February 3
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Three young rock 'n' roll stars have been killed in a plane crash in the United States. Buddy Holly, 22, Jiles P Richardson - known as the Big Bopper - 28, and Ritchie Valens, 17, died in a crash shortly after take-off from Clear Lake, Iowa at 0100 local time. The pilot of the single-engined Beechcraft Bonanza plane was also killed. Early reports from the scene suggest the aircraft spun out of control during a light snowstorm. Only the pilot's body was found inside the wreckage as the performers were thrown clear on impact. Holly hired the plane after heating problems developed on his tourbus. All three were travelling to Fargo, North Dakota, the next venue in their Winter Dance Party Tour Holly had set up thegruellingschedule of concerts - covering 24 cities in three weeks - to make money after the break-up of his band, The Crickets, last year. Born Charles Hardin Holley - changed to Holly after a misspelling on a contract - he had several hit records, including a number one, in the US and UK with That'll be the Day in 1957. A singer and guitarist, he was inspired by Elvis Presley after seeing him at an early concert in his home town of Lubbock, Texas. With Presley serving in the Army, some critics expected Holly to take over his crown. Richard Valenzuela was the first Mexican American to break into mainstream music, after being discovered by record producer Bob Keane, who changed his name to Ritchie Valens. He had made three albums and achieved a number two chart position in the US with his composition Donna - about his girlfriend - in 1958. His rock 'n' roll re-working of the traditional Mexican song La Bamba - on the B-side of Donna - has also received acclaim. The Big Bopper had been a record-breaking radio DJ - with a 122-hour marathon stint - and reached number six in the American charts with his record Chantilly Lace. "Whether we like it or not," he said, "this growth of national consciousness is a political fact." The government's aim, he said, was to "create a society which respects the rights of individuals - a society in which individual merit, and individual merit alone, is the criterion for a man's advancement, whether political or economic." Nationalist Party politicians listened to him in silence, and a number refused to applaud when he had finished. Dr Verwoerd, the South African Prime Minister and the architect of the apartheid system, thanked Mr Macmillan for his speech, but said he could not agree. "We are the people who brought civilisation to Africa," he said. "To do justice in Africa means not only being just to the black man of Africa, but also to the white man of Africa." Mr Macmillan's speech is the first time a senior international figure has given voice to the growing protest against South Africa's laws of strict racial segregation. The speech was widely anticipated throughout the country, as Mr Macmillan had already said he would take the chance to say what he thought about the situation in South Africa. Even so, the plain-speaking nature of the speech took many in Cape Town by surprise. Mr Macmillan is in South Africa at the end of a month-long tour of the African continent, in which he has travelled about 17,000 miles. His visit was always controversial, and many accused him of giving the Nationalist Party credibility by allowing himself to be a guest of the South African government. His speech today is likely to lay those criticisms to rest. apartheid: a social policy or racial segregation involving political and economic and legal discrimination against non-whites（南非的种族隔离） |
