Welcome to day 225 of the year! Known as Filet Mignon Day, Prosecco Day & Left-Handers Day. If you were born on this day, you were likely conceived the week of November 20th 2022 and have the star sign “Leo”.
1910 – The death of Florence Nightingale, English nurse who came to prominence for her pioneering work in nursing during the Crimean War, where she tended to wounded soldiers.
Todays birthdays
1899 – Alfred Hitchcock, English film director and producer. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of cinema (d. 1980)
1933 – Madhur Jaffrey CBE (90), Indian-born British-American actress, food and travel writer, born in Delhi, India.
1958 – Feargal Sharkey OBE (65), Irish punk rock singer (The Undertones – “My Perfect Cousin”; solo – “A Good Heart”), born in Derry, Northern Ireland.
1960 – Phil Taylor (63), English former professional darts player, widely considered the greatest darts player of all time. Nicknamed The Power, born in Stoke-on-Trent, England.
1970 – Alan Shearer (53), former English professional footballer (63 caps; Southampton, Blackburn Rovers, Newcastle United) and broadcaster (BBC), born in Gosforth, England.
The day today
1910 – The death of Florence Nightingale, English nurse who came to prominence for her pioneering work in nursing during the Crimean War, where she tended to wounded soldiers. She was dubbed ‘The Lady with the Lamp’ after her habit of making rounds at night.
1913 – The first production in the UK of stainless steel by Sheffield born Harry Brearley. Brearley’s life had humble beginnings. He was the son of a steel melter and left school at the age of twelve to enter his first employment as a labourer in one of the city’s steelworks.
1964 – The last hangings in Britain took place when two men, Gwynne Evans and Peter Allen, were hanged for the murder of John Alan West, a laundry van driver from Seaton, Cumbria. Evans was hung at Manchester’s Strangeways Prison at 8:00 a.m. and at exactly the same time, Peter Allen was hung at Liverpool’s Walton Prison.
1991 – Britain introduced the Dangerous Dog Act in which aggressive dogs must be muzzled and held on a leash in public.
2012 – If Yorkshire was regarded as an independent country, it was calculated that it would have finished 12th out of the 204 competing countries in the medals table at the Olympics! The county won seven gold medals, two silver and three bronze.
Today in music
1964 – The Supremes recorded ‘Baby Love’, written and produced by Motown’s main production team Holland–Dozier–Holland, the song went on to be the group’s first UK No.1 and second US chart topper.
1983 – KC and the Sunshine Band were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Give It Up’. The American disco group’s only UK chart topper spent three weeks at No.1
1994 – Members from Oasis and The Verve were arrested after smashing up a hotel bar and breaking into a church to steal communion wine. Both bands had been appearing at Hulsfred Festival in Sweden.
2004 – ‘Angels’ by Robbie Williams was voted the best single which should have been a No.1 but never was, in a poll for VH1. The ballad, which reached No.4 in December 1997, beat Savage Garden’s ‘Truly, Madly, Deeply’ and Aerosmith’s ‘I Don’t Want To Miss A Thing.’ Other songs said to have deserved a No.1 included Madonna with ‘Ray of Light’, ‘Beautiful Stranger’, ‘Crazy For You’ and ‘Material Girl’, Bon Jovi with ‘Always’ and Oasis with ‘Wonderwall’ and ‘Live Forever’. Sir Cliff Richard’s hit ‘Millennium Prayer’ was voted the worst No.1 single of all time.
2007 – Amy Winehouse pulled out of two Rolling Stones gigs in Hamburg Germany citing exhaustion, British group Starsailor replaced Winehouse for the shows.
Historical events
1704 – French and Bavarian forces were routed by a combined British, German and Dutch army at the Battle of Blenheim, in Bavaria . The victors lost 6,000 soldiers compared with 21,000 French and Bavarian troops. Blenheim has gone down in history as one of the turning points of the War of the Spanish Succession.
1809 – The birth, in Much Wenlock (Shropshire) of William Penny Brookes, English surgeon who was especially known for inspiring the modern Olympic Games, the Wenlock Olympian Games and for his promotion of physical education and personal betterment.
1814 – The Cape of Good Hope Province became a British colony when it was given over to the British by the Dutch for £6 million.
1961 – Cold War: East Germany closes the border between the eastern and western sectors of Berlin to thwart its inhabitants’ attempts to escape to the West, and construction of the Berlin Wall is started. The day is known as Barbed Wire Sunday.
2004 – The Games of the XXVIII Olympiad opened in Athens, which had hosted the first modern Summer Games in 1896.