Monday, August 25th "2025" Daily Prep
Welcome to day 237, known as Kiss and Make Up Day, National Banana Split Day, Summer Bank Holiday. Your star sign is Virgo and your birthstone is Peridot.
1997 – Nintendo released the first-person shooter, GoldenEye 007, for the Nintendo 64. The game opened the FPS genre to the console market. It’s often credited for paving the way for the popularity of the Halo and Call of Duty franchises.
Todays birthdays
1949 – Gene Simmons (76), Israeli-born American musician, singer and co-founder of the hard rock band Kiss (“I Was Made for Lovin’ You”), born in Haifa, Israel.
1954 – Elvis Costello (71), English musician, singer and songwriter (“Oliver’s Army”, “Watching the Detectives”), born in Paddington, London.
1958 – Tim Burton (67), American filmmaker, animator, and artist (Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands, The Nightmare Before Christmas), born in Burbank, California, United States.
1961 – Billy Ray Cyrus (54), American singer and songwriter (“Achy Breaky Heart”), born in Flatwoods, Kentucky, United States.
1962 – Vivian Campbell (63), Northern Irish guitarist and a member of Def Leppard since 1992, born in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
1966 – Tracy-Ann Oberman (59), English actress best known for playing Chrissie Watts in the BBC soap EastEnders, born in Brent, London.
1970 – Claudia Schiffer (55), German model and actress born in Rheinberg, Germany.
1988 – Alexandra Burke (37), British singer, songwriter (“Broken Heels”). She won the fifth series of the British television series The X Factor in 2008, born in Islington, London.
Famous deaths
1980 – Yootha Joyce (b. 1927), English actress best known for playing Mildred Roper opposite Brian Murphy in the sitcom Man About the House and its spin-off George and Mildred.
2014 – Richard Attenborough (b. 1923), English actor (Jurassic Park, The Great Escape, The Flight of the Phoenix) film director and producer.
2021 – Charlie Watts (b. 1941), English musician and the drummer for the Rolling Stones since 1963.
The day today
1919 – The first daily passenger air service began, going from London to Paris. The first flights left a mile north of where Heathrow Airport now sits, and the flights were operated by Air transport & Travel Ltd, now known as British Airways.
1928 – The opening of the famous Kop End at Liverpool Football Club’s ground at Anfield. It was most likely named after the Battle of Spion Kop during the Boer War, the word ‘Kopje’ meaning ‘small hill’.
1939 – Britain and Poland formed a military alliance, formally known as the Anglo-Polish Agreement, where the UK pledged to defend Poland against invasion by a foreign power. This agreement was a direct response to the growing threat of Nazi Germany and was intended to deter German aggression.
1942 – The Duke of Kent, youngest brother of King George VI, was killed in a plane crash during a war mission to Iceland. He was the first member of the Royal family to be killed on active service.
1988 – The first GCSE results were published following the introduction of the GCSE qualification in 1986 to replace the O-level and CSE. These exams were designed for students leaving school at 16 who weren’t pursuing further academic study. The first exams were sat in 1988.
1989 – After a 12-year, 4-billion-mile journey, Voyager 2 flies over cloudtops of Neptune & its moon Triton, sending back photographs of swamps. In 2004 Voyager 1 (which launched in 1977) crossed the termination shock, where the solar and interstellar winds meet before becoming the first human-made object to reach interstellar space in 2012. Voyager 2 followed and reached interstellar space in 2018.
1997 – Nintendo released the first-person shooter, GoldenEye 007, for the Nintendo 64.
GoldenEye 007’s development began before the Nintendo 64 was even released. The Game’s developers didn’t even have a development version of the console to work with while creating the game, so they had to playtest it with an older Sega controller.
2010 – Gareth Williams (30), an MI6 worker was found in a holdall in the bath at his central London flat. Police believed that he may have been murdered two weeks previously.
2020 – The 38 year old English cricketer James Anderson became the first fast bowler to take 600 Test wickets, (during day five of the third Test with Pakistan at Southampton). Three spin bowlers, Muttiah Muralitharan, Shane Warne and Anil Kumble, are the only other bowlers to have attained the landmark.
Today in music
1960 – The Shadows were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Apache’. The first of five UK No.1’s for Cliff Richard’s backing group.
1979 – The Knack started a five week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘My Sharona’, the group’s only US chart topper, a No.6 hit in the UK.
1990 – ‘Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini’ by Bombalurina was the UK No.1 single. Bombalurina was childrens TV presenter Timmy Mallett with a remake of Brian Hyland’s 1960 hit.
1993 – Snoop Doggy Dogg was released on $1 million bail after being accused of being involved with the murder of a member of the By Yerself gang during a shooting in Los Angeles. He was acquitted of the charges in 1996.
2001 – American singer (“Try Again”) and actress (Romeo Must Die), Aaliyah was killed in a plane crash in the Bahamas aged 22. The small Cessna plane crashed a few minutes after take off killing everyone on board with exception to four passengers who were pulled from the wreckage but later died. Aaliyah had been filming a video for her latest release ‘Rock The Boat’ on the island.
2013 – Miley Cyrus released ‘Wrecking Ball’ which became Cyrus’ first No.1 song on the chart after the release of its controversial music video. Nine weeks later, the track returned to number one, and consequently had the largest gap between No.1 sittings in Billboard Hot 100 history within a single chart run.
2014 – Led Zeppelin’s ‘Whole Lotta Love’ was voted the greatest guitar riff of all time by listeners of BBC Radio 2 in the UK. The rock classic came out top from a list of 100 riffs drawn up by a panel of Radio 2 and 6 Music DJs, critics and record producers. ‘Sweet Child O’ Mine’ by Guns ‘N’ Roses was second in the poll, with Back In Black (AC/DC) and ‘Smoke On The Water’ (Deep Purple) the next most popular.
2024 – Amy Winehouse’s Radio 1 Live Lounge performance was voted the best from the past 25 years with her 2007 cover of The Zutons’ ‘Valerie’ topping the list. Arctic Monkeys took second and third place with their covers of Girls Aloud’s ‘Love Machine’ and Drake’s ‘Hold On We’re Going Home’. Adele’s cover of Cheryl’s ‘Promise This’ came in fourth place while Ben Howard’s rendition of ‘Call Me Maybe’ by Carly Rae Jepsen was fifth.
Today in history
1537 – The Honourable Artillery Company was formed. It is the oldest surviving regiment in the British Army, and the second most senior.
1768 – Captain James Cook set sail on his first voyage from Plymouth, heading for the Pacific Ocean. The journey was made on their ship Endeavour, which was previously called Earl of Pembroke. Cook and his crew would not return home for another two years and 11 months.
1804 – Alicia Meynell rode Vingarillo over a four-mile racecourse at York to become the first recorded woman jockey. She was in the lead most of the way against only one other contestant, but lost.
1830 – Robert Stephenson’s locomotive ‘Northumbrian’ took a trial run to prepare for the opening of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway. Actress Fanny Kemble rode on the footplate, the first woman to do so.
1867 – The death, aged 75, of the English scientist Michael Faraday. His inventions formed the foundation of electric motor technology, and it was largely due to his efforts that electricity became viable for use in technology.