Joeys Daily Dose of History - 12 October 2002

A sad day for Australia. 10 years ago today a vicious terrorist attack took the life of more than 200 people, nearly half of them Australians, and ruined many other lives through injury, shock or grief for lost or maimed family members, when two bombs rocked Paddy's Bar and the Sari Club in Kuta/Bali.
Three Islamic militants were subsequently found guilty to be involved in the bombings, sentenced to death by an Indonesian court and executed by firing squad in 2008. A fourth individual, thought to have been the person to trigger the detonations by remote control was killed by Indonesian police in a shoot-out in Jakarta in 2010.

In another interesting incident 55 years ago today, after performing a show in Sydney the night before during which he witnessed a "sign from God" telling him to quit show business, 23-year-old American Richard Wayne Penniman, better known as Little Richard, threw his $8,000 diamond ring overboard a harbour ferry to prove to his band mates he was absolutely serious about quitting. He became even more convinced that he was doing the right thing, after the plane that he was originally supposed to be on for his return to the USA crashed into the Pacific Ocean. It was only later that he learned that the "sign" had been nothing else but the launching of Sputnik 1, the first man made object to orbit earth.
Nonetheless, Richard dropped the Rock'n Roll, studied theology and recorded gospel songs forthwith... until exactly five years later: On 12 October 1962, Richard headlined a concert in Liverpool, with the Beatles as opening act. Having initially been under the impression that he would perform his gospel songs, he soon had to realise that the concert had been promoted as a rock'n roll show and he finally gave in to the pressure and performed his old, secular hits. The crowd went ballistic, he left the stage to standing ovations. Just as he would at every following show from then on... 

Elsewhere in the world, Luciano Pavarotti was born in Modena/Italy (1935), Status Quo guitarrist Rick Parfitt in Woking/UK (1948) and 2008's "Sexiest Man Alive", the Australian actor Hugh Jackmann in Sydney (1968). On that same day in 1968, the 19th Summer Olympic Games of the XIX Olympiad open in Mexico City, Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice's "Jesus Christ Superstar" debuted on Broadway (1970) and punk rocker Sid Vicious of Sex Pistols fame was arrested on suspicion of murder after his girlfriend had been stabbed to death (1978).
Earlier, Christopher Columbus had reached Watling Island in the Bahamas, believing he had successfully circumnavigated the globe and found a westward way to India (1492), Bavarian Crown Prince Ludwig married Princess Therese of Saxony-Hildburghausen and invited the public to attend the party (1810) - an event still celebrated in Munich annually where 6 million visitors from all over the world consume more than 100 oxen, over half a million chicken and 7 million litres of beer in 16 days of Bavarian . And not to forget Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev famously pounding a shoe on his desk during a dispute at a U.N. General Assembly (1960)!