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Rat Trap (Altered)
"Rat Trap" is a single by The Boomtown Rats which reached No. 1 in the UK Singles Chart for two weeks in November 1978, the first single by a punk or new wave act to do so. It was written by Bob Geldof, and produced by Robert John "Mutt" Lange. It replaced " Summer Nights", a hit single for John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John from the soundtrack of '' Grease'', at number one in the UK chart after the latter's seven-week reign. Song It is a rock song, telling the tale of a boy called Billy who feels the depressing town he lives in is a "rat trap". When the band performed the song on ''Top of the Pops'' (which is also mentioned in the song) as the UK new number one, the band members began by tearing up pictures of Travolta and Newton-John to emphasise the fact that the pair - who had spent a total of 16 weeks out of the preceding 22 at the top of the charts - had been deposed. Geldof mimed the saxophone part on a candelabra, a jest he explained in his autobiography ''Is That ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Boomtown Rats
The Boomtown Rats are an Irish rock band originally formed in Dublin in 1975. Between 1977 and 1985, they had a series of Irish and UK hits including "Like Clockwork", "Rat Trap", "I Don't Like Mondays" and "Banana Republic". The original line-up comprised five musicians from Dún Laoghaire in County Dublin; Gerry Cott (rhythm guitar), Simon Crowe (drums), Johnnie Fingers (keyboards), Bob Geldof (vocals) and Garry Roberts (lead guitar), plus Fingers' cousin Pete Briquette (bass). The Boomtown Rats broke up in 1986, but reformed in 2013, without Fingers or Cott. Garry Roberts died in 2022. The band's fame and notability have been overshadowed by the charity work of frontman Bob Geldof, a former journalist with the '' New Musical Express''. History 6 piece band Five of the six members originate from Dún Laoghaire, Ireland; Pete Briquette was originally from Ballyjamesduff, County Cavan, Ireland. Having been booked for their first gig under the name The Nightlife Thugs, the gro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Candelabra
A candelabra (plural candelabras) or candelabrum (plural candelabra or candelabrums) is a candle holder with multiple arms. Although electricity has relegated candleholders to decorative use, interior designers continue to model light fixtures and lighting accessories after candelabra and candlesticks. Accordingly, the term candelabra has entered common use to describe small-based light bulbs used in chandeliers and other lighting fixtures made for decoration as well as lighting. In Judaism and in the Philippine religion Iglesia ni Cristo, the menorah is a special kind of candelabrum. The Candelabra is also used in certain Eastern Catholic and Eastern Orthodox church architecture and liturgy by bishops as the Trikiridikiri. Singular and plural This word originally came from Latin, in which ''candelabrum'' is the singular form and ''candelabra'' is the plural. Over time, English usage changed so that ''candelabra'' as the singular and ''candelabras'' as the plural is no ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
UK Singles Chart Number-one Singles
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland, and many smaller islands within the British Isles. Northern Ireland shares a land border with the Republic of Ireland; otherwise, the United Kingdom is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, the North Sea, the English Channel, the Celtic Sea and the Irish Sea. The total area of the United Kingdom is , with an estimated 2020 population of more than 67 million people. The United Kingdom has evolved from a series of annexations, unions and separations of constituent countries over several hundred years. The Treaty of Union between the Kingdom of England (which included Wales, annexed in 1542) and the Kingdom of Scotland in 17 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1978 Singles
Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd government). * January 6 – The Holy Crown of Hungary (also known as Stephen of Hungary Crown) is returned to Hungary from the United States, where it was held since World War II. * January 10 – Pedro Joaquín Chamorro Cardenal, a critic of the Nicaraguan government, is assassinated; riots erupt against Somoza's government. * January 18 – The European Court of Human Rights finds the British government guilty of mistreating prisoners in Northern Ireland, but not guilty of torture. * January 22 – Ethiopia declares the ambassador of West Germany '' persona non grata''. * January 24 ** Soviet satellite Kosmos 954 burns up in Earth's atmosphere, scattering debris over Canada's Northwest Territories. ** Rose Dugdale and Eddie Gallagher become the first convicted p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Garry Roberts
Garrick Roberts (16 June 1950 – 9 November 2022) was an Irish musician best known as the lead guitarist with The Boomtown Rats, a band which came into being in 1976. He and Johnnie Fingers (Moylett) had decided to put a band together and, between them, they recruited the other four members, Pete Briquette (bass), Gerry Cott (guitar), Simon Crowe (drums), and singer Bob Geldof. Career Roberts was a founder and the lead guitarist of the band The Boomtown Rats, which came into being in 1976. After The Boomtown Rats disbanded in 1986, Roberts worked as a live sound engineer with a number of bands, including Simply Red, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark and Flesh For Lulu. After having worked successfully as an Independent Financial Adviser for fifteen years, he had become disillusioned with the life insurance industry and became a central heating engineer to keep himself occupied between gigs. He avoided playing the guitar in public for ten years, after which he and Simon Cro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Simon Crowe
Simon Crowe (born 14 April 1955, Dublin, Ireland) is an Irish musician, best known as the drummer and backing vocalist of the Irish new wave band The Boomtown Rats. The original name of the Boomtown Rats was the "Nightlife Thugs". The name Boomtown Rats was taken from a novel entitled '' Bound for Glory'' by Woody Guthrie. The Boomtown Rats had eighteen hit singles in the UK, including "Rat Trap" and "I Don't Like Mondays". Crowe has also been part of The Velcro Flies (with ex-Boomtown Rat Garry Roberts) and Gung~Ho (with ex-Boomtown Rat Johnny Fingers). After the group disbanded, Crowe lived in Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devo ... for some years where he played with the local folk and roots group Jiggerypipery. The Boomtown Rats presently features Garry R ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Johnnie Fingers
Johnnie Fingers (born John Peter Moylett, 10 September 1956) is an Irish keyboardist and co-founding member of the new wave band The Boomtown Rats. He was notable for his attire of striped pyjamas on stage and his melodic piano style. Background Fingers came from a large family of actors, artists and musicians. His cousin is his fellow Boomtown Rat Pete Briquette, as their mothers, Margaret "Peggy" (Bowles) Cusack and Cecilia "Sheila" (Bowles) Moylett, were sisters. They are nephews of Irish conductor and composer Michael Bowles. He learned the piano from a young age from "Miss Grist" who he claims "stole his youth". After the demise of the Boomtown Rats in 1986, he founded Gung~Ho with his fellow Boomtown Rats member Simon Crowe and Yoko Kurokawa in 1987. Fingers is now married with two children. Fingers decided to not return to the Boomtown Rats when the band was reunited in 2013, as he lives in Tokyo. Career He currently lives in Tokyo, Japan, where he continues to work in t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gerry Cott
Gerry Cott (born 15 October 1954, in Dublin, Ireland) is an Irish guitarist and songwriter, who was a co-founder of the Irish new wave band The Boomtown Rats. He started playing flamenco guitar when he was 11 years old. In 1966 he saw Bob Dylan performing live in Dublin and the experience influenced him radically. Gerry left The Boomtown Rats The Boomtown Rats are an Irish rock music, rock band originally formed in Dublin in 1975. Between 1977 and 1985, they had a series of Irish and UK hit record, hits including "Like Clockwork", "Rat Trap", "I Don't Like Mondays" and "Banana Repub ... in 1982, prior to the recording of the band's fifth album '' V Deep''. In 1984 he released the five-song album ''I Left My Hat in Haiti'' that included the single "Alphabet Town". "Alphabet Town" hit the Canadian charts, peaking at #90 during a 9-week run near the end of 1984. He is now an animal trainer and animal action supervisor in films and television with his company A-Z Animals, wh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pete Briquette
Patrick Martin Cusack (born 2 July 1954), known by the stage name Pete Briquette, is an Irish bassist, record producer and composer. He is a member of the Boomtown Rats and has also played in Bob Geldof's band. Boomtown Rats He was born in Ballyjamesduff, County Cavan, Ireland. His stage name refers to his upbringing in Ireland where peat briquettes were burned for heat instead of coal. He is the bass guitarist, backing vocalist, occasional songwriter, and sometime keyboardist for The Boomtown Rats, a band that reached worldwide popularity in the late 1970s. His bass lines are evident on such Boomtown Rats songs as "Rat Trap", "Banana Republic" and "Like Clockwork", the last two of which he co-wrote with Bob Geldof. Briquette was the only Rats member who frequently collaborated with Geldof as a solo artist, playing on some of his biggest hits such as "Great Song of Indifference" and "Love or Something". Record producer Briquette also works as a record producer and produced the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dustin The Turkey
Dustin the Turkey, a character performed by John Morrison is a former star of RTÉ television's ''The Den'' between 1989 and 2010 and from 2020. He has been described as "the most subversive comedy force on Irish television". A turkey-vulture with a strong Dublin accent hailing from Sallynoggin, Dustin first appeared on ''The Den'' with Zig and Zag in December 1989, but remained there after their 1993 departure to Channel 4. He also outlasted four human co-hosts, all of whom moved to radio, Ian Dempsey, Ray D'Arcy, Damien McCaul and Francis Boylan Jr. Dustin has also had a successful music career with chart-topping singles in his native land. At one stage even managed an Irish Dance/Pop group Silvor. He won the public vote to represent Ireland at the Eurovision Song Contest 2008 with the song "Irelande Douze Pointe", though he did not progress past the first semi-final stage. Music Dustin released his Greatest Hits album in 2001. On 4 November 2005, he released his first ne ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Live Aid
Live Aid was a multi-venue benefit concert held on Saturday 13 July 1985, as well as a music-based fundraising initiative. The original event was organised by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise further funds for relief of the 1983–1985 famine in Ethiopia, a movement that started with the release of the successful charity single "Do They Know It's Christmas?" in December 1984. Billed as the "global jukebox", Live Aid was held simultaneously at Wembley Stadium in London, attended by about 72,000 people, and John F. Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, attended by 89,484 people. On the same day, concerts inspired by the initiative were held in other countries, such as the Soviet Union, Canada, Japan, Yugoslavia, Austria, Australia and West Germany. It was one of the largest satellite link-ups and television broadcasts of all time; an estimated audience of 1.9 billion, in 150 nations, watched the live broadcast, nearly 40 percent of the world population. The impact of Live Aid ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Craig Thomas (author)
David Craig Owen Thomas (24 November 1942 – 4 April 2011) was a Welsh author of thrillers, most notably the Mitchell Gant and Kenneth Aubrey series of novels. Background Thomas was the son of the '' Western Mail'' rugby union writer JBG Thomas. He was educated at Cardiff High School. He graduated from University College, Cardiff in 1967, obtaining his M.A. after completing a thesis on Thomas Hardy. Thomas became an English teacher, working at Shire Oak Grammar School in Walsall Wood, where he was Head of the English Department, as well as King Edward VI Grammar School in Lichfield and other grammar schools in the West Midlands. Writing career After unsuccessfully trying script writing for radio, Thomas wrote part-time, with his wife as editor, in two fields: philosophical thoughts in books of essays; and techno-thrillers, a genre whose invention is often attributed to the better-known Tom Clancy, though many fans feel that Thomas was its true originator. Most of Thomas ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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