November 27th "2024" Daily Prep
Welcome to day 332 of the “leap” year! Known as Pins and Needles Day, National Jukebox Day, Adopt a Turtle Day. Your star sign is Sagittarius and your birthstone is Topaz.
1944 – Between 3,500 and 4,000 tons of explosives stored in a cavern beneath Staffordshire detonated, killing 68 people and wiping out an entire farm. The explosion was heard over 100 miles away in London, and recorded as an earthquake in Geneva.
Todays birthdays
1959 – Charlie Burchill (65), Scottish pop guitarist with Simple Minds (“Don’t You, Forget About Me”; “Belfast Child”), born in Glasgow, Scotland.
1961 – Samantha Bond (63), English actress (Downton Abbey), known for her role as Miss Moneypenny in four James Bond films during the Pierce Brosnan era, born in London.
1978 – Mike Skinner (46), British singer-songwriter and rapper with The Streets (“Dry Your Eyes”, “Blinded By The Light”), born in Chipping Barnet, London.
1983 – Professor Green, born Stephen Paul Manderson (41), British rapper and TV personality (Lip Sync Battle UK), born in London Borough of Hackney, London.
1986 – Oritsé Williams (38), British singer and founding member of boyband JLS (“Beat Again”, “Everybody in Love”), born in London.
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
1914 – Miss Mary Allen and Miss E F Harburn became the first two trained policewomen to be granted official status in Britain when they reported for duty at Grantham, Lincolnshire.
1966 – The first Lancashire Day to commemorate the day in 1295 when Lancashire first sent representatives to Parliament, to attend the Model Parliament of King Edward I. The county has two AONBs (Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty) – The Forest of Bowland and Arnside/Silverdale.
1975 – Ross McWhirter, TV presenter and co-editor of The Guinness Book of Records, was assassinated by two Provisional IRA gunmen after he had offered a £50,000 reward for information leading to a conviction for several high-profile bombings.
2000 – A 10-year-old schoolboy, Damilola Taylor, died after being stabbed in the leg by a gang of hooded attackers near his home in Peckham, south London.
2014 – A new treatment for bladder cancer was shown to completely cure some people, in the first significant breakthrough in the disease for 30 years. Scientists from Queen Mary University of London discovered that an antibody allowed cancer cells to be picked up by the immune system and eradicated before they could spread.
Today in music
1976 – 20 Golden Greats by Glen Campbell started a six-week run at No.1 on the UK album chart. During his 50 years in show business, Campbell released more than 70 albums and has sold over 45 million records.
1981 – The British Phonographic industry placed advertisements in the press claiming that ‘home taping was wiping out music’. The Boomtown Rats, 10cc, Elton John and Cliff Richard all backed the campaign.
1986 – Bon Jovi were at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘You Give Love A Bad Name’, it peaked at No.14 in the UK. Released as the first single from the album Slippery When Wet, in 2009 it was named the 20th-greatest hard rock song of all time by VH1.
1991 – Freddie Mercury’s funeral service was conducted by a Zoroastrian priest, for 35 of his close friends and family, with Elton John and the remaining members of Queen among those in attendance. Mercury was cremated at Kensal Green Cemetery, West London.
2006 – Sir Cliff Richard lost a battle to extend the number of years that musicians could receive royalties for their records. Richard wanted copyright to last 95 years, rather than the present 50 years, but an independent review recommend the terms would not change. Sir Cliff’s earliest big hit ‘Move It’, recorded in 1958 would start to come out of copyright in 2008.
Today in history
1295 – English King Edward I calls what later became known as “The Model Parliament” extending the authorities of its representatives.
1582 – William Shakespeare, aged 18, married Anne Hathaway. They had a daughter in 1583 and a twin boy and girl in 1585. The boy died aged 11.
1720 – Female pirates Mary Read and Anne Bonny went on trial and were subsequently convicted and sentenced to death; their executions were postponed because both were pregnant, and Bonny was eventually freed, though Read died in prison.
1826 – British pharmacist John Walker invented the matchstick by accident. Walker was experimenting with flammable pastes to use in guns. He created the match when the wooden tool he used to mix the substances in his paste scraped and caught fire. Walker never patented the matchstick.
1874 – The birth of Chaim (Azriel) Weizmann, first president of Israel, who was a chemistry professor in Geneva where he became active in the World Zionist Movement. After settling in Britain in 1904 he assisted the British munitions industry during the First World War when he devised a way of extracting acetone (needed for cordite) from maize. In return, the British government promised to help his cause and establish a Jewish state in Palestine.