Wednesday, August 20th "2025" Daily Prep
Welcome to day 232, known as National Bacon Lovers Day, National Radio Day, World Mosquito Day. Your star sign is Leo and your birthstone is Peridot.
1989 – The pleasure cruiser Marchioness was hit by a dredger, the Bowbelle, on the River Thames. The collision resulted in the deaths of 51 people out of 131 onboard.
Todays birthdays
1948 – Robert Plant (77), English singer and songwriter and lead vocalist of the rock band Led Zeppelin (“Stairway to Heaven”), born in West Bromwich, West Midlands.
1961 – Joe Pasquale (64), English comedian, actor, television presenter and winner of the fourth series of I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!, born in Grays, Essex.
1970 – Fred Durst (55), American singer, songwriter and lead vocalist of nu metal band Limp Bizkit (“Rollin'”, “Behind Blue Eyes”), born in Jacksonville, Florida, United States.
1971 – David Walliams (54), English comedian (Little Britain), actor, writer, and television personality (X-Factor), born in Wimbledon, London.
1979 – Jamie Cullum (46), English jazz-pop singer (“These are the Days”), songwriter and radio presenter, born in Rochford, Essex.
1989 – Judd Trump (36), English professional snooker player who is a former world champion (2019) and the current world number one as of July 2025, born in Bristol.
1992 – Demi Lovato (33), American singer (“Sorry Not Sorry”), songwriter and actress (Princess Protection Program), born in Albuquerque, New Mexico, 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
1940 – As the aerial Battle of Britain raged, Prime Minister Winston Churchill told Parliament: “Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.” With the Battle of Britain won a few months later and German plans postponed, the Allied airmen of the battle ultimately became known as ‘The Few’.
1960 – Soviet satellite Korabl-Sputnik 2 (Sputnik 5) returns to Earth with its passengers: two dogs, Belka and Strelka, two mice, two rats, flies, several plants, and fungi, the first Earth-born creatures to go into orbit and return alive.
1970 – England’s football captain, Bobby Moore, was cleared of charges of stealing an emerald bracelet in Colombia. The incident occurred while the team was en route to the World Cup in Mexico. He was initially arrested and placed under house arrest, but diplomatic pressure and the weakness of the evidence led to his release and eventual exoneration.
1988 – During ‘The Troubles’ in Northern Ireland, 8 British Army soldiers were killed and 28 wounded when their bus was hit by a Provisional IRA roadside bomb in County Tyrone. The event is sometimes referred to as the ‘Ballygawley bus bombing’.
1989 – Dredger “Bow Belle” collides with pleasure boat “Marchioness” on the River Thames in central London; the “Marchioness” sinks in 30 seconds, drowning 51.
1992 – The Daily Mirror published compromising photographs of Sarah Ferguson (the Duchess of York), sunbathing topless, on holiday in France with John Bryan, a Texan financial manager. The event contributed to her further estrangement from the Royal Family and after four years of official separation, the Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson announced the mutual decision to divorce, in May 1996.
2016 – 4 women’s high jump competitors tie at clearing winning height 1.97m at the Rio Olympics; all then fail at 2.00m; Ruth Beitia of Spain wins the gold based on having no misses prior to bar being raised to 2.00m.
2020 – Hashem Abedi, aged 23 and the brother of the Manchester Arena bomber, was jailed for at least 55 years for the murders of 22 people. He was convicted after a court heard that he was just as guilty as his brother, Salman Abedi, who had detonated the bomb and blew himself up at the end of an Ariana Grande concert on 22nd May 2017. Abedi refused to leave his cell at the Old Bailey for the sentencing. The judge said that it would be 55 years before Abedi could even be considered for parole and that he “may never be released”. The trial was the largest murder case in English legal history.
Today in music
1965 – Rolling Stones release their single “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” in the UK. The song was released on 4 June 1965 in the US.
1988 – Iron Maiden, Kiss, David Lee Roth, Megadeth, Guns N’ Roses and Helloween all appeared at this year’s ‘Monsters Of Rock’ Festival, Castle Donington, England. Two rock fans died while ‘slam dancing’ as Guns N’ Roses played.
2000 – Spiller went to No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Groovejet’. The Italian DJ and producer mixed the track based on an old 1970s hit ‘Love Is You’ by Carol Williams, with new vocals by Sophie Ellis-Bextor.
2004 – A man from Stoke-on-Trent, England, named Bryan Adams as the ‘other man’ in his divorce papers after years spent trying to cope with his wife’s obsession with the singer. Rob Tinsley said he had to live with a 6ft cut-out of Adams which stood at the foot of the bed and posters on the bedroom walls.
2006 – The Rolling Stones played the first of two nights at Twickenham Stadium on their ‘A Bigger Bang’ world tour. Feeder and The Charlatans also appeared.
2013 – It was reported that Beyoncé had spent almost £1,500 at an Essex branch of chicken chain Nando’s following her performance at the V Festival in the UK. The headliner’s receipt was posted on Twitter and Nando’s Chelmsford manager confirmed a member of Beyonce’s entourage called in with the order. The order included 48 whole chickens, 24 tubs of coleslaw, 58 chicken wing platters and 48 portions of chips. The receipt showed the meal was apparently paid for in cash.
Today in history
480 BC – A small Greek force, primarily composed of 300 Spartans led by King Leonidas, bravely defended the narrow pass of Thermopylae, a narrow pass in central Greece against a much larger Persian army. While the Greeks were ultimately defeated, their valiant resistance delayed the Persian advance and became a symbol of courage and sacrifice.
1191 – The Massacre of Ayyadieh occurred during the Third Crusade after the fall of Acre when King Richard I had more than two thousand Muslim prisoners of war from the captured city beheaded in front of the Ayyubid armies of sultan Saladin.
1612 – Nine Pendle witches are hanged at Gallows Hill in Lancaster. Nine of the accused – Alizon Device, Elizabeth Device, James Device, Anne Whittle, Anne Redferne, Alice Nutter, Katherine Hewitt, John Bulcock and Jane Bulcock – were found guilty during the two-day trial; Elizabeth Southerns died while awaiting trial.
1612 – The Spanish establish the Presidio San Augustin del Tucson in the town that became Tucson, Arizona.
1858 – Charles Darwin first publishes his theory of evolution through natural selection in The Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society of London, alongside Alfred Russel Wallace’s same theory.
1896 – The Erickson Brothers submitted the application for the first dial telephone patent. The patent (Number 597,062) was granted on January 11, 1898.