In 1957, Andy Williams had his only number one single on the UK charts with “Butterfly”, the first of 40 hits spanning a career that lasted until 2002. The American singer also hosted his own television variety show from 1962 to 1971.

In 1967, the Beatles allowed Kenny Everett to preview all but one of the tracks from their new album “Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band”, on his BBC radio show. The BBC had previously banned the track “A Day In The life”, as they thought it would promote drug taking.

In 1972, T-Rex had their fourth and final number one single with “Metal Guru”, and were also at the top of the album charts with “Bolan Boogie”. Marc Bolan died five years later when, as a passenger, he was killed in a car accident, when his girlfriend’s Mini 1275GT struck a fence post and a tree.

In 1989, “Ferry Cross the Mersey”, began a three week run at number one in the UK singles chart, raising funds for victims of the Hillsborough football tragedy. Recorded under the name of Ferry Aid, artists included Gerry Marsden, Paul McCartney, Holly Johnson and The Christians.

In 1997, the rock band U2 caused chaos in Kansas City after paying for officers to shut down five traffic lanes, as they shot a video for “Last Night on Earth”. The video included the final performance of William S. Burroughs, an American writer and visual artist, an innovative figure of the Beat Generation and author of “Naked Lunch”.

In 2006, Finland won their first ever Eurovision Song Contest, with the heavy metal band Lordi performing “Hard Rock Hallelujah”. Lordi won the public vote and were renowned for their horror style costumes.