December 29th "2023" daily prep
Welcome to day 363 of the year! Known as Constitution of Ireland and International Cello Day. If you were born on this day, you were likely conceived the week of April 7th. Your star sign is “Capricorn” and your birthstone is Blue Topaz.
2013 – A painting bought for £400 and featured on the BBC’s Antiques Roadshow was revealed to be a Van Dyck portrait worth about £400,000.
Todays birthdays
1946 – Marianne Faithfull (77), English singer. She achieved popularity in the 60’s with the release of her hit single “As Tears Go By”, born in Hampstead, London.
1947 – Ted Danson (76), American actor (Three Men and a Baby, Sam Malone – Cheers), born in San Diego, California, United States.
1965 – Martin Offiah (58), English former professional rugby league and rugby union player (Widnes, Wigan, London Broncos), born in Hackney Central, London.
1970 – Aled Jones (53), Welsh singer (“Walking in the Air”), radio and television presenter (Songs of Praise), born in Bangor, Gwynedd, North Wales.
1972 – Jude Law (51), English actor (Enemy at the Gates, The Talented Mr. Ripley, Existenz), born in Lewisham, London.
The day today
1940 – London suffered its most devastating air raid when Germans firebombed the city. Hundreds of fires caused by the exploding bombs engulfed areas of London, but fire fighters showed a valiant indifference to the bombs falling around them and saved much of the city from destruction. The next day, a newspaper photo of St. Paul’s Cathedral standing undamaged amid the smoke and flames seemed to symbolize the capital’s unconquerable spirit during the Battle of Britain.
1975 – New legislation introducing a woman’s right to equal pay and status in the workplace, and in society, came into force in the UK.
2012 – Bradley Wiggins, who won the Tour de France and an Olympic gold, was knighted in the New Year Honours list. Paralympic cyclist Sarah Storey, born in Disley became a dame after taking four gold medals. The most decorated sailor in Olympic history, Ben Ainslie, was also knighted. In all, 78 awards were linked to the 2012 Olympics or Paralympics.
2013 – A painting bought for £400 and featured on the BBC’s Antiques Roadshow was revealed to be a Van Dyck portrait worth about £400,000. Father Jamie, who runs a retreat house in Whaley Bridge, on the edge of the Peak District, said that he was planning to sell the piece by the 17th Century Flemish artist to buy new church bells.
2014 – Christopher Hooson (33) who stole an Android tablet from a Whitley Bay charity shop, only to try and donate it to them eight days later as it did not work, was recognized by staff from his CCTV images. He was ordered to pay £85 costs and a £20 victim surcharge.
Today in music
1956 – Elvis Presley made chart history by having 10 songs on Billboards Top 100 for week ending Dec 19th.
1964 – The Liverpool Youth Employment Service announced that some school leavers were finding it difficult to get jobs because their ‘Beatle’ style haircuts and clothing were unacceptable to employers.
1966 – The Jimi Hendrix Experience made their debut on the UK TV show Top Of The Pops performing ‘Hey Joe’.
1999 – Three ferrets named Beckham, Posh Spice and Baby Spice were used to lay power cables for a rock concert being held in Greenwich, London, England, (workers were not allowed to dig up the turf at the Royal Park). Organizers found that rods could not push the cables through the tiny tunnels, which frequently bend and dog-leg. The ferrets were eased into tiny nylon harnesses with wires which where then attached to a rope, the animals ran into a series of ducts which were under the stage like rabbit runs, leading the cables with them. The ferrets instinctively make for any hole in the ground and are enticed to the end of the duct by a slab of smelly meat. The New Years Eve concert featured Simply Red, Eurythmics and Bryan Ferry.
2012 – According to sales data, Adele’s 21 had overtaken Oasis’ (What’s The Story) Morning Glory? to become the UK’s fourth biggest selling album of all-time. Latest data confirmed that, Oasis’ 1995 second album had sold 4,555,000 copies to date, while Adele’s 21 has surged ahead with sales of over 4,562,000 copies. The news came just over a year since 21 overtook Amy Winehouse’s Back To Black to become the UK’s biggest selling album of the 21st Century.
Today in history
1170 – Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas à Becket, was murdered in his own cathedral by four knights, believing they were acting on direct orders from King Henry II. The disgraced knights and their families did a number of penances, one of which was to build a Chantry chapel in the centre of Watchet and the building of St Decuman’s Church, which Richard Brito and Reginald FitzUrse then gave to Wells Cathedral. Their families went on to give land to atone for their relations’ evil deed.
1675 – Parliament ordered the closing of all coffee houses on the basis that they were centres of malicious gossip about the Government.
1766 – Charles Macintosh, Scottish chemist and inventor of waterproof clothing (i.e. the Macintosh or simply Mac), was born, in Glasgow. For his various chemical discoveries he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in 1823.
1809 – The birth, in Liverpool, of William (Ewart) Gladstone, four times British Prime Minister. His first election in 1868 allowed him to carry out major reforms. He was elected once more in 1880 and then again in 1866. When his Home Rule Bill was defeated, he resigned, but became Prime Minister, for a fourth term, in 1892. He resigned again two years later, this time when his Home Rule Bill was rejected by the Lords. He died of cancer on 19th May 1898 and was buried in Westminster Abbey.
1860 – HMS Warrior, Britain’s first seagoing iron-clad warship, was launched. She froze to the slipway when she was launched during London’s coldest winter for 50 years and six tugs were required to haul her into the river. In later years Warrior was saved from being scrapped by the efforts of the Maritime Trust. The restoration took 8 years. Today, the ship is used as a venue for special events, and can be privately hired as a wedding venue.
Fact of the day
A one-armed player scored the winning goal in the first World Cup. Héctor Castro, who accidentally cut off his right forearm while using an electric saw as a teenager, played on the Uruguay soccer team during the first-ever World Cup in 1930. In the last game between Uruguay and Argentina, Castro scored the winning goal in the last minute of the game. The final score was 4–2, making Uruguay the first country to win the World Cup title.