January 5th "2024" daily prep

Welcome to day 5 of 2024! Known as National Bird Day, National Screenwriters Day and Twelfth Night (Twelfth Day Eve). If you were born on this day, you were likely conceived the week of April 14th. Your star sign is “Capricorn” and your birthstone is Garnet.
1993 – The oil tanker ‘Braer’ was wrecked in hurricane force winds off the Shetland Islands, discharging large amounts of crude oil.
Todays birthdays
1965 – Vinnie Jones (59), British actor (Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels) and former professional footballer (Wimbledon FC, Leeds Utd), born in Watford, London.
1969 – Marilyn Manson (55), American rock musician (“Mobscene”, “Personal Jesus”), born in Canton, Ohio, United States.
1974 – Iwan Thomas (50), Welsh sprinter (Great Britain and Northern Ireland at the Olympic Games in the 400 metres, and Wales at the Commonwealth Games), born in London.
1975 – Bradley Cooper (49), American actor (A Star is Born, American Sniper), born in Abington Township, Pennsylvania, United States.
1992 – Suki Waterhouse (32) English actress (The Divergent Series: Insurgent), singer-songwriter (“Melrose Meltdown”), born in Hammersmith, London.
The day today
1960 – The last journey of the Mumbles Railway, the oldest in the world. It was set up in 1804 as a goods railway running from Swansea to Mumbles Head, Wales, and began carrying passengers in 1807. The railway still holds the record for the highest number of forms of traction of any railway in the world – horse-drawn, sail power, steam power, electric power, petrol and diesel.
1971 – One-day cricket was born when 46,000 turned up to watch England play Australia at Melbourne. The test match had been rained off for several days previously. Australia won by 5 wickets (with 42 balls remaining).
1981 – Peter Sutcliffe, a 35-year-old lorry driver from Bradford, suspected of carrying out 13 murders across West Yorkshire over a period of five years, was formally charged in court.
2001 – A report funded by The Department of Health found that the convicted serial killer, former GP Harold Shipman, may have killed in excess of 300 of his patients. The official inquiry concluded that up to 15 patients who died between 1971 and 1974 at the former Pontefract general infirmary West Yorkshire could have been killed by Shipman, based on the investigation into 137 deaths at Pontefract that occurred while Shipman was a junior doctor there.
2021 – Scots were ordered to stay at home and work from home where possible amid a fresh Covid-19 lockdown which saw schools closed to most pupils until 1st February. Similarly a new lockdown in England saw schools and colleges closed to most pupils, with a switch to remote learning until after the February half-term holiday. Mark Drakeford, Wales’ first minister, said that Wales was likely to remain in lockdown for the rest of January as there was “not much headroom for change”.
Today in music
1964 – The Rolling Stones performed at the Ricky Tick club at the Olympia Ballroom in Reading, England. During the 1960s, the club was host to many important acts such as The Who, Jimi Hendrix, Pink Floyd and Cream. The Yardbirds were filmed performing in a recreation of the club built at MGM Studios in Borehamwood for Michelangelo Antonioni’s 1966 film Blow-Up.
1973 – Bruce Springsteen released his debut album ‘Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J.’ Recorded in a single week the album only sold about 25,000 copies in the first year of its release. Both ‘Blinded By The Light’ and ‘Spirit In The Night’ were released as singles but neither made a dent in the charts. Manfred Mann’s Earth Band later released a version of ‘Blinded By The Light’ on their album ‘The Roaring Silence,’ which reached No.1 on the US charts in 1977.
1989 – Winners in music weekly Melody Makers Readers Poll results, The Mission won best band, best live act, best single and best album. Morrissey won best male singer, Julianne Regan from All About Eve best female singer, worst LP went to Bros with ‘Push’ and best new band was won by House Of Love.
1991 – Iron Maiden went to No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Bring Your Daughter To The Slaughter.’ The second single from their album No Prayer for the Dying, became the lowest selling No.1 since 1960, with just over 42,000 copies sold in its first week. The song was originally recorded and released by Bruce Dickinson for the soundtrack to A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child, but Iron Maiden bassist Steve Harris liked it so Iron Maiden re-recorded it.
2001 – Kirsty MacColl was laid to rest at a private funeral ceremony, ahead of a public memorial to pay tribute to her life. The singer songwriter was killed in a boating accident on 18th Dec 2000.
Today in history
1066 – The death of Edward the Confessor, usually considered the last king of the House of Wessex. He was called ‘the Confessor’ because of his great piety. He died childless, sparking a succession crisis that led to the Norman Conquest.
1531 – Pope Clemens VII forbade English King Henry VIII to re-marry. The event led to the creation of the Church of England.
1757 – Louis XV of France survived an attempt on his life from Robert-François Damiens, a lowly domestic servant. Damiens had apparently gone into a religious frenzy and attempted to assassinate the king but failed. It didn’t help that all he’d tried to stab King Louis with was a pocket knife, and the king was wearing a thick winter coat. The would-be assassin was tortured and sentenced to death.
1906 – Kathleen Kenyon, British archaeologist, was born. She used radio carbon dating to date the remains of Jericho (among the oldest cities in the world which dates back 11,000 years to 9000 BCE).
1922 – Sir Ernest Shackleton, British Antarctic explorer, died of a heart attack off South Georgia. At his wife’s request he was buried there. It was his fourth expedition, aimed at circumnavigating the Antarctic in what he described as the one remaining object of Antarctic journeying; the crossing of the continent from sea to sea, via the pole.
Fact of the day
Europeans were scared of eating tomatoes when they were introduced Scholars think Hernán Cortés brought the seeds in 1519 with the intent of the fruits being used ornamentally in gardens. By the 1700s, aristocrats started eating tomatoes, but they were convinced the fruits were poisonous because people would die after eating them. In reality, the acidity from the tomatoes brought out the lead in their pewter plates, and they actually died of lead poisoning.