THURSDAY BACKTRACK: Music and news from 60 years ago - week ending 23 September 1961

 At #6 this week, 'Michael Row The Boat' by The Highwaymen (and also at #7, by Lonnie Donegan!)

Some memorable events (via Wikipedia):

18 September: 'Dag Hammarskjöld, the Secretary-General of the United Nations was killed when his plane crashed while flying from Leopoldville in the Congo, to Ndola in Northern Rhodesia...

The sole survivor, U.N. Sgt. Harold Julien, was able to tell investigators that Hammarskjold ordered the pilot not to land at Ndola, and that there had been a series of explosions.' 

One theory, investigated in a UN report from 2019, is that the plane could have been shot down.

Image taken from Michigan Daily, 1961-09-19

Also 18 September: 'For the first time, troops from North Vietnam seized control of a provincial capital in South Vietnam, capturing Phuoc Vinh in a predawn attack, only 55 miles from Saigon. The ARVN recaptured the city the next day, but not before the Governor of the Phuoc Thanh province was publicly beheaded, along with the top military officers, and the government buildings burned.'

Flag of the West Indies Federation

19 September: 'Voters in Jamaica elected to withdraw from the West Indies Federation by a margin of 251,776 to 216,371. With Jamaicans comprising more than half (56%) of population and a majority of its income, the result was the end of the Federation, and, eventually, 12 independent nations.'

Image from a French account of the pirate station in Algiers, 'Radio France'

21 September: the OAS bombs the television station in Algiers just before President De Gaulle is about to broadcast; the rebel leader Raoul Salan then transmits 'a speech on the same frequency, taunting de Gaulle and calling for demonstrations against the separation of Algeria from French rule.'

UK chart hits, week ending 23 September 1961 (tracks in italics have been played in earlier posts)

Htp: Clint's labour-of love compilation https://www.sixtiescity.net/charts/61chart.htm

1	Johnny Remember Me	John Leyton	Top Rank
2	Kon-Tiki	The Shadows	Columbia
3	Wild In The Country / I Feel So Bad	Elvis Presley	RCA
4	You Don't Know	Helen Shapiro	Columbia
5	Reach For The Stars / Climb Every Mountain	Shirley Bassey	Columbia
6	Michael Row The Boat	The Highwaymen	HMV
7	Michael Row The Boat / Lumbered	Lonnie Donegan	Pye
8	Jealousy	Billy Fury	Decca
9	Cupid	Sam Cooke	RCA
10	Get Lost	Eden Kane	Decca
11	Ain't Gonna Wash For A Week	The Brook Brothers	Pye
12	That's My Home	Acker Bilk	Columbia
13	Together	Connie Francis	MGM
14	Well I Ask You	Eden Kane	Decca
15	Hats Off To Larry	Del Shannon	London
16	You'll Answer To Me	Cleo Laine	Fontana
17	Romeo	Petula Clark	Pye
18	How Many Tears	Bobby Vee	London
19	Halfway To Paradise	Billy Fury	Decca
20	Sea Of Heartbreak	Don Gibson	RCA