August 28th "2024" Daily Prep

Welcome to day 241 of the year! Known as National Bow Tie Day, Power Rangers Day. If you were born today you were likely conceived the week of December 5th in the previous year. Your star sign is Virgo and your birthstone is Peridot.
British athlete Kelly Holmes secured a place in Olympic history by winning the 1500m gold in Athens. Holmes also won the 800m earlier and thus became the first Olympic Briton in 84 years to achieve the middle-distance double.
2004 – British athlete Kelly Holmes secured a place in Olympic history by winning the 1500m gold in Athens. Holmes also won the 800m earlier and thus became the first Olympic Briton in 84 years to achieve the middle-distance double.
Todays birthdays
1961 – Jennifer Coolidge (63), American actress (2 Broke Girls), best known for playing Stifler’s mom in American Pie, born in Boston, Massachusetts, United States.
1965 – Shania Twain (59), Canadian singer-songwriter (“You’re Still The One”; “Man! I Feel Like A Woman!”), born in Windsor, Canada.
1969 – Jack Black (55), American actor (School of Rock, Shallow Hal), comedian and musician (Tenacious D), born in Santa Monica, California, United States.
1982 – LeAnn Rimes (42), American singer, songwriter and actress (“Can’t Fight the Moonlight”), born in Mississippi, United States.
1986 – Florence Welch (38), English singer/songwriter and lead singer with indie rock band, Florence and the Machine (“Dog Days Are Over”), born in Camberwell, London.
Famous deaths
1964 – Ian Fleming (b. 1908), British writer, best known for his postwar James Bond series of spy novels.
2015 – Stephen Lewis (b. 1926), English actor and screenwriter (Inspector Blake – On The Buses and as Smiler in Last of the Summer Wine).
2021 – Una Stubbs (b. 1937), English actress, TV personality, and dancer (Till Death Us Do Part, In Sickness and in Health).
The day today
1981 – For the third time in 10 days, a world record in the mile run was set. Sebastian Coe, who broke Steve Ovett’s record on August 19th and lost it to Ovett on August 26th , broke it again – by a full second – in Brussels, Belgium. Coe’s new record time was 3:47.33.
1986 – Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was at the re-opening of the Grand Hotel in Brighton in which she and Conservative Party members had been staying in 1983 when it was bombed by the IRA.
1994 – Thousands of shops throughout England and Wales opened legally for the first time on a Sunday, following a change in the Sunday trading laws.
1996 – The divorce of Charles, the Prince of Wales, and Princess Diana was finalized in a decree absolute issued in London’s High Court. Under the terms of the divorce settlement, Diana was stripped of her ‘Royal Highness’ title.
2016 – The last remaining 22 branches of BHS closed, bringing an end to 88 years of British retail history. The department store’s collapse in April led to the loss of 11,000 jobs, affected 22,000 pensions, sparked a lengthy parliamentary inquiry, and left its high-profile former owners potentially facing a criminal investigation. The company had 164 stores throughout the United Kingdom at the time it entered administration, and 74 international stores across 18 separate territories.
Today in music
1968 – The Beach Boys were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Do It Again’. Written by Brian Wilson and Mike Love it became the group’s second and final UK No.1.
1988 – Kylie Minogue set a new UK record when her debut album Kylie, became the biggest selling album by a female artist in Britain, with sales of almost 2 million.
1993 – German Eurodance act Culture Beat started a four-week run at No.1 in the UK singles chart with ‘Mr Vain’ sung by British singer, Tania Evans.
2005 – Green Day cleaned up at that years MTV awards held in Miami winning seven awards including, Video of the Year for ‘Boulevard of Broken Dreams’ and the Viewer’s Choice Award. Best Choreography went to Gwen Stefani for ‘Hollaback Girl’ and Breakthrough Video went to Gorillaz for ‘Feel Good Inc.’ The awards went ahead despite concerns over Hurricane Katrina, which hit Florida the previous week.
2009 – Noel Gallagher quit Oasis saying he could no longer work with his brother Liam. Noel, the group’s lead guitarist and chief songwriter, had recently been involved in a series of rows with Liam, and admitted he and his brother rarely spoke, did not travel together and only saw each other on stage.
Today in history
1207 – King John of England grants the small town of Liverpool a charter which gave it right to elect a mayor and aldermen (a member of a municipal council).
1609 – Henry Hudson, an English sea explorer and navigator during the early 17th century, best known for his explorations of present-day Canada is the first European to sail into Delaware Bay which he named South Bay.
1640 – The Scots, under Sir Alexander Leslie, defeated royalist English forces under Lord Conway at the battle of Newburn near Newcastle. Newcastle was then occupied by the Scots in the English-Scottish wars.
1833 – The House of Commons approved the Abolition Act, introduced earlier by Thomas Buxton, abolishing slavery throughout most of the British Empire.
1837 – Pharmacists John Lea and William Perrins start to manufacture Worcestershire Sauce. On 16 October 1897, Lea & Perrins relocated manufacturing of the sauce from their pharmacy in Broad Street to a factory in the city of Worcester on Midland Road, where it is still made.