Famous deaths
2018 – Chas Hodges (b. 1943), English musician and singer. He was the lead vocalist, pianist and guitarist of the musical duo Chas & Dave.
On This Day 2025
Hello, … Welcome to day 338 of the year.

Thursday, December 4th Daily Prep.

Today is World Wildlife Conservation Day, National Sock Day, Santa’s List Day and Wear Brown Shoes Day. 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.
A lethal fog began to cover London, lasting for five days, causing the term “smog” to be termed – a combination of smoke and fog.
Today’s birthdays
1963 – Nigel Heslop (62), English former rugby union and rugby league wing (10 caps RU; Orrell RUFC, Liverpool St Helens; Oldham RLFC), born in West Hartlepool.
1967 – Adamski [Adam Paul Tinley] (58), English DJ, musician and singer best known for “Killer”, a collaboration with Seal which was a No. 1 song in the UK in 1990, born in Hampshire.
1969 – Jay-Z (56), American rapper (“Empire State Of Mind”, “99 Problems”), record producer, and entrepreneur, born in Brooklyn, New York, United States.
1973 – Tyra Banks (52), American supermodel (America’s Next Top Model) and actress (Fresh Prince of Bel Air), born in Inglewood, California, United States.
1973 – Kate Rusby (52), English folk singer-songwriter (“Benjamin Bowmaneer”, “The Sleepless Sailor”), known as the “Barnsley Nightingale”, born in Penistone, South Yorkshire.
Famous deaths
1976 – Benjamin Britten (b. 1913), English composer, conductor, and pianist. He was a central figure of 20th-century British music, with a range of works including opera, other vocal music, orchestral and chamber pieces.
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. The dystopian novel was his ninth and final completed book, published by Secker & Warburg in London. It served as a cautionary tale about the dangers of totalitarianism and mass surveillance.
1952 – At least 4,000 people died in a week, from breathing difficulties, during a severe London smog. More recent research suggests the total death toll was closer to 12,000, with many more becoming ill from the toxic air pollution, which was a combination of fog and smoke from coal burning.
1961 – Birth control pills were made available on the NHS after Health Minister Enoch Powell announced their prescription would be possible for married women on “therapeutic grounds”. Initially, access was limited, but the availability grew significantly, especially after the Family Planning Act of 1967.
1961 – A painting that had been hung upside down in a museum was finally flipped upright after going unnoticed for over a month. Matisse Le Bateau’s painting was accidentally hung upside down at the Museum of Modern Art ( New York City). This mistake was left for 47 days until a stockbroker noticed it.
1976 – Benjamin Britten, considered to be Britain’s leading composer, died aged 63. He had been fighting ill health after a heart operation in 1973. The Aldeburgh Festival of music in Suffolk was started in 1948 by Benjamin Britten and Peter Pears.
1995 – England’s cricket captain Michael Atherton bats for 643 minutes (10 hours and 43 minutes) to score an unbeaten 185 and secure a draw for his team in the Johannesburg Test.
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.
2014 – Knutsford council, in Cheshire, approved plans to widen the town’s pavements. 220 years previously, spinster Lady Jane Stanley had paid for narrow pavements to be laid in the town, to prevent lovers from strolling arm in arm.
2018 – French fashion house Chanel announced it was ending the use of animal fur and exotic skins in its collections, following suit of bans by other companies including Gucci, Versace, Prada, Burberry, and Jimmy Choo.
2018 – Theresa May’s government suffered three historic parliamentary defeats in a single day, a day described as “excruciating” for the Prime Minister. The defeats and the contempt motion were related to the handling of the Brexit process, specifically the government’s refusal to publish the full legal advice on the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement.
Today in music
1960 – The Crickets released the single ‘I Fought the Law’ and was also recorded by The Clash in 1979 after Joe Strummer and guitarist Mick Jones heard the song on a jukebox in San Francisco.
1962 – The Beatles made their London-area debut on television when they appeared in a live broadcast from Wembley on Tuesday Rendezvous, on ITV station Rediffusion. The Beatles performed live, doing lip-sync performances of ‘Love Me Do’ and 45 seconds of ‘P.S. I Love You.’

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. Born near St Albans around 1100, he was elected pope after a career that included being a papal legate to Scandinavia before being consecrated as a bishop and serving as an abbot.
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.
1619 – Thirty-eight colonists from Berkeley Parish, England, disembark in Virginia and give thanks to God, considered by many the first Thanksgiving in the Americas.
1791 – The Observer, Britain’s oldest Sunday newspaper, was first published. Founded by W.S. Bourne, it is also the world’s oldest Sunday newspaper still in print, according to Guinness World Records.
1798 – British Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger announced the introduction of Income Tax to help finance the war against France.
1872 – 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.