On this day December 31 1984 Rick Allen from Def Leppard lost his arm

[Pete]

On this day in 1984 Def Leppard's drummer Rick Allen lost his arm in a car accident. A car in front of theirs deliberately slowed for Allen to catch up, only to speed up as he tried to pass. This went on for several miles until, in frustration, Allen accelerated to finally pass, at which point he lost control of the left-hand-drive Corvette C4, which hit a dry stone wall and entered a field. His left arm was entangled in the seat belt and severed, remaining in the car while Allen was flung out. Doctors initially re-attached the arm, but it was later amputated due to an infection. Initially Allen felt 'defeated' but, buoyed by 'family, friends and hundreds of thousands of letters from all over the planet' he decided to continue playing drums with Def Leppard, and adopted a specially designed electronic drum kit. The band took a hiatus from onstage performances until 5 August 1986, (Rick Allen's first live performance since losing his left arm) instead doing a small run of public rehearsal shows in Ireland in advance of their 16 August 1986 Monsters of Rock festival performance at Castle Donington. He has since re-adopted partially acoustic drum kits depending on the setting. Read more..