Born on this day 9th August
1905 Leo Genn
1922 Philip Larkin
1927 Robert Shaw
1938 Rod Laver
1944 Sam Elliott
1945 Ken Norton
1957 Melanie Griffith
1963 Whitney Houston
1968 Gillian Anderson

Music

1964 Tom Jones’ first release ‘Chills And Fever’, originally by US R&B singer Ronnie Love, went unnoticed by Britain’s record buyers

1989 Deacon Blue began a 6 day US promotion with a show in San Francisco

1992 Fans of Guns’N’Roses went on the rampage after the group cut short a concert due to Axel Rose’s sore throat

Sport

1992 Connor Grist from Rochester became the youngest paid-up soccer team fan club member at the age of 35 minutes

Showbiz

1990 The first episode of Channel 4’s newsroom sitcom ‘Drop The Dead Company’ was broadcast. The episode was called ‘A New Dawn’

1992 15 gay men dressed as nuns disrupted a service at Westminster Cathderal in protest at the Vatican’s disapproval of homosexuality

1996 The movies ‘Eraser’ and ‘Twister’ starring Bill Paxton both went on release in the UK

Events

1965 Francois Mitterand declared his intention to run for the Presidency

1982 John Hinckley was detained indefinitely for the attempted assassnation of President Reagan

1993 The noisiest couple in Britain, Bill and Elizabeth Greechan from Gorleston, Norfolk, were jailed for 21 days for arguing too loudly. Their last row lasted for over 12 hours