February 26th "2025" Daily Prep
Welcome to day 57, known as For Pete’s Sake Day, Levi Strauss Day. Your star sign is Pisces and your birthstone is Amethyst.
1935 – Robert Watson-Watt first demonstrated RADAR (radio detection and ranging) at Daventry, Northamptonshire. This significantly contributed to winning the Battle of Britain and changed the outcome of World War Two.
Todays birthdays
1947 – Sandie Shaw (78), retired English pop singer (“Always Something There to Remind Me”, “Long Live Love” and “Puppet on a String”), born in Dagenham, East London.
1953 – Michael Bolton (72), American singer and songwriter (“How Am I Supposed to Live Without You”), born in New Haven, Connecticut, United States.
1973 – Ole Gunnar Solksjaer (52), Norwegian professional football manager (Manchester United, Beşiktaş) and former player (Manchester United), born in Kristiansund, Norway.
1977 – Shane Williams (48), Welsh rugby scrum half (87 caps Wales, 4 British & Irish Lions; Neath, Ospreys), born in Morriston, Swansea, Wales.
1979 – Corinne Bailey Rae (46), English singer and songwriter (“Put Your Records On”), born in Leeds, West Yorkshire.
Famous deaths
2009 – Wendy Richard (b. 1943), English actress, best known for her television roles as Miss Shirley Brahms on the BBC sitcom Are You Being Served? from 1972 to 1985, and Pauline Fowler on the soap opera EastEnders from 1985 to 2006.
The day today
1914 – The launch of HMHS (Her Majesty’s Hospital Ship) Britannic, sister to the RMS Titanic, at Harland & Wolff shipyard in Belfast. She was the third and largest Olympic-class ocean liner of the White Star Line and was intended to enter service as a transatlantic passenger liner. However, she was launched just before the start of the First World War and was laid up at her builders in Belfast for many months before being put to use as a hospital ship in 1915. She struck a mine off the Greek island of Keain in November 1916, and sank with the loss of 30 lives.
1935 – Robert Watson-Watt first demonstrated RADAR (radio detection and ranging) at Daventry, Northamptonshire. This significantly contributed to winning the Battle of Britain and changed the outcome of World War Two.
1962 – The start of filming of Dr. No, the first film involving English agent 007 – James Bond.
1979 – Accused of forging old masters, painter Tom Keating’s trial at the Old Bailey was halted due to Keating’s ill health. Keating, a brilliant technician, went on to present a television series on painters and became a celebrity in his remaining years.
1987 – The Church of England’s General Synod voted by a huge majority in favour of the ordination of women priests. It was a further 28 years before the first female bishop, Libby Lanewas consecrated Bishop of Stockport (26th January 2015) in a ceremony at York Minster.
1995 – Barings, the country’s oldest merchant bank, declared bankruptcy after discovering that Nicholas Leeson, the firm’s chief trader in Singapore, had lost approximately £625 million of the bank’s assets on unauthorized futures and options transactions.
2002 – London Mayor Ken Livingstone confirmed that motorists would be charged £5 per day to drive into London on weekdays.
2014 – Michael Adebolajo (aged 29) was given a whole-life term and Michael Adebowale (aged 22) was jailed for a minimum of 45 years for murdering 25 year old Fusilier Lee Rigby. They had driven into Fusilier Rigby with a car, before hacking him to death in Woolwich, south-east London, on 22nd May 2013. The two men claimed that they were ‘soldiers of Allah’ and that the killing was a legitimate act because Britain was at war with Muslim people.
Today in music
1969 – Peter Sarstedt started a four week run at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Where Do You Go To My Lovely?’ Some say the song was written about the Italian star Sophia Loren, but Peter Sarstedt has stated he wrote the song about a girl he fell madly in love with in Vienna in 1965, who later died in a hotel fire.
1983 – Michael Jackson’s Thriller went to No.1 on the US album chart. Thriller broke racial barriers in pop music, enabling Jackson’s appearances on MTV and meeting with President Ronald Reagan at the White House. The album was one of the first to use music videos as successful promotional tools, and the videos for the songs ‘Thriller’, ‘Billie Jean’, and ‘Beat It’ all received regular rotation on MTV. Thriller became the most successful album of all time with sales over 65 million copies.
2001 – Winners at the Brit Awards included Coldplay, Best British group and Best British album for ‘Parachutes’, Robbie Williams, Best British Male artist and Best single for ‘Rock DJ’, Sonique, Best British Female artist, Best Dance act went to Fat Boy Slim, A1 won Best British Newcomer, Westlife won Best Pop act, Eminem won Best International Male solo artist and U2 won Outstanding contribution to music.
2011 – It was announced that Queen’s We Will Rock You was still the most-played song at US sporting events, according to a new survey from BMI, the royalty-distribution service. According to its data, based off of MLB, NFL and NHL games in 2009-2010, We Will Rock You was the No.1 song overall, as well as for the NFL specifically.
2022 – Ed Sheeran was at No.1 on the UK chart with his fifth studio album = (“Equals”). Selling 139,000 units in its first week it outperformed the rest of the week’s Top 30 combined. The album also debuted atop the Billboard 200 chart, becoming Sheeran’s fourth chart-topping album in the United States.
Today in history
1564 – The birth of Christopher Marlowe, English dramatist and poet of the Elizabethan era. He was the foremost Elizabethan writer next to William Shakespeare.
1616 – The Roman Inquisition ordered Galileo not to teach or defend his theory that Earth and other planets revolve around the sun.
1797 – The Bank of England issued the first ever one pound note. Printed on watermark paper with a vignette of Britannia on the top left hand corner, the hand-signed white £1 notes were withdrawn in the 1820s.
1839 – The first Grand National Steeplechase was run at Aintree near Liverpool. The winner was ‘Lottery’ ridden by Jem Mason.
1852 – The British troopship, Birkenhead, sank off Simon’s Bay, near Cape Town, South Africa, with the loss of 485 lives.