December 8th "2024" Daily Prep
Welcome to day 343 of the “leap” year! Known as Brownie Day, Feast of the Immaculate Conception and Pretend To Be A Time Traveler Day. Your star sign is Sagittarius and your birthstone is Blue Topaz.
1864 – Designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, the Clifton Suspension Bridge spanning the Avon Gorge and the River Avon was finally opened. It was from this bridge that the first modern bungee jumps were taken.
Todays birthdays
1953 – Kim Basinger (71), American actress (L.A. Confidential, 8 Mile, Batman, Never Say Never Again), born in Athens, Georgia, United States.
1957 – Phil Collen (67), English musician who is best known as the co-lead guitarist for the rock band Def Leppard (“Pour Some Sugar on Me”, “When Love & Hate Collide”) since 1982, born in London Borough of Hackney, London.
1966 – Les Ferdinand (58), English football coach, former professional footballer (Newcastle United, Tottenham Hotspur) and television pundit, born in Acton, London.
1982 – Nicki Minaj (42), Trinidadian-born rapper, singer, and songwriter (“Anaconda”, “Starships”), born in Saint James, Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago.
1986 – Amir Khan (38), British former professional boxer who competed from 2005 to 2022 and held unified light-welterweight world championships between 2009 and 2012, born in Bolton, Lancashire.
Famous deaths
1997 – Shirley Crabtree (b. 1930), English wrestler (Big Daddy) who was often partnered against Giant Haystacks.
The day today
1941 – The US, Britain and Australia declared war on Japan following the Pearl Harbour attack the previous day. The attack sank 9 ships of the American fleet and 21 ships were severely damaged. The overall death toll reached 2,403, including 68 civilians. Also on this day… The birth of Sir Geoff Hurst, English footballer. He made his mark in World Cup history as the only player to have scored a hat-trick in a World Cup final. His three goals came in the 1966 final for England in their 4–2 win over West Germany at the old Wembley stadium.
1981 – Arthur Scargill became leader of ‘The National Union Of Mineworkers’. Scargill’s last official connections with his old union expired at the end of 2011. His honorary presidency of the NUM was terminated and so was his last remaining paid employment, as an adviser to the NUM’s Yorkshire and Lancashire Area Trust Funds.
1995 – Head teacher Philip Lawrence, aged 48, died after being stabbed outside his west London school while protecting a pupil who was being assaulted.
2010 – SpaceX became the first private company to launch, orbit, and recover a spacecraft. The SpaceX mission couldn’t have gone off any better, with all systems reporting nominal conditions the whole way through. This milestone had only previously been achieved by national space agencies such as NASA and Roscosmos.
2013 – Northumberland National Park and the adjoining Kielder Water and forest park, were declared Europe’s largest “dark sky park”. The award recognises the profound darkness that makes nearly 580 square miles of the county an ideal territory from which to stare up at the night sky.
Today in music
1973 – Roxy Music had their first UK No.1 album when ‘Stranded’ went to the top for one week. The sleeve featured Playboy’s Playmate of The Year, model Marilyn Cole, (who was the magazines’s first full-frontal nude centerfold).
1980 – John Lennon was shot five times by 25 year old Mark Chapman outside the Dakota building in New York City where John and Yoko lived. Chapman had been waiting for Lennon outside the Dakota apartments since mid-morning and had asked for an autograph earlier in the day. Lennon was pronounced dead from a massive loss of blood at 11.30pm. In 2000, a plaque to commemorate the 20th anniversary of John Lennon’s death was unveiled outside his childhood home in Liverpool.
1984 – Frankie Goes To Hollywood were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘The Power Of Love’. The group’s third No.1 of the year and final UK No.1. This made them the first group since Gerry And The Pacemakers to have a UK No.1 with their first three singles.
2013 – Metallica became the first band to have performed on all seven continents when they held a concert in Antarctica. “Freeze ’em All,” as Metallica dubbed the show, was held in a giant dome to protect the audience of 120 from the harsh elements. The audience had to listen to the band through headphones for fear of loud amplified music negatively affecting the delicate ecosystem of Antarctica.
2016 – Sir Mick Jagger became a father again at the age of 73, after his 29-year-old girlfriend, American ballerina Melanie Hamrick, gave birth to a boy in New York City. The singer already had seven children, whose ages range from 17 to 45 and he became a great-grandfather in 2014.
Today in history
1542 – The birth of Mary Queen of Scots, Scottish Queen who ascended to the throne when she was just 6 days old and was crowned nine months later. A rebellion led to her abdication and later Elizabeth I imprisoned her for a plot to restore the Roman Catholic religion and to take the throne from her. After 19 years in custody, Mary was tried and executed for treason.
1660 – A woman (credited to be Margaret Hughes) appears on an English public stage for the first time, in the role of Desdemona in a production of Shakespeare’s play Othello. Originally, all female parts were played by men.
1813 – Ludwig van Beethoven’s 7th Symphony in A, premieres in Vienna with the composer conducting.
1863 – The world’s first heavyweight boxing championship took place at Wadhurst, Kent, between Tom King (England) and John C Heenan (US). The fight lasted for 24 rounds and King was the champion. Heenan was America’s heavyweight champion under the London Prize Ring, or bare-knuckle rules, but retired after his defeat by the English heavyweight.
1864 – The opening of the Clifton Suspension Bridge over the River Avon at Bristol, designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel when he was aged just 24. Sadly, there have been over 500 suicides since the bridge was opened, including the tragic death of Charlotte Bevan and her new-born baby Zaani Tiana, whose bodies were discovered at the foot of the gorge on 3rd and 4th of December 2014 respectively.