Thursday, August 14th "2025" Daily Prep
Welcome to day 226, known as Falklands Day, National Tattoo Removal Day, World Lizard Day. Your star sign is Leo and your birthstone is Peridot.
1971 – Kevin Keegan makes his League debut for Liverpool at Anfield, scoring after 12 minutes against Nottingham Forest. Keegan began his playing career at Scunthorpe United in 1968, before Bill Shankly signed him for Liverpool.
Todays birthdays
1960 – Sarah Brightman (65), English classical crossover soprano singer (“Time to Say Goodbye”), actress, and dancer (Hot Gossip), born in Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire.
1966 – Halle Berry (59), American actress (Catwoman, X-Men, Die Another Day, John Wick 3), born in Cleveland, Ohio, United States.
1974 – Ana Matronic (51), American singer, best known as the co-lead singer for the pop rock band Scissor Sisters (“Comfortably Numb”), born in Portland, Oregon, United States.
1983 – Mila Kunis (42), American actress (Friends with Benefits, That ’70s Show and voice of Meg Griffin in Family Guy), born in Chernivtsi, Ukraine.
1984 – Nick Grimshaw (41), English television and former radio presenter (BBC Radio 1), podcaster and author, born in Oldham, Greater Manchester.
1987 – James Buckley (38), English actor (Rock & Chips) best known for his role as Jay Cartwright in the E4 sitcom The Inbetweeners, born in Croyden, Surrey.
Famous deaths
1964 – Ian Fleming (b. 1908), British writer, best known for his postwar James Bond series of spy novels.
2015 – Stephen Lewis (b. 1926), English actor and screenwriter best known for his roles as Inspector Blake in On The Buses and as Smiler in Last of the Summer Wine.
2021 – Una Stubbs (b. 1937), English actress, TV personality, and dancer (Till Death Us Do Part, In Sickness and in Health).
The day today
1908 – The world’s first international beauty contest was held at Folkestone, Kent. The event, known as the Folkestone Beauty Pageant, was created to attract more tourists to the town. The pageant is considered a precursor to modern pageants like Miss World.
1948 – The 1948 Summer Olympics in London concluded with a closing ceremony at Wembley Stadium. The ceremony featured the traditional passing of the Olympic flag to Helsinki, the host city for the 1952 Games. It also included the extinguishing of the Olympic flame, the march of the athletes, and a cantata performed by the crowd and choir.
1960 – The birth of Sarah Brightman, English soprano and former wife of Andrew Lloyd-Webber. Her duet ‘Time To Say Goodbye’ with the Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli sold 12 million copies worldwide, making it one of the best-selling singles of all time.
1967 – All UK offshore pirate radio stations were declared illegal when the UK Marine Broadcasting Offences Act became law at midnight, but Radio Caroline continued to broadcast until March 1968.
1969 – The first British troops were deployed in Northern Ireland to restore order.’ Operation Banner’, as it was named, was initially to be a limited operation but it lasted for 38 years.
1979 – The Fastnet Yacht Race was struck by tragedy when Force 10 gales and mountainous seas claimed the lives of 15 sailors and 3 rescuers. It was the worst disaster in the history of ocean yacht racing and the biggest rescue operation launched by UK authorities since the Second World War. 75 boats capsized, 5 sank and 24 crews abandoned ship. Only 85 yachts out of the 303 entries reached the finish line.
1979 – A rainbow lasting three hours was recorded over the Gwynedd coast in Wales. It was the longest-lasting rainbow in meteorological history at the time.
1990 – A survey revealed that many people had yet to pay anything towards the new community charge – or poll tax. The tax replaced domestic rates in Scotland from 1989, prior to its introduction in England and Wales from 1990. In 1993 the charge was replaced by Council Tax, two years after the abolition of the ‘poll tax’ was announced.
2013 – Mark Sutton, the 42 year old British stuntman who parachuted into the 2012 Olympics opening ceremony dressed as James Bond, was killed in a wingsuit flying accident in the Swiss Alps. The 2012 stunt had shown ‘James Bond’ being summoned to the Palace before skydiving with the Queen (fellow stuntman Gary Connery) into the Olympic stadium with Union-Jack emblazoned parachutes.
2014 – After more than a century in business, Clyde based Ferguson Shipbuilders, Scotland’s last remaining commercial shipyard went into administration with the loss of around 70 jobs.
Today in music
1965 – Sonny & Cher started a three-week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘I Got You Babe’. Sonny Bono is said to have been inspired to write the song to capitalise on the popularity of the term “babe,” as heard in Bob Dylan’s ‘It Ain’t Me Babe’.
1970 – The first day of the three day UK Yorkshire Folk, Blues & Jazz Festival at Krumlin, Yorkshire took place featuring Atomic Rooster, Pink Floyd, (who didn’t appear after being fog bound at Paris Airport), The Kinks, Elton John, Mungo Jerry, Yes, Alan Price, Georgie Fame, Juicy Lucy, Pretty Things and The Groundhogs. Weekend tickets, £3.
1978 – The Police released their third single ‘Can’t Stand Losing You’ as the follow-up single to ‘Roxanne’ which when released the following year peaked at No.2 on the UK chart.
1993 – Freddie Mercury had his first solo UK No.1 single with ‘Living On My Own’. The song had been a minor hit in 1985 when released from his solo album Mr. Bad Guy, this remixed version was reissued.
1999 – Ronan Keating had the UK No.1 single with ‘When You Say Nothing At All’. The debut solo single from the Boyzone lead singer. The song was from the film Notting Hill.
2003 – One True Voice the boyband formed from the ITV1 pop talent show Popstars: The Rivals split up. The group were formed alongside Girls Aloud after winning their places in the Popstars: the Rivals series. One True Voice were later voted Britain’s worst group in a poll just a day after their tour was cancelled due to poor ticket sales.
2005 – James Blunt topped both the UK singles chart with ‘You’re Beautiful’, and album charts (‘Back to Bedlam’), for a fifth week in a row, a feat last achieved by Celine Dion. Her single ‘Think Twice’ and album ‘Colour Of My Love’ topped both charts simultaneously for five weeks in 1995.
Today in history
1040 – King Duncan I is killed in battle against his first cousin and rival Macbeth. The latter succeeds him as King of Scotland.
1816 – The United Kingdom formally annexes the Tristan da Cunha archipelago, administering the islands from the Cape Colony in South Africa.
1852 – The first public lavatory was opened, on London’s Fleet Street.
1885 – The first-ever Japanese patent was issued. Zuisho Hotta was granted the patent for his formulation of a rust-proof paint. This was the first anticorrosive paint of its kind that could be used on the hulls of ships.
1888 – An audio recording of English composer Arthur Sullivan’s ‘The Lost Chord’, one of the first recordings of music ever made, was played during a press conference in London to introduce Thomas Edison’s phonograph. The gramophone records that followed were one of the dominant audio recording formats throughout much of the 20th Century.
1893 – France becomes the first country to introduce motor vehicle registration.