with "Schoolboy Crush", a song previously recorded by an American, Bobby Helms. Richard was permitted to record one of his own songs for the B-side; this was "Move It".

"Move It" was written and composed by Samwell while he was on board a number 715 Green Line bus on the way to Richard's house for a rehearsal. Samwell did not complete the second verse, so on the record Cliff sang the first verse twice. (Samwell finally finished the second verse in 1995 and sent it to Hank Marvin who recorded it with Cliff for his album 'Hank plays Cliff')

For the session, Paramor used the session guitarist Ernie Shears on lead guitar and Frank Clark on bass. The single went to No. 2 on the UK Singles Chart. John Lennon credited "Move It" as being the first British rock record.

In the early days, Richard was marketed as the British equivalent of Elvis. Like previous British rockers such as Tommy Steele and Marty Wilde, Richard adopted Elvis-like dress and hairstyle. In performance he struck a pose of rock attitude, rarely smiling or looking at the audience or camera.

His late 1958 and early 1959 follow-up singles, "High Class Baby" and "Livin' Lovin' Doll", were followed by "Mean Streak", which carried a rocker's sense of speed and passion, and Lionel Bart's "Living Doll".

It was on "Living Doll" that the Drifters began to back Richard on record. It was his fifth record and became his first No. 1 single. By that time, the group's line-up had changed with the arrival of Jet Harris, Tony Meehan, Hank Marvin and Bruce Welch. The group was obliged to change its name to "The Shadows" after legal complications with the American group the Drifters as "Living Doll" entered the American top 40.

"Living Doll" was written by Lionel Bart for the film Serious Charge. Lionel Bart had been approached by film producer Mickey Delamar to write songs for the film. The idea for the song came on a Sunday morning in October 1958 while reading a newspaper and seeing an advert for a child's doll. The doll was said to "kneel, walk, sit and sing". Bart recounted, "I was looking at the back pages and there was a small advert for a doll which could apparently do everything. I wrote the song in ten minutes." The song was written as an up-tempo light rock and roll song (rather than a ballad), and this is how Cliff Richard performs the song in the film.

Unbeknown to Richard, his contract to appear in the film required that there would be a single of one of the film's songs released. Richard recounts, "I remember passionately refusing to record 'Living Doll'. There was a day of telephone calls from Norrie Paramor, with me saying I hated the song and that it wasn't right for us." Richard did not like what he called its "pseudo-rock" beat. "It did not sound like real American rock 'n' roll to us" said Richard. Paramor told Richard "Change it. Do it any way you like, but do it". While sitting around one afternoon before a show, thinking about what they could do with the song, Bruce Welch, while strumming a guitar, suggested they do it like a country song. Richard and his band agreed and duly rerecorded the song with the slower tempo.

The song was recorded in April 1959 by Cliff Richard and the Drifters and produced by Norrie Paramor. It was first released in the UK in May 1959 on the Serious Charge (EP) soundtrack before being released as a single in July 1959. It was number 1 on the UK Singles Chart for six weeks from July, becoming the biggest selling single of 1959 in the UK with sales of 770,000.

It was a number 1 hit in several European countries, including Ireland, Norway and Sweden and top ten hit in numerous countries. In the US, it was Richard's first hit single, reaching number 30, and went on to sell over a million copies worldwide, and won writer Lionel Bart an Ivor Novello Award for best song.

In 1986, 27 years after the first release, the song reached number 1 again, when alternative comedy group The Young Ones teamed up with Richard to record a comic version of "Living Doll" for the Comic Relief charity.

Other Versions include : David Hill (1959)  /  Col Joye and The Joy Boys (1959)  /  Mud (1975)  /  Cisse Häkkinen (1976)  /  Streaplers (1978)

On This Day :

28 July : United Kingdom starts using postal codes
1 August : Joe Elliott, (Def Leppard), born in Sheffield, South Yorkshire
4 August : "Billy Barnes Revue" opens at John Golden Theater NYC for
5 August : Pete Burns, (Dead or Alive), born in Port Sunlight, Wirral, Merseyside
6 August : Preston Sturges, American director and screenwriter, dies of a heart attack age 60 at the Algonquin Hotel while writing his autobiography
13 August : Mark Nevin, (Fairground Attraction), born in Ebbw Vale, South Wales
15 August : Blind Willie McTell, American ragtime singer and guitarist, died  of a stroke, age 61, in Milledgeville, Georgia
19 August : Jacob Epstein, American-English sculptor, dies age  78 in Kensington, London.
21 August : Hawaii becomes the 50th US state
26 August :  British Motor Corporation introduces the Morris Mini-Minor, designed by Alec Issigonis,
29 August : Eddi Reader, (Fairground Attraction), born Sadenia Reader in Glasgow, Scotland

[famethrowa]

Fies my soul??

[purlieu]

Ah I'm not listening to that. I love Hank and the Shads, but I've heard that way too many times for such a horrible song.

[daf]

How about the "pseudo-rock" film variant?

[Satchmo Distel]

The EP version has this decent Elvis pastiche, ripping off 'King Creole'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xY4JrbR8HJU

[machotrouts]

"THINGS THAT CLIFF RICHARD'S LIVING DOLL CAN DO" was a category on Pointless, back when they used to do rounds with only 4 possible answers. "Sleeping" and "crying" were guessed by 55 and 54 out of 100 people, respectively, while the top answers were "walking" and "talking", which scored 96 and 99.

Hardly anything scores that high on Pointless. Last episode I saw, only 71 out of 100 people knew that Neil Armstrong was the first man on the moon. This song is deeply seared into the British psyche. Midwives scream the lyrics at babies on the way out.

"Livin' Lovin' Doll" was a #20 hit, which is a fact I've long had memorised in case I ever go on Pointless and get faced with the category "CLIFF RICHARD TOP 20 SINGLES". People will momentarily think I'm an idiot before my genius becomes apparent and £250 is added to the jackpot.

[daf]

Ev'rybody was Kung-Fu Flirting, its . . .

89.  Craig Douglas - Only Sixteen



From : 6 September – 3 October 1959
Weeks : 4
Flip side : My First Love Affair

Craig Douglas was born Terence Perkins on 12 August 1941, along with his twin in Newport, Isle of Wight. Employed as a milkman before becoming a professional singer, he was known to many as the 'Singing Milkman'.

Between 1959 and 1962, Douglas went on to record several cover versions of former American hit songs, including :
"A Teenager in Love"  /  "Pretty Blue Eyes"  / "The Heart of a Teenage Girl"  /  "Oh! What a Day"  /  "Oh Lonesome Me"

In 1961 Douglas entered the A Song For Europe contest with his song "The Girl Next Door", but did not do well. Douglas also starred, along with a 15 year old Helen Shapiro, in the 1962 film It's Trad, Dad!

in 1961 and 1962, Douglas had four consecutive Number 9 placings on the UK Singles Chart : "A Hundred Pounds of Clay"  /  "Time"  /  "When My Little Girl is Smiling"  /  "Our Favourite Melodies"

He topped the bill on the Beatles' first major stage show, although their emergence ultimately spelt the end of Douglas's chart career. His final chart entry came in February 1963, when "Town Crier" stiffed at Number 36.

He appeared at the Amersham Rock 'n' Roll Club on 11 December 2010, an event in his benefit. John Leyton, Mike Berry and the Flames all took part, while Jet Harris and other celebrities attended. Douglas sang three songs from his wheelchair at the close of the concert. He suffers from a rare condition that affects his legs.

"Only Sixteen" was written by Sam Cooke, inspired by the sixteenth birthday of Lou Rawls' stepsister, Eunice.  The song was originally intended for actor Steve Rowland, who often hung around the Keen studio. Rowland asked Cooke to write a song for him, and Cooke borrowed the bridge from an earlier song of his, "Little Things You Do". Rowland's manager disliked the song, and Cooke re-recorded it for himself.

Craig Douglas had a Number One single in 1959 with "Only Sixteen", which easily outsold Sam Cooke's original version in the UK. It was recorded at EMI's Abbey Road studios, with whistling by Mike Sammes, and released through Top Rank records.

Other Versions include :  Sam Cooke (1959) /  Al Saxon (1959)  /  Rikki Henderson (1959)  /  The Supremes (1965)  /  Dr. Hook (1975)  /  Sly and Robbie (1981)

On This Day :

6 September : Kay Kendall [Justine McCarthy], actress, dies of leukaemia at 32
7 September : Jermaine Stewart doesn't have to take his clothes off, as he is born in the nude in Columbus, Ohio
11 September : "Duke" Ellington wins Springarn Medal for his musical achievements
14 September : Morten Harket, (A-ha), born in Kongsberg, Norway
14 September : Launched by USSR, the Luna 2 space-probe lands on the Moon - the first spacecraft to contact another celestial body
15 September : Soviet Premier Khrushchev arrives in US to begin a 13-day visit
19 September : Nikita Khrushchev's Log Flume dreams are dashed when he and his family are denied access to Disneyland
21 September : Corrinne Drewery, (Swing Out Sister), born in Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, Nottinghamland
23 September : Jason Alexander, (George Costanza - Seinfeld), born Jay Scott Greenspan in Newark, New Jersey
28 September : Gerard Hoffnung, German-born British musical humorist, dies from a cerebral haemorrhage at 34.
1 October : Youssou N'dour, singer, born in Dakar, Senegal
2 October : Rod Serling's "Twilight Zone" premieres on CBS-TV
3 October : Who's Birth is it Anyway? Greg Proops, comedian, born in Phoenix, Arizona

[Dr Rock]

We had Sam Cooke in our house, so I wasn't aware of this version. Much prefer the Sam Cooke one.

edit
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Zkm9ahFbVQ

edit edit  oh there's already a link. I might check out the other versions, but it's not like my favourite song or anything.

[daf]

Sorry - I should have made that link a bit clearer.

(Just moved it to the 'Other Versions' section - for solid gold eyeball access.)

[Dr Rock]

The Supremes version is the only one that comes close to ol Cookie's version. He's just got the nest voice.

Sterling work as ever daf. You should set up a Patreon account.

[daf]

He's just got the nest voice.

Nice & cosy!

[Gulftastic]

"THINGS THAT CLIFF RICHARD'S LIVING DOLL CAN DO" was a category on Pointless, back when they used to do rounds with only 4 possible answers. "Sleeping" and "crying" were guessed by 55 and 54 out of 100 people, respectively, while the top answers were "walking" and "talking", which scored 96 and 99.

Hardly anything scores that high on Pointless. Last episode I saw, only 71 out of 100 people knew that Neil Armstrong was the first man on the moon. This song is deeply seared into the British psyche. Midwives scream the lyrics at babies on the way out.

"Livin' Lovin' Doll" was a #20 hit, which is a fact I've long had memorised in case I ever go on Pointless and get faced with the category "CLIFF RICHARD TOP 20 SINGLES". People will momentarily think I'm an idiot before my genius becomes apparent and £250 is added to the jackpot.

Here's a 100 pointer for you

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgoqlw4UNBc

[machotrouts]

I had Craig Douglas on my 2016 debut #1 Hits deadpool team. Don't really know why. Thought he might die of... legs?

Don't like the song. Was already sick of Whistling Milkman Pop even before the charts found an actual milkman to do it.

Mind you, 'Our Favourite Melodies' pops off a bit. Wasn't really expecting to slightly enjoy a minor Craig Douglas hit. (I have a Carl Douglas album track saved in my Spotify and all.)

[purlieu]

Crikey that was poor.

[daf]

Assisted by the Wig-Twisters, its . . .

90.  Jerry Keller - Here Comes Summer



From : 4 – 10 October 1959
Weeks : 1
Flip side : Time Has A Way

Jerry Paul Keller was born 20 June, 1937 in Fort Smith, Arkansas, USA at the age of 0, and in the nude.

After moving to Tulsa in 1944, he was a vocal soloist in various school productions, and was often invited to do guest vocals with top bands touring the area. Keller formed the Lads Of Note Quartet in the 50s before joining the Tulsa Boy Singers.

Keller attended the University of Tulsa and won a talent contest organized by band leader Horace Heidt which earned him the vocalist job with Jack Dalton's Orchestra. He then spent nine months as a disc jockey in Tulsa before moving to New York in 1956, where he recorded a series of demos for record companies before fellow performer Pat Boone introduced him to Marty Mills who became his manager.

His first two singles - 'Please Sing To Me' ("assisted by the Wig Twisters"!!), and 'A Wandering Stranger' released in 1958, failed to trouble the charts, but his third single, a self-penned release, 'Here Comes Summer', became a US summer hit in 1959. Ironically it only entered the UK charts in late August as the warmer months lapsed into the mists and mellow fruitfulness of autumn, but it still went to number 1.

Follow-ups such as 'If I Had A Girl' and 'There Are Such Things' failed to repeat the success, and the string of flops continued into 1960 with 'White For You And Blues For Me', 'American Beauty Rose', 'What More Can I Say?', and 'Now, Now, Now'.

In 1960, he toured the UK replacing Eddie Cochran in a package tour engagement after Cochran had died in a car crash.

His 1961 single 'Be Careful How You Drive Young Joey' crashed, while 'Sea Shell Sherry' sunk without trace, as did 'It's Too Late' in 1963. 'The Fickle Finger Of Fate' from 1965 had no better luck, and following the sprightly 'You're Leanin' On My Mind' in 1967, he seems to have finally thrown in the towel.

Despite his 'one-hit wonder' status as an artist, he had further success as a writer for others - including writing the English lyrics of "A Man and a Woman", from "Un homme et une femme" by Francis Lai and Pierre Barouh, and recorded by such artists as Matt Monro  / Ella Fitzgerald  /  Engelbert Humperdinck  /  Johnny Mathis  /  and José Feliciano.

In addition he co-penned "Almost There" for Andy Williams, "How Does It Go?" recorded in 1965 by Ricky Nelson, and the sensational Flower-Power smash "Turn-Down Day" by The Cyrkle in 1966 - a group that was managed by Brian Epstein, and opened for the Beatles during their US summer tour in 1966.

Keller wrote soundtrack music for I Saw What You Did (1965) and Angel in My Pocket (1969). He also wrote "The Legend of Shenandoah", recited by James Stewart in the 1965 film Shenandoah.

Keller went on to be a vocalist for television jingles throughout the 1970s and 1980s. He also appeared in the Joe Brooks films You Light Up My Life (1977) in a cameo role as an orchestra music director, and If Ever I See You Again (1978) in a larger role as the main character's business partner.

"Here Comes Summer" was written and performed by Jerry Keller. The song was released on Kapp Records in the United States and London Records in the United Kingdom.

In 1959 it spent 13 weeks on the US chart, reaching No. 14, while spending one week at No. 1 in the UK. It was Keller's only hit either side of the Atlantic.

Other Versions include : Cliff Richard And The Shadows (1959)  /  Dick Jordan (1959)  /  Sharon (1962)  /  Bruce & Terry  (1964)  /  Mark Wynter (1965)  /  The Dave Clark Five (1970)  /  The Blue Maxi (1970)  /  Wildfire (1977)  /  Child (1979)  / Johnny & The Dodgers (1979)  /  The Firebirds  (1991)  /  The Caribbean Steel Band (2003)  /  Dave Monk (2016)

On This Day :

4 October : Chris Lowe, (Pet Shop Boys), born in Blackpool, Lancashire
4 October : Dmitri Shostakovich's 1st Cello concert premieres in Leningrad
4 October : USSR Luna 3 sent back 1st photos of the far side of the Moon
7 October : Simon Cowell, (Wonderdog), born in Lambeth, London
7 October : "Pillow Talk" starring Doris Day and Rock Hudson is released
7 October : Mario Lanza [Alfredo Arnold Cocozza], Italian-American actor and singer, dies of a heart attack at 38
8 October : Gavin Friday, (Virgin Prunes), born Fionán Martin Hanvey in Dublin, Ireland
8 October : Conservatives win British General Election led by Harold Macmillan.
9 October : Lee Harvey Oswald arrives in Southampton, England
10 October : "Happy Town" closes at 84th St Theater NYC after 5 performances
10 October : Kirsty MacColl, singer, born in Croydon, Surrey