February 29th "2024" daily prep
Welcome to day 60, known as International Underlings Day and Rare Disease Day. If you were born on this day, you were likely conceived the week of June 8th in the previous year. Your star sign is Pisces and your birthstone is Amethyst.
1996 – The longest siege of a capital city in modern history, the siege of Sarajevo, officially ended.
Todays birthdays
1964 – Dave Brailsford (60), British cycling coach and performance director (currently team principal of UCI WorldTeam Ineos Grenadiers), born in Shardlow, Derbyshire.
1972 – Mike Pollitt (52), English former professional footballer who played as goalkeeper (Barnsley FC, Burnley FC), born in Farnworth, Greater Manchester.
1976 – Ja Rule (48), American rapper (“Always On Time”, “I’m Real” – Ft Jennifer Lopez), born in Queens, New York, United States.
1984 – Mark Foster (40), American musician, singer/songwriter and lead singer of the band Foster the People (“Pumped Up Kicks”), born in San Jose, California, United States.
1988 – Hannah Mills (36), British competitive sailor and two-time world champion in the Women’s 470 class, having won in 2012 and 2019, born in Cardiff, Wales.
The day today
1964 – The Queen’s cousin, Princess Alexandra, gave birth to a son at her home in Surrey. The baby, James Robert Bruce, who was more than a week overdue, is believed to be the first-ever royal baby to be born on 29th February.
1992 – The death of Ruth Pitter, English poet. She was the first woman to receive the Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry (1955). In 1974, she was named a ‘Companion of Literature’, the highest honour given by the Royal Society of Literature.
1996 – The longest siege of a capital city in modern history, the siege of Sarajevo, officially ended. The city of Sarajevo, the capital of the newly independent Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, came under siege on April 5, 1992, from the Bosnian Serb Army. More than 13,000 people were killed, including more than 5,000 civilians.
2008 – The UK’s Prince Harry was withdrawn from a military tour of Afghanistan.
The UK’s Ministry of Defense made the decision after the media began reporting on Prince Harry’s presence in Afghanistan, fearing that both he and the units he was serving with would be at an increased risk of attack.
2012 – 44 year old PC David Rathband, the policeman shot at and blinded by gunman Raoul Moat who killed three people in two days (July 2010) committed suicide.
Today in music
1976 – 10cc kicked off a 30-date UK tour at the Fairfield Hall, Croydon promoting their new album ‘How Dare You’. Also this week 10CC member Eric Stewart had been nominated for a Grammy award in America for his work on the ‘Original Soundtrack’ album.
2000 – Sir Elton John stormed out of the opening of his new Broadway musical show, ‘Aida’, after 15 minutes complaining that his songs had been ruined.
2004 – Peter Andre went to No.1 on the UK singles chart with a re-issue of his 1996 No.2 hit ‘Mysterious Girl.’ Andre had been a contestant in the UK TV show ‘I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here’ set in the Australian outback.
2012 – Davy Jones, the Manchester-born lead singer with 60s band The Monkees, died aged 66, in his sleep at his home in Florida after suffering a massive heart attack. Jones who appeared as a teenager in soap opera Coronation Street, playing Ena Sharples’s grandson was also a former apprentice jockey in Newmarket. Jones remained a keen horseman all his life, winning his first race in England as a jockey in 1996.
2019 – Ariana Grande was at No.1 on the US album chart with her fifth studio album Thank U, Next. The album was nominated for Album of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Album at the 62nd Annual Grammy Awards while its second single, ‘7 Rings’, was nominated for Record of the Year and Best Pop Solo Performance.
Today in history
1504 – A lunar eclipse saved explorer Christopher Columbus’s life. Jamaican Indians were hostile on this day, but after the eclipse happened and the skies darkened. Indians surrendered and told Christopher Columbus they would cooperate with him so long as he restored the moon.
1528 – The death of Patrick Hamilton, Scottish churchman and an early Protestant Reformer in Scotland. He travelled to Europe, where he met several of the leading reforming thinkers, before returning to Scotland to preach. He was tried as a heretic by Archbishop James Beaton, and was burned at the stake in St Andrews.
1692 – The birth, in Manchester, of John Byrom, English poet and the inventor of a revolutionary system of shorthand. It marked a significant development in the history of shorthand and was used by John and Charles Wesley, the founders of Methodism, in their coded diaries. He is also remembered as the writer of the lyrics of the hymn ‘Christians Awake, salute the happy morn.’
1796 – The Jay Treaty between the United States and Great Britain came into force. It was credited with averting war, resolving issues remaining since the ending of the American Revolution and facilitated peaceful trade between the two nations.
1840 – The birth of John Philip Holland, Irish engineer who developed the first submarine to be formally commissioned by the U.S. Navy, and the first Royal Navy submarine, named the Holland 1.