September 22nd "2024" Daily Prep
Welcome to day 266 of the year! Known as Dear Diary Day, Elephant Appreciation Day, Hobbit Day, World Rhino Day. Your star sign is Virgo and your birthstone is Sapphire.
1934 – The worst pit disaster in Britain for 21 years killed more than 260 miners in an explosion and fire at the Gresford Mine in Wales. The cause of the explosion was never conclusively identified, but an inquiry found that poor mine management and safety procedure failures were contributing factors.
Todays birthdays
1953 – Richard Fairbrass (71), English singer, best known as lead singer of the pop group Right Said Fred (“I’m Too Sexy”), born in Kingston upon Thames, London.
1969 – Sue Perkins (55, English actress, broadcaster, comedian, presenter (Light Lunch, The Great British Bake Off), born in East Dulwich, London.
1971 – Chesney Hawkes (53), English pop singer (“The One and Only”) and occasional actor, born in Windsor, Berkshire.
1982 – Billie Piper (42), English actress (Doctor Who, Secret Diary of a Call Girl) and former singer (“Because We Want To”, “Honey to the Bee”), born in Swindon, Wiltshire.
1987 – Tom Felton (37), English actor best known for playing Draco Malfoy in the Harry Potter series, born in Epsom, Surrey.
Famous deaths
2004 – Brian Clough (b. 1935), English footballer (Sunderland, England) and manager (Derby County, Nottingham Forest).
The day today
1914 – Three British cruisers, Aboukir, Hogue, and Cressy, were torpedoed and sunk by German U-boats, killing more than 1,400.
1955 – Independent Television (ITV) began operating. Only six minutes of advertisements were allowed each hour and there was no Sunday morning TV permitted. The first advertisement screened was for Gibbs SR toothpaste.
1989 – American drama TV series “Baywatch” premiered in the USA (13 January 1990 in the UK), starring David Hasselhoff and Pamela Anderson.
1999 – Screaming Lord Sutch’s Official Monster Raving Loony Party honoured his memory with a two minute scream at a pub in Ashburton, Devon. The singer, born David Sutch, hanged himself on 16th June 1999.
2013 – Sir Bradley Wiggins added the Tour of Britain title to his collection after sealing an emphatic victory in London. Wiggins, who won the Tour de France and Olympic time trial in 2012, had led since winning the third stage and began stage eight with a 26-second advantage.
Today in music
1964 – Herman’s Hermits were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with the Carole King & Gerry Goffin song ‘I’m Into Something Good’, the group’s only UK No.1.
1973 – The Rolling Stones scored their eighth UK No.1 album when ‘Goats Head Soup’ started a two-week run at the top of the charts. Also a US No.1.
1979 – Gary Numan had his second and final UK No.1 single with ‘Cars’. Also on this day Gary Numan went to No.1 on the UK album chart with ‘The Pleasure Principle.’
1990 – Nirvana played their biggest gig to date when they appeared at the Motor Sports International Garage in Seattle. Drummer Dave Grohl (Foo Fighters) who would audition for the band in a few days time was in the audience of 15,000 people.
1991 – Bryan Adams made chart history when ‘(Everything I Do), I Do It For You’, had its twelfth consecutive week as the UK No.1 single.
Today in history
1515 – Anne of Cleves, 4th wife of Henry VIII, was born.
1598 – The English playwright Ben Jonson, a contemporary of William Shakespeare, killed an actor in a duel and was put on trial for manslaughter. Jonson pleaded guilty but was released by benefit of clergy, a legal ploy through which he gained leniency by reciting a brief bible verse, forfeiting his ‘goods and chattels’ and being branded on his left thumb.
1735 – Sir Robert Walpole became the first prime minister to occupy 10 Downing Street.
1761 – The coronation of George III. In the later part of his life, George III suffered from mental illness. After a final relapse in 1810, a regency was established, and George III’s eldest son, George, Prince of Wales, ruled as Prince Regent until his father’s death in 1820.
1791 – Michael Faraday, English chemist and physicist, was born. He was the inventor of the dynamo, the transformer and the electric motor. The Unit of capacitance – Farad – was named after him.