October 10th "2024" Daily Prep
Welcome to day 284 of the “leap” year! Known as World Mental Health Day, National Cake Decorating Day, World Homeless Day, World Porridge Day. Your star sign is Libra and your birthstone is Pink Tourmaline.
1903 – Emmeline Pankhurst (pictured center) and several colleagues founded the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU), an organisation open only to women and focused on direct action to win the vote.
Todays birthdays
1946 – Chris Tarrant (78), English broadcaster, television personality (Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?) and former radio DJ (Capital Radio), born in Reading, Berkshire.
1953 – Midge Ure (71), Scottish musician (Ultravox, Band Aid), singer-songwriter and record producer, born in Cambuslang, Glasgow, Scotland.
1961 – Martin Kemp (63), English musician (Spandau Ballet) and actor (Eastenders, The Krays), born in Highbury, London.
1964 – Sarah Lancashire (60), English actress (Coronation Street, Happy Valley), born in Oldham, Greater Manchester.
1981 – Una Healy (43), Irish singer and member of five-piece girl group The Saturdays (“What About Us”, “Ego”), born in Thurles, County Tipperary, Ireland.
Famous deaths
2006 – Paul Hunter (b. 1978), English snooker player (three-time Masters champion, winning the event at the 2001, 2002, and 2004 tournaments).
The day today
1957 – A major radiation leak was detected at the Windscale (now known as Sellafield) nuclear plant in Cumbria after an accident three days earlier. Milk from about 500 square kilometer of nearby countryside was diluted and destroyed for about a month.
1975 – Elizabeth Taylor got married for the 6th time. She re-married British actor Richard Burton at a remote location in Botswana. They divorced the following year.
1980 – Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher made her memorably defiant speech “U-turn if you want to. The lady’s not for turning” at her party’s conference in Brighton.
1996 – A Scottish fisherman found a message in a bottle. It had been thrown in the North Sea in 1914 to chart the currents.
1999 – Thousands gathered to watch the giant Millennium wheel become the latest landmark on the London skyline.
Today in music
1970 – Black Sabbath were at No.1 on the UK chart with their second album ‘Paranoid.’ The album which contains some of the band’s best-known signature songs, including the title track, ‘Iron Man’ and ‘War Pigs’ is now regarded as one of the classic Heavy Metal albums.
1992 – R.E.M. scored their second UK No.1 album with ‘Automatic For The People’, featuring the singles ‘Drive’, ‘Everybody Hurts’, ‘Man On The Moon’ and ‘The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonight.’
1999 – Christina Aguilera went to No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Genie In A Bottle.’ The song spent 5 weeks at No.1 on the US chart and won Aguilera the Best New Artist Grammy for the year.
2009 – Boyzone singer Stephen Gately died suddenly at the age of 33 while on holiday in Majorca. Spanish police said there were no signs of suspicious circumstances, but the cause of death was not yet known. Gately was on holiday with his long-term partner Andy Cowles.
2014 – Taylor Swift was named Billboard’s Woman of the Year 2014, making her the first artist to receive the award twice. The award goes to the female artist who “has shaped and inspired the music industry with her success, leadership and innovation” over the last year.
Today in history
1549 – Edward Seymour, the first Duke of Somerset and Lord Protector of England, had his title stripped from him. After having been stripped of his title in 1552, Seymour was sentenced to death by the King, who was his 14-year-old nephew. The event was considered a plot against Seymour, also known as a coup d’état.
1580 – After a three day siege, (the Siege of Smerwick) the English Army beheaded over 600 Irish and Papal soldiers and civilians at Dún an Óir in Ireland. Although the defenders eventually surrendered, most of them were then massacred on the orders of the English commander, the Lord Deputy of Ireland, Arthur Grey.
1731 – The birth of Henry Cavendish, the English physicist and chemist who discovered hydrogen.
1846 – British astronomer William Lassell discovered Neptune’s largest moon, Triton.
1877 – William Morris, motoring pioneer and English car manufacturer, was born. The Morris name remained in use until 1984 when British Leyland’s Austin Rover Group decided to concentrate on the more popular Austin brand.