January 8th "2024" daily prep
Welcome to day 8 of 2024! Known as Argyle Day, Bubble Bath Day, National Winter Skin Day, War on Poverty Day. If you were born on this day, you were likely conceived the week of April 17th. Your star sign is “Capricorn” and your birthstone is Garnet.
2004 – The liner RMS Queen Mary 2, was named by Queen Elizabeth II. At the time of her construction in 2003 she was the longest, widest and tallest passenger ship ever built.
Todays birthdays
1937 – Shirley Bassey (87), Welsh singer (“Big Spender”) known for her powerful voice and recording the theme songs to three James Bond films, born in Tiger bay, Cardiff.
1939 – Carolina Herrera (85), Venezuelan fashion designer known for her personal style, and for dressing various First Ladies (Michelle Obama, Melania Trump), born in Caracas,Venezuela.
1973 – Sean Paul (50), Jamaican rapper and singer (“Get Busy”, “No Lie” – Ft Dua Lipa), born in Kingston, Jamaica.
1978 – Marco Fu (46), Hong Kong professional snooker player and three-time ranking event winner, having won the 2007 Grand Prix, the 2013 Australian Goldfields Open and the 2016 Scottish Open, born in British Hong Kong.
1987 – Cynthia Erivo (37), British Emmy, Grammy, and Tony Award-winning stage and screen actress (The Color Purple; Harriet) and singer-songwriter (“Stand Up”), born in London.
The day today
1967 – The Forsyte Saga, the television adaptation of Galsworthy’s novel, screened its first episode. It was so popular that for the six months of its run, many churches had to change the times of their services!
1982 – Spain reopened the frontier of the British colony of Gibraltar. In return, Britain agreed to open negotiations on Gibraltar’s future, and ended its opposition to Spain joining the EEC.
1989 – 47 people were killed and over 80 injured when a British Midland 737-400 jet crashed on the M1 motorway. Remarkably nobody travelling on the motorway was hurt. The plane had developed a problem in its left engine shortly after it took off from Heathrow. The pilots mistakenly believed that the fault was in the right hand engine which they shut down, leading to the crash, just yards from the runway of East Midlands Airport.
2001 – The High Court ruled that the identities and whereabouts of Robert Thompson and Jon Venables, who murdered toddler James Bulger in 1993 would be kept secret for the rest of their lives. Venables was subsequently returned to prison in March 2010 for other offences and it was decided that he would stay in prison ‘for the foreseeable future’, as he would be likely to reveal his identity if released. A mere 18 months later it was reported that the Parole Board for England and Wales had approved the release of Venables, who was subsequently released from prison on 3rd September 2013.
2004 – The liner RMS Queen Mary 2, was named by Queen Elizabeth II. At the time of her construction in 2003 she was the longest, widest and tallest passenger ship ever built, and at 151,400 gross tons, she was also the largest.
Today in music
1972 – The New Seekers were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘I’d Like To Teach The World To Sing, (in Perfect Harmony’). The song started as a Coca Cola TV ad. It originally included the line, ‘I’d like to buy the world a Coke.’
1994 – Jamaican reggae/rap (ragga) duo Chaka Demus and Pliers were at No.1 in the UK with their version of ‘Twist And Shout.’ The song was originally recorded (and produced by Phil Spector) by the Top Notes in 1961 and then covered by The Isley Brothers. It was also covered by The Beatles on their first album Please Please Me.
2000 – It was reported that police foiled a £1 million ($1.7million) kidnap plot to snatch Victoria Beckham and her baby son. The plot was uncovered after a tip off to the police. The gang had planned to kidnap the pair when husband David was away playing football.
2010 – Jimmy Page launched a new set of stamps in the UK which featured classic album covers from the last 40 years including Coldplay, Power, Corruption And Lies, New Order, David Bowie and Parklife by Blur.
2016 – David Bowie released his twenty-fifth and final studio album Blackstar, coinciding with his 69th birthday and two days before his death. It became his first and only album to reach No.1 on the Billboard 200 album chart in the US. At the 59th Annual Grammy Awards, the album won awards for Best Alternative Music Album; Best Engineered Album; Best Recording Package, and the title single won Best Rock Performance, and Best Rock Song. The album was also awarded the British Album of the Year award at the 2017 Brit Awards.
Today in history
871 AD – Alfred the Great (born in Oxfordshire) led a West Saxon army to repel an invasion by the Vikings.
1493 – Christopher Columbus sighted manatees for the first time ever. He found them near the Dominican Republic after mistaking them for mermaids. When he described them, he said they were “not half as beautiful as they are painted.”
1746 – Bonnie Prince Charlie occupied Stirling. Such early successes would prove short-lived for the pretender to the throne. His army seized control of the town but failed to take the castle and subsequently retreated northwards.
1800 – London opened its first soup kitchens for the poor. The Aberdeen Soup Kitchen was established as a charity to feed the needy in 1800. It operated until the 1990s, when it was converted to a café, as its original purpose was thought no longer necessary.
1815 – Britain lost the last battle it ever fought against the US in the War of 1812 when General Sir Edward Pakenham and his men were defeated at New Orleans.
Fact of the day
Bees can make coloured honey.
In France, there’s a biogas plant that manages waste from a Mars chocolate factory, where M&Ms are made. Beekeepers nearby noticed that their bees were making “unnatural shades of green and blue” honey. A spokesperson from the British Beekeepers’ Association theorised that the bees eating the sugary M&M waste caused the coloured honey.