February 27th "2024" daily prep
Welcome to day 58, known as National Pokemon Day, The Big Breakfast Day and Retro Day. If you were born on this day, you were likely conceived the week of June 6th in the previous year. Your star sign is Pisces and your birthstone is Amethyst.
1939 – Built in 1862 the Borley Rectory in Essex which was famously described as the “most haunted house in England” was badly damaged by fire. It was finally demolished in 1944.
Todays birthdays
1951 – Steve Harley (73), English singer and songwriter (“Come Up and See Me”), born in Deptford, London.
1957 – Timothy Spall (67), English actor “Auf Wiedersehen Pet, The King’s Speech, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street), born in Battersea, London.
1971 – Derren Brown (53), English mentalist, illusionist, and writer (“Derren Brown: Trick of the Mind”), born in Purley, Croyden, London.
1973 – Peter Andre (51), British singer (“Mysterious Girl”) and television personality, born in Harrow, London.
1983 – Kate Mara (41), American actress (Shooter, House of Cards, The Martian, 127 Hours, American Horror Story), born in Bedford, New York, United States.
Famous deaths
1892 – Louis Vuitton (b. 1821), French fashion designer and businessman, founded Louis Vuitton.
2002 – Spike Milligan (b. 1918), Irish soldier, actor, comedian (The Goon Show), and author (Silly Verse for Kids).
2015 – Leonard Nimoy (b. 1931), American actor (Spock – Star Trek Franchise).
The day today
1939 – Built in 1862 the Borley Rectory in Essex which was famously described as the “most haunted house in England” was badly damaged by fire. It was finally demolished in 1944.
1943 – The Holocaust: In Berlin, the Gestapo arrest 1,800 Jewish men with German wives, leading to the Rosenstrasse protest.
1998 – Britain’s House of Lords agreed to give a monarch’s first-born daughter the same claim to the throne as any first-born son. This was the end to 1,000 years of male preference.
1999 – English duo Colin Prescot and Andy Elson set a new hot air balloon endurance record when they had been aloft for 233 hours and 55 minutes. The two were in the process of trying to circumnavigate the Earth.
2019 – The world’s smallest baby was finally released from the hospital months after being born. The baby boy was born in Tokyo, Japan, at 24 weeks and weighed just 9.45 oz.
Today in music
1964 – The Rolling Stones made their second appearance on BBC TV show Top Of The Pops performing their latest single ‘Not Fade Away’.
1980 – Winners at the Grammy Awards included: song of the year, ‘What A Fool Believes’, The Doobie Brothers, album of the year, Billy Joel’s ’52nd St’, best new artist, Rickie Lee Jones, best disco record, ‘I Will Survive’ Gloria Gaynor.
1993 – After 14 weeks at No.1 on the US singles chart, ‘I Will Always Love You’, gave Whitney Houston the longest ever US chart topper, taking over from Boyz II Men’s hit ‘End Of The Road’, and became the second biggest selling single in the US. Recorded by Houston for the soundtrack to her film debut, The Bodyguard, the song quickly became one of the world’s Best Selling Singles of all time.
1999 – Britney Spears started a two-week run at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘…Baby One More Time’. It became the biggest UK selling single of the year and also a No.1 in the US. It was originally written for TLC but the song was submitted after completion of their third record, FanMail.
2019 – American singer Ariana Grande was at No.1 on the UK charts with her fifth studio album Thank U, Next. The album was preceded by two singles; the title track and ‘7 Rings’, both of which debuted atop the Billboard Hot 100 chart, becoming Grande’s first two No.1 songs in the US.
Today in history
1560 – The Treaty of Berwick is signed by England and the Lords of the Congregation of Scotland, establishing the terms under which English armed forces were to be permitted in Scotland in order to expel occupying French troops.
1700 – English explorer and Pirate, William Dampier is the 1st British person to visit the Pacific Island of New Britain, which he named. He was also the first Englishman to chart part of the Australian coastline, and the first European to undertake a scientific study of its landscape, seas, plants and animals.
1812 – Poet Lord Byron gives his first address as a member of the House of Lords, in defense of Luddite violence against Industrialism in his home county of Nottinghamshire.
1900 – Second Boer War: In South Africa, British military leaders receive an unconditional notice of surrender from Boer General Piet Cronjé at the Battle of Paardeberg.
1900 – The British Labour Party was founded having grown out of the trade union movement and socialist parties of the 19th century. It overtook the Liberal Party to become the main opposition to the Conservative Party in the early 1920s, forming two minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in the 1920s and early 1930s.