31 October

10 weird and wonderful things which happened on 31 October:

1. This date in 1795 saw the birth of John Keats, romantic poet, whose poems include Ode on a Grecian Urn, Ode to a Nightingale, Ode to Psyche and To Autumn.
2. In 1926, Harry Houdini died aged 52. After cheating death many times in his daring stage act, he succumbed to peritonitis and gangrene after a punch in the gut from a deranged fan nine days earlier. The fan had been wondering if Houdini were able to withstand stomach hits as had been reported. The answer was clearly no.
3. Bow Wow Wow vocalist Annabella Lwin celebrated her 16th birthday on this date in 1980 by playing a concert at London's Rainbow Theatre. One of her backing vocalists was known as Lieutenant Lush, who went on to become Boy George.
4. Universal Studios Hollywood opened at night for the first time in 1986, to give fans a scary Halloween experience. The night included Dracula, the Mummy, King Kong, the Creature from the Black Lagoon, and the Wolfman.
5. In 1888, John Boyd Dunlop patented the first pneumatic bicycle tyre. Dunlop was a veterinarian rather than a tyre expert; he ended up inventing this because of his son’s tricycle. He noticed that the boy was encountering difficulty and discomfort while riding over cobbled ground. Dunlop realised this was due to the solid rubber tyres and began looking for a way to improve his son's experience. He hit on the idea of filling a rubber tube with air to give it cushioning properties.
6. In 1988, singer Debbie Gibson held a seance at her Halloween party to contact the spirits of Liberace and Sid Vicious.
7. An IRA bomb exploded at the top of the London Post Office Tower near the revolving restaurant on this date in 1971. The building has been closed to the public ever since.
8. In 2002, Hildur Runa Hauksdottir, mother of pop star Bjork, ended a hunger strike protesting against plans by a US company to build an Aluminium smelter and hydroelectric plant power plant in the Icelandic wilderness.
9. In 1995, William Warren, an Oklahoma prisoner, sued the authorities for his right to wear women’s nylon knickers, since white Cotton was bad for his health. He claimed being forced to wear it was a “cruel and unusual punishment”.
10. On this date in 1982, the Thames Barrier, part of London's flood defences, was raised for the first time.

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