December 26th "2023" daily prep
Welcome to day 360 of the year! Known as Boxing Day (in the United Kingdom), National Candy Cane Day, National Thank You Note Day, National Whiner’s Day. If you were born on this day, you were likely conceived the week of April 4th. Your star sign is “Capricorn” and your birthstone is Blue Topaz.
2015 – Weeks of heavy rain led to the worst floods Hebden Bridge (West Yorkshire) had ever seen. 1600 businesses were affected. 45% of flooded premises suffered structural damage, 75% lost stock and 46% lost office equipment.
Todays birthdays
1957 – Dermot Murnaghan (66), British broadcaster (BBC News) and television presenter (Eggheads), born in Barnstaple, Devon.
1960 – Temuera Morrison (63), New Zealand actor (Once Were Warriors; Boba Fett – Star Wars Franchise), born in Rotorua, New Zealand.
1971 – Jared Leto (52), American actor (Suicide Squad, House of Gucci) and musician (Thirty Seconds to Mars), born in Bossier City, Louisiana, United States.
1986 – Kit Harington (37), English actor known for his role as Jon Snow in Game of Thrones, born in Acton, London.
1992 – Jade Thirlwall (31), English singer and songwriter (Little Mix – “Shout out to My Ex”), born in South Shields, South Tyneside.
The day today
1913 – A large Hippodrome was opened at Golders Green as a variety hall to take advantage of the newly arrived London underground.
1932 – The BBC presented the first televised pantomime, Dick Whittington.
1943 – A Royal Navy convoy, including the battleship Duke of York and cruiser Jamaica, attacked and sank the mighty German battlecruiser Scharnhorst, of North Cape, Norway. She was the last major German battleship.
1988 – Crash investigators uncovered wreckage which they hoped would hold the key to the Lockerbie air disaster of 21st December. Two men, said to be Libyan intelligence agents were later put on trial for planting the bomb.
2004 – A devastating tsunami and earthquake occurred in the Indian Ocean. The earthquake was a 9.3 magnitude which caused a tsunami that hit Sri Lanka, India, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, the Maldives. The destruction killed 230,000 people.
Today in music
1967 – BBC Television broadcast The Beatles movie ‘Magical Mystery Tour’ in black and white. The next day, the British press and the viewing public pronounce the film an utter disaster. The negative reaction was so strong that a US television deal for broadcasting the movie was cancelled.
1976 – The Sex Pistols recorded ‘God Save The Queen’ at Wessex Studios London, England. The song was released during Queen Elizabeth II’s Silver Jubilee in 1977. The record’s lyrics, as well as the cover, were controversial at the time, and both the BBC and the Independent Broadcasting Authority refused to play the song. The song reached No.1 on the NME charts.
1979 – The first night of a series of concerts were held at The Hammersmith Odeon in London for the People of Kampuchea, featuring Queen, The Clash, The Pretenders, The Who, Elvis Costello, Wings, and many more artists. The events which were organised by Paul McCartney and Kurt Waldheim were aimed to raise money for the victims of war-torn Cambodia.
1998 – The Spice Girls scored their 8th UK No.1 single with ‘Goodbye’, (the first single without Geri Halliwell). It gave the group the Christmas No.1 for the third year in a row equaling the record set by The Beatles from 1963, 64 and 65.
2007 – Amy Winehouse’s second album ‘Back to Black’ was named as the biggest-selling album of the year. Released at the end of 2006 the album had now sold more than 1.5m copies in the UK, achieving five platinum sales awards, Winehouse was also nominated for six Grammys including song of the year. Leona Lewis’s ‘Spirit’ was the second best seller, Lewis sold 1.27m copies in just five weeks, becoming the fastest-selling debut in UK history and making the former X Factor winner the fastest female million-seller in the UK. Mika’s ‘Life in Cartoon Motion’ were the third best selling album of 2007.
Today in history
1135 – The Coronation of King Stephen, grandson of William the Conqueror. Stephen’s reign was marked by civil war and unsettled government. He was succeeded in 1154 by Henry II.
1791 – The birth of Charles Babbage, English mathematician, philosopher, and mechanical engineer who originated the idea of a programmable computer.
1860 – The first ever inter-club football match took place between Hallam F.C. and Sheffield F.C. at Hallam’s Sandygate Road ground in Sheffield, Yorkshire. Sandygate has been recognised by the Guinness Book of Records as the ‘Oldest Ground in the World’.
1874 – Boxing Day was officially recognized in Britain as a Bank Holiday. The name originates from the custom of Christmas boxes being given to a lord’s serfs and dates back to the middle ages.
1900 – A relief crew arrived at the the lighthouse on the Flannan Isles, in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland, only to find that the previous crew of three lighthouse keepers had all disappeared without a trace. The mystery has never been resolved, but rumours and myths still abound.
Fact of the day
It’s impossible to hum while holding your nose
You just tested it, didn’t you? Normally, when you hum, the air is able to escape through your nose to create the sound, and of course, it can’t do that when you’re holding it shut. Go ahead, try it.