It was on this day in 1976 that a giant pig flew over London. Pink Floyd was taking photographs for an upcoming album when the 40 foot inflatable balloon, shaped like a pig, got away. A strong gust of wind caused the moorings to break and the blimp quickly flew out of sight. There was a marksman (with a rifle) present during previous photo shoots, ready to shoot the balloon down in case such a thing happened, but nobody had asked him to return on this day. Airplane pilots soon spotted it at 30,000 feet, and flights at Heathrow Airport were cancelled due to the potential hazard. The pink pig was recovered later that night at a rural farm.
The earliest event that Wiki says happened on this day is “1799 – War of the Second Coalition: Battle of Wiesloch, Austrian Lieutenant Field Marshal Sztáray de Nagy-Mihaly defeats the French at Wiesloch” and the most recent is “2007 – Winter storms cause the Chehalis River to flood many cities in Lewis County, Washington, also closing a 20-mile portion of Interstate 5 for several days. At least eight deaths and billions of dollars in damages are blamed on the floods.”
A couple other things that also occurred on this day are:
1964 – 800 students at the University of California – Berkeley are arrested during a protest.
1966 – First live performance of The Monkees.
Happy birthday to Brian Bonsall, Mickey Thomas, Daryl Hannah, and Ozzy Osbourne.