January 26th "2024" daily prep
Welcome to day 26, known as International Customs Day, National Green Juice Day, Peanut Brittle Day, Spouses’ Day. If you were born on this day, you were likely conceived the week of May 5th. Your star sign is Aquarius and your birthstone is Garnet.
1926 – John Logie Baird gave a special public demonstration of television to members of the Royal Institution in London. Baird’s invention used mechanical rotating disks to scan moving images into electronic impulses.
Todays birthdays
1958 – Ellen DeGeneres (66), American comedian (Ellen), television host (The Ellen DeGeneres Show), born in Metairie, Louisiana, United States.
1961 – Wayne Gretzky (63) Canadian former ice hockey player (Edmonton Oilers, New York Rangers) and hall of famer (Stanley Cup 1984, 85, 87, 88), born in Ontario, Canada.
1963 – Andrew Ridgley (61), British singer-songwriter, best known for his work in the 1980s in the musical duo Wham! (“Wake me up before you go-go”), born in Windlesham, Surrey.
1963 – José Mourinho (61), Portuguese football manager (Porto, Chelsea, Inter Milan, Manchester Utd, Real Madrid, Tottenham, Roma), born in Lisbon, Portugal.
1996 – Tyger Drew-Honey (28), English actor (Outnumbered, Horrid Henry: The Movie) and television presenter, born in Epsom, Surrey.
The day today
1908 – The 1st Glasgow Boy Scout group, the first Scout group ever, was registered. Today, there are nearly 32 million members in 218 countries and territories and the movement is still growing. In the UK, the total membership is over 500,000.
1926 – John Logie Baird gave a special public demonstration of television to members of the Royal Institution in London. Baird’s invention used mechanical rotating disks to scan moving images into electronic impulses.
1968 – The National Provincial Bank and the Westminster Bank merged to form the National Westminster (NatWest).
2014 – Police stopped a learner driver for speeding on the M62 in West Yorkshire. She was accompanied only by her pet parrot. ‘Since parrots are not allowed to supervise learner drivers, her vehicle has been seized,’ police tweeted.
2020 – A helicopter carrying nine people, including Kobe Bryant and his daughter, crashed in California with no survivors.
Today in music
1973 – Sweet were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Blockbuster’. The glam rockers only UK No.1 of 15 Top 40 hits.
1991 – Queen had their second UK No.1 with ‘Innuendo’. At 6 minutes 30 seconds, it exceeded their epic ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ by 35 seconds and became the third longest UK No.1 song of all time, behind The Beatles ‘Hey Jude’ and Simple Minds ‘Belfast Child’ (subsequently the 9 minutes 38 seconds ‘All Around The World’ by Oasis took over the top slot and demoted Innuendo to fourth place). For ‘Innuendo’s’ flamenco guitar solo, Brian May was joined by Yes guitarist Steve Howe.
2004 – John Lydon was one of ten contestants to take part in the latest I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here UK TV show set in the Australian outback. The former Sex Pistols singer was seen by 11 million viewers on the first night covered in bird seed being pecked by giant ostriches. Lydon who was paid £25,000 ($42,500) to appear in the show, but walked off the jungle set after four days.
2008 – Alicia Keys was at No.1 on the US album chart with her third album ‘As I Am’. The album sold over 742,000 copies in its first week the largest ever first week sales for any female R&B artist.
2020 – Billie Eilish swept the board at the 2020 Grammys, winning five awards, including best new artist and song of the year becoming the first person to achieve the feat since Christopher Cross in 1981. The 18-year-old also won album of the year for her debut, When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go. She replaced Taylor Swift as the youngest person ever to win the award. Her elder brother, Finneas O’Connell, also picked up producer of the year for his work on Eilish’s album.
Today in history
1788 – The British First Fleet, led by Arthur Phillip, sailed into Port Jackson (Sydney Harbour) to establish Sydney, the first permanent European settlement on the continent. 26th January is now commemorated as Australia Day.
1823 – The death of Edward Jenner, the pioneer of smallpox vaccine. Sometimes referred to as the ‘Father of Immunology’; it’s been said that his work ‘saved more lives than the work of any other man’.
1834 – The death of Jean Armour, wife of the poet Robert Burns. They had nine children, three of whom survived into adulthood. She was buried beside her famous husband in the mausoleum in Saint Michael’s Cemetery, Dumfries.
1885 – The British commander of Khartoum, General Charles Gordon, was killed during the attack on Khartoum by troops of the Mahdi following a 10 month siege.
1907 – A riot broke out in the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, on the first night of J.M. Synge’s Playboy of the Western World, when the audience took offence at the ‘foul language’. The riots continued for a week, but the show went on, heavily guarded by police.
Fact of the day
The Russians arrived 12 days late to the 1908 Olympics.
This was mainly due to the fact that they were following the wrong calendar. After this incident, the catholic nations mandated the use of the Gregorian Calendar.