December 28th "2023" daily prep
Welcome to day 362 of the year! Known as Call a Friend Day, Holy Innocent’s Day, National Card Playing Day, National Chocolate Day, Pledge of Allegiance Day. If you were born on this day, you were likely conceived the week of April 5th. Your star sign is “Capricorn” and your birthstone is Blue Topaz.
1915 – The British Cabinet decides to institute compulsory military service, with single men to be conscripted before married ones.
Todays birthdays
1934 – Maggie Smith (89), English actress (Downton Abbey, Harry Potter, Sister Act, Gosford Park) with a career spanning 70 years, born in Ilford, East London.
1954 – Denzel Washington (69), American actor (The Equalizer, Man on Fire, Training Day, Crimson Tide), born in Mount Vernon, New York, United States.
1956 – Nigel Kennedy (67), English violinist and violist (classical, jazz and klezmer music genres), Brighton, Brighton and Hove.
1981 – Sienna Miller (42), British/American actress (American Sniper, Stardust, Layer Cake) and model, born in New York, New York, United States.
1986 – Tom Huddlestone (37), English professional footballer (Manchester United, Derby County), born in Nottingham.
The day today
1904 – The first weather reports relayed by wireless telegraphy were published in London.
1963 – ‘That Was The Week That Was’, television’s first satirical show, was broadcast for the last time. It was taken off air while still commanding huge audiences because 1964 was to be election year and it was felt that the show could influence voters.
1980 – A shake-up of broadcasting franchises paved the way for the launch of breakfast TV. The Independent Broadcasting Authority announced that the breakfast contract would go to TV-am and would launch in 1983.
2003 – The British Government announced plans to tighten airline security by allowing armed guards on some British flights to the USA.
2018 – The New Years Honour’s List includes knighthoods for Michael Palin and novelist Philip Pullman. On the same day, actress June Whitfield dies aged 93 and Dr Hook singer Ray Sawyer dies aged 81.
Today in music
1961 – Danny Williams was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Moon River’, the Oscar-winning song was from the film Breakfast At Tiffany’s. The Tokens were at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘The Lion Sleeps Tonight.’
1998 – UK radio station BBC Radio 1 aired the 100 National Anthems, songs voted by listeners. At No.5 Radiohead, ‘Creep’, No.4 Underworld ‘Born Slippy’, No.3 The Verve ‘Bitter Sweet Symphony’, No.2 Nirvana ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ No.1 Massive Attack ‘Unfinished Sympathy’.
2003 – 50 Cent’s debut album, Get Rich Or Die Tryin’ was named the biggest selling album in the US in 2003 with the album going platinum six times over. Outkast came second with Speakerboxxx / The Love Below and Linkin Parks Meteora was the third biggest seller. The Top 10 albums of 2003 in the USA accounted for around 30 million sales.
2005 – Pink Floyd were voted the greatest rock stars ever in a survey of 58,000 listeners from UK radio station Planet Rock. Led Zeppelin were voted into second place, 3rd was The Rolling Stones, 4th The Who, 5th, AC/DC, 6th, U2, 7th, Guns N’ Roses, 8th, Nirvana, 9th, Bon Jovi and in 10th place Jimi Hendrix. Listeners also named the 1970s as the golden age of rock, followed by the 1960’s.
2015 – Lemmy, lead vocalist and bassist with Motörhead died at his home in Los Angeles, California, four days after his 70th birthday following a short battle with an extremely aggressive cancer.
Today in history
1065 – Westminster Abbey was consecrated (having been made or declared sacred). Its founder Edward the Confessor could not attend due to illness. He died on 5th January l066 and was buried in a shrine before the High Altar in his new church.
1694 – Mary II, joint sovereign of England, Scotland and Ireland, died from smallpox, leaving William III to reign alone.
1734 – The death of Robert Roy MacGregor, usually known simply as Rob Roy, the famous Scottish folk hero and outlaw of the early 18th century. He is buried in Balquhidder churchyard in Lochearnhead, Perthshire.
1879 – The Tay railway bridge collapsed whilst the Edinburgh to Dundee train was crossing. The original crossing was the longest railway bridge in the world but during the storm the wind was said to have blown the iron girders in the central section away ‘like matchwood. The engine and carriages plummeted into the icy river below killing 59 people. In 1979 British Rail commissioned a special train to take people across the new bridge at the exact time of the original accident ……. 19:15 GMT. On 28th December 2013 granite memorials to commemorate the disaster were unveiled on both sides of the river.
1895 – Wilhelm Röntgen, a German physicist, publishes a paper detailing his discovery of a new type of radiation, which later will be known as x-rays.
Fact of the day
The Philippines consists of 7,641 islands The Philippines is an archipelago, which means it’s made up of a group of islands—7,641 islands, to be exact. That figure does not include the thousands of sandbars and other landforms that emerge during low tide.