March 5th "2024" Daily Prep
Welcome to day 65, known as Saint Piran’s Day and the national day of Cornwall. If you were born on this day, you were likely conceived the week of June 12th in the previous year. Your star sign is Pisces and your birthstone is Aquamarine.
1936 – The British fighter plane Spitfire made its first test flight from Eastleigh, Southampton, powered by a Rolls-Royce Merlin engine.
Todays birthdays
1948 – Eddy Grant (76), Guyanese-British singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist (“Electric Avenue”, “I Don’t Wanna Dance”, “Gimme Hope Jo’anna”), born in Plaisance, Guyana.
1948 – Elaine Page (76), English singer (“I Know Him So Well”) and actress, born in London Borough of Barnet.
1962 – Craig and Charlie Reid (62), Scottish singer/songwriter (Proclaimers – “I Wanna Be”, “A Letter From America”), born in Leith, Edinburgh, Scotland.
1974 – Matt Lucas (50), English actor (Little Britain), comedian, writer, and television presenter (The Great British Bake Off), born in Paddington, London.
1974 – Eva Mendes (50), American actress (Hitch, Ghost Rider, Training Day, Once Upon a Time in Mexico, 2 Fast 2 Furious), born in Miami, Florida, United States.
Famous deaths
1953 – Joseph Stalin (b. 1878), Soviet dictator and politician of Georgian descent, 2nd leader of the Soviet Union.
1963 – Patsy Cline (b. 1932), American singer-songwriter (“Crazy”).
The day today
1936 – The British fighter plane Spitfire made its first test flight from Eastleigh, Southampton, powered by a Rolls-Royce Merlin engine. It was designed by Reginald Mitchell and was the fighter plane that helped to win the Battle of Britain. Mitchell died in 1937 without ever knowing how successful his aircraft would become. The Spitfire was first put into service with the Royal Air Force in 1938 and they remained in active service (as photo reconnaissance planes) with the Royal Air Force until 1954.
1943 – The first flight of the Gloster Meteor jet aircraft. It was the first British jet fighter and the Allies’ first operational jet. The Meteor’s development was heavily reliant on its ground-breaking turbojet engines, developed by Sir Frank Whittle.
1946 – Prime Minister Winston Churchill coined the phrase ‘The Iron Curtain’ as the divide between Eastern and Western Europe.
1977 – The death (aged 27) of Thomas “Tom” Pryce, British racing driver and the only Welsh driver to have won a Formula One race. During the practice session for the 1977 South African Grand Prix, Pryce was faster than everyone, including world champion drivers Niki Lauda and James Hunt. During the race, a safety marshal ran into the path of Pryce’s car and both men were killed.
1982 – After a four-month journey, the Venera 14 spacecraft landed on Venus. The Russian craft landing was a success and was able to capture pictures among other data for 56 minutes before succumbing to 869°F temperatures and high pressure.
Today in music
2000 – Madonna went to No.1 on the UK singles chart with her version of the Don McLean 1972 hit ‘American Pie’. It was her 50th UK hit and the singers ninth UK No.1 and taken from the soundtrack to the 2000 film The Next Best Thing.
2006 – Corinne Bailey Rae went to No.1 on the UK album chart with her debut album ‘Corinne Bailey Rae.’ Rae became only the fourth female British act in history to have her first album debut at No.1 on the UK chart.
2007 – Records by the Rolling Stones and Paul Simon were chosen for preservation by the US Library of Congress. The Stones ’(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction’ and Paul Simon’s Graceland album entered the National Recordings Registry, which preserves historic works for future generations. Other recordings chosen this year included Carl Perkins’ ‘Blue Suede Shoes’, ‘Be My Baby’ by The Ronettes, ‘A Change Is Gonna Come’ by Sam Cooke and the eponymous album The Velvet Underground and Nico.
2012 – Sony admitted that a number of Michael Jackson tracks had been stolen after its website was hacked. The singer, who died in June 2009 at the age of 50, had recorded unreleased duets with artists ranging from the late Freddie Mercury and Black Eyed Peas singer will.i.am.
2017 – Ed Sheeran was at No.1 on the UK album chart with his third studio album ÷ (pronounced ‘divide’). All the tracks on the album reached the top 20 of the UK Singles Chart in the week of the album’s release, due to heavy streaming. The dominance of its tracks on the UK chart led to calls for change on how the singles chart was compiled. The album won the Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Album at the 60th Annual Grammy Awards.
Today in history
1133 – The birth of King Henry II, who was to become the first Plantagenet king of England.
1461 – Wars of the Roses: Lancastrian King Henry VI was deposed by his Yorkist cousin, who then became King Edward IV.
1850 – Robert Stephenson’s Britannia bridge, linking Bangor, Wales to the Isle of Anglesey, was opened. Unable to use an arch design because the Admiralty would not allow the strait to be closed to the passage of sailing ships, Stephenson conceived the idea of using a pair of completely enclosed iron tubes, rectangular in section, supported in the centre by a pier built on Britannia Rock.
1857 – James Townsend Saward, alias ‘Jim the Penman’, the most notorious forger of his age, was convicted of forging cheques. Saward was a respected solicitor with chambers in the Temple. He and his accomplices were sentenced to transportation to Australia.
1900 – The British Government was offered peace proposals to end the Boer War, but rejected them.