January 29th "2024" daily prep

Welcome to day 29, known as Curmudgeons Day, National Carnation Day, National Corn Chip Day, Puzzle Day. If you were born on this day, you were likely conceived the week of May 8th. Your star sign is Aquarius and your birthstone is Garnet.
1985 – Oxford University snubbed Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher by refusing her an honorary degree. Academics led a campaign against honouring Mrs. Thatcher in protest against the government’s cuts in funding for education.
Todays birthdays
1943 – Tony Blackburn (81), English radio presenter. He broadcast on the “pirate” stations Radio Caroline and Radio London in the 1960s and was the first disc jockey to broadcast on BBC Radio 1, in 1967, born in Guildford, Surrey.
1954 – Oprah Winfrey (70), American talk show host and actress (The Color Purple), born in Kosciusko, Mississippi, United States.
1964 – Anna Ryder Richardson (60), British interior designer and television presenter (Changing Rooms), born in Swansea, South Wales.
1970 – Heather Graham (54), American actress (Boogie Nights, From Hell, Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me), born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States.
1985 – Rag’n’Bone Man (39), English singer (“Human”, “Giant”), born in Uckfield, East Sussex.
The day today
1996 – French President Jacques Chirac announced France’s nuclear test program had finished. The announcement came after six months of global protests against France’s nuclear tests. President Jacques Chirac claimed that the tests ended not because of the protests, but because the nation finally had “at its disposal a durable weapon which is reliable and modern.”
2003 – Solicitor Sally Clark was cleared by the Court of Appeal of murdering her two sons after serving more than three years of a life sentence. Sadly, she never fully recovered from the effects of the appalling miscarriage of justice and was found dead at her home on 16th March 2007.
2014 – Cristiano Ronaldo became the first non-Spanish player to captain Real Madrid.
2015 – Lt. Danielle Welch was presented with her ‘wings’ by The Duke of York. She was the first and also the last woman to become a Royal Navy Lynx helicopter pilot, as the aircraft is due to be replaced in 2017.
2016 – The Land Rover Defender ceased production at 9:30am GMT (and at 8:30pm on the same day for the East Coast of Australia). Over 2 million Land Rover Series and Defender vehicles were produced since 1948. To mark the Defender’s passing, the Sunshine Coast Land Rover Owners’ Club held a gathering at the exact time that production ceased, to hold a wake and to remember the Defender.
Today in music
1996 – George Michael had the UK No.1 single with ‘Jesus To A Child’, the singers sixth UK No.1 as a solo artist and the first single from his come-back album ‘Older’, (after lengthy litigation with his record company).
2006 – Arctic Monkeys went to No.1 on the UK album chart with their debut album ‘Whatever People Say I Am That’s What I’m Not’. The Sheffield-based bands album became the fastest-selling debut in chart history after shifting more than 360,000 copies in its first week of release. The album’s title was taken from a line from the novel Saturday Night and Sunday Morning written by Alan Sillitoe.
2009 – Former American Idol winner Kelly Clarkson made the largest ever leap to number one in US chart history, rising 96 places. Her single, My Life Would Suck Without You, rose from 97 to the top of the Billboard chart after selling 280,000 downloads in its first week of release.
2016 – Three weeks after his death, David Bowie lodged 12 albums in the UK top 40, equalling a record set by Elvis Presley in 1977. His last album Blackstar, spent a third week at No.1 with Best of Bowie, Hunky Dory and Ziggy Stardust all in the Top 10.
2021 – Ed Sheeran had paid £28.2 million in tax in the past year according to The Sunday Times Tax List 2021, which features the UK’s 50 biggest taxpayers. The singer had earned a total of £70 million through his various companies in 2020.
Today in history
1595 – One of William Shakespeare’s most acclaimed plays, “Romeo & Juliet” was performed for the first time.
1801 – The birth of the illegitimate daughter of Lord Nelson and Emma Hamilton. She was christened Horatia Nelson Thompson. One of Nelson’s last wishes was that Horatia should take the name Nelson. He left her £200 a year in his will, adding : “I desire she will use in future the name of Nelson only.”
1820 – King George III died, aged 81. At the time he was the longest reigning monarch and served for more than 59 years.
1856 – Queen Victoria instituted Britain’s highest military decoration, the Victoria Cross (VC). The medal is awarded to British and Commonwealth armed forces for outstanding bravery ‘on the field of battle’. The medal was originally made from the metal of cannon captured from the Russians at Sevastopol, until the supply came to an end in 1942.
1888 – The death of Edward Lear, English artist, illustrator, author and poet, renowned today primarily for his limericks and his literary nonsense poems such as The Owl and the Pussycat.
Fact of the day
Sunglasses were not originally designed to protect your eyes from the sun. The original idea behind this was so that Chinese judges could hide their facial expressions in court. Today, they mainly serve as protective eyewear and as well as a fashionable accessory.