August 11th "2024" Daily Prep
Welcome to day 224 of the year! Known as Melon Day, National Bakewell Tart Day, National Face Mask Day. If you were born today you were likely conceived the week of November 18th in the previous year. Your star sign is Leo and your birthstone is Peridot.
2016 – Scientists discovered the oldest living Greenland Shark, with an estimated age of 392 years old. The international team of scientists declared the shark the longest-living vertebrate in the world.
Todays birthdays
1944 – Ian McDiarmid (80), Scottish actor known for his role as
Sheev Palpatine in the Star Wars franchise, born in Carnoustie, Scotland.
1953 – Hulk Hogan (70), American retired professional wrestler widely regarded as the most popular wrestler of the 1980s, born in Augusta, Georgia, United States.
1966 – Nigel Martyn (58), English football coach and former professional footballer (Crystal Palace, Leeds United and Everton), born in St Austell, Cornwall.
1973 – Nigel Harman (51), English actor, best known for his role as Dennis Rickman in the BBC soap opera EastEnders, born in London.
1983 – Chris Hemsworth (41), Australian actor (THOR, Avengers, Extraction, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, 12 Strong), born in Melbourne, Australia.
Famous deaths
1994 – Peter Cushing (b. 1913), English actor (Dracula, The Curse of Frankenstein, The Hound of the Baskervilles) known for his appearances in horror films from the Hammer studio.
2014 – Robin Williams (b. 1951), American actor and comedian (Mrs Doubtfire, Patch Adams Good Morning Vietnam).
The day today
1909 – The first recorded use of the new emergency wireless signal SOS.
1918 – World War I: The end of the Battle of Amiens that ultimately led to the end of the First World War. The battle is also notable for the large number of surrendering German forces. It was one of the first major battles involving armoured warfare and marked the end of trench warfare on the Western Front.
1942 – Barnes Wallis patented his ‘bouncing bomb’, used successfully to destroy German dams in the 2nd World War. The ‘Dam Busters’ practiced their techniques at the Derwent Dam in Derbyshire where you can see this memorial to them.
1982 – The notorious East End gangsters Ronnie and Reggie Kray were allowed out of prison for the funeral of their mother.
1999 – Up to 350m people throughout Europe and Asia witnessed the last total solar eclipse of the century.
Today in music
1956 – Elvis Presley’s double sided hit ‘Don’t Be Cruel / Hound Dog was released. The single went to No.1 on the US chart, where it stayed for 11 weeks – a record that would not be broken until 1992’s Boyz II Men hit ‘End of the Road’.
1967 – Small Faces, The Move, Marmalade, Paul Jones, Pink Floyd, Amen Corner, Donovan, Zoot Money, Cream, Jeff Beck, John Mayall, Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac and The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown all appeared at this years UK Reading festival. An advance 3 day ticket cost £2.
1979 – Led Zeppelin played their last ever UK show when they appeared at Knebworth House, England.
2002 – Bruce Springsteen started a two week run at No.1 on the US album chart with ‘The Rising’, the singers fifth US No.1. Also No.1 in the UK.
2022 – David Bowie was named Britain’s most influential artist of the past 50 years in the Sky Arts list for his ability to transcend music, film and fashion. Other musicians in the list included the Spice Girls, Sir Elton John, Stormzy and Boy George.
Today in history
355 AD – Roman general Claudius Silvanus fraudulently proclaimed himself Roman emperor and was hacked to death.
1093 – Bishop William of St. Calais demolished the old Saxon church in Durham and laid the foundation for the new Norman Durham cathedral. William of St. Calais was a Norman Monk and was appointed by William the Conqueror to update churches across the UK.
1576 – English navigator Martin Frobisher, on his search for the Northwest Passage, entered the bay in Canada now named after him.
1858 – The Eiger in the Swiss Bernese Alps was ascended for the first time by Irishman Charles Barrington accompanied by guides Christian Almer and Peter Bohren. After the ascent, Barrington returned to Ireland and never visited the Alps again. He turned his attention to training a famous racehorse, ‘Sir Robert Peel’, that won the first Irish Grand National in 1870.
1897 – The birth of Enid Blyton, English author (also known as Mary Pollock). Her work has been translated into nearly 90 languages and her literary output was an estimated 800 books with 8,000,000 sales, over roughly 40 years.