February 28th "2024" daily prep
Welcome to day 59, known as Tooth Fairy Day, National Chocolate Soufflé Day, Global Scouse Day. If you were born on this day, you were likely conceived the week of June 7th in the previous year. Your star sign is Pisces and your birthstone is Amethyst.
1975 – In London, an underground train fails to stop at Moorgate terminus station and crashes into the end of the tunnel, killing 43 people.
Todays birthdays
1940 – Mario Andretti (84), Italian-born American former racing driver (Formula One, IndyCar, the World Sportscar Championship, and NASCAR), born in Montona, Istria, Italy
(current day Motovun, Croatia).
1957 – Ainsley Harriott (67), English chef and television presenter (Ready Steady Cook), born in Paddington, London.
1961 – Barry McGuigan (63), Irish boxing promoter and former professional boxer (WBA and lineal featherweight titles from 1985 to 1986), born in Clones, Ireland.
1972 – Amanda Abbington (52), English actress (Doc Martin, Sherlock, Mr Selfridge), born in North London.
1994 – Jake Bugg (30), English singer-songwriter (“Lightning Bolt”), born in Nottingham, Nottinghamshire.
Famous deaths
1998 – Dermot Morgan (b. 1952), Irish comedian and actor, best known for his role as Father Ted Crilly on the Channel 4 sitcom Father Ted.
2003 – Chris Brasher (b. 1928), Guyanese-English runner and journalist, co-founded the London Marathon.
2005 – Chris Curtis (b. 1941) , English singer and drummer (The Searchers).
The day today
1974 – The British election ended in a hung parliament after the Jeremy Thorpe-led Liberal Party achieved their biggest vote.
1975 – A London underground train crashes into the end of the tunnel at Moorgate station. The Moorgate tube crash claimed 43 lives and was the deadliest accident in the London Underground in during peacetime. The cause has never been discovered.
1983 – The final episode of M*A*S*H airs, with almost 110 million viewers.
2001 – 10 people are killed and more than 70 injured when a high speed train is hit by a car which careers off the motorway at Great Heck, near Selby, North Yorks.
2012 – The largest prehistoric penguin was discovered. The penguin species Kairuku grebneffi was discovered from a 27 million-year-old fossil, which showed the penguin to weigh around 132 lbs (60 kg) and stood at nearly 5ft tall (1.5 meters).
Today in music
1970 – Simon and Garfunkel started a six week run at the top of the US singles chart with ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water’, also No.1 in the UK in March the same year. It became one of the most performed songs of the twentieth century, with over 50 artists, among them Elvis Presley and Aretha Franklin, covering the song.
1970 – In an interview with the New Musical Express, Fleetwood Mac’s Peter Green talked about his plans to give all his money away. The following year Green confronted his accountant with a gun after he sent him an unwanted royalty check. The guitarist went to jail briefly before being transferred to an asylum and was committed to a mental hospital in 1973. He re-launched his career in the 90s.
1984 – Michael Jackson won a record eight Grammy awards including: Album of the year for Thriller; Record of the year and Best rock vocal performance for ‘Beat It’; Best pop vocal performance, Best R&B performance and Best R&B song for ‘Billie Jean’, and Best Recording For Children for E.T The Extra Terrestrial.
1986 – George Michael announced that Wham! would officially split during the summer. Wham became one of the most successful pop acts of the 1980s, selling more than 30 million records worldwide from 1982 to 1986. The singles ‘Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go’, ‘Everything She Wants’ and ‘Careless Whisper’, all topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the US.
2008 – Arctic Monkeys won three prizes, including best British band at this year’s NME Awards held at the O2 in London. The band’s single ‘Fluorescent Adolescent’ won them best track and they won best video for ‘Teddy Picker’. Best album went to Klaxons for Myths of the Near Future while Kate Nash won best solo artist. Muse were presented with the best live band award and US group The Killers took best international act. The Manic Street Preachers, who performed at the ceremony, were awarded the NME’s Godlike Genius honour and Babyshambles frontman Pete Doherty was voted hero of the year. Britney Spears’s Blackout was voted worst album and The Hoosiers were named worst band.
Today in history
1638 – The Scottish National Covenant is signed in Edinburgh. The Covenant opposed changes to the Church of Scotland, and committed its signatories to stand together in the defence of the nation’s religion.
1667 – English colony Suriname comes under Dutch control. Suriname, which bordered Berbice to the east, was seized by Dutch forces from England during the Second Anglo-Dutch War (1665-67). It remained in Dutch possession until 1975, when it became an independent country.
1832 – Charles Darwin, aboard HMS Beagle (, arrives in the town of Salvador in the Brazilian state of Bahia.
1844 – John Crickmere wins the 6th Grand National at Aintree in Liverpool aboard the 5/1 co-favourite “Discount”.
1922 – The United Kingdom ended its protectorate over Egypt through a Unilateral Declaration of Independence.