February 18th "2024" daily prep
Welcome to day 49, known as Pluto Day, National Drink Wine Day and World Whale Day. If you were born on this day, you were likely conceived the week of May 28th in the previous year. Your star sign is Aquarius and your birthstone is Amethyst.
1990 – Freddie Mercury made his final public appearance on stage when he joined the rest of Queen to collect the Brit Award for Outstanding Contribution to Music.
Todays birthdays
1933 – Yoko Ono (91), Japanese multimedia artist, singer, songwriter, and peace activist, born in Tokyo, Japan.
1946 – Michael Buerk (78), British journalist, newsreader (BBC Nine O’Clock News) and TV presenter (999, How the Victorians Built Britain), born in Solihull, West Midlands.
1954 – John Travolta (70), American actor (Grease, Pulp Fiction, Saturday Night Fever), born in Englewood, New Jersey, United States.
1967 – Colin Jackson (57), Welsh former sprint and hurdling athlete who specialised in the 110 metres hurdles, born in Cardiff, Wales.
1975 – Gary Neville (49), English football pundit, former player (Mancheter United) and co-owner of Salford City, born in Bury, Greater Manchester.
Famous deaths
1564 – Michelangelo (b. 1475), Italian sculptor (the Pietà and David) and painter (Sistine Chapel ceiling).
1902 – Charles Lewis Tiffany (b. 1812), American businessman, founded Tiffany & Co.
1967 – J. Robert Oppenheimer (b. 1904), American physicist and academic (Manhattan Project).
The day today
1949 – Opportunity Knocks was presented for the first time (on BBC radio) by its creator, Hughie Greene. It later transferred to Radio Luxembourg then went on to become a popular television programme on ITV.
1981 – Mrs. Thatcher’s Conservative Government withdrew plans to close 23 pits in its first major U-turn since coming to power two years previously.
1996 – An IRA bomb detonated prematurely on a bus travelling in central London, killing Edward O’Brien, the IRA member who was transporting the device. Eight others were injured.
2012 – Bill Cooper (83) and his wife Laurel (82), who had spent the previous 36 years sailing round the world and clocked up 100,000 nautical miles returned to the UK to retire, because their health was starting to fail. They had sold their home in Chatham, Kent, and set off from Lowestoft, Suffolk, in June 1976 on their 50ft. vessel Fare Well.
2015 – It was announced that RBS and NatWest banks were to allow their customers to access accounts on their smartphones using Apple’s Touch ID fingerprint recognition technology.
Today in music
1965 – The Kinks were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Tired Of Waiting For You’, the group’s second UK No.1. According to Ray Davies, the music for ‘Tired of Waiting for You’ was written on the train to the recording studio and the words were written at a coffee shop during a break in the session.
1966 – Beach Boy Brian Wilson recorded the future classic song ‘Good Vibrations’, which went on to become the band’s third US number-one hit. As a child, his mother told him that dogs could pick up “vibrations” from people, so that the dog would bark at “bad vibrations” Wilson turned this into the general idea for the song.
1990 – Freddie Mercury made his final public appearance on stage when he joined the rest of Queen to collect the Brit Award for Outstanding Contribution to Music, held at the Dominion Theatre, London, England.
2009 – Welsh songstress Duffy won three trophies at this years Brit awards, taking home Best British Female Solo Artist, British Breakthrough Act and British Album of the Year for her debut Rockferry. Kings of Leon won International Group and International Album for Only By The Night and International Female Solo Artist was Katy Perry. British Male Solo Artist went to Paul Weller, Iron Maiden won British Live Act and Elbow won Best British Group. Outstanding Contribution to Music went to the Pet Shop Boys.
2012 – Whitney Houston had an invitation-only memorial at the New Hope Baptist Church in Newark, New Jersey. Among those who performed at the funeral were Stevie Wonder, Alicia Keys and R. Kelly. Kevin Costner read a moving and personal Eulogy.
Today in history
1478 – George – Duke of Clarence, impeached for treason by his brothers Edward IV and Richard III, was, (so legend decrees), secretly drowned in a butt of Malmsey wine at the Tower of London. The allegations may have originated as a joke, based on his reputation as a heavy drinker. However, a butt was equal to 105 imperial gallons, enough to easily drown a man. A body, believed to be that of Clarence was later exhumed, and showed no indications of beheading, the normal method of execution for those of noble birth at that time.
1516 – The birth of Mary I, Queen of England, daughter of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon.
1678 – Pilgrim’s Progress was published. John Bunyan started writing it during his second term in prison, for preaching on behalf of the Baptists.
1871 – The birth, in Sheffield, of Harry Brearley who is credited with the invention of “rustless steel” (later to be called “stainless steel”).
1882 – Oliver Vaughton (5 goals) and Arthur Brown (4 goals) became the first English players to score hat tricks in a full football international when England beat Ireland 13-0.