August 29, 1970: The Hate-the-Performer Festival

Joni Mitchell

August 29, 1970: The 3rd annual Isle of Wight festival is held at Afton Down, on the Isle of Wight, on the south coast of England -- coincidentally, in a town named Newport, whose namesake in Rhode Island had hosted folk and jazz music festivals.

The year before, Bob Dylan played it as his 1st concert since his 1966 motorcycle crash. It has long been rumored that the reason the Woodstock festival was named that, and intended to be held in the New York State town of that name, is that Dylan was living there, and that he would not be able to resist playing "in his own backyard." The show was finally moved to Bethel, 57 miles away. But when it began on August 15, Dylan was already flying to England for the Isle of Wight Festival.

Shows like Woodstock, Altamont, and the Rolling Stones' Hyde Park concert, all in 1969, upped the ante on rock festivals. The Isle of Wight Festival surpassed Woodstock, with over 600,000 spectators. But the prevailing wind blew the sound sideways across the venue, making it hard for the more distant spectators to hear.

The lineup:

* August 26: Judas Jump (a "heavy progressive rock" band), Kathy Smith, Rosalle Sorrels, David Bromberg, Kris Kristofferson, and Mighty Baby (listed as a "psychedelic rock band").

Kristofferson sang his song "Blame It On the Stones," and, not hearing the words properly, the audience thought he was criticizing the Rolling Stones, and the youth movement in general. He got booed off the stage.

* August 27: Gary Farr, formerly of the T-Bones, the band that produced Keith Emerson of Emerson, Lake & Palmer; Supertramp; Andy Roberts' Everyone; Ray Owen, formerly of Juicy Lucy; Howl, a Scottish hard rock band; Black Widow, a British band of practicing Satanists; The Groundhogs, British blues rockers; Terry Reid and David Lindley; Gilberto Gil and Caetano Veloso, Brazilian musicans; and Gracious!, a British progressive rock band.

* August 28: Fairfield Parlour; Arrival; Lighthouse, a Canadian band; Taste, led by guitarist Rory Gallagher; Tony Joe White, who sang his song "Polk Salad Annie"; Chicago, early in their career; Family; Procol Harum; The Voices of East Harlem, singing school children from New York, one of the few acts to receive a standing ovation; and Cactus.

* August 29: John Sebastian, joined for a few songs by his former Lovin' Spoonful bandmate, Zal Yanovsky; Shawn Phillips; another set by Lighthouse; Joni Mitchell; Tiny Tim; Miles Davis; Ten Years After; Emerson, Lake & Palmer, The Doors, in what turned out to be their 3rd-from-last performance, besieged by cold and wind; The Who; Sly and the Family Stone; and Melanie, who got one of the few nice receptions.

Sebastian, Ten Years After, The Who, Sly and Melanie had played at Woodstock; Mitchell hadn't, though she'd written the song "Woodstock." While she sang it, she was interrupted by a hippie calling himself Yogi Joe. Her manager grabbed him, and took him off the stage. The crowd booed, and she got upset, telling the audience, "Give us some respect!" She would later call this event "the Hate-the-Performer Festival."

* August 30: Good News, an American acoustic duo of cellist Larry Gold and guitarist Michael Bacon; Kristofferson, for a 2nd try, which was much better received; Ralph McTell; Heaven, a British "jazz-influenced rock band"; Free; Donovan; Pentangle, a British folk band: The Moody Blues, who played "Nights in White Satin"; Jethro Tull; and the headliner for the entire festival, Jimi Hendrix. No one knew it yet, but he would be dead just 20 days later.

* August 31: As with Woodstock, delays forced a spillover into one more day than was intended. This day featured Joan Baez, who sang "Let It Be," by the recently broken-up Beatles; Leonard Cohen; and the festival was closed by the man who opened Woodstock, Richie Havens.

"It was a total disaster," Kristofferson recalled. "They just hated us. They hated everything. They booed us, Joni Mitchell, Joan Baez, Sly Stone. They threw shit at Jimi Hendrix. At the end of the night, they were tearing down the outer walls, setting fire to the concessions, burning their tents, shouting obscenities. Peace and love it was not."

The unexpectedly high attendance levels led, in 1971, to the British Parliament adding a section to the Isle of Wight County Council Act 1971 preventing overnight open-air gatherings of more than 5,000 people on the island without a special license from the council.

The event was revived in 2002, and, except for the COVID year of 2020, has been held every year since.

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August 29, 1970 was a Saturday. Elsewhere in England, Chelsea beat Arsenal, 2-1 at Stamford Bridge in West London. This would be the North Londoners' only loss in their 1st 9 Football League games that season. They then began a streak of 13 wins, 4 draws and only 1 loss, on their way to winning the League and the FA Cup, a feat known as "doing The Double."

These Major League Baseball games were played that day:

* The New York Yankees lost to the Minnesota Twins, 3-1 at Yankee Stadium. Bill Zepp outpitched Mel Stottlemyre. Harmon Killebrew went 1-for-3 with an RBI. Rod Carew did not play.

* The New York Mets lost to the Houston Astros, 9-8 at the Astrodome in Houston. The Mets took an 8-7 lead in the top of the 10th inning, but the Astros won it in the bottom of the 10th, on RBI singles by Bob Watson and Cesar Cedeño.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Montreal Expos beat the Cincinnati Reds, 4-3 at Jarry Park in Montreal. The Reds scored 2 runs in the top of the 11th inning, and the Expos could only scored 1 in the bottom half. Pete Rose went 1-for-3 with 2 walks. Johnny Bench went 2-for-5.

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Atlanta Braves, 10-9 at Connie Mack Stadium in Philadelphia. Hank Aaron went 2-for-3 with an RBI.

* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 6-1 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. Brooks Robinson went 1-for-4, and Frank Robinson went 1-for-5 with an RBI.

* The Cleveland Indians beat the California Angels, 14-1 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. They played as if they hadn't been shaken up by teammate Tony Horton's suicide attempt the night before, so maybe they didn't know. Roy Foster and Buddy Bradford each hit 2 home runs for the Tribe, while Eddie Leon hit 1. Sam McDowell went the distance for the win.

* The Oakland Athletics beat the Detroit Tigers, 5-2 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit. Reggie Jackson did not play. Al Kaline went 2-for-3 with 2 walks.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Boston Red Sox, 13-9 at Comiskey Park in Chicago. Carl Yastrzemski went 3-for-4 with a home run, a walk, and 2 RBIs.

* The Washington Senators beat the Kansas City Royals, 11-4 at Kansas City Municipal Stadium.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 3-2 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Lou Brock went 3-for-4 with a home run and 2 RBIs. Joe Torre went 0-for-2 with 2 walks.

* The San Francisco Giants beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 10-9 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. Willie Mays, Jim Ray Hart and Bobby Bonds hit home runs. Roberto Clemente went 1-for-4 with 2 walks. Willie Stargell only appeared as a pinch-hitter, and did not reach base.

* And the Chicago Cubs and the San Diego Padres did not play, since the San Diego Chargers had dibs on the facility later renamed Jack Murphy Stadium and Qualcomm Stadium). So the game scheduled for this Saturday was moved back to the preceding Thursday, August 27. The Cubs won, 5-1. Ernie Banks did not play.

January 22, 1901: Queen Victoria Dies

One of the last photos of Queen Victoria.

Her son, King Edward VII, is on the right.

His son, King George V, is on the left.

And his son, King Edward VIII, is the boy in the sailor suit.

January 22, 1901: Victoria, By the Grace of God, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Queen, Defender of the Faith, Empress of India, head of state for about one-quarter of all the people then living on planet Earth, does the unthinkable.

She dies.

She passes away at the age of 81, at Osborne House, her country estate on the Isle of Wight, 88 miles southwest of London. The last of a series of strokes brought her life to a close, 63 years after she took the throne, longer than any English or British monarch ever had, breaking the record of her grandfather, King George III, who lasted just under 60 years. Three entire generations of her subjects had known no other monarch of Britain except her.

She was born on May 24, 1819, the daughter of Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn, a son of King George III. Her uncle, King George IV, died without legitimate children. So did his brother, King William IV. And Edward died before either George or William. So Victoria became Queen when she was only 18, on William's death on June 20, 1837.

At the time, through the mental incapacity of George III, and the dissipation and profligacy of George IV and William IV, the British monarchy was at its lowest point since Oliver Cromwell chopped off the head of Charles I in 1649.

The Industrial Revolution was in its early stages. Railroads were a new thing. Photography was in its infancy. There were no telephones, no telegraphs, no railroads, no automobiles, no air vehicles except hot-air balloons, no recorded sound, no recorded images. Victoria had more in common with Alfred the Great, who unified England 1,000 years before her reign, than she did with Prince Charles, born 48 years after her death.

She married Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, ending the House of Hanover. They produced 9 children:

* Victoria, who married Crown Prince Friedrich of Germany, who became Kaiser Friedrich III, and they were the parents of Kaiser Wilhelm II.

* Albert Edward, who became King Edward VII of Britain. He married Alexandra, daughter of King Christian IX of Denmark. Their son became King George V of Britain, and their daughter Maud married King Haakon VII of Norway.

* Alice, who married Louis IV, Grand Duke of Hesse (in Germany). Their daughter, Alexandra, married Czar Nicholas II of Russia.

* Alfred, who became the Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (in Germany). His daughter, Marie, married King Ferdinand I of Romania.

* Helena, who married Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein (in Germany).

* Louise, who married John Campbell, the 9th Duke of Argyll (in Scotland).

* Arthur, who inherited his grandfather's titles of Duke of Connaught and Strathearn (Connaught is in Ireland, and Strathearn is in Scotland), and served as Governor-General of Canada. His daughter, Margaret, is an ancestor of the monarchs of Sweden and Denmark.

* Leopold, who became the Duke of Albany (in Scotland). And:

* Beatrice, who married Prince Henry of Battenberg (in Germany). Their daughter, Victoria Eugenie, married King Alfonso XIII of Spain.

And so, Victoria was "The Grandmother of Europe." Her son Albert Edward, or "Bertie," thus became "The Uncle of Europe." And Christian IX of Denmark became "The Father-in-Law of Europe."

Bertie was 59 years old when he finally became King, and, most of that time, because he was a disobedient child and then a compulsive womanizer, frequently cheating on Alexandra, Victoria never fully trusted him. As he put it, "I don't mind praying to an Eternal Father, but I seem to have been afflicted with an eternal mother."

Victoria lived long enough to be wildly cheered at her Golden Jubilee (50th Anniversary) in 1887 and her Diamond Jubilee (60th Anniversary) in 1897; to have her voice recorded in 1888; and to be filmed at a garden party at Buckingham Palace in 1898, and on a state visit to Dublin, Ireland in 1900.

But in her last years, she was beset by rheumatism, which combined with her passion for comfort food to make walking impossible; and she was nearly blind due to cataracts. Later in 1900, she began to suffer strokes. Her last diary entry was written from Osbourne House on Sunday, January 13, 1901, and referred to her daughters Helen, or "Lenchen," and Beatrice. It reads:

Had a fair night, but was a little wakeful. Got up earlier & had some milk. — Lenchen came & read some papers. — Out before 1, in the garden chair, Lenchen & Beatrice going with me. — Rested a little, had some food, & took a short drive with Lenchen & Beatrice. — Rested when I came in & at 5.30, went down to the Drawing room, where a short service was held, by Mr Clement Smith, who performed it so well, & it was a great comfort to me. — Rested again afterwards, then did some signing & dictated to Lenchen.

Nine days later, on January 22, at 6:30 PM, she died of another stroke at Osborne House. Bertie and Kaiser Wilhelm, her eldest grandson, were in the room. She was laid to rest in the Royal Mausoleum, on the grounds of Windsor Castle in Berkshire, about 25 miles west of Central London. She and her husband, Prince Albert, are the Mausoleum's only occupants.

Victoria was played by Blanche Forsythe in Sixty Years a Queen in 1913, Jenny Jugo in Victoria in Dover in 1936, Anna Neagle in Victoria the Great in 1937 and Sixty Glorious Years in 1938, Renée Asherson in Happy and Glorious in 1952, Romy Schneider in a remake of Victoria in Dover in 1954, Julie Harris in Hallmark Hall of Fame's Victoria Regina in 1961, Lola Brooks in The Young Victoria in 1963, Annette Crosbie in Edward the Seventh in 1975, Lurene Tuttle on an episode of Voyagers! in 1983, Judi Dench in Mrs. Brown in 1997 and its sequel Victoria & Abdul in 2017, Victoria Hamilton in Victoria & Albert in 2001, Emily Blunt in The Young Victoria in 2009, Amanda Root in The Black Prince in 2017, and Jenna Coleman in Victoria in 2019.

Her son, Edward VII, reigned until he died in 1910. His son, George V, reigned until he died in 1936. His son, Edward VIII, abdicated the throne later that year, in favor of his brother, George VI. He reigned until he died in 1952. His daughter became Queen Elizabeth II, and she broke all longevity records for English and British monarchs, celebrating a Platinum Jubilee (70th Anniversary) in 2022.

UPDATE: Elizabeth died later that year, and her son became King Charles III.

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January 22, 1901 was a Tuesday. Baseball and football were out of season. Basketball barely existed. Hockey was in season, but I can find no record of games being played on this date. But a week later, on January 29 and 31, the Winnipeg Victorias played a two-games-total-goals series for the Stanley Cup against the Montreal Shamrocks, the Cup holders. Both games were played at the Westmount Arena, then just past the western city limit of Montreal but now within the city. The Victorias won both, 4-3 and 2-1.

The Victorias would win the Cup again in 1902. No Winnipeg-based team, or even Manitoba-based team, has won the Stanley Cup since, although the Winnipeg Jets won the World Hockey Association title in 1976, '78 and '79.

But that was the off-season for baseball, and, for all intents and purposes, professional football, basketball and hockey did not yet exist, so there were no scores on that historic day.