August 26th "2024" Daily Prep
Welcome to day 239 of the year! Known as Late Summer Bank Holiday, Women’s Equality Day. If you were born today you were likely conceived the week of December 3rd in the previous year. Your star sign is Virgo and your birthstone is Peridot.
2017 – Hundreds of thousands of people marched peacefully through the streets of Barcelona due to a terrorist attack. The attack happened on August 17, when a van smashed into nearby walkers. Thirteen people were killed, while over 100 were injured.
Todays birthdays
1946 – Alison Steadman (78), English actress (Fast Friends), best known for her role as Pamela Shipman in Gavin and Stacey, born in Liverpool.
1966 – Shirley Ann Manson (68), Scottish musician and lead singer of the American alternative rock band Garbage (“I Think I’m Paranoid”), born in Edinburgh.
1968 – Chris Boardman (56), English former racing cyclist (gold medal winner at the 1992 Summer Olympics), born in Hoylake, Merseyside.
1970 – Melissa McCarthy (54), American actress, screenwriter, and producer (The Hangover Part III; Ghostbusters 2016), born in Plainfield, Illinois, United States.
1980 – Chris Pine (44), American actor (Star Trek reboot film series; Wonder Woman), born in Los Angeles, California, 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 (Inspector Blake – 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
1942 – World War II: The beginning of the Holocaust in western Ukraine. At 2.30am the German security police evicted Jews from their houses, divided them into groups of 120, packed them in freight cars and deported 2000 to Belzec death camp. 500 of the sick, along with children, were murdered on the spot.
1981 – Steve Ovett recaptured the mile-run record which had been taken from him just a week earlier by Sebastian Coe. Ovett’s new world record time was 3:48.40.
1994 – A team of doctors carried out a revolutionary operation when 62-year-old Arthur Cornhill was given the world’s first permanent battery-operated heart.
2001 – It was announced that thousands of patients facing long delays in British hospitals could have the chance to be treated abroad in a Government bid to reduce waiting lists.
2017 – Hundreds of thousands of people marched peacefully through the streets of Barcelona due to a terrorist attack. The attack happened on August 17, when a van smashed into nearby walkers. Thirteen people were killed, while over 100 were injured.
Today in music
1977 – Uriah Heep, Thin Lizzy, The Sensational Alex Harvey Band, Eddie and the Hot Rods, Golden Earing, Aerosmith, Doobie Brothers, Hawkwind, Racing Cars, John Miles, Graham Parker, The Enid, No Dice and Frankie Miller’s Full House all appeared at the 17th three day Reading Festival, England. A three day ticket cost £7.95.
1995 – Blur scored their first UK No.1 single with ‘Country House’ and won a media battle with Oasis for the No.1 position. Both acts released their new singles on the same day, ‘Country House’ topped the chart, selling 270,000 copies, compared to ‘Roll with It’ which sold 220,000, seeing Oasis entering the chart at No.2. On the same day, Seal went to No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Kiss From A Rose’, taken from the film ‘Batman Forever’ a No.4 hit in the UK.
2003 – Rolling Stone Magazine named Jimi Hendrix as the greatest guitarist in Rock history. Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, Keith Richards, Chuck Berry Stevie Ray Vaughan and Ry Cooder also made the top 10 list.
2014 – Kate Bush made her stage comeback at London’s Hammersmith Apollo to an ecstatic response from fans at her first live concert for 35 years. Bush received a standing ovation as she closed the show with ‘Cloudbusting’, from her 1985 hit album The Hounds of Love. The 22 shows had completely sold out in less than fifteen minutes, after tickets were released in March of that year.
2019 – Ed Sheeran ended his ÷ (Divide) tour with a show at Chantry Park in Ipswich, England, near his hometown of Framlingham. The tour started on March 16, 2017 and set the record for highest-grossing tour, earning around £620 million over 255 shows.
Today in history
55 BC – Julius Caesar crossed the English Channel for his invasion of Britain.
1346 – The English, led by Edward III and his son Edward the Black Prince, won the Battle of Crécy against Philip VI of France. Legend has it, that it was at this battle that the English first used the gesture of holding up two fingers as an insult, as this was how they held their new, and far superior weapon, the longbow.
1498 – Michelangelo is commissioned to carve the Pietà (The Pity) in St. Peter’s Basilica, Vatican City. The statue was commissioned for the French Cardinal Jean de Bilhères.
1676 – Robert Walpole, Britain’s first Prime Minister, was born. His political skills and leadership helped shape the modern British political landscape and established the role of Prime Minister in the years that followed.
1819 – Prince Albert, (Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha) and consort to Queen Victoria, was born in Bavaria. He persuaded Victoria towards more progressive views in some areas, took a keen interest in the arts, and organised the Great Exhibition of 1851 in the Crystal Palace.