September 4th "2024" Daily Prep
Welcome to day 248 of the year! Known as National Wildlife Day, Eat an Extra Dessert Day. If you were born today you were likely conceived the week of December 12th in the previous year. Your star sign is Virgo and your birthstone is Sapphire.
1739 – At Curry’s Point in Whitley Bay (Tyne and Wear), Michael Curry was executed for the murder of the landlord at the Three Horseshoes Inn, Hartley. His body was afterwards hung in chains from a gibbit at this spot within sight of the scene of his crime.
Todays birthdays
1944 – Dave Bassett (80), English former football manager (Barnsley, Leicester City) and player (Wimbledon), born in Stanmore, Greater London.
1975 – Mark Ronson (49), British musician, DJ and record producer, best known for his collaborations with artists such as Amy Winehouse (Valerie) and Bruno Mars (Uptown Funk), born in St John’s Wood, London.
1981 – Beyoncé (43), American singer (Halo, Beautiful Liar, Single Ladies), songwriter, and businesswoman, born in Houston, Texas, United States.
1982 – Mark Lewis-Francis (42), retired British track and field athlete (Gold medalist in the 4x100m relay sprint at the 2004 Athens Olympics), born in Birmingham.
1990 – James Bay (33), English singer-songwriter and guitarist (“Hold Back the River”), born in Hitchin, Hertfordshire.
Famous deaths
2006 – Steve Irwin (b. 1962), Australian zoologist and television host (The Crocodile Hunter Diaries).
2014 – Joan Rivers (b. 1933), American comedian, television host and author known for her blunt, often controversial comedic persona.
The day today
1909 – The first Boy Scout rally was held at Crystal Palace, near London.
1955 – British TV newsreaders were seen in vision for the first time. The first was the BBC’s Kenneth Kendall.
1981 – The start of the Greenham Common peace protest (a series of protest camps established to protest against nuclear weapons) outside the US Air Force base in Berkshire. The protest lasted for 19 years.
1985 – The wreck of the Titanic was photographed for the first time, 73 years after it sank with the loss of 1,500 lives.
1998 – Google is incorporated by Stanford University students Larry Page and Sergey Brin. On the same day, the quiz show ‘Who Wants To Be A Millionaire’ begins on ITV.
Today in music
1976 – The Bee Gees went to No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘You Should Be Dancing’, the group’s third US No.1, a No.5 hit n the UK. It was this song that launched the trio into Disco stardom and is the first chart-topper in which Barry Gibb used his now-trademark falsetto.
1982 – Survivor were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with the theme from the film Rocky III ‘Eye Of The Tiger’, their only chart topper. Survivor won the Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance for the song.
1995 – Blur, Oasis, Radiohead, Paul Weller, Manic St Preachers and The Stone Roses all recorded tracks for the ‘War Child’ charity album, which was released five days later. All profits went to children caught up in the current war in former Yugoslavia.
1996 – Oasis created outrage at the MTV awards held at New York’s Radio City Hall. During the bands performance of ‘Champagne Supernova’ singer Liam spat on stage and threw a beer into the crowd.
2007 – The Police played the first UK date on their Reunion tour when they played two nights at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham.
Today in history
925 AD – Æthelstan was crowned king of the Anglo Saxons by the Archbishop of Canterbury at Kingston upon Thames, perhaps due to its symbolic location on the border between Wessex and Mercia. The reign of Æthelstan has been overshadowed by the achievements of his grandfather, Alfred the Great.
1588 – The death of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, a favourite and possible lover of Queen Elizabeth I. When his wife Amy died after falling down the stairs, it was widely rumoured that Dudley had murdered her in order to marry Elizabeth. The Queen rejected him, even proposing that he wed Mary, Queen of Scots.
1609 – English navigator Henry Hudson, working for the Dutch East India Company, arrived at the island of Manhattan, before sailing up the river that now bears his name.
1739 – At Curry’s Point in Whitley Bay (Tyne and Wear), Michael Curry was executed for the murder of the landlord at the Three Horseshoes Inn, Hartley. His body was afterwards hung in chains from a gibbit at this spot within sight of the scene of his crime.
1884 – Britain stopped sending convicts to New South Wales in Australia.