August 11th "2023" daily prep

Welcome to day 223 of the year! Known as Play In The Sand Day as well as Son’s and Daughter’s Day. If you were born on this day, you were likely conceived the week of November 18th 2022 and have the star sign “Leo”.
2016 – A Greenland shark is declared the oldest vertebrate animal in the world at 392 years by an international team of scientists.
Todays birthdays
1944 – Ian McDiarmid (79), Scottish actor and director of stage (Royal Shakespeare Company) and screen, born in Carnoustie, Scotland.
1953 – Hulk Hogan [Terry Bollea] (70), American retired professional wrestler mopst popular in the 80s, born in Augusta, Georgia, United States.
1966 – Nigel Martyn (57), English football coach and former professional footballer (Crystal Palace, Leeds United and Everton), born in St Austell, Cornwall, England.
1973 – Nigel Harman (50), English actor, best known for his role as Dennis Rickman in the BBC soap opera EastEnders, born in London.
1983 – Chris Hemsworth (40), Australian actor (THOR, Avengers Films), born in Melbourne, Australia.
The day today
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.
2016 – A Greenland shark is declared the oldest vertebrate animal in the world at 392 years by an international team of scientists.
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.
Historical events
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.
1675 – King Charles II laid the foundation stone of the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, London. The observatory was built to provide English navigators with accurate tables of the positions of the moon and stars.
1786 – Captain Francis Light establishes the British colony of Penang in Malaysia.
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.
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