Saturday, August 30th "2025" Daily Prep
Welcome to day 242, known as National Beach Day, Cabernet Sauvignon Day, Whale Shark Day. Your star sign is Virgo and your birthstone is Peridot.
1939 – The great evacuation of children from British cities began. With the Second World War four days away, thousands of youngsters were moved to the country to avoid anticipated German bombing.
Todays birthdays
1950 – Mickey Moody (75), English guitarist and former member of the rock bands Juicy Lucy and Whitesnake (“Here I Go Again”), Born in Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire.
1950 – Dana Rosemary Scallon (75), Irish singer, politician and the winner of the 1970 Eurovision Song Contest (“All Kinds of Everything”), born in Islington, London.
1961 – Keith McKenzie (64), Scottish musician and co-founder of the electronic dance band The Shamen (“Ebeneezer Goode”), born in Aberdeen Scotland.
1963 – Paul Oakenfold (62), English record producer, remixer and trance DJ formerly known mononymously as Oakenfold (“Ready Steady Go”), born in Mile End, London.
1966 – Peter Cunnah (59), Northern Irish singer-songwriter and lead singer of the 1990s dance-pop duo D:Ream (“Things Can Only Get Better”), born in Londonderry, Northern Ireland.
1972 – Cameron Diaz (53), American actress (Shrek, The Mask, Charlies Angels, Knight and Day), born in San Diego, California, United States.
Famous deaths
2015 – Wes Craven (b. 1939), American film director primarily in the horror genre (Scream, A Nightmare on Elm Street, The Hills Have Eyes).
The day today
1939 – In Britain, the mass evacuation of children from cities to the countryside began four days before the outbreak of World War II, a government initiative known as Operation Pied Piper, to protect them from anticipated German bombing raids. In the first few days, approximately 1.5 million people were relocated, including 600,000 children from London, carrying identity labels, gas masks, and a few personal belongings as they left for new host families in rural areas.
1976 – More than 100 police officers had to be taken to hospital after clashes at the Notting Hill Carnival in west London. Most were released after treatment but at least 26 have been admitted overnight for observation or further treatment.
1993 – The Eiffel Tower in Paris received its 150 millionth visitor. The lucky person was a 33-year-old policewoman, Jacqueline Martinez. To her great surprise, she was greeted by an orchestra playing Charles Trenet’s “La tour Eiffel”. Showered with gifts, she drove away behind the wheel of a brand new car
1996 – Former heavyweight boxing champion Frank Bruno announced his retirement.
2008 – Police revealed that two bodies recovered from the burnt-out Shropshire home of a millionaire and his family were Jillian Foster, 49, and daughter Kirstie, 15. A coroner’s verdict recorded that the failed businessman, Christopher Foster unlawfully shot his wife and daughter before burning the house and then killing himself.
2008 – Danny Boyle and Loveleen Tandan’s Slumdog Millionaire premiered at Colorado’s Telluride Film Festival. The British drama loosely adapted Vikas Swarup’s novel Q & A. It won eight of the ten Academy Awards it was nominated for, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay. It also won seven BAFTA awards.
2017 – The late author Terry Pratchett’s unfinished novels were destroyed by a steamroller, as it was his last dying wish.
Pratchett passed away aged 66 in 2015 after a battle with Alzheimer’s disease.
Today in music
1969 – Two weeks after the Woodstock festival, the second Isle of Wight festival took place. Over 150,000 turned up over the two days to see Bob Dylan, The Band, Blodwyn Pig, Blonde On Blonde, Bonzo Dog Dooh Dah Band, Edgar Broughton Band, Joe Cocker, Aynsley Dunbar, Family, Fat Mattress, Julie Felix, Free, Gypsy, Richie Havens, The Moody Blues, The Nice, Tom Paxton, Pentangle, The Pretty Things, Third Ear Band and The Who. Tickets 25 shillings.
1972 – John Lennon and Yoko Ono played Madison Square Gardens to raise money for the Willowbrook State School. Stevie Wonder, Sha Na Na and Roberta Flack also appeared at the event. Lennon personally bought $60,000 worth of tickets which were given to volunteer fund-raisers. Several of the performances were later included on Lennon’s, Live in New York City album.
1986 – Steve Winwood went to No.1 on the US singles chart with, ‘Higher Love’, a No. 13 hit in the UK.
2004 – Winners at the 2004 MTV Video Music awards included, Usher for Best Male Video for ‘Yeah’, Best Video went to Outkast for ‘Hay Ya’, Best Group Video No Doubt for ‘It’s My Life’ and Best Rock Video went to Jet for ‘Are You Gonna Be My Girl.’
2013 – Cinema’s across the UK were handing out earplugs to parents taking their children to see One Direction’s new film. Accompanying chaperones could enjoy One Direction: “This Is Us 3D” without being worried by the high-levels of expected screaming and shouting in the auditoriums during the screenings.
2014 – Kate Bush followed her stage comeback by becoming the first woman to have eight albums in the UK charts at the same time. Two of the singer’s albums were in the top 10, and eight overall in the top 40.
2020 – At the 2020 MTV Video Music Awards, Lady Gaga was the most awarded act of the night winning song of the year for ‘Rain on Me’ (with Ariana Grande), Artist of the Year and the MTV Tricon Award. BTS won Best Group, Coldplay won Best Rock track for ‘Orphans’ and Video of the Year went to The Weeknd for ‘Blinding Lights’.
2024 – Sabrina Carpenter became the first female artist (and third overall) to simultaneously hold the No.1 position on the UK albums and singles charts with the single ‘Taste’ and the album Short ’n Sweet. When Taste, debuted at No.2 on the US Hot 100, it made Carpenter the first act since The Beatles to chart their first three top-five hits within a single week.
Today in history
1146 – A conference of European leaders outlawed the crossbow. It was hoped that by banning the weapon, wars would eventually end. Despite the prohibition, crossbows continued to be used until the 16th century, when they were replaced by firearms.
1682 – William Penn sailed from England. He later established the colony of Pennsylvania. A statue of him now stands on top of City Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
1720 – The birth of Samuel Whitbread, English brewer and Member of Parliament. When he died on 11th June 1796, the Gentleman’s Magazine claimed that he was ‘worth over a million pounds’.
1791 – The British Ordnance Survey (OS) was founded as the UK’s national mapping agency, with roots in a military project to defend the nation’s coastline against the French. The Board of Ordnance initially purchased a theodolite to create an accurate map of the south coast, laying the groundwork for the first accurate maps of Great Britain.
1791 – HMS Pandora sank at The Great Barrier Reef after a voyage to hunt down the Bounty mutineers in 1790. The sinking of the HMS Pandora is considered one of the most significant shipwrecks in the Southern Hemisphere.
1797 – The birth, in London, of the novelist Mary Shelley who wrote the Gothic novel Frankenstein. She also edited and promoted the works of her husband, the poet and philosopher Percy Bysshe Shelley.