July 26th "2024" Daily Prep
Welcome to day 208 of the year! Known as National Aunt and Uncle Day, Holistic Therapy Day. If you were born today you were likely conceived the week of November 2nd in the previous year. Your star sign is Leo and your birthstone is Ruby.
1845 – Air France Flight 4590, a Concorde passenger jet on an international charter flight from Paris to New York, crashed shortly after takeoff, killing all 109 people on board and four on the ground.
Todays birthdays
1943 – Mick Jagger (81), English rock vocalist, songwriter (Rolling Stones – “Satisfaction”), actor (Performance), and knight, born in Dartford, Kent.
1945 – Helen Mirren (79), English actress (The Queen, The Madness of King George, Anna, Prime Suspect), born in London.
1964 – Sandra Bullock (60), American actress (Speed, Demolition Man, Miss Congeniality), born in Arlington County, Virginia, United States.
1967 – Jason Statham (57), British actor (The Transporter, Expendables, Snatch, Crank), born in Shirebrook, Derbyshire.
1973 – Kate Beckinsale (51), British actress (Underworld series, Pearl Harbour, Serendipity, Van Helsing), born in Chiswick, London.
Famous deaths
2023 – Sinéad O’Connor (b. 1966), Irish singer and musician (“Nothing Compares 2 U”).
The day today
1943 – World War II: The Allies mounted one of the largest raids of the war – sending more than 1,000 aircraft to bomb the German industrial city of Hamburg. An estimated 60,000 people were killed.
1945 – Winston Churchill resigned as Britain’s prime minister after his Conservatives were defeated by the Labour Party in a landslide victory. Clement Attlee became Prime Minister. He said: ‘Labour can deliver the goods.’
1966 – Bobby Charlton scores both England goals as they beat Portugal 2-1 in the semi-final of the World Cup.
1989 – 56-year-old Leslie Merry was knocked off his feet, a rib broken and his spleen ruptured, by a turnip thrown from a passing car in east London. He finally died of respiratory failure brought on by the accident.
2007 – Shambo, a black Friesian bull living in the Hindu Skanda Vale Temple near Llanpumsaint in Wales, was slaughtered due to a bovine tuberculosis infection. He had been adopted by the local Hindu community as a sacred animal and the slaughtering caused widespread controversy.
Today in music
1968 – The Jackson Five signed a one-year contract with Motown Records. They made history in 1970 as the first recording act to have their first four singles to reach No.1 on the Billboard Hot 100, with the songs being ‘I Want You Back’, ‘ABC’, ‘The Love You Save’ and ‘I’ll Be There’.
1977 – Led Zeppelin cut short their 11th North American tour after Robert Plant’s five-year-old-son Karac died unexpectedly of a virus at their home in England, UK.
1986 – Peter Gabriel went to No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Sledgehammer’, a No.4 hit in the UK. The song’s music video has won a number of awards, including a record nine MTV Awards at the 1987 MTV Video Music Awards, and Best British Video at the 1987 Brit Awards.
2006 – The final edition of Top Of The Pops was recorded at BBC Television Centre in London. Just under 200 members of the public were in the audience for the show which was co-hosted by veteran disc jockey Sir Jimmy Savile, its very first presenter. Classic performances from the Spice Girls, Wham, Madonna, Beyonce Knowles and Robbie Williams featured in the show alongside The Rolling Stones who were the very first band to appear on Top of the Pops on New Year’s Day in 1964.
2009 – AC/DC singer Brian Johnson appeared as the Star in a Reasonably Priced Car on the BBC television programme Top Gear. His time of 1:45.9 tied him with Simon Cowell for the second fastest time. He was introduced by host Jeremy Clarkson as “a man who has sold more albums than The Beatles and I bet almost none of [the audience] have ever heard of him.”
Today in history
1469 – Wars of the Roses: The Battle of Edgecote Moor (northeast of Banbury – Oxfordshire) took place. It pitted the forces of Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick against those of Edward IV and was considered to be an important turning point in the course of the war.
1745 – The first recorded women’s cricket match was played near Guildford, Surrey, between teams from Hambledon and Bramley.
1788 – New York became the 11th state to join the United States of America.
1845 – The SS Great Britain, (the first iron ship designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel), sailed from Liverpool on her maiden voyage. She is now restored and can be viewed at the Great Western Dockyard in Bristol.
1858 – Lionel Rothschild took his seat in the House of Commons to become Britain’s first Jewish member of Parliament.