On This Day: Queen releases a most unlikely hit

Nearly six minutes long, with an operatic section and no conventional chorus, Bohemian Rhapsody didn’t follow the pop rulebook, but listeners embraced it anyway.

The quiet opening gives little warning of what follows. Before Bohemian Rhapsody is finished, a piano ballad has become an operatic argument, then erupted into hard rock.

On October 31, 1975, Queen released the single in Britain, 51 years ago today. Written by Freddie Mercury, it ran for five minutes and 55 seconds – which at the time was an unusual length for a radio hit.

The record company questioned whether stations would play a six-minute single but Freddy fought to have it play.

Queen’s confidence was rewarded: it became their first British No.1 and spent nine weeks at the top, including over Christmas.

Its promotional film supplied an equally memorable image, with the four band members’ faces emerging from darkness. For many listeners, the song and those faces remain inseparable.

Part of the pleasure now is knowing every change of pace. You can sing along gently at first, attempt the competing voices, then wait for the guitar to announce the loudest part. Few records give everyone in the car quite so much to do.

A century since Houdini

On October 31, 1926, Harry Houdini died in Detroit, aged 52, from peritonitis following a ruptured appendix.

One hundred years later, his name remains synonymous with escape. Australian crowds witnessed his showmanship during his 1910 tour, when he leapt, chained and handcuffed, from Melbourne’s Queen’s Bridge into the Yarra and emerged free. Tony Curtis later portrayed him in the 1953 film Houdini.

The charge at Beersheba

On October 31, 1917, men of Australia’s 4th and 12th Light Horse Regiments charged Ottoman positions at Beersheba.

Carrying bayonets rather than cavalry swords, they broke through the defences and helped secure the town’s vital water supplies. The victory opened the way to outflank the Gaza–Beersheba defensive line, but came at a cost: 31 Australians were killed and 36 wounded.

Born on this day

Michael Landon would have turned 90. He remains fondly remembered for Bonanza and Little House on the Prairie.

Deidre Hall, familiar from Days of Our Lives, turns 79.

Peter Jackson, director of The Lord of the Rings trilogy, turns 65.

Do you remember?

Who used to join you in singing along to Bohemian Rhapsody?