Funny

The Williams And Walker Company give a Command Performance of their hit African-American musical In Dahomey at Buckingham Palace, London, England, UK, in celebration of the Duke Of Windsor's eighth birthday. This is the first command performance at the Palace by a group of Negro theatrical entertainers.

Powder And Capman offer 'song sayings and sprightly stepping', while Dumas And Floyd provide 'smart songs and chatter' at The Regent Theatre, Tacoma, Washington, USA. [Also on the bill are Felix - The Mind-reading Duck and Bob - The Fighting Kangaroo].

Following a Drugs Squad raid on the Club Eleven jazz club in Carnaby Street, London, UK, six musicians charged with possession of cannabis, including Ronnie Scott, appear in Marlborough St. Magistrates Court. According to Scott, "a police Chief Inspector informed the bench that the Club was a bebop club. 'What,' asked the magistrate solemnly, 'is bebop?' 'A queer form of modern dancing - a Negro jive' the policeman answered with brisk authority."

A package tour scheduled to begin tonight in Pensacola, Florida, USA, is cancelled because all of its major artists have suffered medical emergencies. Brenda Lee has developed cellulitis from a skating injury, Johnny Burnette is recuperating from a tonsillitis operation, Bob Beckham has burst a blood vessel in his throat and Gary Miles has contracted pneumonia.

Fred Astaire writes to A.C. Spectorsky, Editorial Director of Playboy magazine, stating his objection to a picture of him in the latest edition of the magazine which shows him toasting the New Year with a glass of champagne in his hand. Astaire had been approached several times by Playboy to pose for such a photograph but declined each time. In the end, Playboy used a still from one of Astaire's movies, The Pleasure Of His Comapny, showing him with a glass in his hand. Astaire's objection, as he makes clear in his letter, is that, "I really do not happen to like champagne."

Johnny Cash, June Carter, Flatt and Scruggs and Marty Robbins play in Camden, New Jersey, USA. While Robbins performs, Cash's bass player Marshall Grant lobs an M-80 firework into a backstage urinal, and the resulting blast covers a dressing room in sewage.

Novelty song Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah by Chicago-born comedy script writer and singer Allan Sherman, peaks at No2 in the Billboard Top 40 Singles Chart in the USA.

The Times reports that every man in the Berlin-based 1st Battalion of the King's Regiment (Liverpool) has signed a petition asking The Beatles to come and play for them.

Marianne Faithfull releases a new single, This Little Bird, on Decca Records in the UK. On the same day, in a somewhat bizarre marketing decision, The Nashville Teens release their new single, also a version of This Little Bird, and also on Decca Records in the UK. The song is composed by John D. Loudermilk.

When popular trumpet player Al Hirt keeps the audience waiting for him to appear at Penn Theatre in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA, a search begins and Hirt is discovered sound asleep in his hotel bedroom. The show begins an hour and a half late.

On the final show of their tour of America, T.Rex play at Carnegie Hall, New York City, USA. Leader Marc Bolan gets drunk in the dressing room, walks on stage and falls over before stumbling through an appallingly bad set. In the words of Paul Simon, who was in the audience, "This is fucking bullshit, man."

An entire housing estate in Liverpool, England, UK, Europe, is opened, in which all the street names are releated to The Beatles.

Thin Lizzy appear on BBC1-tv show Jim'll Fix It, with 70-year-old fan May Booker on keyboards.

During a re-election campaign speech in Hammonton, New Jersey, USA, President Ronald Reagan praises Bruce Springsteen, stating, "America's future rests in a thousand dreams inside your hearts. It rests in the message of hope in songs so many young Americans admire: New Jersey's own Bruce Springsteen. And helping you make those dreams come true is what this job of mine is all about." Reagan has obiously failed to understand that Springsteen's song Born In The USA is heavily ironic. Springsteen makes it clear soon after that he does not endorse Reagan.

When Tina Turner plays the first of two nights at the NEC Arena, Birmingham, England, UK, Europe, she is joined onstage by David Bowie, who will also return the following night. When George Michael and Frankie Goes To Hollywood turn up unannounced for the after party at Tina Turner's hotel, they are not allowed in.

When The Residents play at The Hollywood Palace, Los Angeles, California, USA, one of their trademark 'eyeball' head costumes, Mr. Red Eye, is stolen from their dressing room.

Before a show in Rochester, New York State, USA, Vince Neil of Motley Crue becomes angry at the absence of French's Mustard at the service table. He slams a bottle of Gulden's Dijon mustard against the wall, accidentally severing tendons, nerves, an artery and almost cutting a finger off his right hand. The show is cancelled and he is airlifted to a hospital in Baltimore, Maryland, USA.

Matthew John Trippe of Tampa, Florida, USA, files an unusual lawsuit against Motley Crue. Trippe, who has a history of mental health issues and trouble with the law, claims that he was secretly hired to pose as Nikki Sixx and toured, wrote and recorded with the band for a time during 1983 and 1984.

Asked, in a Newsweek interview published today, if The Rolling Stones tour only for the money, vocalist Mick Jagger quips, 'No, that's The Who'.

America's first all-Elvis radio station, WCVG in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA, switches to a talk format after just a year of nothing but Elvis Presley tracks.

A new main-belt asteroid is discovered by E. W. Elst of the European Southern Observatory, Chile, South America. The asteroid is named 7934 Sinatra in honour of singer Frank Sinatra.

The BMI's first "Michael Jackson Award", newly introduced to honour an individual who has had an important impact on contemporary culture and made an uplifting contribution to society, goes to, er, Michael Jackson.

Country recording star Faron Young dies, aged 64, in Nashville, Tennessee, USA, having attempted suicide by shooting himself the previous day. His ashes are scattered during a ceremony at Johnny Cash's estate, while Cash is away. Unfortunately, a gust of wind blows the ashes onto Cash's car. "When I came home, I found I had Faron on my windshield", remarked Cash later. "I turned the wipers on. There he went, back and forth, back and forth, until he was all gone."

Tommy Chong of hippy comedy duo Cheech and Chong appears on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on tv in the USA to explain how his California-based company was tricked into selling bongs and marijuana pipes via the internet to Drug Enforcement Agency staff in Pennsylvania and then arrested. [The same equipment can be bought legally on the street but it is illegal to ship it across state borders in the USA.] Chong was sentenced to nine months in jail and fined $20,000.

At 2.15am, when Mariah Carey arrives at Baglione’s Hotel, Kensington, London, England, UK, Europe, she refuses to leave her limo until a red carpet lined with white candles is laid out, enabling her to enter the establishment without walking on the pavement.

A new Willie Nelson album, Countryman, is released in the USA on Columbia Records. The album is a collection of reggae covers, available with two alternative front covers. One features a palm tree, the other because of pressure from Wal-Mart stores, features a marijuana leaf.

Chris Martin of Coldplay is voted the World's Sexiest Vegetarian in a poll of 13,000 celebrity vegetarians conducted by PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.)

The town of Parma, Italy, Europe, names streets after Elvis Presley, John Lennon, Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald.

Bluegrass banjo star Eddie Adcock plays his Deering GoodTime banjo while undergoing brain surgery at the Vanderbilt Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee, USA. A debilitating hand tremor was threatening Adock's career, and he played banjo on the operating table so that surgeons could see precisely where to operate on his brain. Adcock immediately regained his ability and was able to play at full speed once again.

A new tv commercial campaign in which Iggy Pop promotes Swiftcover car insurance, begins in the UK.

A regular customer of a record store in Christchurch, New Zealand, Oceania, reserves a copy of The Wall by Pink Floyd, then robs the till. He proves easy for local police to catch, having left his name and phone number when reserving the LP.

A mere thirty years after their international No1 hit single Video Killed The Radio Star, the original line-up of The Buggles play their first full live gig, a fundraising show at The Supperclub, London W10, England, UK, supported by Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark aka OMD.

It is reported that Dallas, Texas-based Def Leppard tribute band Pyromania has recently placed an advertisement seeking a one-armed drummer who must have "flame-retardant kit and stick". The ad also warns prospective candidates "No dope fiends. If you're wired you're fired."

On The Apocalypse Tour, Weird Al Yankovic plays at The Fox Theatre, Oakland, California, USA.

During his unexpected rap among the audience of the BAFTA Awards in London, England, UK, Europe, rapper Tinie Tempah high-fives Prince William, future king of Great Britain.

It is announced that a new species of parasitic wasp has been named after Colombian singer Shakira. Why? The parasite causes its host caterpillar to shake and wiggle, much in the manner of Shakira during a live performance.

An analysis of Wikipedia articles by the University of Toulouse suggests that Frank Sinatra is the most important person in the English-speaking world, based on the methods used by Google to analyse Wikipedia pages and determine which individuals have the most important articles linking to them. Sinatra is followed by Michael Jackson and in third place is Pope Pius XII.

The Guardian newspaper reports that the family of deceased reggae star Bob Marley has teamed up with a private equity firm to launch Marley Natural, a cannabis product offering "heirloom Jamaican cannabis strains" inspired by the ones Marley enjoyed.

Adele is seen on television, during a BBC tv competition to find the best Adele impersonator. In the broadcast, the real Adele, heavily disguised, joins the impersonators. She successfully mingles with them before the performance but, almost as soon as she opens her mouth onstage, the impersonators all realise who they're listening to.