1951 Explosion at Easington Colliery, County Durham

1951 Explosion at Easington Colliery, County Durham

The explosion happened underground at 4.35 a.m. on Tuesday, 29th May.

At 4.20am the picks of the coal cutting machine cutter, which was working in the Duck Bill district of the Five Quarter seam, struck pyrites causing sparks which ignited firedamp (gas) causing an explosion which brought down 120 yards of roof and entombed 81 men.

The explosion took place 900 feet below ground. 38 men were coming to the end of their shift and were to be replaced by 43 men who were working the fore-shift. The cause of the explosion was the ignition of firedamp triggered by the picks of a coal cutting machine, operating on a retreating longwall face, when they struck pyrites. The explosion spread through 16,000 yards of roadway and caused the deaths of 81 persons. Two persons died in the ensuing rescue operations.

References:

• https://easingtonmemories.wordpress.com/1951-easington-colliery-explosion/
• http://dmm.org.uk/names/n1951-01.htm

The world’s first ever televised solar eclipse …

The world’s first ever televised solar eclipse …

The world’s first ever televised solar eclipse occured exactly 67 years ago yesterday. This was the first time that a television-viewing audience saw a solar eclipse. The event was broadcast on March 7, 1951. Oddly enough, the significance of the broadcast by CBS News failed to move some experts at the time. Robert Coles, then the curator of the Hayden Planetarium, was quoted telling the New York Times: “Please, I ask you, don’t get people too excited about it. You see, if we get people expecting a big show they’ll be disappointed. Then they won’t pay attention when we have a genuine celestial wonder to call to their attention. Please keep this quiet.”

https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/solar/1951-march-7

Asteroid 1578 Kirkwood

Asteroid 1578 Kirkwood

1578 Kirkwood, provisional designation 1951 AT, is a Hildian asteroid from the outermost regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 52 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 10 January 1951, by astronomers of the Indiana Asteroid Program at Goethe Link Observatory in Indiana, United States. The asteroid was named after American astronomer Daniel Kirkwood (1814-1895). You won’t be surprised to learn that we don’t have an image of 1578 Kirkwood. The lunar crater Kirkwood was also named in the astronomer’s honour and yes, here’s a photograph.

Yvonne Elliman

Yvonne Elliman

Yvonne Elliman (born December 29, 1951) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress who performed for four years in the first cast of Jesus Christ Superstar. She scored a number of hits in the 1970s and achieved a US #1 hit with “If I Can’t Have You“. After a long hiatus in the 1980s and 1990s, during which time she dedicated herself to her family, she made a comeback album as a singer-songwriter in 2004.

http://www.yvonneelliman.com

Rosemary Shrager …

Rosemary Shrager

Rosemary Shrager (born 21 January 1951) is a British chef, presenter and author, best known for being an haute cuisine teacher on the reality television programme Ladette to Lady, and as a judge on Soapstar Superchef. She also made an appearance on the reality TV series I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here!.

I had become monomaniacal …

I had become monomaniacal …

Now that’s not something you hear every day. The author of this particular quote containing a reference to 1951 is James D. Watson.

James Dewey Watson (born April 6, 1928) is an American molecular biologist, geneticist and zoologist, best known as one of the co-discoverers of the structure of DNA in 1953 with Francis Crick and Rosalind Franklin. Watson, Crick, and Maurice Wilkins were awarded the 1962 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine “for their discoveries concerning the molecular structure of nucleic acids and its significance for information transfer in living material”.

An Unknown World in 1951 …

An Unknown World in 1951 …

Unknown World (a.k.a. Night Without Stars) is a 1951 black-and-white science fiction adventure film from Lippert Pictures. It stars Bruce Kellogg, Marilyn Nash, Jim Bannon, and Otto Waldis.

The film’s storyline concerns an expedition seeking livable space deep beneath the Earth’s surface in the event a nuclear war makes surface life impossible. In 1951 nuclear war was an ever-present possibility. Only 6 years earlier, in 1945, nuclear weapons had been used in anger. Films such as Unknown World and The Day the Earth Stood Still  very much reflected this.