17 April 2026
► EVENTS on 17 APRIL;
On this day in 1948, Winsford, Cheshire, England – Twenty-three passengers died and 34 were injured when the Glasgow~London night mail train crashed into rear of a preceding express train, which had been halted by a passenger pulling the communication cord.
The passenger, a conscripted soldier who previously worked for the railway, used the cord to leave the train; meanwhile, the local signalman accepted the mail train into the track section, in the belief that the express had departed.
The soldier later attended the inquiry to confess. He later returned to the railway and was a signalman at Winsford until his retirement.
1960 Throughout Tasmania, severe gales left destruction in their wake, with houses unroofed and power supplies blacked out.
1964, New York, U.S.A. – The Ford Motor Company unveiled the first Ford Mustang at the New York World’s Fair. Within two years over one million had been sold. It is now the longest produced Ford model.
1970, The ill-fated Apollo 13 spacecraft arrived back on Earth. The craft was the third, which was intended to land on the Moon, but the landing was aborted two days after launch after an oxygen tank exploded.
Despite major hardship resulting from limited electrical supply, interior heating, shortage of water and the necessity to rig a carbon-dioxide removal system, the crew, James Lovell, Jack Swigert and Fred Haise, returned safely.
1975, Phnom Penh, Cambodia – Brutal Khmer Rouge forces took control of the country upon the fall of the capital after a 3½ month siege.
The country was isolated from the rest of the world, millions of city-dwellers were forced into labour camps, where 2 million people died from starvation, torture and execution.
The Khmer Rouge regime was overthrown in 1979 by Vietnamese troops.
► ARRIVALS ON THIS DATE
1929, Hans Last alias James Last, in Bremen, Germany. He was a composer and big band leader, who has sold over 200 million albums worldwide.. He died in 2015.
1930, Donald Christopher Barber alias Chris Barber, in Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, England, British jazz band leader and trombonist.. He died in 2021.
1940, Ronald Wycherley alias Billy Fury, in Liverpool, England, internationally successful pop singer from the late 1950s to the early 1960s, and songwriter until his death in 1983.
► DEPARTURES ON THIS DATE
1941, Al Bowlly, in London, England, aged 43. He was a British dance band vocalist and popular jazz crooner, who made over 1,000 recordings from 1927. His best known songs are Goodnight Sweetheart, The Very Thought Of You, Guilty, and Love Is The Sweetest Thing.
Bowlly had performed in a cinema in High Wycombe, and had turned down an offer of overnight accommodation. He took the last train to his home in St James, London and, later that evening was killed by a Luftwaffe bomb which exploded outside his home.
1960, Eddie Cochran, in Chippenham, Wiltshire, England, aged 21, an American rockabilly singer. He had performed at the Hippodrome theatre in Bristol, and was travelling in a speeding taxi late that evening when the driver lost control and the taxi struck a lamp post. A plaque now marks the site of the crash.
Today’s photo: April in the Derwent Valley. [Yours Truly]
Today’s Playlist
| TRACK | RELEASE YEAR | PLAY TIME | LAST PLAYED |
| Johan Faber – Silverado | 2026 | 09:05 | – |
| 70s Classic Elvis Presley – Moody Blue | 1977 | 09:10 | 19/10/2025 |
| Samantha Dann – Wild Child | 2026 | 09:14 | 27/3/2026 |
| Comfort Zone –Well Known Artists and Songs + Bobby Goldsboro – Yesterday | 09:18 | 9/6/2024 | |
| + John Gary – Sunrise Sunset | 09:21 | 28/7/2023 | |
| Adrian Payne – Molly | 2026 | 09:24 | – |
| Shadows – 36-24-36 | 09:28 | 8/2/2026 | |
| Roberto Delgado & His Orchestra – Disco Tropicano | 09:32 | 10/12/2023 | |
| For a Listener Foster & Allen – Bridge Over Troubled Water | 09:36 | 28/6/2020 | |
| For a Listener ABBA – Does Your Mother Know | 09:41 | 10/2/2023 | |
| Vintage Vinyl Chris Barber – Petite Fleur | 1959 | 09:46 | 14/9/2025 |
| Billy Fury – When Will You Say | 1963 | 09:49 | 28/1/2018 |
| Diamond 45s – Charting on this day 1966 Jim Reeves – Snow Flake | 1966 | 09:53 | 20/10/2023 |
| Diamond 45s – Charting on this day 1966 Bob Lind – Elusive Butterfly | 1966 | 09:55 | 1/12/2024 |
| Joy Adams – If It’s Not Love | 2026 | 10:05 | 15/5/2022 |
| Alice Benfer – Wildflowers On The Outback | 2026 | 10:11 | 15/3/2026 |
| For a Listener White Plains – My Baby Loves Loving | 1970 | 10:15 | 8/10/2023 |
| Al Bowlly – It’s A Lovely Day Tomorrow | 1940 | 10:20 | 7/1/2024 |
| Vintage Vinyl Eddie Cochran – Summertime Blues | 1958 | 10:24 | 2/10/2016 |
| Seamog Buckley – Little White Cross | 2026 | 10:26 | 27/3/2026 |
| James Last & His Orchestra – La Mattinata | 10:31 | 17/4/2016 | |
| Sammie Soravia – You’re In My Heart Too | 2026 | 10:35 | 27/3/2026 |
| Chillin – Little Hands | 2026 | 10:38 | – |
| 70s Classic 10cc – The Things We Do For Love | 1976 | 10:42 | 18/5/2025 |
| Ashley Cook – Rough Diamonds | 2026 | 10:47 | – |
| Andrew Shipp – Still My Number One | 2026 | 10:53 | 22/8/2025 |
| Jason Owen – Thank God I’m A Country Boy | 10:57 | 27/2/2026 | |
| Gail Barnard – Storms | 2025 | 11:05 | 3/10/2025 |
| Country Road – Old style country songs + Justin Landers – Rusty Austin Ute | 2024 | 11:10 | 29/11/2024 |
| + Allan Gumm – Me And Annie Murphy | 2024 | 11:14 | 10/5/2024 |
| Victoria Eman – Beautiful | 2024 | 11:22 | 28/2/2025 |
| Vintage Vinyl Guy Mitchell – Let It Shine Let It Shine | 1958 | 11:29 | 29/5/2022 |
| Stavros Xarhakos Orchestra – Patience | 11:36 | 29/5/2016 | |
| Diamond 45s – Charting on this day 1966 Simon & Garfunkel – Homeward Bound | 1966 | 11:39 | 4/12/2022 |
| Diamond 45s – Charting on this day 1966 S-Sgt Barry Sadler – Ballad Of The Green Berets | 1966 | 11:41 | 25/4/2025 |
| John Oakes – Blinded By Your Light | 2026 | 11:45 | – |
| Becky Hobbs – Those Baldwin Sisters | 2024 | 11:49 | 20/12/2024 |
| Caoimhe Murney – Your Health Is Your Wealth | 2026 | 11:53 | 15/3/2026 |