Today in Great Britain in the first half of the 1960s was a day for oddities.

Today in 1960, a campaign began to ban the Ray Peterson song “Tell Laura I Love Her” (previously mentioned here) on the grounds that it was likely to inspire a “glorious death cult” among teens. (The song was about a love-smitten boy who decides to enter a car race to earn money to buy a wedding ring for her girlfriend. To sum up, that was his first and last race.)

The anti-“Tell Laura” campaign apparently was not based on improving traffic safety. We conclude this from the fact that three years later, Graham Nash of the Hollies leaned against a van door at 40 mph after a performance in Scotland to determine if the door was locked. Nash determined it wasn’t locked on the way to the pavement.

One year later, a concert promoter hired two dozen rugby players to form a human chain around the stage at a Rolling Stones concert at the Empire Theatre in Liverpool. Rugby players are tough, but not tough enough to take on 5,000 spectators.

The number one album today in 1980 was Jackson Browne’s “Hold Out,” Browne’s only number one album:

Birthdays begin with a pair of horn rock legends — David Clayton Thomas of Blood Sweat & Tears …

… and Peter Cetera (who played bass, not a horn) of Chicago:

Producer Don Was, who formed Was (Not Was) …

… was born the same day as Randy Jones of the Village People:

Steve Kilbey of The Church:

Fiona Apple:

• Music