April 8th "2024" Daily Prep

Welcome to day 99, known as Baby Massage Day, International Kids Yoga Day. If you were born on this day, you were likely conceived the week of July 16th in the previous year. Your star sign is Aries and your birthstone is Diamond.
The new Winchester Cathedral in Hampshire was dedicated to Bishop Walkelin after which, the monks moved into their new home and the relics of St Swithun transferred.
1093 – The new Winchester Cathedral in Hampshire was dedicated to Bishop Walkelin after which, the monks moved into their new home and the relics of St Swithun transferred.
Todays birthdays
1949 – John Philip Madden (75), English director of stage and film (The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, Shakespeare in Love, Captain Corelli’s Mandolin), born in Portsmouth.
1963 – Julian Lennon (61), English musician (“Too Late for Goodbyes”, “Love Don’t Let Me Down”), photographer, author, and philanthropist, born in Liverpool.
1963 – Alec Stewart (61), English former cricketer, and former captain of the England cricket team, who played Test cricket and One Day Internationals, born in Merton Park, London.
1966 – Mark Blundell (58), British racing driver who competed in Formula One for four seasons and winner of the 1992 24 Hours of Le Mans, born in Barnet, North London.
1968 – Patricia Arquette (56), American actress (Stigmata, CSI: Cyber, A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors), born in Chicago, Illinois, United States.
Famous deaths
1973 – Pablo Picasso (b. 1881), Spanish painter and sculptor known for co-founding the Cubist movement.
2013 – Margaret Thatcher (b. 1925), English politician, first female Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
The day today
1925 – The Australian Government and the British Colonial Office offered low interest loans to encourage Britons to borrow the money to emigrate to Australia.
1968 – BOAC Flight 712 bound for Sydney caught fire shortly after take off from London Heathrow Airport. As a result of her heroic actions in the accident which claimed her life, Barbara Jane Harrison, a British air stewardess, was awarded a posthumous George Cross, the first GC awarded to a woman in peacetime.
1990 – British golfer Nick Faldo won his second successive US Masters after a play-off.
1997 – The results of the first ultrasonic scan of the front of the Titanic revealed a series of six short slits as the principal damage to the ship after it struck an iceberg in the North Atlantic in 1912. There is a memorial in Southampton to the 35 engineer officers who battled to keep Titanic afloat during her fated maiden voyage.
2012 – 35 year old Trenton Oldfield was charged over an incident which led to the 158th University Boat Race being halted halfway through. He swam in front of the boats, protesting about university elitism and narrowly avoided being hit by the oars of the Oxford crew.
Today in music
1967 – Sandie Shaw won the Eurovision Song Contest held in Vienna representing Britain with the song ‘Puppet On A String’. She became the first UK female artist to win the contest.
1991 – English trip hop group Massive Attack released their debut studio album Blue Lines. In 1997, Blue Lines was named the 21st greatest album of all time in a “Music of the Millennium” poll conducted by HMV, Channel 4, The Guardian and Classic FM. The album was also included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.
1995 – Take That had their sixth UK No.1 single when the Gary Barlow penned ‘Back For Good’ went to the top of the UK charts. The song sold over 300,000 copies in its first week and was also a US Top 10 hit. The song won Best British Single at the 1996 Brit Awards.
2001 – Former Spice Girl Emma Bunton scored her first UK No.1 single with ‘What Took You So Long.’ She became the fourth Spice Girl to have a solo No 1. Written by Richard Stannard who wrote six of the Spice Girls’ UK No.1 hits.
2002 – Marilyn Manson denied claims that he was responsible for the death of a woman after a party at his mansion in 2001. Jennifer Syme, a former girlfriend of actor Keanu Reeves, died when her Jeep Cherokee hit three parked cars. Her mother, Maria St John, was suing the singer for wrongful death, claiming Manson was negligent in “instructing the woman to operate a motor vehicle in her incapacitated condition”.
Today in history
1093 – The new Winchester Cathedral in Hampshire was dedicated to Bishop Walkelin after which, the monks moved into their new home and the relics of St Swithun transferred. The Grade 1 listed cathedral is one of the largest cathedrals in England, with the longest nave and overall length of any Gothic cathedral in Europe.
1838 – The day before his 32nd birthday, Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s 236 ft steamship Great Western sailed from Bristol on her maiden voyage to New York. The journey took 15 days, half the time of the fastest sailing ship. She became the first steamship to make regular Atlantic crossings.
1886 – William Ewart Gladstone introduced the first Irish Home Rule Bill into the House of Commons.
1904 – Britain and France settled their foreign affairs differences with a newly negotiated ‘Entente Cordiale’. Britain recognised the Suez Canal Convention and surrendered its claim to Madagascar.
1920 – Venus de Milo, an ancient statue commonly thought to represent Aphrodite, was found in pieces on the Aegean island of Melos; it was later reconstructed and put on display in the Louvre, Paris.