December 19th "2023" daily prep
Welcome to day 353 of the year! Known as Holly Day, Look for an Evergreen Day and National Hard Candy Day. If you were born on this day, you were likely conceived the week of March 28th. Your star sign is “Sagittarius” and your birthstone is Blue Topaz.
1843 – English author Charles Dickens published A Christmas Carol, which became one of the outstanding Christmas stories of modern literature. This popular novella sold out by Christmas Eve, selling 6,000 copies. Since then, “A Christmas Carol” has never gone out of print.
Todays birthdays
1946 – Rosemary Conley (77), English businesswoman, author and broadcaster on diet and fitness (The Hip and Thigh Diet), born in Leicester.
1958 – Limahl [Christopher Hamill] (65), English pop singer (“Never Ending Story”) and as the lead singer in the pop group Kajagoogoo (“Too Shy”), born in Wigan, Greater Manchester.
1969 – Richard Hammond (54), English journalist, television presenter (Top Gear, The Grand Tour, Total Wipeout), mechanic, and writer, born in Solihull, West Midlands.
1971 – Karen Pickering (52), British freestyle swimmer competing in four consecutive Summer Olympics, starting in 1992 and winning 4 gold medals in the Commonwealth Games between 1992 and 2002, born in Brighton, Brighton and Hove.
1980 – Jake Gyllenhaal (43), American actor (Brokeback Mountain, The Day After Tomorrow, Jarhead), born in Los Angeles, California, United States.
The day today
1941 – World War II: Limpet mines placed by Italian divers sank the HMS Valiant (launched 1914) and HMS Queen Elizabeth (launched 1913) in Alexandria harbour.
1972 – Frank O’Farrell lost his job as manger of Manchester United, following a 5–0 defeat to Crystal Palace. George Best, once again, announced his retirement, on the same day. Not a good week for United.
2006 – Steve Wright, was arrested, charged and remanded in custody, accused of murdering five prostitutes over a six week period. The bodies of all five women were found dumped in remote locations around Ipswich in Suffolk, sparking a massive police investigation.
2012 – The verdict of accidental death of the 96 victims who died in the 1989 Hillsborough stadium football disaster was quashed in the High Court, clearing the way for a new inquest into the deaths. New medical evidence commissioned by the attorney general revealed that 58 victims “definitely or probably” had the capacity to survive beyond the 3.15pm cut-off point imposed by the original coroner. In a further 12 cases, the cause of death remained unclear. The Chair of the Hillsborough Justice Campaign, Anne Williams (who died of cancer on 18th April 2013) and whose 15-year-old son Kevin died in the tragedy was at the hearing.
2013 – Ornate plasterwork at the Apollo Theatre in London fell from the ceiling during a performance and after a flash flood thunderstorm. The collapse brought down a lighting rig and a section of balcony, trapping 2 people and injuring around 88, including 7 with serious injuries. On the same day…. Michael Adebolajo (29) and Michael Adebowale (22) were found guilty of murdering soldier Lee Rigby outside Woolwich barracks in south-east London in May. Fusilier Rigby was struck with a car before hacked to death. Adebolajo had claimed he was a ‘soldier of Allah’ and the killing was an act of war. Adebolajo was given a whole-life term and Adebowale was jailed for a minimum of 45 years.
Today in music
1958 – Conway Twitty was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘It’s Only Make Believe’. The song became the first to reach the UK Top 10 in four different years by different artists: Billy Fury (1964), Glen Campbell (1970) and Child (1978).
1981 – ABBA scored their seventh UK No.1 album with The Visitors, the Swedish pop group’s eighth and final studio album. It was one of the first records to be recorded and mixed digitally, and was the first in history to be manufactured on the new CD format in 1982 on Atlantic.
1987 – The Pet Shop Boys had their third UK No.1 single with their version of ‘Always On My Mind. The duo had performed a version of ‘Always on My Mind’ on Love Me Tender, an TV special commemorating the tenth anniversary of Elvis Presley’s death, their performance was so well-received that the group decided to record the song and release it as a single.
1999 – Irish boyband Westlife started a four week run at No.1 on the UK singles chart with their versions of the ABBA song ‘I Have A Dream’ and the Terry Jacks hit (written in French by Belgian, Jacques Brel and English lyrics by poet Rod McKuen), ‘Seasons In The Sun’. It gave the group the Christmas No.1 and the last No.1 of the century.
2012 – Madonna’s MDNA World Tour made more money than any other during 2012. The tour grossed £141m, after more than 1.6 million fans paid to see her perform in 65 cities worldwide since June 2011. She beat Bruce Springsteen into first place on the highest-grossing tour list, who earned £123 million. Also in the top 25 were Coldplay, who took fifth place, and Lady Gaga at number six, who attracted audiences reaching 1.1 million people in comparison.
Today in history
1154 – Henry II was crowned, at Westminster Abbey.
1606 – English entrepreneurs set sail in the Susan Constant, the Godspeed, and the Discovery to establish a colony at Jamestown, Virginia, the first of the thirteen colonies that became the United States.
1783 – William Pitt the Younger became the youngest British Prime Minister, at the age of 24 years, 6 months and 21 days.
1843 – English author Charles Dickens published A Christmas Carol, which became one of the outstanding Christmas stories of modern literature. This popular novella sold out by Christmas Eve, selling 6,000 copies. Since then, “A Christmas Carol” has never gone out of print.
1848 – Emily Brontë, English author of Wuthering Heights, died of tuberculosis at the tender age of 30. Emily is buried in the Bronte family vault at the St Michael and All Angels church in Haworth, West Yorkshire.
Fact of the day
The Christmas pudding we know today began life as a pottage. This was a kind of broth, including raisins and other dried fruit, spices and wine. It was thickened with breadcrumbs or ground almonds. Not dissimilar to the mince pies of yesteryear, it often included meat or at least meat stock. It was not until the end of the 17th century that the pottage took on a more solid appearance. It was served like a porridge or cooked inside a skin, like a sausage. Even then, it was more likely to have been sliced and cooked under a roasting joint and served alongside the main meal or as a starter – not a dessert.