Tuesday, August 26th "2025" Daily Prep
Welcome to day 238, known as National Dog Day, National Toilet Paper Day, Women’s Equality Day. 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 (79), English actress (Fat Friends, Life is Sweet), best known for her role as Pamela Shipman in Gavin and Stacey, born in Liverpool.
1957 – John O’Neill (68), Northern Irish musician and principle songwriter for the punk rock band the Undertones (“Teenage Kicks”), born in Londonderry, Northern Ireland.
1957 – Dr. Alban (68), Nigerian singer and producer (“It’s My Life”), born in Oguta, Nigeria.
1966 – Shirley Ann Manson (59), Scottish musician and lead vocalist of the alternative rock band Garbage (“I Think I’m Paranoid”, “Stupid Girl”), born in Edinburgh, Scotland.
1968 – Chris Boardman (57), English former racing cyclist (gold medal winner at the 1992 Summer Olympics), born in Hoylake, Merseyside.
1970 – Melissa McCarthy (55), American actress, screenwriter and producer (The Hangover Part III, Ghostbusters 2016), born in Plainfield, Illinois, United States.
1980 – Macaulay Culkin (45), American actor (Home Alone, My Girl, Richie Rich), considered one of the most successful child actors of the 1990s, born in New York, Unioted States.
Famous deaths
2004 – Laura Branigan
(b. 1952), American singer (“Gloria”, “Self Control”).
2024 – Sven-Göran Eriksson (b. 1948), Swedish footballer and manager, the first non-British manager of the England football team.
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.
1959 – British car manufacturers Austin and Morris launched a small, iconic family car called the Mini. Initially, it was marketed as the Austin Seven and Morris Mini-Minor. It became a British cultural icon and a best-selling British car, with over 5 million units produced before its original production ended in 2000.
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.
2014 – A report, commissioned by Rotherham Borough Council in South Yorkshire, showed that at least 1,400 children were subjected to appalling sexual exploitation in Rotherham between 1997 and 2013. Children as young as 11 were raped by multiple perpetrators, abducted, trafficked to other cities in England, beaten and intimidated.
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.
1978 – Frankie Valli went to No.1 on the US singles chart with the Barry Gibb song ‘Grease’. It went on to sell over 2 million in the States (a No. 3 hit in the UK).
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.
1995 – 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.
2004 – Singer Laura Branigan died of a brain aneurysm. She had had a 1982 US No.2 & UK No.6 single with ‘Gloria’ and a 1984 US No.4 & UK No.5 with ‘Self Control’. She had also played Janis Joplin in the US musical Love, Janis.
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.