November 21st "2024" Daily Prep
Welcome to day 326 of the “leap” year! Known as Red Mitten Day, False Confession Day as well as World Hello Day and National Stuffing Day. Your star sign is Scorpio and your birthstone is Topaz.
2019 – Elon Musk revealed Tesla’s first electric cyber truck with shatterproof windows. However, at the grand reveal, when the shatterproof windows were tested by being repeatedly hit by the design chief Franz von Holzhausen, the windows shattered.
Todays birthdays
1945 – Goldie Hawn (79), American actress (Death Becomes Her, Private Benjamin, Bird on a Wire), born in Washington, D.C., United States
1964 – Liza Tarbuck (60), British actress (Bleak House), comedian and television (Blockbusters, The Big Breakfast) and radio presenter, born in Liverpool.
1965 – Bjork (59), Icelandic singer (“It’s Oh So Quiet”), songwriter, composer, record producer, and actress, born in Reykjavík, Iceland.
1968 – Alex James (56), British musician best known as the bassist of the rock band Blur (“Girls & Boys”, “Country House”), born in Boscombe, Bournemouth.
1985 – Carly Rae Jepsen (39), Canadian singer (“Call Me Maybe”), born in Mission, British Columbia, Canada.
Famous deaths
2015 – Warren Mitchell (b. 1926), English actor and screenwriter best known for playing bigoted cockney Alf Garnett (Till Death Us Do Part, In Sickness and in Health).
2020 – Des O’Connor (b. 1932), English comedian, singer and television presenter (Today with Des and Mel, Take Your Pick!, Countdown).
The day today
1916 – HMHS Britannic, the largest Olympic-class ocean liner of the White Star Line and sister ship of RMS Olympic and RMS Titanic was sunk, with the loss of 30 lives. There were a total of 1,066 people on board, with 1,036 survivors taken from the water and lifeboats, about two hours after the ship sank at 9:07 am. She was the largest ship lost during the First World War.
1918 – At the end of World War I, the German Fleet was surrendered to Britain at its northern naval base at Scapa Flow.
1953 – The British Natural History Museum announced that the ‘Piltdown Man’ skull, initially believed to be one of the most important fossilized skulls ever found, was a hoax.
1958 – Work began on the Forth Road Bridge in Scotland. It was the longest suspension bridge outside the United States and the fourth-largest in the world at the time of its construction. It was awarded Historic Scotland’s Category A, listed structure status in 2001.
1994 – Princess Anne left England for a 7 day tour of South Africa and Mozambique. It was the first official visit to South Africa by a member of the Royal Family for 50 years.
Today in music
1954 – American singer and actress Rosemary Clooney was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘This Ole House.’ This song was also a No.1 for Shakin’ Stevens in 1981. Her nephew, George Clooney was a pallbearer at her funeral in 2002.
1981 – Queen and David Bowie were at No.1 in the UK with Under Pressure. They recorded the song together when both acts were working in a Swiss recording studio. It was David Bowie’s first released collaboration with another recording artist.
1991 – Aerosmith made a guest appearance in the Simpsons TV animated comedy. Other acts who have appeared on the show included: Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Smashing Pumpkins, Sonic Youth, U2, The Moody Blues, The B-52’s, The Who, R.E.M., Phish, Blink-182, Metallica, and The White Stripes.
1992 – Charles and Eddie were at No.1 in the UK singles chart with ‘Would I Lie To You’ the debut single by the pop-soul duo and their only chart topper.
2004 – Girls Aloud started a two week run at No.1 on the UK singles chart with their version of the Pretenders ‘I’ll Stand By You.’ This was 2004’s single for the Children In Need appeal with its proceeds going towards the charity.
Today in history
1695 – The death of Henry Purcell, English composer and organist. He is generally considered to be one of the greatest English composers and no other native-born English composer approached his fame until Edward Elgar.
1783 – French chemistry and physics teacher Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier made his first successful balloon flight. His joy for balloons eventually killed him when he tried to cross the English Channel with Pierre Romain. This became the first-ever known air crash fatality.
1806 – Napoleon issued the Berlin Decree, which prohibited trade between France and Britain. This was part of Napoleon’s Continental System, an economic warfare strategy to isolate Britain from continental Europe.
1843 – English inventor and manufacturer Thomas Hancock patented vulcanized rubber. In 1825 he had produced the first toy balloons in Britain consisting of a bottle of rubber solution and a condensing syringe.
1877 – American inventor Thomas Edison announces his invention of the phonograph, a machine that can record and play sound. Edison initially used the phonograph as a dictating machine for offices but it later became a popular form of entertainment.