April 27th "2024" Daily Prep
Welcome to day 118, known as Morse Code Day, World Healing Day, National Day of Silence. If you were born on this day, you were likely conceived the week of August 4th in the previous year. Your star sign is Taurus and your birthstone is Diamond.
1986 – Soviet authorities order the evacuation of Pripyat (est population 45,000), Chernobyl (est population 12,000) and 94 other villages (est total population 40,000) due to the Chernobyl Nuclear disaster.
Todays birthdays
1944 – Michael Fish (80), British weather forecaster from 1974 to his final forecast on 6 October 2004, born in Eastbourne.
1959 – Sheena Easton (65), Scottish singer (“For Your Eyes Only”) of the theme to the 12th James Bond movie of the same name, born in North Lanarkshire, Scotland.
1969 – Mica Paris (55), English singer ( “My One Temptation”, “Where Is the Love”), born in South London.
1969 – Darcey Bushell (55), retired English ballerina and a former judge on the BBC television dance contest Strictly Come Dancing, born in London.
1986 – Jenna Coleman (38), English actress (Waterloo Road, Doctor Who), born in Blackpool.
Famous deaths
1976 – Sid James (b. 1913), South African-English actor best known for numerous roles in the Carry On film series.
1999 – Jill Dando (b. 1961), English journalist and television personality.
The day today
1945 – The war in Europe was entering it’s final phase as Russian and American troops join hands at the River Elbe in Germany. Ten Days later on May 7th Germany signs unconditional surrender.
1992 – Betty Boothroyd becomes the first woman to be elected Speaker of the British House of Commons in its 700-year history.
1993 – Most of the Zambia national football team lose their lives in a plane crash off Libreville, Gabon en route to Dakar, Senegal to play a 1994 FIFA World Cup qualifying match against Senegal.
1986 – Soviet authorities order the evacuation of Pripyat (est population 45,000), Chernobyl (est population 12,000) and 94 other villages (est total population 40,000) due to the Chernobyl Nuclear disaster. This area remains almost completely abandoned and is called the Chernobyl exclusion zone.
2005 – The Airbus A380, the largest passenger airliner in the world, took its first-ever flight from Toulouse–Blagnac Airport with a crew of six headed by chief test pilot Jacques Rosay.
Today in music
1967 – Sandie Shaw was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Puppet On A String’, her third UK No.1 and the Eurovision Song Contest winner of 1967.
1976 – Customs officers on a train at the Russian/Polish Border detained David Bowie, after Nazi books and mementoes were found in his luggage. Bowie claimed that the material was being used for research on a movie project about Nazi propaganda leader Joseph Paul Goebbels.
1999 – UK band The Verve announced that they had split. They scored the 1997 UK No.1 single ‘The Drugs Don’t Work’ and their 1997 UK No.1 album ‘Urban Hymns’ spent over 100 weeks on the UK chart. Leader of the group Richard Ashcroft went solo scoring the 2000 UK No.3 single ‘A Song For The Lovers’ and the 2000 UK No.1 album ‘Alone With Everybody.’
2003 – Madonna went to No.1 on the UK album chart with ‘American Life’, the singers eighth No.1 album.
2008 – The Last Shadow Puppets went to No.1 on the UK album charts with ‘The Age of the Understatement’, a side project of Alex Turner of Sheffield band Arctic Monkeys and Miles Kane of Liverpool band The Rascals.
Today in history
1296 – King Edward I of England, seeking suzerainty over the Scots, invaded Scotland and removed the coronation stone of Scone to Westminster Abbey.
1521 – Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan was killed during a fight with inhabitants of Mactan Island, Philippines.
1667 – Blind and impoverished, John Milton sold the publication rights of his epic poem ‘Paradise Lost’ for just £10 to publisher Samuel Simmons.
1773 – Britain implemented a Tea Act against its American colonies. The act was put in place to stop a major tea company from going bankrupt but led to the company creating a monopoly on American tea.
1828 – The London Zoo opened in Regent’s Park.