Famous deaths
2018 – Chas Hodges (b. 1943), English musician and singer. He was the lead vocalist, pianist and guitarist of the musical duo Chas & Dave.
On This Day 2025
Hello, … Welcome to day 349 of the year.

Monday, December 15th Daily Prep.

Today is National Cupcake Day and International Tea Day. Your star sign is Sagittarius and your birthstone is Blue Topaz.
2013 – Andy Murray was awarded the BBC’s Sports Personality of the Year. Earlier in the year Murray had become the first Briton in three quarters of a century to win the men’s singles competition at Wimbledon.
Andy Murray was awarded the BBC’s Sports Personality of the Year. Earlier in the year Murray had become the first Briton in three quarters of a century to win the men’s singles competition at Wimbledon.
Today’s birthdays

1939 – David Clark (86), English musician and songwriter with The Dave Clark Five (“Glad All Over”), born in Tottenham, London.

1964 – Paul Kaye (61), English actor (It’s All Gone Pete Tong, Game of Thrones) and comedian (Dennis Pennis), born in London.
1969 – Ralph Ineson (56), English actor (The Office, Trigger Point) and narrator (Salavage Hunters), born in Leeds, West Yorkshire.
1970 – Frankie Dettori (55), Italian jockey who was based in England for a career spanning over 35 years with over 3,300 career winners worldwide, born in Milan, Italy.
1972 – Stuart Townsend (53), Irish actor who played Lestat de Lioncourt in Queen of the Damned and Dorian Gray in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, born in Dublin, Ireland.
1979 – Edele and Keavy Lynch (46), Irish twin sisters and singers with girl group B*Witched (“C’est La Vie”, “Blame it on the Weatherman”), born in Dublin, Ireland.

1980 – Sergio Pizzorno (45), English musician, singer-songwriter and co-founder of the rock band Kasabian (“Goodbye Kiss”), born in Newton Abbot, Devon.

1992 – Jesse Lingard (33), English professional footballer (FC Seoul, Nottingham Forest, England national team), born in Warrington, Cheshire.
Famous deaths
1966 – Walt Disney (b. 1901), American animator, film producer, voice actor, and entrepreneur.
1984 – Lennard Pearce (b. 1915), English actor who played Grandad in the sitcom Only Fools and Horses from its first episode in 1981 until his death.
The day today
1913 – Suffragettes caused a dynamite explosion at Holloway Prison where Emmeline Pankhurst and Lady Constance Lytton were detained. The perpetrators were never identified, but the bombings escalated the public awareness and debate around women’s suffrage.
1958 – Crewe Works built its last steam engine, a Class 9 freight locomotive, engine number 92250. It was their 7,331st locomotive since the works were built in 1840 by the Grand Junction Railway.
1960 – The robin (specifically the European robin, Erithacus rubecula) was declared Britain’s national bird after a public vote, winning with 34% of the votes. Another major poll was held, involving over 200,000 votes (online, school ballots, post), and the robin again came out on top, solidifying its popular choice. In the 2015 vote, the Barn Owl and Blackbird were the next most popular choices.

1974 – New speed limits were introduced. Speed limits on motorways would remain at 70mph , but on dual carriageways they would become 60mph and on all other roads 50mph as the government tried to curb fuel use.

1979 – Canadian jounalists, Chris Haney and Scott Abbott develop the board game Trivial Pursuit. The Trivial Pursuit game that they developed was trademarked on November 10, 1981, and 1,100 copies of the game were released later that month.
1982 – Reputed to be Robin Hood’s tree, the ‘Major Oak’ in Sherwood Forest, was fitted with a fire alarm. Also on this day… There were scenes of jubilation as the gates isolating the people of Gibraltar from Spain were opened for the first time in 13 years. There were tight restrictions, which included a ban on any British or foreign tourists crossing.
1993 – The British and Irish prime ministers John Major and Albert Reynolds signed the historic Joint Declaration for Peace which they hoped would end 25 years of bombing and murder in Northern Ireland.
2013 – Andy Murray was awarded the BBC’s Sports Personality of the Year. Earlier in the year Murray had become the first Briton in three quarters of a century to win the men’s singles competition at Wimbledon.
2014 – Jonathan Paul Burrows, a London hedge fund manager who regularly avoided buying a train ticket on his commute to the City, was banned for life from working in any regulated financial industries. In total, Mr Burrows was believed to have dodged £42,550 in fares.

2015 – Forty three year old astronaut Major Tim Peake became the first Briton to serve a mission on the International Space Station. He took off from Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan at 11:03am GMT, alongside Nasa astronaut Tim Kopra and Russian commander Yuri Malenchenko.

2018 – Egyptian archaeologists announced the stunning discovery of Wahtye’s 4,400-year-old tomb at Saqqara in Cairo, an exceptionally well-preserved Fifth Dynasty resting place filled with colorful hieroglyphs and large statues of the priest, his mother, and wife, depicting scenes of daily life and religious rituals, hailed as a major find for its remarkable condition and details of ancient Egyptian life.
2022 – For the first time in its 106 year history, members of the Royal College of Nursing in England, Wales and Northern Ireland took take part in industrial strike action, with a further strike on 20th December.
Today in music
1944 – Glenn Miller (“In the Mood”, “Pennsylvania 6-5000”, “Chattanooga Choo Choo”), was killed when his aircraft disappeared in bad weather over the English Channel while traveling to entertain US troops in France during World War II. Miller was the best-selling recording artist from 1939 to 1943, leading one of the best-known big bands.

1969 – John Lennon played what would be his final ever gig in the UK when he appeared at The Lyceum Ballroom, London, with the Plastic Ono Band in a UNICEF ‘Peace For Christmas’ benefit. George Harrison, Eric Clapton, Delaney and Bonnie, Billy Preston and The Who’s drummer, Keith Moon also took part.

1979 – Pink Floyd started a five week run at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Another Brick In The Wall (Part 2)’ their only UK chart topper. The song, which was also the final No.1 single of the 1970s, received a Grammy nomination for Best Performance by a Rock Duo or Group, but Floyd lost to Bob Seger’s Against the Wind.
1984 – Do They Know It’s Christmas? by Band Aid entered the UK chart at No.1 and stayed at the top for five weeks. It became the biggest selling UK single of all time with sales over 3.5 million.
1990 – Rod Stewart married New Zealand model Rachel Hunter in Beverly Hills. Stewart was quoted as saying ‘I Found the Girl that I Want, I won’t be putting my banana in anybody’s fruit bowl from now on’. They split in 1999.
1997 – ‘Spice World The Movie’, featuring The Spice Girls premiered at The Empire, Leicester Sq, London. The following year it was nominated for the ‘worst film’ at the Golden Raspberry Awards.
2002 – Blue featuring Elton John went to No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word.’ Previously a No.11 hit for Elton in 1976. It gave Elton only his 5th No 1 after over 30 years of hits.
Today in history
1569 – Charles Neville, the 6th Earl of Westmorland, escaped to Flanders after being hunted for treason by Queen Elizabeth I during the Northern Rebellion. Neville spent the rest of his life in exile, and died there. Elizabeth executed at least 400 rebels for treason. She also passed laws that made any further Catholic threat punishable as treason.
1651 – Castle Cornet in Guernsey, the last stronghold which had supported the King in the Third English Civil War, surrenders.
1840 – Napoleon Bonaparte finally had a funeral. Napoleon died in St Helena, a remote British-owned island where he had been exiled. Due to the political struggle between Britain and France, it took 19 years to relocate Napoleon’s remains back to France to finally have a French state funeral.
1899 – British Army forces are defeated at the Battle of Colenso in Natal, South Africa, the third and final battle fought during the Black Week of the Second Boer War.
1906 – The opening of the Piccadilly tube line on London’s Underground. It was the longest underground line at the time, running from Finsbury Park to Hammersmith.