Brimful of Asha

"On this day in 1949, RCA Victor released the first 45 rpm Texarkana Baby by Eddy Arnold and in doing so gave birth to what became a phenomenon.
"Intended as a smaller, more durable and better quality replacement for the old 78 rpm shellac discs, the 45 rpm single became so popular that during its peak in the late 1970s, as many as 89 million singles were sold in the UK in just one year."

Charlie Taylor in The Irish Times marks the sixtieth anniversary of the seven-inch record.