January 14th "2024" daily prep

Welcome to day 14, known as International Kite Day, National Dress Up Your Pet Day and National Gluten-Free Day. If you were born on this day, you were likely conceived the week of April 23rd. Your star sign is “Capricorn” and your birthstone is Garnet.
1943 – World War II: Prime Minister Winston Churchill and U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt met in Casablanca, Morocco, to discuss their strategy for the next phase of the war.
Todays birthdays
1965 – Jemma Redgrave (59), British actress (Holby City, Bramwell, Howards End), born in London.
1967 – Emily Watson (57), English actress (Red Dragon, Chernobyl, Equilibrium), born in Islington, London.
1968 – LL Cool J (56), American rapper (“Mama Said Knock You Out”) and actor (NCIS: Los Angeles, S.W.A.T., Deep Blue Sea), born in Bay Shore, New York, United States.
1969 – Dave Grohl (56), American musician and founder of rock band, Foo Fighters (“The Pretender”, “Monkey Wrench”), born in Warren, Ohio, United States.
1974 – Denise Van Outen (50), English actress, singer, dancer and presenter (The Big Breakfast), born in Basildon, Essex.
The day today
1969 – Football legend Sir Matt Busby announced that he would retire as manager of Manchester United at the end of the season. Formerly a Scottish football player and manager he was most noted for his time as managing Manchester United between 1945 and 1969. His manager records and longevity at the helm of Manchester United are only surpassed by Sir Alex Ferguson.
1975 – 17-year-old heiress, Lesley Whittle, was kidnapped from her home in Shropshire. Her body was found on 7th March, 1975, hanging from a wire at the bottom of a drain shaft in Bathpool Park, Staffordshire. Donald Neilson, also known as the Black Panther, was convicted of her murder (and three others) in July 1976.
1989 – Muslims in Bradford ritually burned a copy of Salman Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses in the first serious protest in Britain. The book had been banned in some Muslim countries.
2002 – After three months of no cases being reported, the United Kingdom was finally declared free from the ‘Foot and Mouth’ infection, after a crisis that started in 2001 in which millions of cows and sheep were destroyed.
2014 – Monkeys at Paignton Zoo in Devon were banned from eating bananas. Keepers said – “Giving monkeys bananas that have been cultivated for humans is like giving them cake and chocolate. Reducing the sugar in their diets has calmed them down and made their group more settled.”
Today in music
1984 – Paul McCartney was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Pipes Of Peace.’ With this release McCartney made chart history by becoming the first artist to have a No.1 in a group, (The Beatles), in a duo, (with Stevie Wonder) in a trio, (with Wings) and as a solo artist.
1996 – Oasis went to No.1 on the UK album chart with ‘(What’s The Story) Morning Glory’, the group’s second UK No.1 spent a total of 145 week’s on the chart.
2001 – Jennifer Lopez scored her first UK No.1 single with ‘Love Don’t Cost A Thing.’ The track was taken from her album J.Lo.
2007 – Amy Winehouse started a two week run at No.1 on the UK album chart with ‘Back To Black’. The album has sold over 3.58 million copies in the UK alone, becoming the UK’s second best-selling album of the 21st century. Worldwide, the album has sold over 20 million copies.
2013 – Music and DVD chain HMV appointed an administrator, making it the latest casualty on the High Street and putting 4,350 jobs at risk. Quote from retail analyst Neil Saunders – “In the digital era, where 73.4% of music and film are online …. there is no real future for physical retail in the music sector.”
Today in history
1742 – The death of Sir Edmund Halley, aged 86; astronomer, geophysicist, mathematician, meteorologist, and physicist. He was Astronomer Royal who gave his name to a comet.
1878 – Queen Victoria watched a demonstration of Alexander Graham Bell’s telephone, by W.H. Preece at Osborne House on the Isle of Wight. Preece called it ‘Signalling through Space without Wires’.
1886 – Birth of Hugh Lofting, creator of ‘Dr Dolittle’. He trained as a civil engineer prior to enlisting in the Irish Guards to serve in World War I. He wrote illustrated letters home to his children from the trenches during World War I when actual news, he later said, was either too horrible or too dull. These letters became the foundation of the his successful Doctor Dolittle novels for children.
1895 – A mining disater at Diglake Colliery in Staffordshire killed 78 men and boys, following a flood. On 7th March 1933 the remains of some victims were recovered after being entombed for 38 years, although many of the bodies were never found. On 12th January 2020 a memorial to those killed was unveiled at Audley Methodist Church.
1943 – US President Franklin D. Roosevelt arrived in Morocco, where he met British Prime Minister Winston Churchill to discuss allies during World War II. This was the first time any American president had been on an airplane.
Fact of the day
Neptune was the first planet to be found through mathematical predictions rather than telescopic location.