Friday, August 15th "2025" Daily Prep
Welcome to day 227, known as Leathercraft Day, National Relaxation Day, Feast of Assumption. Your star sign is Leo and your birthstone is Peridot.
1941 – German spy, Corporal Josef Jakobs was executed by firing squad at the Tower of London at 7:12 a.m. making him the last person to be executed at the Tower for treason.
Todays birthdays
1935 – Jim Dale (90), English actor and one of the last surviving actors to appear in multiple Carry On films, born in Rothwell, Northamptonshire.
1946 – Tony Robinson (79), English actor (Blackadder, Maid Marian and Her Merry Men), broadcaster, comedian, and presenter (Time Team), born in Homerton, London.
1950 – Anne, Princess Royal (75), member of the British royal family and the only daughter of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, born in Clarence House, London.
1968 – Debra Messing (57), American actress (Will and Grace, Along Came Polly), born in Brooklyn, New York, United States.
1972 – “Mikey” Graham (53), Irish singer-songwriter best known as a member of boy band Boyzone (“Love Me for a Reason”), born in Raheny, Ireland.
1972 – Ben Affleck (53), American actor (Pearl Harbor, Daredevil, Armageddon, The Accountant), born in Berkeley, California, United States.
1990 – Jennifer Lawrence (35), American actress (The Hunger Games, X-MEN, Red Sparrow), born in Indian Hills, Kentucky, United States.
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
1941 – German spy, Corporal Josef Jakobs was executed by firing squad at the Tower of London at 7:12 a.m. making him the last person to be executed at the Tower for treason.
1945 – After six years at war, Japan surrendered, marking the end of World War II. This day was named VJ Day, which stands for Victory in Japan day. It marked the victory of the world’s allied nations in the enemy’s defeat, which brought WWII to an end.
1947 – Pakistan was founded when British rule over the region ended. India gained independence from Britain, and the Union Jack was lowered in New Delhi for the last time. Pandit Nehru became India’s first Prime Minister.
1963 – The execution of Henry John Burnett, the last man to be hanged in Scotland and the first to be hanged in Aberdeen since 1891. Burnett was tried at the high court in Aberdeen in July and found guilty of the murder of merchant seaman Thomas Guyan.
1985 – Richard Branson’s attempt at obtaining the fastest Atlantic crossing ended when his speed boat crashed. The 32-ton vessel, The Virgin Atlantic Challenger, overturned just off the southwest coast of England, jeopardizing Branson’s attempt at making the fastest journey across the Atlantic Ocean.
1987 – Caning was officially banned in British state schools. The ban for private schools didn’t come into effect until 1998.
1998 – A bomb blast in Omagh, Northern Ireland, killed 28 people and injured more than 300 others. A 29th victim died a month later. It was the worst attack in 29 years of paramilitary violence in Ulster.
2013 – Google announced that it was to loan out its Trekker wearable backpack to the Canal & River Trust, who would use it to capture footage of some of most scenic parts of Britain’s 200-year old waterway network.
Today in music
1962 – Unhappy with Pete Best’s role in The Beatles, Brian Epstein and the other three members decided to sack him. He played his last gig at The Cavern, Liverpool, two years and three days after he first performed with them.
1976 – ABBA released ‘Dancing Queen’ as the lead single from their fourth studio album, Arrival. Dancing Queen’ (which had the working title of ‘Boogaloo’) went on to top the charts in more than a dozen countries including the United States where it became ABBA’s only No.1.
1987 – Michael Jackson had his third UK No.1 with the single ‘I Just Can’t Stop Loving You’, a duet with Siedah Garrett. It was originally intended to be a duet between Jackson and either Barbra Streisand or Whitney Houston. Session singer Siedah Garrett also worked with Madonna.
1998 – Boyzone scored their fourth UK No.1 single with ‘No Matter What’, making them the first Irish group to have four No.1 singles. Also Boyzone became the first act in history to reach the Top 5 with their first 12 single releases. The song came from the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical ‘Whistle Down The Wind’.
2000 – David Bowie and his wife Iman celebrated the birth of their first child a baby girl named Alexandria Zahra Jones.
2009 – U2’s first UK gig on their current tour broke the attendance record for a Wembley Stadium concert. Over 88,000 people attended the show.
2020 – Taylor Swift was at No.1 on the UK album chart her eighth studio album Folklore. Upon release, Folklore broke the Guinness World Record for the biggest opening day on Spotify for an album by a female act. Three of its tracks reached the top 10 of the official charts in eight countries.
Today in history
1483 – The Sistine Chapel in the Vatican opened for its first mass to celebrate the Feast of the Assumption.
1842 – The first regular British detective force was formed as a division of the Metropolitan Police, under the joint command of Inspector Pearce and Inspector John Haynes. In 1878 it became known as the Criminal Investigation Department (CID).
1856 – The birth of James Keir Hardie, Scottish politician. He founded the British Labour Party and was its leader from 1906.
1872 – The first voting by ballot in Great Britain took place in a by-election at Pontefract, West Yorkshire when Hugh Childers, a Liberal MP and minister was re-elected
1888 – T.E. Lawrence, Welsh soldier and writer known as ‘Lawrence of Arabia’, was born at what is now as as the Snowdon Lodge Hostel, in Tremadog, Gwynedd.