October 31st "2023" daily prep

Happy Halloween! Welcome to day 304 of the year! Known as Magic Day and National Knock-Knock Jokes Day. If you were born on this day, you were likely conceived the week of February 7th 2023. Your star sign is “Scorpio”.

The Halloween holiday has its roots in the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain (a Gaelic word pronounced “SAH-win”), a pagan religious celebration to welcome the harvest at the end of summer, when people would light bonfires and wear costumes to ward off ghosts.
Todays birthdays
1961 – Peter Jackson (62), He is best known as the director, writer and producer of the Lord of the Rings trilogy and the Hobbit trilogy, born in Pukerua Bay, Porirua, New Zealand.
1963 – Johnny Marr (60), British guitarist and songwriter (The Smiths – “This Charming Man”; “Ask”), born in Ardwick, Manchester.
1963 – Sanjeev Bhaskar (60), British actor, comedian and television presenter. He is best known for his work in the BBC Two sketch comedy series Goodness Gracious Me and as the star of the sitcom The Kumars at No. 42, born in Ealing, London.
1972 – Matt Dawson MBE (51), English rugby union scrum half (77 caps England, 7 British & Irish Lions; Northampton, London Wasps) and broadcaster (A Question of Sport, BBC), born in Birkenhead.
1997 – Marcus Rashford (26), English professional footballer who plays as a forward for Premier League club Manchester United and the England national team, born in Manchester.
The day today
1951 – The first zebra crossing was introduced on Slough High Street. Pedestrian crossings with Belisha beacons (amber-coloured globe lamp atop a tall black and white striped pole) had been in use in the UK since the 1930s, originally introduced under Section 18 of the Road Traffic Act, 1934.
1964 – The Windmill Theatre off London’s Piccadilly Circus finally closed after 32 years. Their slogan ‘We Never Closed’ was a tribute to them staying open to troops during the war.
1988 – Coventry became Britain’s first city to introduce a by-law banning the drinking of alcohol in public places. Coventry was made famous much earlier by Lady Godiva who, in July 1040, clothed only in her long hair, rode through the city after her husband agreed to repeal the taxes if she would strip naked and ride through the streets.
1999 – Medal of Honor was released for PlayStation, instantly becoming the best shooter to date. The story for this iconic WWII game was written and directed by Steven Spielberg, who was inspired to create a game based on the war after watching his son play Goldeneye 007. He wrote the story for Medal of Honor at the same time he was working on Saving Private Ryan.
2011 – The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) stated that the world’s population had reached seven billion. This became known as the Day of Seven Billion.
Today in music
1963 – Gerry And The Pacemakers were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone.’ The group’s third and final No.1.
1974 – Led Zeppelin held the UK launch for their new record label Swan Song at Chislehurst Caves, Kent, England on Halloween night. Drinks were served by nuns in suspenders, a naked woman lay in a coffin covered in jelly and naked male wrestlers cavorted in recesses of the caves. Label mates Bad Company, The Pretty Things and Maggie Bell also attended. The launch also tied in with the releases of The Pretty Things new album Silk Torpedo. The label was named after an unreleased Zeppelin instrumental track.
1998 – Chart history was made when the UK Top 5 singles chart was made up entirely of new entries. Alanis Morissette went in at No.5, Culture Club at No.4, U2 at No.3, George Michael at No.2 and Cher with ‘Believe’ at No.1. It made Cher (who was 52) the first female artist to have a No.1 single over the age of 50. The song was a No.1 in 23 countries.
2007 – 22-year-old X Factor winner singer Leona Lewis helped boost UK online music downloads to a record 1.7 million in one week making it the biggest week ever for download sales. Lewis sold more than 106,000 downloads of her track ‘Bleeding Love.’
2015 – One Direction played the final gig of their world tour before their self-proclaimed extended break. The show in Sheffield, England was the last of 80 shows across 20 countries. But 1D insisted they were not splitting up and instead wanted to focus on solo projects.
Halloween facts
1 – Halloween means saint’s evening. Some of the earliest uses of the word Halloween or Hallowe’en date back as far as 1745, in association with Christian origins. The word Hallowe’en in Scottish means saints evening and would have been written as All Hallows’ Eve. The word “eve” or “even,” shortening of evening in Scottish, would sometimes be written or pronounced as een or e’en. Over time, All Hallows Evening became abbreviated to Hallowe’en.
2 – Originally wearing a mask at Halloween was for protection. Masks at Halloween were initially worn to ward off evil spirits. People believed that at Halloween, souls would come back to walk the earth, looking for lives to take with them. So the theory was that if you wore a scary mask, you would scare off the evil spirits.
3 – Guising was the original trick-or-treating. Guising was a British term used for the act of dressing up in a way so that your identity is disguised. The act of guising has been recorded in Scotland from as early as the 16th Century. One of the main ways of “guising” was to wear a mask or face covering on Halloween. In the 1800s, this began to develop into wearing masquerade masks whilst going round to homes “souling” or asking for fruit.
4 – Covering a dead body with a white sheet was the inspiration for one of the first Halloween outfits. Originally the idea of wearing a white sheet came from the dead. When someone dies, a white sheet is laid on top of them. The idea of wearing a sheet over you created the illusion that there might be a dead person underneath.
5 – The spirit of “Stingy Jack” is scared away by jack-o’-lanterns. In Ireland, the myth of Stingy Jack is where the idea of carving pumpkins originated from. The myth explains that Stingy Jack tricked the Devil for monetary gain. When he died, God would not accept him into Heaven, and the Devil banished him from Hell. So he was left to roam the earth and terrorize humans on Halloween. As a result, people began to carve faces on vegetables to scare his spirit away on Halloween.
6 – The fear of Halloween is called Samhainophobia. The word Samhainophobia comes from the word “Samhain,” which means summer’s end. Most cases of Samhainophobia are caused by a traumatic experience or panic attack around certain elements of Halloween.
7 – Halloween traditions have been around since 4000 B.C. Halloween-related celebrations and beliefs have been around for an estimated 6,000 years. Traditions are believed to have come from Ancient Celtic harvest traditions. The Gaelic festival Samhain is considered one of the roots of Halloween as there are many similarities and thoughts about the veil between life and death being at its thinnest.
8 – The word “bonfire” comes from the tradition of burning bones on Halloween. A bonfire was a key element of the Samhain festival, which celebrated summer’s end. Halloween traditions have stemmed from Samhain traditions, one being to have a large bonfire. The word bonfire comes from the Samhain tradition of a “bone fire.” To mark the end of summer, a bonfire would be made, on which bones and cuttings from crops were thrown on top to ensure a good crop for the following year. This ritual led to the creation of the joining of words “bone fire” to create “bonfire.”
9 – Giving birth on Halloween is considered bad luck. There are many old wives’ tales about giving birth on Halloween and the possible implications it might have on your child. Tales tell us that a child born on Halloween will be cursed for their life and might have special powers. It is thought that a baby born on Halloween might be able to speak to the dead and have double vision.
10 – Originally turnips were used for carving at Halloween. The tradition of carving Jack-o’-lanterns out of pumpkins comes from an Irish tradition of carving turnips. Turnips were carved to scare off Jack’s soul, and when Irish immigrants moved to the US, they began to use pumpkins instead. This is where the tradition of carving pumpkins at Halloween came from.
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