December 4th "2023" daily prep
Welcome to day 338 of the year! Known as National Cookie Day, National Sock Day, Santa’s List Day. If you were born on this day, you were likely conceived the week of March 13th. Your star sign is “Sagittarius” and your birthstone is Blue Topaz.
1952 – A lethal fog began to cover London, lasting for five days, causing the term “smog” to be termed – a combination of smoke and fog.
Todays birthdays
1963 – Nigel Heslop (59), English former rugby union and rugby league wing (10 caps RU; Orrell RUFC, Liverpool St Helens; Oldham RLFC), born in West Hartlepool.
1967 – Adamski (56), English DJ, musician, singer and record producer prominent at the time of acid house and more known for his track “Killer”, a collaboration with Seal, which was a No. 1 song in the UK in 1990, born in Lymington, Hampshire.
1969 – Jay-Z (54), American rapper (“Empire State Of Mind”, “99 Problems”), record producer, and entrepreneur, born in Brooklyn, New York, United States.
1973 – Tyra Banks (50), American supermodel and actress (Fresh Prince of Bel Air), born in Inglewood, California.
1973 – Kate Rusby (50), English folk singer-songwriter (“Benjamin Bowmaneer”, “The Sleepless Sailor”), sometimes called the “Barnsley Nightingale”, born in Penistone, Barnsley, South Yorkshire.
The day today
1937 – The first issue of the Dandy comic. With a fan club of over 350,000, Desperate Dan proved a durable character. A copy of this first edition is worth between £850 and £1,000. The closure, on 4th December 2012, coincided with its 75th anniversary and the final print edition included a pullout reprint of the very first edition of the comic.
1948 – George Orwell completed the final draft of the book Nineteen Eighty Four which was published on 8th June 1949.
1952 – At least 4,000 people died in a week, from breathing difficulties, during a severe London smog.
1997 – Europe’s health ministers voted to ban tobacco advertising throughout the European Union although they agreed that motor-racing, which relied heavily on sponsorship and advertising by tobacco companies, should be exempt for another 8 years.
2008 – Karen Matthews, the mother of nine-year-old Shannon, was convicted of kidnapping her own daughter. Matthews, 33, and her co-accused Michael Donovan, 40, were found guilty of kidnap, false imprisonment and perverting the course of justice. The trial at Leeds Crown Court heard that the pair kept Shannon ‘drugged, subdued and hidden from the public’ so that they could claim £50,000 in reward money.
Today in music
1965 – The Byrds started a three week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Turn! Turn! Turn!’ the group’s second No.1. and a No.26 hit in the UK. Unlike their first chart topper, ‘Mr. Tambourine Man’, the entire band was allowed to play on the recording, instead of studio musicians.
1980 – Two months after the tragic death of drummer John Bonham, Led Zeppelin made decision to break up. The surviving members decided that it was not right to tamper with their legacy by bringing someone else in to play drums.
1982 – The Jam were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Beat Surrender’, the group’s fourth UK No.1 and final single. They split in 1983, and leader Paul Weller formed the Style Council.
2006 – Yahoo revealed that Britney Spears was the most searched for term of 2006 with more online searches done about Spears than any other topic or person. Female celebrities dominated the top 10 overall search list, with Shakira at number three, Jessica Simpson at number four and Paris Hilton at number five.
2015 – Justin Bieber scored his third UK No.1 single with ‘Love Yourself’, which knocked his previous chart topper, ‘Sorry’, to No.2.The last living artists to achieve the feat were The Beatles in 1963 with ‘She Loves You’ and ‘I Want to Hold Your Hand’.
Today in history
1154 – The only Englishman to become a pope, Nicholas Breakspear, became Adrian IV.
1259 – The signing of the Treaty of Paris between Louis IX of France and Henry III of England. It ended 100 years of conflicts between the Capetian (the French dynasty) and the Plantagenets, who ruled England for over three hundred years, from 1154 -1485.
1586 – Queen Elizabeth I conferred the death sentence on Mary Queen of Scots after discovering a plot to assassinate her and bring about a Roman Catholic uprising.
1865 – Birth of Edith Cavell at Swardeston (4 miles south of Norwich). An English nurse in Brussels 1914-15, she was accused of helping Allied soldiers escape occupied Belgium over the Dutch border and was executed by the Germans.
1882 – Crew from the British brigantine Die Gratia boarded a deserted ship drifting in mid Atlantic. The captain’s table was set for a meal aboard the US ship Marie Celeste but the Captain, crew and passengers were all missing.
Fact of the day
For a Christmas to be officially classified as “white” a single snowflake needs to be observed falling in the 24 hours of 25th December on the rooftop of the Met Office HQ in London.