May 17th "2024" Daily Prep
Welcome to day 138, known as Endangered Species Day, Child Helpline Day, Bike to Work Day. If you were born on this day, you were likely conceived the week of August 24th in the previous year. Your star sign is Taurus and your birthstone is Emerald.
1899 – Queen Victoria laid the foundation stone of the newly named Victoria & Albert Museum, and proclaimed, “I trust it will remain for ages a monument of discerning liberty and a source of refinement and progress”.
Todays birthdays
1956 – Sugar Ray Leonard (68), American former professional boxer who competed professionally between 1977 and 1997, born in Wilmington, North Carolina, United States.
1961 – Enya (63), Irish composer and singer-songwriter Best know for her song “Orinoco Flow”, born in Gweedore, Ireland.
1965 – Jeremy Vine (59), English television and radio presenter (BBC Radio 2, Eggheads and journalist (Jeremy Vine on Channel 5), born in Cheam, Sutton, London.
1974 – Andrea Corr (50), Irish singer and musician (“Breathless”, “Runaway”, “What Can I Do”), born in Dundalk, Ireland.
1981 – Leon Osman (43), English former professional footballer (Everton, Derby County), born in Higher End, Orrell, Greater Manchester.
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
1969 – Tom McClean from Dublin left Newfoundland, Canada aboard Super Silver and completed the first transatlantic solo crossing in a rowing boat on 27th July when he arrived at Blacksod Bay, Co. Mayo.
1978 – The coffin containing the body of Charlie Chaplin, missing since his grave was pillaged nearly two months previously, was found buried in a cornfield beside Lake Geneva, and returned to its original resting place – this time in a theft-proof concrete tomb.
1993 – Nurse Beverley Allitt was convicted of murdering four babies under her ‘care’ at the Grantham and Kesteven hospital.
2000 – Two Royal Marine commandos (Corporal Alan Chambers, 31, and Marine Charlie Paton, 29) became the first Britons to reach the geographical North Pole.
2010 – Four weeks after a volcanic ash cloud disrupted flights over much of Europe, restrictions were lifted at all UK airports after the volcanic ash cloud moved away from UK airspace.
Today in music
1967 – The Tremeloes were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with their version of a Four Seasons song, (the B-side to Rag Doll), ‘Silence Is Golden’, the group’s only UK No.1.
1971 – Dawn were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Knock Three Times’, the group’s first of two UK No.1’s. Singer Tony Orlando had retired from singing when he was persuaded to front Dawn for studio recordings.
1986 – Spitting Image started a three-week run at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘The Chicken Song.’ Spitting Image had become the ‘must see’ Sunday night UK TV show, which mocked politicians and public figures. Also on this day, Whitney Houston started a three week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Greatest Love Of All’, the singers third US No.1, a No.8 hit in the UK.
2006 – Paul McCartney and his wife Heather Mills admitted that they had given up the fight to save their marriage, saying that after four years together, they were going their separate ways.
2013 – French Electronic Duo Daft Punk released their fourth album Random Access Memories. It would debut at No.1 on both the US and UK charts and go on to win five Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year.
Today in history
1215 – The country was in a state of Civil War and English barons, in revolt against King John, took possession of London.
1527 – Archbishop Warham began a secret inquiry into Henry VIII’s marriage with Catherine of Aragon, the first step in divorce proceedings.
1536 – George Boleyn (an English courtier and nobleman, and the brother of queen consort Anne Boleyn) along with Viscount Rochford and four other men were executed for treason.
1590 – Anne of Denmark was crowned Queen of Scotland.
1649 – Cromwell’s troops captured 300 Levellers and locked them up in Burford church. (The Levellers believed in civil rights, a ‘level’ society and religious tolerance and Cromwell was determined to crush them.) Three of the Levellers were executed on Oliver Cromwell’s orders in Burford churchyard, Oxfordshire.