June 9th "2024" Daily Prep
Welcome to day 161, known as Donald Duck Day, National Kids Day. If you were born on this day, you were likely conceived the week of September 16th in the previous year. Your star sign is Gemini and your birthstone is Pearl.
1960 – It was announced that one of Britain’s oldest quality cars, the Armstrong Siddeley founded by John Davenport Siddeley in 1902, was to go out of production.
Todays birthdays
1961 – Michael J Fox (63), Canadian retired actor (Back to the Future, Teen Wolf, Spin City), born in Edmonton, Canada.
1963 – Johnny Depp (61), American actor (Pirates of the Caribbean, Edward Scissorhands, Donnie Brasco), born in Owensboro, Kentucky, United States.
1977 – Paul Hutchison (47), English former first-class cricketer (Yorkshire, Sussex, Middlesex), born in Leeds, West Yorkshire.
1978 – Matt Bellamy (46), English singer, songwriter best known as lead vocalist, guitarist and pianist for rock band Muse (“Supermassive Black Hole”), born in Cambridge.
1981 – Natalie Portman (43), American actress (Léon, Black Swan, Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, V for Vendetta), born in Jerusalem.
Famous deaths
1870 – Charles Dickens (b. 1812), English novelist and critic (The Pickwick Papers, Great Expectations, Oliver Twist).
2014 – Rik Mayall (b. 1958), English comedian, actor, and screenwriter (Bottom, The Young Ones, The New Statesman, Guest House Paradiso).
The day today
1904 – Musicians who left the Henry Wood Orchestra after a disagreement, formed the London Symphony Orchestra.
1933 – Scottish inventor and electrical engineer, John Logie Baird demonstrated high definition television at his Long Acre studio in London, showing the difference between the previous 30-line picture and the new 120-line tubes.
1958 – The Queen opened an extended airport at Gatwick, south of London, modernised at a cost of £7m. The airport was also the world’s first that combined air, road, and rail travel from one location.
2015 – Her Royal Highness, the Duchess of Cornwall unveiled a memorial window to Sir Winston Churchill, in St. Martin’s Church, Bladon, near Woodstock, Oxfordshire. Churchill died in 1965 and is buried in Bladon churchyard along with other members of the Churchill family.
2023 – Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson resigned as an MP with immediate effect after receiving the so called Partygate Report produced by the privileges committee. The report was made public on 15th June the same year.
Today in music
1964 – During an evening session, Bob Dylan recorded ‘Mr. Tambourine Man’ at Columbia Recording Studios in New York City. This was the first session for Another Side Of Bob Dylan, which saw Dylan recording 14 original compositions that night. The Byrds later covered ‘Mr. Tambourine Man’ as their first single, which reached No.1 on both the US & UK Chart. The Byrds’ recording of the song was influential in initiating the musical subgenre of folk-rock, leading many contemporary bands to mimic its fusion of jangly guitars and intellectual lyrics in the wake of the single’s success.
1978 – The Rolling Stones released Some Girls, their first studio album recorded with Ronnie Wood as a full member. The album cover was designed by Peter Corriston and featured The Stones in garish drag alongside select female celebrities and lingerie ads. The cover immediately ran into trouble when Lucille Ball, Farrah Fawcett, Liza Minnelli (representing her mother Judy Garland), Raquel Welch, and the estate of Marilyn Monroe threatened legal action.
1979 – The Bee Gees went to No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Love You inside Out’, the group’s 9th US No.1 and a No.13 hit in the UK.
1984 – Cyndi Lauper started a two week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Time After Time’ a No.3 hit in the UK. Lauper co-wrote ‘Time After Time’ with Philadelphia based Rob Hyman of The Hooters.
1990 – Neworder started a two-week run at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘World In Motion’. England’s song for the World Cup in 1990, following their No.1 in 1970. In the game they were knocked out by Germany on both occasions.
Today in history
1549 – The Church of England adopted the Book of Common Prayer, compiled by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer.
1667 – The Raid on the Medway, sometimes called the Battle of Chatham began. It lasted for five days and resulted in a decisive victory for the Dutch over the English in the Second Anglo-Dutch War. The Dutch bombarded and then captured the town of Sheerness and sailed up the River Medway to Chatham, where they burned ten naval vessels and towed away the HMS Unity and the HMS Royal Charles, the pride of the English fleet. It was the worst defeat in the Royal Navy’s history.
1781 – The birth of George Stephenson, English civil engineer and mechanical engineer. Stephenson was renowned as being the ‘Father of Railways’.
1836 – Birth of Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, English physician who was refused admission to medical schools, so studied privately and was licensed to practice in 1865. She created a medical school for women which became the New Hospital for Women.
1873 – Alexandra Palace in London burned down, after being open for only 16 days. It was built as a public centre of recreation, education and entertainment and as North London’s counterpart to the Crystal Palace in South London. With typical Victorian vigour, the palace was quickly rebuilt and it reopened on 1st May 1875.