October 24th "2024" Daily Prep
Welcome to day 298 of the “leap” year! Known as National Jamaican Jerk Day, World Polio Day, World Tripe Day. Your star sign is Scorpio and your birthstone is Pink Tourmaline.
2003 – The legendary supersonic aircraft, Concorde, landed for the final time amid emotional scenes at Heathrow airport. The final transatlantic flight, ending 27 years of supersonic history, carried 100 celebrities from New York.
Todays birthdays
1936 – Bill Wyman (88), English musician who was the bassist for the rock band the Rolling Stones (“Satisfaction”, “Jumpin’ Jack Flash”), born in Lewisham, London.
1957 – Sarah Greene (67), British television presenter and actress (Blue Peter, 1980-83; Going Live!), born in St Pancras, London.
1978 – Sabrina Washington (46), British singer with the garage/R&B girl group Mis-Teeq (“Scandalous”, “All I Want”), born in Harlesden, London.
1980 – Monica (44), American singer (“The Boy Is Mine”), rapper and actress, born in College Park, Georgia, United States.
1985 – Wayne Rooney (39), English professional football manager and former player (Everton, Manchester United and England) and current head coach of EFL Championship club Plymouth Argyle, born in Croxteth, Liverpool.
Famous deaths
2023 – Bobby Charlton (b. 1937), English footballer and manager (member of the England team that won the 1966 FIFA World Cup).
The day today
1908 – Emmeline Pankhurst and her daughter Christabel were sent to prison for ‘inciting the public to rush the House of Commons’. Two Cabinet ministers were witnesses for the defence including Lloyd-George, then Chancellor of the Exchequer.
1969 – British actor Richard Burton bought his wife, American actress Elizabeth Taylor, a 69.42 carat diamond costing more than half a million pounds.
1983 – Civil servant Dennis Nilsen, from North London, went on trial accused of six murders and two attempted murders.
1995 – Britain’s main church leaders attacked the setting up of Britain’s first National Lottery, accusing it of undermining public culture and damaging society.
2012 – Sir Norman Bettison resigned as chief constable of West Yorkshire Police, saying that an inquiry into his role after the Hillsborough football tragedy of 1989 was ‘a distraction’ to the force. At the time he was a South Yorkshire Police inspector who attended the match as a spectator and later took part in an internal inquiry. He denied claims that he helped ‘concoct’ a false version of events.
Today in music
1979 – Paul McCartney received a medallion cast in rhodium after being declared the most successful composer of all time. From 1962 to 1978, McCartney had written or co-written 43 songs that had sold over a million copies each.
1987 – Michael Jackson started a two week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Bad’, a No.3 hit in the UK. A music video for ‘Bad’, directed by Martin Scorsese and co-starring one of the first appearances of yet-undiscovered Wesley Snipes, was released in late 1987.
1999 – Westlife went to No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Flying Without Wings’. It made the Irish boy band only the third act to debut at No.1 with their first three singles, B*Witched and Robson and Jerome being the other two.
2004 – Queen became the first rock act to receive an official seal of approval in Iran. Western music was still strictly censored in the Islamic republic, where homosexuality is considered a crime. Freddie Mercury, was proud of his Iranian ancestry, and illegal bootleg albums and singles had made Queen one of the most popular bands in Iran.
2006 – Taylor Swift released her self-titled debut studio album. Swift was 16 years old at the time of the album’s release and the album went on the top the Country Albums Chart for 24 non-consecutive weeks selling over seven million copies. The album also became the longest-charting album on the Billboard 200 of the 2000s decade, remaining on the chart for 277 weeks in total.
Today in history
1537 – Henry VIII’s 3rd wife, Jane Seymour, died following the birth of future king, Edward VI.
1596 – The second Spanish armada sets sail to strike against England, but is smashed by storms off Cape Finisterre forcing a retreat to port.
1851 – English merchant and astronomer, William Lassell discovers the moons Umbriel and Ariel orbiting Uranus. He also discovered Neptunes moon Titan on 10th October 1846 and Saturns moon Hyperionian on 16th September 1848.
1857 – The founding of the world’s first official football club, Sheffield Football Club, in Yorkshire, by a group of former students from Cambridge University. The club’s finest hour came in 1904 when they won the FA Amateur Cup, a competition conceived after a suggestion by Sheffield. They are commemorated by the English Football Hall of Fame for their significant place in football history. Sheffield Wednesday was founded 4 September 1867 and Sheffield United was founded 22 March 1889.
1895 – The birth of Jack Warner OBE, the English film and television actor who is closely associated with the role of PC George Dixon in the BBC television series Dixon of Dock Green, a part he played until the age of eighty.