Friday, April 25th "2025" Daily Prep
Welcome to day 115, known as World Malaria Day, National Lingerie Day, National DNA Day. Your star sign is Taurus and your birthstone is Diamond.
2012 – A new initiative paired the Scottish hamlet of Dull with an American town named Boring. The Dull and Boring plan was hatched after a resident of Dull, near Aberfeldy in Perthshire, cycled through Boring in Oregon.
Todays birthdays
1932 – William Roache (93), English actor, best known for playing Ken Barlow, the longest-serving cast member in the ITV soap Coronation Street, born in Basford, Nottingham.
1940 – Al Pacino (85), American actor (The Godfather, Scarface, Donnie Brasco, Carlito’s Way), born in East Harlem, New York, United States.
1943 – Tony Christie (82), English musician and singer (“Amarillo”, “Avenues and Alleyways”), born in Conisbrough, Doncaster, South Yorkshire.
1945 – Bjorn Ulvaeus (80), Swedish musician, singer, songwriter and member of ABBA (“Dancing Queen”, “Chiquitita”), born in Gothenburg, Sweden.
1964 – Andy Bell (61), English singer and lead vocalist of the synth-pop duo Erasure (“Love to Hate You”, “A Little Respect”), born in Peterborough.
1969 – Renee Zellweger (56), American actress (Bridget Jones Diary, Jerry Maguire), born in Katy, Texas, United States.
Famous deaths
2004 – Estée Lauder (b. 1906), American businesswoman, co-founded Estée Lauder Companies.
The day today
1915 – World War I – 90,000 Australian, New Zealand, British and French forces began landing on the Gallipoli Peninsular to attack Turkish positions. The Lancashire Fusliers won 6 VC’s before breakfast storming the Gallipoli beach. The victory came at a high price, with as many as 700 members of the regiment killed or wounded.
1953 – Two Cambridge University scientists published their answer to how living things reproduced. In an article published in Nature magazine, James D Watson and Francis Crick described the structure of a chemical called deoxyribonucleic acid, or DNA. Their achievement was recognized in 1962 when they received the Nobel Prize for Physiology.
1969 – The BBC Radio serial Mrs. Dale’s Diary ended after 21 years and more than 5,400 episodes. Her final words were: “I’m rather worried about Jim….”
1990 – The Discovery Space Shuttle deployed the Hubble Space Telescope into low-Earth orbit.
The Hubble mission was a joint operation between NASA and the European Space Agency. Discovery ferried the telescope under mission STS-31, with the deployment of the telescope as its primary objective. During deployment, one of the telescope’s solar arrays got stuck while unfurling, but fortunately, the mission’s ground team found a solution in time.
2012 – A new initiative paired the Scottish hamlet of Dull with an American town named Boring. The Dull and Boring plan was hatched after a resident of Dull, near Aberfeldy in Perthshire, cycled through Boring in Oregon.
2016 – The High Street chain BHS went into administration after 88 years trading. Subsequent rescue bids failed and 11,000 jobs were lost, 22,000 pensions were affected and 164 stores closed. It was the biggest retail failure since Woolworths folded in 2008 with the loss of almost 30,000 jobs.
Today in music
1954 – Johnnie Ray was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Such A Night.’ The singer’s first of three UK No.1’s. He became deaf in his right ear aged 13 after an accident and would later perform wearing a hearing aid. Dexys Midnight Runners’ 1982 music video for ‘Come On Eileen’, used footage of Ray from 1954. The lyrics of the song say, “Poor old Johnnie Ray sounded sad upon the radio / he moved a million hearts in mono”.
1967 – Just days after the completion of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, The Beatles embarked upon their next project, recording the theme to ‘Magical Mystery Tour’ at Abbey Road studios in London.
1970 – The Jackson Five started a two week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘ABC’. It was the group’s second US No. 1, a No.8 hit in the UK.
1979 – The Police made their debut on BBC TV’s Top Of The Pops performing ‘Roxanne’. The single which was taken from their album Outlandos d’Amour was written from the point-of-view of a man who falls in love with a prostitute.
1982 – Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Ebony And Ivory.’ This was McCartney’s 24th No.1 hit single as a songwriter. The title was inspired by McCartney hearing Spike Milligan say “black notes, white notes, and you need to play the two to make harmony folks!”. It was later named as the tenth worst song of all time by Blender magazine and in 2007 was named the worst duet in history by BBC 6 Music listeners.
1987 – Madonna went to No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘La Isla Bonita.’ The fifth and final single from her third studio album, True Blue, made her the only female artist to score four UK No.1 singles. The song had been offered to Michael Jackson for his Bad album.
2002 – TLC member Lisa Lopes was killed in a car accident in La Ceiba, Honduras, aged 30. Seven other people, including Lopes’ brother and sister, who were in the Mitsubishi Montero sports utility vehicle when the crash happened, were taken to a hospital. Lopes who was driving the car when it crashed had spent the past month in Honduras working on various projects including a clothing line, a new solo project and a book.
Today in history
1284 – The birth, at Caernarfon Castle in Wales, of King Edward II, who became the first heir-apparent to bear the title Prince of Wales. King from 1307, he ruled during a period of pestilence, famine and defeats at the hands of the Scots, and was eventually murdered.
1599 – The birth of Oliver Cromwell, Protector of England who led his ‘Ironsides’ in the English Civil War against the ‘Cavaliers’ of King Charles I. Cromwell’s victories enabled him to have the King tried and beheaded, after which he established a republic.
1719 – Robinson Crusoe first appeared in paperback. Written by Daniel Defoe it was based partly on the story of Alexander Selkirk who was marooned on a Pacific island for four years.
1769 – Mark Isambard Brunel, French-born British engineer was born. His son, Isambard Kingdom Brunel followed a similar career to his father in a life marked by projects unparalleled in engineering history.
1829 – Admiral Charles Fremantle arrived in HMS Challenger off the coast of modern day Western Australia prior to declaring the Swan River Colony for Britain.
1859 – British and French engineers broke ground for the creation of the Suez Canal. The excavation took some 10 years and altogether more than 1.5 million people from various countries were employed.