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 8

Thursday, January 8th Daily Prep.

Today is Argyle Day, Bubble Bath Day, National Winter Skin Day and War on Poverty Day. Your star sign is Capricorn and your birthstone is Garnet.
2004 – The liner RMS Queen Mary 2, was named by Queen Elizabeth II. At the time of her construction in 2003 she was the longest, widest and tallest passenger ship ever built, and at 151,400 gross tons, she was also the largest.
The liner RMS Queen Mary 2, was named by Queen Elizabeth II. At the time of her construction in 2003 she was the longest, widest and tallest passenger ship ever built.
Today’s birthdays
1937 – Shirley Bassey (89), Welsh singer (“Big Spender”) known for her powerful voice and recording the theme songs to three James Bond films, born in Tiger bay, Cardiff.
1947 – Terry Sylvester (79), English musician, songwriter and member of the band, The Hollies (“He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother”, “The Air That I Breathe”), born in Liverpool.
1971 – Karen Poole (55), English songwriter (Kylie Minogue, David Guetta, Rita Ora, Lily Allen) and singer and founding member of Alisha’s Attic (“I Am, I Feel”), born in London.
1978 – Marco Fu (48), Hong Kong professional snooker player (three-time ranking event winner 2007 Grand Prix, 2013 Australian Open 2016 Scottish Open), born in British Hong Kong.
1987 – Cynthia Erivo (39), English Emmy, Grammy, and Tony Award-winning stage and screen actress (Wicked, Harriet, The Outsider), born in London.
Famous deaths
2007 – Magnus Magnusson (b. 1929), Icelandic-born British-based journalist, translator, writer and television presenter (BBC television quiz programme Mastermind for 25 years).

2024 – Franz Beckenbauer (b. 1945), German professional football player, manager, and official. Nicknamed der Kaiser (“the Emperor”), he is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential players of all time.

The day today
1921 – David Lloyd George became the first Prime Minister to reside in Chequers, a country mansion in Buckinghamshire which had been given by Lord Lee of Fareham as a gift to the nation. Lloyd George’s boyhood home village of Llanystumdwy (on the Llyn Peninsula in Gwynedd ) houses the Lloyd George Museum. The museum is dedicated to the life and times of David Lloyd George, known as ‘the Welsh Wizard’.

1940 – World War II: Britain introduced food rationing. Restaurants were initially exempt from rationing, but this was resented, as the rich could supplement their food allowance by eating out frequently and extravagantly, so new rules were introduced.

1941 – Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the Scout movement, died, aged 83 in Kenya and was buried at Nyeri. His gravestone bears a circle with a dot in the centre, which is the trail sign for ‘Going home’, or ‘I have gone home’. When his wife Olave died in 1977, her ashes were sent to Kenya and interred beside her husband. Kenya has declared Baden-Powell’s grave a national monument.
1942 – The birth of Stephen Hawking, possibly the most brilliant theoretical physicist since Albert Einstein. He wrote A Brief History of Time, which stayed on the British Sunday Times bestseller list for a record-breaking 237 weeks. His book sold at least 25,000,000 copies, was no doubt read by many thousands but maybe understood by only hundreds! In 2014 the film ‘The Theory of Everything’ was released. It dealt with his former wife’s relationship with her ex-husband, his diagnosis of motor neuron disease, and his success in physics.
1967 – The Forsyte Saga, the television adaptation of Galsworthy’s novel, screened its first episode. It was so popular that for the six months of its run, many churches had to change the times of their services.
1978 – The TV series “All Creatures Great and Small” debuts on BBC TV, based on the books by James Herriot, starring Robert Hardy and Christopher Timothy.
1982 – Spain reopened the frontier of the British colony of Gibraltar. In return, Britain agreed to open negotiations on Gibraltar’s future, and ended its opposition to Spain joining the EEC.
1989 – 47 people were killed and over 80 injured when a British Midland 737-400 jet crashed on the M1 motorway. Remarkably nobody travelling on the motorway was hurt. The plane had developed a problem in its left engine shortly after it took off from Heathrow. The pilots mistakenly believed that the fault was in the right hand engine which they shut down, leading to the crash, just yards from the runway of East Midlands Airport.
2001 – The High Court ruled that the identities and whereabouts of Robert Thompson and Jon Venables, who murdered toddler James Bulger in 1993 would be kept secret for the rest of their lives. Venables was subsequently returned to prison in March 2010 for other offences and it was decided that he would stay in prison ‘for the foreseeable future’, as he would be likely to reveal his identity if released. A mere 18 months later it was reported that the Parole Board for England and Wales had approved the release of Venables, who was subsequently released from prison on 3rd September 2013.
2004 – The liner RMS Queen Mary 2, was named by Queen Elizabeth II. At the time of her construction in 2003 she was the longest, widest and tallest passenger ship ever built, and at 151,400 gross tons, she was also the largest.
2015 – 26-year-old Charlotte Carpenter made history by becoming Wales’ first-ever FIFA-accredited female football referee, opening doors to officiating major international tournaments like the Women’s World Cup and Champions League, a significant step for women’s refereeing in Wales.
2020 – The Duke and Duchess of Sussex announce they are stepping back as “senior” royals, working towards becoming financially independent.
2022 – The United Kingdom passes 150,000 COVID-19 deaths, the first country in Europe and the seventh globally.
Today in music
1972 – The New Seekers were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘I’d Like To Teach The World To Sing, (in Perfect Harmony’). The song started as a Coca Cola TV ad. It originally included the line, ‘I’d like to buy the world a Coke.’
1980 – Prince made his national television debut in the US, performing ‘I Wanna Be Your Lover’ and ‘Why You Want To Treat Me So Bad’ on the NBC variety show Midnight Special.
1991 – Steve Clark guitarist with Def Leppard, was found dead at his Chelsea flat by his girlfriend, after a night of heavy alcohol consumption combined with prescription drugs. The autopsy revealed he had died from an overdose of codeine and had Valium, morphine and a blood alcohol level of .30, three times the British legal driving limit. In 2007 Clark was ranked No.11 on Classic Rock Magazine’s “100 Wildest Guitar Heroes”.
1994 – Jamaican reggae/rap (ragga) duo Chaka Demus and Pliers were at No.1 in the UK with their version of ‘Twist And Shout.’ The song was originally recorded (and produced by Phil Spector) by the Top Notes in 1961 and then covered by The Isley Brothers. It was also covered by The Beatles on their first album Please Please Me.
2000 – It was reported that police foiled a £1 million kidnap plot to snatch Victoria Beckham and her baby son. The plot was uncovered after a tip off to the police. The gang had planned to kidnap the pair when husband David was away playing football.
2010 – Jimmy Page launched a new set of stamps in the UK which featured classic album covers from the last 40 years including Coldplay, Power, Corruption And Lies, New Order, David Bowie and Parklife by Blur.
2016 – David Bowie released his twenty-fifth and final studio album Blackstar, coinciding with his 69th birthday and two days before his death. It became his first and only album to reach No.1 on the Billboard 200 album chart in the US. At the 59th Annual Grammy Awards, the album won awards for Best Alternative Music Album; Best Engineered Album; Best Recording Package, and the title single won Best Rock Performance, and Best Rock Song. The album was also awarded the British Album of the Year award at the 2017 Brit Awards.
2017 – Northern Indian-born British singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Peter Sarstedt died at the age of 75. He was best known for the single ‘Where Do You Go To (My Lovely)?’ which topped the UK Singles Chart in 1969 (and 14 other countries), and won an Ivor Novello Award.
Today in history
871 AD – Alfred the Great (born in Oxfordshire) led a West Saxon army to repel an invasion by the Vikings.
1493 – Christopher Columbus sighted manatees for the first time ever. He found them near the Dominican Republic after mistaking them for mermaids. When he described them, he said they were “not half as beautiful as they are painted.”
1746 – Bonnie Prince Charlie occupied Stirling. Such early successes would prove short-lived for the pretender to the throne. His army seized control of the town but failed to take the castle and subsequently retreated northwards.
1800 – London opened its first soup kitchens for the poor. The Aberdeen Soup Kitchen was established as a charity to feed the needy in 1800. It operated until the 1990s, when it was converted to a café, as its original purpose was thought no longer necessary.
1815 – Britain lost the last battle it ever fought against the US in the War of 1812 when General Sir Edward Pakenham and his men were defeated at New Orleans.