February 20th "2025" Daily Prep
Welcome to day 51, known as Love Your Pet Day, Clean Out Your Bookcase Day, World Anthropology Day and National Muffin Day. Your star sign is Pisces and your birthstone is Amethyst.
2023 – The 100th birthday of “The House in the Clouds” at Thorpeness, Suffolk. It is 70 feet high and was originally a water supply storage tank for Thorpeness village. Disguised as a house for aesthetic reasons, it is now available as a Holiday Let.
Todays birthdays
1946 – Brenda Blethyn (79), English actress (Vera, A River Runs Through It, Little Voice, Pride & Prejudice), born in Ramsgate, Kent.
1961 – Imogen Stubbs (64), English actress (Sense and Sensibility, Twelfth Night: Or What You Will) and writer, born in Rothbury, Northumberland.
1963 – Ian Brown (62), English singer and multi-instrumentalist (Stone Roses – “I Am the Resurrection”, “Sally Cinnamon”, “Fools Gold”), born in Warrington, Cheshire.
1966 – Cindy Crawford (58), American model who was a dominant name in the modelling industry during the 80’s and 90’s, born in DeKalb, Illinois, United States.
1988 – Rihanna (37), Barbadian singer (“Umbrella”, “We Found Love”) and businesswoman ( co-founder and CEO of Fenty, Fenty Beauty), born in Saint Michael, Barbados.
Famous deaths
2013 – Richard Briers (b. 1934), English actor (The Good Life, Monarch of the Glen, Ever Decreasing Circles) and voice actor (Roobarb).
The day today
1938 – Anthony Eden resigned as British foreign secretary after the prime minister Neville Chamberlain decided to negotiate with Italian Fascist leader Benito Mussolini.
1940 – The birth of Jimmy Greaves, England’s third highest international goalscorer and the highest goalscorer in the history of Tottenham Hotspur football club. He was famed for his trademark catchphrase “It’s a funny old game.”
1947 – Lord Louis Mountbatten, cousin of King George VI and a hero of World War II, was appointed the last Viceroy of India, on the same day that London announced that the British would leave India by June 1948. In the same year he was granted the title of Baron Romsey. The family coat of arms ‘In Honour Bound’ is in Romsey Abbey, where he is also buried.
1952 – Jeannette Altwegg won Britain’s first Olympic Gold Medal for figure-skating at the Winter Olympics in Oslo.
1958 – The government announced the closure of Sheerness docks, one of the oldest naval dockyards in the UK.
1982 – US entrepreneur John de Lorean’s luxury sports car project in Belfast, set up with over £17 million of British taxpayers’ money, went into receivership. On his return to the US he was asked bluntly, ‘Are you a con man?’
2023 – The 100th birthday of “The House in the Clouds” at Thorpeness, Suffolk. It is 70 feet high and was originally a water supply storage tank for Thorpeness village. Disguised as a house for aesthetic reasons, it is now available as a Holiday Let.
Today in music
1972 – Chicory Tip were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Son Of My Father.’ Written by Giorgio Moroder, it was the first UK number one single to prominently feature a synthesizer, in this case a Moog synthesizer.
1977 – Winners at this years Grammy Awards included Stevie Wonder for Best album with ‘Songs In The Key Of Life’, and Best Vocal performance for ‘I Wish.’ Best album went to Chicago for ‘Chicago X’ and Best new artist went to the Starland Vocal Band.
1988 – Kylie Minogue was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘I Should Be So Lucky.’ Minogue had become a household name playing Charlene Ramsey in Australian soap Neighbours. After every major UK record company turned down the track, producer Pete Waterman released the single on his own PWL label. Kylie has gone on to score over 30 hit singles.
1991 – Bob Dylan was awarded a lifetime achievement award at the 33rd annual Grammy’ Awards. A starstruck Jack Nicholson introduced a purple-suited, fedoraed Dylan who said: “You know, it’s possible to become so defiled in this world that your own mother and father will abandon you, and if that happens, God will always believe in your own ability to mend your own ways. Thank you!”
2003 – Winners at this years Brit Awards included Robbie Williams for British male solo artist, Ms Dynamite won British female artist, Best British album went to Coldplay for A Rush Of Blood, Best British group went to Coldplay, Red Hot Chili Peppers won International Group, Blue won Best Pop Act and Liberty X won Best single for ‘Just A Little.’
2008 – A 1976 Rolling Stones album bought for £2 at a car boot sale sold for £4,000 at an auction. The ‘Black and Blue’ LP was signed by John Lennon, Yoko Ono, Paul and Linda McCartney and George Harrison as well as members of the Rolling Stones. The seller obtained the album after haggling the cost down from £3.
2008 – Winners at this year’s Brit Awards in London, included Take That who won the trophies for best British live act and British single, The Arctic Monkeys won best British group and album – both for the second year in a row and Foo Fighters won best international group and album. Kate Nash won best British female and Mark Ronson was named best British male. Kylie Minogue won best international female and Mika was named best British breakthrough act. Sir Paul McCartney performed a medley of hits, including ‘Live and Let Die’, ‘Hey Jude’ and ‘Lady ‘Madonna’ after he was honoured with an outstanding contribution award. The show was presented by Sharon Osbourne.
Today in history
1472 – Orkney and Shetland were pawned by Norway to Scotland in lieu of a dowry for Princess Margaret, daughter of Christian I, the King of Norway and Denmark. As the wife of King James III of Scotland she was the Queen Consort and the mother of the future King James IV of Scotland.
1547 – Edward VI, aged 9 years old, was crowned at Westminster Abbey. Edward, the son of Henry VIII and Jane Seymour, was the third monarch of the Tudor dynasty and England’s first monarch who was raised as a Protestant.
1757 – The birth of John Fuller, better known as ‘Mad Jack’ Fuller, although he himself preferred to be called ‘Honest John’ Fuller. As Squire of the hamlet of Brightling, in Sussex he was well known as a builder of follies, but was also a philanthropist and a patron of the arts and sciences. He was eventually elected as a Member of Parliament but was a noted drunk, which led to a number of ‘incidents’ in the Houses of Parliament. His parliamentary career is probably most noted for his staunch support of slavery and in one such debate he claimed that West Indian slaves lived in better conditions than many people in England. In 1811, a pyramid-shaped building was erected in the churchyard in Brightling, as a future mausoleum for John Fuller. And there he was buried, in 1834.
1856 – The steam packet-ship John Rutledge, en route from Liverpool to New York, hits an iceberg and sinks with the loss of 120 passengers and 19 crew; only one survivor (Thomas Nye of New Bedford).
1873 – British Naval Officer John Moresby is the first European to discover the site of Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, claims it for the United Kingdom.