February 15th "2024" daily prep
Welcome to day 46, known as International Childhood Cancer Day, Anthropology Day and World Hippo Day. If you were born on this day, you were likely conceived the week of May 25th in the previous year. Your star sign is Aquarius and your birthstone is Amethyst.
1998 – The Angel of the North, a 66ft tall steel sculpture by Antony Gormley is installed at Gateshead.
Todays birthdays
1945 – John Helliwell (79), English musician (Supertramp – “The Logical Song”, “Give a Little Bit”), born in Todmorden, West Yorkshire.
1951 – Jane Seymour (73), English actress (Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, Live and Let Die, East of Eden), born in Uxbridge, Hillingdon, London.
1954 – Matt Groening (70), American cartoonist, writer, producer, and animator (The Simpsons, Futurama), born in Portland, Oregon, United States.
1959 – Ali Campbell (65), English singer and songwriter (UB40 – “Red Red Wine”, “Kingston Town”, “Cherry Oh Baby”), born in Birmingham, West Midlands.
1960 – Mikey Craig (64), British musician and DJ best known as the bassist of the pop/soul/new wave group Culture Club (“Karma Chameleon”), born in Hammersmith, London.
Famous deaths
1988 – Richard Feynman (b. 1918), American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate.
2020 – Caroline Flack (b. 1979), English actress and TV presenter.
2023 – Raquel Welch (b. 1940), American actress and singer.
The day today
1923 – Greece becomes the last European country to adopt the Gregorian calendar.
1952 – King George VI of the United Kingdom is buried in St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle.
1961 – Sabena Flight 548 crashes in Belgium, killing 73, including the entire United States figure skating team along with several of their coaches and family members.
1971 – Great Britain ditched their Pence and Shillings currency values for decimal varieties. The Pence and Shilling had been used in Britain for 1,200 years.
1998 – The Angel of the North, a 66ft tall steel sculpture by Antony Gormley is installed at Gateshead. The sculpture was commissioned and delivered by Gateshead Council who approached Gormley to be the sculptor. Although initially reluctant, Gormley agreed to undertake the project after visiting and being inspired by the Angel’s proposed site, a former colliery overlooking the varied topography of the Tyne and Wear Lowlands National Character Area.
Today in music
1968 – John and Cynthia John Lennon, along with George and Patti Harrison, flew to India to study meditation with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. Paul and Ringo joined them a few days later, but Starr would become bored and leave on March 1st, comparing the experience to be like a ‘Butlins holiday camp.’ Much of the Beatles’ The White Album was written during their stay.
1979 – At the 21st Grammy Awards, the ‘Saturday Night Fever’ soundtrack won Album of the Year and The Bee Gees were named Best Pop Group and Best Arrangement for Voices for ‘Staying Alive’. Billy Joel’s ‘Just the Way You Are’ won Record and Song of the Year. Donna Summer’s ‘Last Dance’ won two Grammys: Best Female R&B Vocal and Best R&B Song.
1997 – U2 went to No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Discotheque’, the bands third UK No.1 single. The entire track was leaked onto the internet in December 1996, forcing U2 to move the release date.
2006 – Winners at this year’s Brit Awards included, James Blunt who won British male solo artist, British female solo artist went to KT Tunstall. Coldplay won Best British album for X&Y and Best British single for ‘Speed of Sound.’ Kaiser Chiefs won Best British group and Best British Live Act, British urban act went to Lemar, British breakthrough act was Arctic Monkeys, International breakthrough act was won by Jack Johnson, with Madonna winning International female solo artist. Green Day won International group and Best International album with American Idiot and Outstanding contribution to music went to Paul Weller.
2015 – Mark Ronson’s ‘Uptown Funk’ reached the one million sales mark, 10 weeks after it was first released becoming the 158th track to reach the million mark in British charts history. The song, from the soundtrack to the Fifty Shades Of Grey film also became the most-streamed track ever in the UK.
Today in history
399 BC – The Greek philosopher Socrates was sentenced to death for corrupting the minds of Athens’s youth.
He chose not to flee the city and take his execution by drinking hemlock, a highly poisonous plant from the carrot family.
1220 – Khwarezmian city of Bukhara taken by Genghis Khan’s Mongol army after a 12-day siege, with the death of about 30,000 of its citizens.
1804 – New Jersey in the United States, becomes the last northern state to abolish slavery. The 1804 statute and subsequent laws freed children born after the law was passed.
1861 – English mathematician and philosopher Alfred North Whitehead, who was perhaps best known for his work on Principia Mathematica, was born in Ramsgate, Kent.
1864 – Heineken International was founded by Gerard Adriaan in Amsterdam in the Netherlands. As of 2019, Heineken owns over 165 breweries in more than 70 countries.