December 7th "2024" Daily Prep
Welcome to day 342 of the “leap” year! Known as Pearl Harbour Remembrance Day, International Civil Aviation Day, Hanukkah (Festival of Lights). Your star sign is Sagittarius and your birthstone is Blue Topaz.
1941 – Pearl Harbor was attacked. The Imperial Japanese Navy used 353 planes to attack the US fleet at Hawaii’s Pearl Harbor Naval Base. The attack killed 2,403 people.
Todays birthdays
1954 – Mike Nolan (70), Irish singer (“The Land of Make Believe”) and one of the four original founding members of Bucks Fizz (“Making Your Mind Up”), born in Dublin, Ireland.
1974 – Nicole Appleton (50), English – Canadian singer (All Saints – “Never, Ever”) and television presenter, born in Hamilton, Canada.
1977 – Luke Donald (46), English professional golfer and former world number one playing mainly on the US PGA Tour, born in Hemel Hempstead.
1980 – John Terry (44), English professional football coach and former player (Chelsea, Aston Villa), born in Barking, East London.
1989 – Nicholas Hoult (35), English actor (Mad Max: Fury Road, Jack the Giant Slayer, About a Boy), born in Wokingham, Berkshire.
Famous deaths
1997 – Shirley Crabtree (b. 1930), English wrestler (Big Daddy) who was often partnered against Giant Haystacks.
The day today
1955 – Clement Atlee resigned as leader of the opposition Labour Party, following months of speculation. Hours later he was made an Earl by the Queen; the first Labour leader to accept a hereditary peerage. Mr Attlee led his party for 20 years and had a seat in the House of Commons for 33 years.
1972 – Apollo 17 launched the final manned lunar landing mission, during which the crew took the famous “blue marble” photo of the entire Earth.
1979 – Production of MG Midget sports cars came to an end. 73,899 of the last version were produced and the last 500 cars were painted black.
1983 – A cat climbed to a height of 160ft up an industrial chimney, holding up the work of Lancashire’s chief steeplejack and chimney demolisher Fred Dibnah.
1993 – Protesters lost a 20 year fight to save a 250 year old chestnut tree in east London. Twenty protesters were arrested after they clashed with 200 police officers sent to ensure a court order to cut down the tree was enforced and that the planned motorway extension could go ahead.
Today in music
1974 – Barry White was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘You’re The First, The Last, My Everything’, the singers first UK No.1. Originally written in the 1950s as a country song with the title ‘You’re My First, You’re My Last, My In-Between.’
1979 – The Police had their second UK No.1 single with ‘Walking on the Moon’, taken from their second album ‘Reggatta De Blanc’. The video for the song was filmed at Kennedy Space Center interspersed with NASA footage.
1991 – George Michael and Elton John were at No.1 in the UK with a live version of ‘Don’t Let The Sun Go down On Me’, (a hit for Elton in 1974). All proceeds from the hit went to aids charities.
2003 – Britney Spears was at No.1 on the US album chart with ‘In The Zone’ the singer’s fourth US No.1 album. The singer broke her own record from being the first female artist to have three albums enter the US chart at No.1 to being the first female artist to have 4 albums enter at No.1 consecutively.
2008 – Leona Lewis went to No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Run’ which became the fastest-selling digital-only track. Take That went to No.1 on the UK album after selling over 432,000 copies of their new album The Circus. Britney Spears album Circus, released on the same day as Take That’s album entered the chart at number four.
Today in history
521 AD – The birth of Saint Columba, the Irish Christian who made his missionary trip to Scotland in 563. Columba is credited as bringing a revival of Christianity to Western Europe after the fall of the Roman Empire. He died on the Scottish island of Iona and was buried in 597 AD by his monks in the abbey he had created there.
1642 – The Battle of Tadcaster took place during the First English Civil War when the Earl of Newport’s Royalist force attacked Lord Fairfax’s Parliamentarian garrison at Tadcaster, in Yorkshire. After the town had been vacated by the Parliamentarians, Newcastle advanced his forces, subsequently garrisoning Pontefract Castle and a number of other towns in the area, cutting Fairfax off from the West Riding of Yorkshire.
1732 – The first Covent Garden Opera House, then called the Theatre Royal, opened in London to an elite crowd, for a performance of John Gay’s The Beggar’s Opera, a tribute to Gay, who had died three days previously.
1817 – The death of William Bligh, rear-Admiral who was captain of the HMS Bounty at the time of the mutiny.
1889 – The first performance at the Savoy, London, of Gilbert and Sullivan’s ‘The Gondoliers’, their last real success. It ran for a very successful 554 performances.