August 31st "2024" Daily Prep
Welcome to day 244 of the year! Known as Overdose Awareness Day, Eat Outside Day, Ironman Wales. If you were born today you were likely conceived the week of December 8th in the previous year. Your star sign is Virgo and your birthstone is Peridot.
1997 – Diana, Princess of Wales, Dodi Fayed, and their driver were killed in a car crash in the Place de l’Alma underpass in Paris, France.
Todays birthdays
1949 – Richard Gere (75), American actor (An Officer and a Gentleman, Primal Fear, Pretty Woman), born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States.
1957 – Glenn Tilbrook (67), English singer-songwriter and guitarist best known as the lead singer of the new wave band Squeeze (“Cool for Cats”), born in Woolwich, London.
1963 – Todd Carty (61), English actor (Eastenders, The Bill, Grange Hill, Paddington Green), born in Willesden, London.
1971 – Kirstie Allsopp (53), British television presenter, best known as co-presenter of Channel 4 property show Location, Location, Location, born in Hampstead, London.
1976 – Lucy Speed (48), English actress (Eastenders, The Bill), born in Croydon, South London.
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
1900 – Coca Cola first went on sale in Britain, fourteen years after it was first sold in the U.S.A. Charles Chandler, the eldest son of the founder came to Britain with a jug of cola syrup. It proved so popular that five more gallons were ordered immediately from America.
1906 – At the age of 60, and after a career spanning 43 years, the legendary English cricketer W.G. Grace retired from first class cricket. He had scored a total of 54,896 runs (including 126 centuries), taken 2,879 wickets and held 871 catches.
1939 – Nazi forces, posing as Poles, mounted a staged attack on the German radio station at Gleiwitz, in Poland, creating an excuse to attack Poland the following day, thus starting World War II in Europe.
1962 – Mountaineers Chris Bonington and Ian Clough become first Britons to conquer the north face of the Eiger (Bernese Alps in Switzerland). The 13,040 ft. climb took them two days and was one of the fastest ever.
1997 – Diana, Princess of Wales, her companion Dodi Fayed, and their driver were killed in a car crash in the Place de l’Alma underpass in Paris, France. Tests conducted by French police indicated that the driver was intoxicated, may have been travelling at over 100 mph and likely caused the accident while trying to escape the paparazzi photographers.
Today in music
1986 – After living together for 10 years Bob Geldof married TV presenter Paula Yates in Las Vegas with Duran Duran singer Simon Le Bon as the best man. Yates died of a drug overdose on 17th September 2000.
1987 – Fleetwood Mac released ‘Little Lies’ from their fourteenth studio album Tango in the Night. The single reached No.4 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and No.5 in the UK.
1997 – Oasis went to No.1 on the UK album chart with their third album ‘Be Here Now.’ The album had sold over a million copies on the first day of release. At that point, Oasis were at the height of their fame, and ‘Be Here Now’ became the United Kingdom’s fastest selling album to date.
2003 – Elton John went to No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Are You Ready For Love.’ The song was recorded in 1977 and released in 1979, when it reached No.42.
2019 – Ellie Goulding married art dealer Caspar Jopling at York Minster Cathedral, England, in a wedding attended by Katy Perry and her boyfriend Orlando Bloom, Tracey Emin, Sienna Miller, James Blunt, Princess Eugenie, and Sarah, Duchess of York.
Today in history
1422 – King Henry V of England died of dysentery whilst in France. His son, Henry VI, became King of England at the age of 9 months.
1688 – The death of John Bunyan, English Christian writer and preacher, who is best known for his book The Pilgrim’s Progress.
1795 – War of the First Coalition: The British capture Trincomalee (present-day Sri Lanka) from the Dutch in order to keep it out of French hands.
1848 – Accurate and scientific ‘ state of the weather’ reports were first published by Charles Dickens’s newspaper – The Daily News.
1888 – The body of Mary Ann ‘Polly’ Nichols, the first victim of Jack the Ripper, was found mutilated in Buck’s Row, London. The unidentified serial killer’s attacks involved females from the slums whose throats were cut prior to abdominal mutilations. The removal of internal organs from at least three of the victims led to proposals that their killer possessed anatomical or surgical knowledge. Despite a huge effort by the police, the Ripper was never caught, and his identity is still shrouded in mystery.