August 6th "2023" daily prep

Welcome to day 218 of the year! Known as Fresh Breath Day, Root Beer Float Day and Wiggle Your Toes Day. If you were born today, you were likely conceived the week of November 13th 2022 and have the star sign “Leo”.
2012 – Pioneering astronomer and physicist Sir Bernard Lovell, the founder of University of Manchester’s Jodrell Bank Observatory died, aged 98.
Todays birthdays
1962 – Michelle Yeoh (61), Chinese-Malaysian actress (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Tomorrow Never Dies), born in Ipoh, Federation of Malaya.
1972 – Geri Horner (51), British pop singer “Ginger Spice” (Spice Girls), born in Watford, England.
1976 – Melissa George (47), Australian actress (Home and Away, Paradise Lost), born in Perth, Australia.
1983 – Robin van Persie (40), Dutch footballer (Netherlands, Arsenal, Manchester United), born in Rotterdam, Netherlands.
1990 – Ferne McCann (33), English model, television personality and presenter (The Only Way Is Essex), born in Essex, England.
The day today
1889 – The Savoy Hotel in London was opened.
1949 – The ‘acid bath murderer’ John Haigh was executed. He was convicted of the murders of six people, although he claimed to have killed a total of nine, dissolving their bodies in concentrated sulphuric acid before forging papers in order to sell their possessions and collect substantial sums of money.
1962 – Jamaica became independent, after being a British colony for 300 years.
1990 – Gulf War: The United Nations Security Council ordered a global trade embargo against Iraq in response to Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait.
2009 – The funeral service took place at Wells Cathedral for Britain’s last World War I veteran Harry Patch, aged 111
Today in music
1977 – This week’s UK Top 5 singles: No.5 ‘Fanfare For The Common Man’, ELP. No.4, ‘Pretty Vacant’, the Sex Pistols. No.3, ‘Angelo’ Brotherhood Of Man’. No.2, ‘Ma Baker’, Boney M and No.1, ‘I Feel Love’ Donna Summer.
1988 – Yazz and the Plastic Population started a five week run at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘The Only Way Is Up’. The song was originally released as the title track to the 1982 album by soul singer Otis Clay.
2001 – Whitney Houston became one of the highest-paid musicians in the world after signing a new deal with Arista records, said to be worth more than $100m.
2004 – Rick James was found dead at his Los Angeles home. Known as ‘The King of Punk-Funk’ James scored the 1981 US No.3 album ‘Street Songs’ and 1981 US No.16 single ‘Super Freak part 1’. In the late 60s James worked as a songwriter and producer for Motown, working with Smokey Robinson and The Miracles. Addicted to cocaine, he once admitted to spending $7,000 a week on drugs for five years.
2012 – Forbes declared Beyoncé and Jay-Z the highest-paid celebrity couple, with earnings of $78 million ($40 million for her, $38 for him).
Historical events
1809 – Alfred Tennyson, English poet was born. He is the second most frequently quoted writer in The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, (after Shakespeare). Tennyson wrote a number of phrases that have become commonplaces of the English language, including “Better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all”, and “Theirs not to reason why, theirs but to do and die”.
1844 – The first UK press telegram was sent, to The Times, announcing the birth of Prince Alfred to Queen Victoria.
1881 – Sir Alexander Fleming, scientist, Scottish bacteriologist and discoverer of penicillin was born.
1914 – World War I: U-boat campaign: Two days after the United Kingdom had declared war on Germany over the German invasion of Belgium, ten German U-boats leave their base in Heligoland to attack Royal Navy warships in the North Sea.
1945 – World War II: Hiroshima, Japan is devastated when the atomic bomb “Little Boy” is dropped by the United States B-29 Enola Gay. Around 70,000 people are killed instantly, and some tens of thousands die in subsequent years from burns and radiation poisoning.
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