August 3rd "2024" Daily Prep
Welcome to day 216 of the year! Known as Sandcastle Day, National Watermelon Day. If you were born today you were likely conceived the week of November 10th in the previous year. Your star sign is Leo and your birthstone is Peridot.
1926 – Manually operated three-colour traffic lights were first used in Piccadilly, London with automatic traffic lights making their first appearance on an experimental basis in Princes Square, Wolverhampton, during November 1927.
Todays birthdays
1937 – Steven Berkoff (87), English actor (Beverly Hills Cop, Octopussy, Rambo: First Blood Part II) and theatre director (Decadence), born in Stepney, London.
1963 – Tasmin Archer (61), British pop singer “Sleeping Satellite”, which reached number one in the UK, born Bradford, West Yorkshire.
1967 – Skin, born Deborah Anne Dyer (57), British singer (“Weak”, “Hedonism” – Skunk Anansie), songwriter and electronic music DJ, born in Brixton, London.
1970 – Gina G (54), Australian singer (“Ooh Aah… Just A Little Bit “) who represented the United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest in 1996, born in Brisbane, Australia.
1973 – Stephen Graham (51), English actor (Snatch, This is England, Boiling Point), born in Kirkby, Merseyside,
Famous deaths
2015 – Cilla Black, born Priscilla Maria Veronica White (b. 1943), English singer (“Anyone Who Had a Heart”, “You’re My World”) and television presenter (Blind Date).
The day today
1916 – Sir Roger Casement, Irish nationalist, was hanged in London for treason, following his attempts to induce Germany to support the cause of Irish independence.
1957 – Footballer John Charles was transferred from Leeds to Juventus for a £65,000 fee. He was the first British footballer to be transferred to a foreign club.
1971 – Sanquhar Post Office in Dumfries and Galloway became a Category B Listed Building. It is recognised by the Guinness Book of World Records as the oldest post office in the world and has been in continuous service since 1712.
1978 – Trade restrictions between Britain and Argentina were lifted for the first time since the 1982 Falklands war.
2017 – Brazilian footballer Neymar transfers from FC Barcelona to Paris Saint-Germain for a world-record transfer fee of €222m on a 5-year deal.
Today in music
1971 – Paul McCartney announced the formation of his new group Wings with his wife Linda and former Moody Blues guitarist and singer Denny Laine.
1985 – Madonna scored her first UK No.1 single with ‘Into The Groove’. The track was taken from the movie ‘Desperately Seeking Susan’ which featured Madonna and Rosanna Arquette. Also on this day, Tears For Fears started a three week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Shout’, the duo’s second US No.1.
1996 – Los Del Rio started a 14 week run at No.1 on the singles chart with ‘Macarena’. The song which has sold 11 million copies world-wide was ranked the No.1 Greatest One Hit Wonder of all Time by VH1 in 2002.
2007 – Queen guitarist Brian May handed in his astronomy PhD thesis – 36 years after abandoning it to join the band. May had recently carried out observational work in Tenerife, where he studied the formation of “zodiacal dust clouds”.
2008 – Kid Rock was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘All Summer Long’. The song is based on Warren Zevon’s ‘Werewolves of London’ and Lynyrd Skynyrd’s ‘Sweet Home Alabama’.
Today in history
1326 – The death, in the Tower of London, of Roger Mortimer de Chirk, opposer of Edward II during the Despenser War. His nephew Roger Mortimer later led a successful rebellion against the King and completed Chirk Castle.
1460 – James II, King of Scotland, died after being injured by an exploding cannon at Kelso, in the Scottish Borders. Kelso Abbey was the venue for the hasty coronation of the infant king, James III, which quickly followed.
1803 – The birth of Joseph Paxton, English gardener, designer, writer and creator of one of the most famous buildings of Queen Victoria’s reign, the Crystal Palace.
1856 – London was divided into postal districts, in order to speed up letter deliveries.
1858 – Lake Victoria, the source of the Nile, was discovered by the English explorer and military officer, John Speke. He was also the first European to reach Lake Victoria.