100px|Nick Drake's grave in Tanworth-in-Arden
Nick Drake (1948–1974) was an English singer-songwriter and musician,
best known for his sombre guitar-based songs. He failed to find a wide
audience during his lifetime, but now ranks among the most influential
English singer-songwriters of the last 50 years. Drake released his
debut album, Five Leaves Left, in 1969. None of his first three albums
sold more than 5,000 copies on their initial release. Drake suffered
from depression and insomnia throughout his life, and these topics were
often reflected in his lyrics. On completion of his third album, 1972's
Pink Moon, he withdrew from both live performance and recording,
retreating to his parents' home in rural Warwickshire. He died from an
overdose of amitriptyline in 1974 (grave pictured). Drake was credited
as an influence by numerous artists during the 1980s, including The
Dream Academy, who in 1985 reached the UK and US charts with "Life in a
Northern Town", a song written for and dedicated to him. By the early
1990s, Drake represented a certain type of "doomed romantic" musician
in the UK music press. In 2000, Volkswagen featured the title track
from Pink Moon in a television advertisement, and within a month Drake
had sold more records than he had in the previous 30 years. (more...)
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1607:
San Agustin Church in Manila, the oldest church in the Philippines,
was completed.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Agustin_Church%2C_Manila>
1764:
English radical and politician John Wilkes was expelled from the
British Parliament and declared an outlaw for seditious libel.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Wilkes>
1917:
Approximately 50 tons of TNT exploded at a munitions factory in
Silvertown in West Ham, present-day Greater London, killing over 70
people and injuring over 400 others.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silvertown_explosion>
1983:
The Nazi SS officer Klaus Barbie was arrested in Bolivia, 32 years
after having fled to Argentina with the help of the US Army US Army
Counterintelligence Corps.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klaus_Barbie>
2006:
In the deadliest aviation accident in Slovak history, an Antonov An-24
aircraft operated by the Slovak Air Force crashed in northern Hungary,
killing 42 of the 43 people on board.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_Slovak_Air_Force_Antonov_An-24_crash>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
gnocchi (n):
Italian pasta-like dumplings made of potato or semolina
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/gnocchi>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
I cannot consent to place in the control of others one who cannot
control himself.
--Robert E. Lee
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robert_E._Lee>