May 16th "2024" Daily Prep
Welcome to day 137, known as National Mimosa Day, Drawing Day, Ride a Unicycle Day. If you were born on this day, you were likely conceived the week of August 23rd in the previous year. Your star sign is Taurus and your birthstone is Emerald.
1943 – The famous ‘Dam Busters’ raid by the 617 Squadron of Lancaster bombers led by Wing Commander Guy Gibson breached the Mohne, Eder and Sorpe dams in Germany using the ‘bouncing’ bombs developed by Dr Barnes Wallis.
Todays birthdays
1944 – Danny Trejo (80), American actor (Machete, Bad Ass, Desperado, Spy Kids), born in Echo Park, Los Angeles, California, United States.
1948 – Judy Finnigan (75), English television presenter (This Morning, Richard & Judy), born in Newton Heath, Manchester.
1953 – Pierce Brosnan (71), Irish actor (GoldenEye, Die Another Day, Mamma Mia, The Thomas Crown Affair), born in Drogheda, Ireland.
1955 – Hazel O’Connor (69), British singer-songwriter (“Eighth Day”, “D-Days”, “Will You?”) and actress (Breaking Glass), born in Coventry, West Midlands.
1966 – Janet Jackson (58), American singer-songwriter (“Together Again”) and actress (Malcolm X, Nutty Professor II), born in Gary, Indiana, United States.
Famous deaths
2019 – Freddie Starr (b. 1943), English comedian, impressionist, singer and actor ( Opportunity Knocks and the Royal Variety Performance).
2020 – Little Richard (b. 1932), American singer, songwriter, and pianist (“Tutti Frutti”, “The Girl Can’t Help It”).
The day today
1943 – The famous ‘Dam Busters’ raid by the 617 Squadron of Lancaster bombers led by Wing Commander Guy Gibson breached the Mohne, Eder and Sorpe dams in Germany using the ‘bouncing’ bombs developed by Dr Barnes Wallis. The aim was to cut off vital supply lines in the Ruhr Valley. Of the 133 Allied aircrew that took part, 53 British airmen lost their lives in the eight planes that were shot down or crashed.
The Dambuster Pilots practiced their techniques at the Derwent Dam in Derbyshire where there is this memorial to them.
1951 – The first regularly scheduled transatlantic flights began between John F Kennedy International Airport in New York and Heathrow Airport in London.
1983 – London police began wheel clamping illegally parked vehicles.
1990 – John Gummer (government minister) attempted to reassure the public that British beef was safe despite growing fears over BSE. He enlisted his daughter by having her filmed eating a beef burger for the benefit of the TV cameras.
2001 – Labour’s Deputy Prime Minister, John Prescott, punched a man who threw an egg at him during his visit to, Rhyl, North Wales. The two men were then involved in a scuffle before the police intervened and arrested Craig Evans, aged 29.
Today in music
1962 – B Bumble and the Stingers were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Nut Rocker.’ The instrumental was based on Tchaikovsky’s ‘Nutcracker Suite.’
1970 – The England World Cup Squad were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Back Home.’ The track spent three weeks at the top of the charts.
1987 – U2 started a three week run at No.1 on the US singles chart ‘With Or Without You’, the group’s first US No.1. The third track from their 1987 albumThe Joshua Tree the song was the group’s most successful single at the time.
1992 – Carter The Unstoppable Sex Machine scored their first and only UK No.1 album with ‘1992 The Love album.’ The English indie rock band formed in 1988 with singer Jim “Jim Bob” Morrison and guitarist Les “Fruitbat” Carter.
2004 – Frankee started a three week run at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘F.U.R.B. (F U Right Back)’. The song was a “reply” to the No.1 by Eamon that it replaced, (F**k It, I Don’t Want You Back). This is the first time that a record and its reply have both made No 1.
Today in history
1220 – Henry III of England laid the foundation stone of a new Lady Chapel at Westminster Abbey, thus beginning the new abbey-church which was completed in 1245.
1532 – Sir Thomas More resigned as Lord Chancellor of England. He opposed the King’s separation from the Catholic Church and refused to accept the King as Supreme Head of the Church of England. He was imprisoned in 1534, tried for treason in 1535 where he was convicted on perjured testimony and beheaded.
1578 – The birth of Sir Everard Digby, a member of the group of provincial English Catholics who planned, along with Robert Catesby and others, to kill James I in the failed Gunpowder Plot of 1605.
1862 – The death of the British politician Edward Gibbon Wakefield. His abduction of and marriage to the 15-year-old heiress Ellen Turner of Pott Shrigley led to ‘The Shrigley abduction case – 1826’. The couple were married in Gretna Green before Turner’s father was able to notify the authorities and intervene. The marriage was annulled by Parliament and Edward Gibbon Wakefield and his brother William, who had aided him, were convicted at trial and sentenced to three years in prison.
1877 – The birth of Sir Bernard Spilsbury, the British pathologist who became known for his conclusive evidence in the trial of Dr. Crippen.