Famous deaths
2018 – Chas Hodges (b. 1943), English musician and singer. He was the lead vocalist, pianist and guitarist of the musical duo Chas & Dave.
On This Day 2026
Hello, … Welcome to day 14

Wednesday, January 14th Daily Prep.

Today is International Kite Day, National Dress Up Your Pet Day and World Logic Day. Your star sign is Capricorn and your birthstone is Garnet.
1943 – World War II: Prime Minister Winston Churchill and U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt met in Casablanca, Morocco, to discuss their strategy for the next phase of the war.
World War II: Prime Minister Winston Churchill and U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt met in Casablanca, Morocco, to discuss their strategy for the next phase of the war.
Today’s birthdays
1959 – Chas Smash (67), English singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and the secondary vocalist with Madness (“House of Fun”), born in Fitzrovia, London.

1965 – Jemma Redgrave (61), English actress (Holby City, The Beekeeper, Howards End, Cold Blood, The War Between the Land and the Sea), born in London.

1968 – LL Cool J (58), American rapper (“Mama Said Knock You Out”) and actor (NCIS: Los Angeles, S.W.A.T., Deep Blue Sea), born in Bay Shore, New York, United States.
1969 – Dave Grohl (57), American musician, former Nirvana drummer and founder of the rock band, Foo Fighters (“The Pretender”, “Monkey Wrench”), born in Warren, Ohio, United States.
1974 – Denise Van Outen (52), English actress (Run for Your Wife), singer, dancer and TV presenter (The Big Breakfast), born in Basildon, Essex.
1989 – Frankie Bridge (37), English singer with The Saturdays (“Up”) and a former member of S Club Juniors (“Automatic High”), born in Upminster, East London.
1999 – Declan Rice (27), English professional footballer (Arsenal and the England national team), born in Kingston upon Thames, Greater London.
Famous deaths
1957 – Humphrey Bogart (b. 1899), American actor and cultural icon (The Maltese Falcon, Casablanca, Sabrina).

1977 – Anthony Eden (b. 1897), English politician and who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1955 until his resignation in 1957.

2016 – Alan Rickman (b. 1946), English actor known for his distinctive deep, languid voice (Die hard, Love Actually, Galaxy Quest, Harry Potter).

2025 – Tony Slattery (b. 1959), English actor and comedian appearing as a regular on the Channel 4 improvisation show Whose Line Is It Anyway?.

The day today
1904 – The birth of Sir Cecil Beaton, fashion and portrait photographer, writer and theatrical designer. He was a photographer for Vanity Fair and Vogue magazines, often photographed the Royal Family for official publications and was a major influence on the work of photographer David Bailey.
1943 – US President Franklin D. Roosevelt arrived in Morocco, where he met British Prime Minister Winston Churchill to discuss allies during World War II. This was the first time any American president had been on an airplane.

1969 – Football legend Sir Matt Busby announced that he would retire as manager of Manchester United at the end of the season. Formerly a Scottish football player and manager he was most noted for his time as managing Manchester United between 1945 and 1969. His manager records and longevity at the helm of Manchester United are only surpassed by Sir Alex Ferguson.

1973 – Dancer and TV presenter, Roy Castle set a Guinness World Record for the fastest tap dance, achieving a rate of 1,440 taps per minute (24 taps per second) on BBC TV’s Record Breakers, and the record remains unbroken.
1975 – 17-year-old heiress, Lesley Whittle, was kidnapped from her home in Shropshire. Her body was found on 7th March, 1975, hanging from a wire at the bottom of a drain shaft in Bathpool Park, Staffordshire. Donald Neilson, also known as the Black Panther, was convicted of her murder (and three others) in July 1976.
1985 – Martina Navratilova becomes the 3rd tennis player to win 100 tournaments after Jimmy O’Connors and Chris Evert.
1989 – Muslims in Bradford ritually burned a copy of Salman Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses in the first serious protest in Britain. The book had been banned in some Muslim countries.
2002 – After three months of no cases being reported, the United Kingdom was finally declared free from the ‘Foot and Mouth’ infection, after a crisis that started in 2001 in which millions of cows and sheep were destroyed.
2013 – Music and DVD chain HMV appointed an administrator, making it the latest casualty on the High Street and putting 4,350 jobs at risk. Quote from retail analyst Neil Saunders – “In the digital era, where 73.4% of music and film are online …. there is no real future for physical retail in the music sector.”
2014 – Monkeys at Paignton Zoo in Devon were banned from eating bananas. Keepers said – “Giving monkeys bananas that have been cultivated for humans is like giving them cake and chocolate. Reducing the sugar in their diets has calmed them down and made their group more settled.”
2022 – Reports came to light that Downing Street staff held two further parties on 16th April 2021, during strict coronavirus restrictions, in addition to the ones reported so far. The parties went on until the early hours, the night before Prince Philip’s funeral. On the day of the funeral the Queen was in mourning in St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle, socially distanced from her family, plans for military processions through London or Windsor were scrapped and the guest list was trimmed from 800 to 30, in line with restrictions at the time.
Today in music
1966 – David Jones changed his name to David Bowie to avoid confusion with Davy Jones from The Monkees, just in time for the release of his single, ‘Can’t Help Thinking About Me’. He would later say that he chose “Bowie” because he liked that “big American bear-killin’ knife.”
1970 – Diana Ross made her last appearance with The Supremes at The Frontier Hotel, Las Vegas. During the show, Diana introduced her replacement, Jean Terrell, who would lead the group to seven more Top 40 hits, including the Top 10 entries ‘Up The Ladder To The Roof’ and ‘Stoned Love’ later in the year.
1978 – The Sex Pistols played their last show at the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco where Johnny Rotten yelled to the crowd at the outset, “Ever get the feeling you’ve been cheated.” It was the last time the band played with bassist Sid Vicious.

1984 – Paul McCartney was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Pipes Of Peace.’ With this release McCartney made chart history by becoming the first artist to have a No.1 in a group, (The Beatles), in a duo, (with Stevie Wonder) in a trio, (with Wings) and as a solo artist.

1996 – Oasis went to No.1 on the UK album chart with their second studio album (What’s The Story) Morning Glory, the group’s second UK No.1 spent a total of 145 week’s on the chart. It was also the band’s breakthrough in the United States, reaching No.4 on the US Billboard 200. The album yielded four major hit UK singles, ‘Some Might Say’ and ‘Don’t Look Back in Anger’ reached No.1, and ‘Roll with It’ and ‘Wonderwall’ peaked at No.2.
2001 – Jennifer Lopez scored her first UK No.1 single with ‘Love Don’t Cost A Thing.’ The track was taken from her album J.Lo.
2007 – Amy Winehouse started a two week run at No.1 on the UK album chart with ‘Back To Black’. The album has sold over 3.58 million copies in the UK alone, becoming the UK’s second best-selling album of the 21st century. Worldwide, the album has sold over 20 million copies.
2014 – Justin Bieber was questioned by police over the egging of his neighbour’s house in Calabasas, California. Bieber spoke to police in relation to the incident, which saw him accused of throwing eggs at his neighbour’s house while his neighbour and neighbour’s daughter were on the balcony filming him.
2016 – Adele was at No.1 on the US album chart with her third studio album 25. The album was a massive commercial success, debuting at No.1 in more than 25 markets breaking first-week sales records in multiple countries, including the United Kingdom and United States. 25 has gone on to sell over 23 million copies worldwide, making it the fourth-best selling album of the 21st century. It won the 2016 Brit Award for British Album of the Year, and the 2017 Grammy Award for Album of the Year.
Today in history
1742 – The death of Sir Edmund Halley, aged 86; astronomer, geophysicist, mathematician, meteorologist, and physicist. He was Astronomer Royal who gave his name to a comet.
1878 – Queen Victoria watched a demonstration of Alexander Graham Bell’s telephone, by W.H. Preece at Osborne House on the Isle of Wight. Preece called it ‘Signalling through Space without Wires’.
1886 – Birth of Hugh Lofting, creator of ‘Dr Dolittle’. He trained as a civil engineer prior to enlisting in the Irish Guards to serve in World War I. He wrote illustrated letters home to his children from the trenches during World War I when actual news, he later said, was either too horrible or too dull. These letters became the foundation of the his successful Doctor Dolittle novels for children.
1895 – A mining disater at Diglake Colliery in Staffordshire killed 78 men and boys, following a flood. On 7th March 1933 the remains of some victims were recovered after being entombed for 38 years, although many of the bodies were never found. On 12th January 2020 a memorial to those killed was unveiled at Audley Methodist Church.
1898 – The death, at Guildford, of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, who wrote under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll and who was author of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. In his earlier years he took up the new art form of photography in which he excelled. Born at Daresbury Parsonage in Cheshire (now in ruins and in the care of the National Trust), he is commemorated in a stained glass window at the Parish Church.