February 25th "2025" Daily Prep

Welcome to day 56, known as Chocolate Covered Nut Day, Quiet Day. Your star sign is Pisces and your birthstone is Amethyst.
The first Anderson air raid shelters appeared.
1939 – The first Anderson air raid shelters appeared. Between then and the outbreak of the war in September, around 1.5 million shelters were distributed to people living in areas expected to be bombed by the Luftwaffe. During the war a further 2.1 million were erected.

Todays birthdays

1957 – Stuart John “Woody” Wood (68), Scottish musician, songwriter and guitarist with rock band Bay City Rollers (“Bye Bye Baby”, “Shang‐A‐Lang”), born in Edinburgh, Scotland.

1964 – Lee Evans (61), English stand-up comedian (Big Live At The O2) and actor (The Fifth Element, There’s Something About Mary), born in Avonmouth, Bristol.
1971 – Daniel Powter (54), Canadian singer and musician (“Bad Day”), born in Vernon, Canada.
1971 – Sean Astin (54), American actor (Mikey in “The Goonies”, Samwise Gamgee in “The Lord of the Rings trilogy”), born in Santa Monica, California, United States.
1986 – James and Oliver Phelps (39), English actors and twin brothers (Fred and George Weasley in the Harry Potter film series), born in Sutton Coldfield, Birmingham.
Famous deaths
1993 – Bobby Moore (b. 1941), English footballer (West Ham, Fulham, England) and manager Oxford City, Southend United).
2014 – Harold Ramis (b. 1944), American actor (Ghostbusters, Stripes, Caddyshack), director, producer, and screenwriter.
The day today

1913 – English suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst went on trial for a bomb attack on the home of David Lloyd George, Chancellor of the Exchequer.

1939 – The first Anderson air raid shelters appeared. Between then and the outbreak of the war in September, around 1.5 million shelters were distributed to people living in areas expected to be bombed by the Luftwaffe. During the war a further 2.1 million were erected.
1953 – An inquest heard that the Princess Victoria, a ferry which sank off Belfast drowning 133 people had met ‘a howling gale and an horrific rolling sea that attacked the ship from all sides.’ When the decision was made to turn back towards Stranraer a huge wave forced open the stern doors on the car deck, buckling them in the process and flooding the car deck which caused the ship to roll over and sink.
1978 – Ian Botham scored his first test match century, scoring 103 against New Zealand.
1982 – The European Court of Human Rights ruled that corporal punishment in schools (if it was against the parents’ wishes) was a violation of the Human Rights Convention.
2013 – British born actor Daniel Day-Lewis made Oscar history by becoming the first person to win the best actor prize three times. He was rewarded for his role in Steven Spielberg’s ‘Lincoln’.
2015 – Ministers confirmed that they would be changing the law to make it easier to levy tough penalties (up to £500,000) on companies that were behind persistent phone calls and texts that promised compensation for payment protection insurance, mis-selling and cold calls promoting solar panels.
Today in music
1984 – ‘Jump’, by Van Halen started a five-week run at No.1 on the US singles chart, (a No.7 hit in the UK). Singer David Lee Roth wrote the lyrics after seeing a television news report about a man who was threatening to commit suicide by jumping off a high building. Roth thought that one of the onlookers of such a scene would probably shout “go ahead and jump”.
1989 – Simple Minds were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Belfast Child.’ The song uses the music from the Irish folk song ‘She Moved Through the Fair’, but has completely different words. At 6 minutes 39 seconds it became the second-longest running No.1 after The Beatles ‘Hey Jude’.

2006 – George Michael was found slumped over in a car in Hyde Park, London. A concerned person spotted the singer and called police who after being checked by paramedics was arrested on suspicion of possessing drugs and then released on bail. Michael made a public statement about the incident and said “I was in possession of class C drugs which is an offense and I have no complaints about the police who were professional throughout.” He also said that the event was “my own stupid fault, as usual.”

2009 – Winners at the 2009 NME Awards, held at London’s O2 Academy included Oasis who won best British band, Elbow won the outstanding contribution to British music award. The Killers won best international band and Kings of Leon won best album for “Only by the Night” and The Cure won the godlike genius award.
2015 – On what would have been George Harrison’s 72nd birthday, a new tree was planted in his memory in Griffith Park Los Angeles to replace one that was earlier killed (ironically) by a beetle infestation. This new yew tree had been chosen to replace the original, as it was far less susceptible to insects.
2017 – British singer and songwriter Rag’n’Bone Man was at number one on the UK album chart with his debut studio album Human, which became the fastest-selling debut album by a male artist during the 2010s. The album also reached number one in Belgium, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Ireland and Switzerland.

Today in history

1570 – Queen Elizabeth I was excommunicated by Pope Pius V. He declared her a usurper for her severe persecution of Roman Catholics in England. It was the last such judgment made against a reigning monarch by any pope.
1765 – The birth of Jean Armour, wife of the poet Robert Burns. They had nine children, three of whom survived into adulthood. She was buried beside her famous husband in the mausoleum in Saint Michael’s Cemetery, Dumfries.
1843 – Lord George Paulet occupies the Kingdom of Hawaii in the name of Great Britain in the Paulet affair.

1890 – The birth of Dame Myra Hess, English pianist. Her fame came during World War II when concert halls were closed at night to avoid being targets of German bombers. For a period of six years she organized some 1700 lunchtime concerts at the National Gallery which had been emptied of its paintings for the duration of the war. For her contribution to maintaining the morale of the people of London, King George VI awarded her the Dame Commander of the British Empire in 1941.

1897 – The birth of Peter Llewelyn Davies, the namesake of Peter Pan. The author, J. M. Barrie publicly identified him as the source of the name for the title character in his famous play Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn’t Grow Up. This identification as ‘the original Peter Pan’ plagued Davies throughout his life.