January 24th "2025" Daily Prep
Welcome to day 24, known as ‘Just Do It’ Day, National Compliment Day, National Lobster Day, National Peanut Butter Day. Your star sign is Aquarius and your birthstone is Garnet.
2015 – A racehorse named Sir Winston Churchill netted a win, on the 50th anniversary of the wartime leader’s death, in the 3:25pm race at Uttoxeter racecourse.
Todays birthdays
1941 – Neil Diamond (84), American singer-songwriter (“Sweet Caroline”, “Love On The Rocks”, “Forever In Blue Jeans”), born in New York, United States.
1957 – Adrian Edmondson (68), English actor and comedian (Bottom, The Young Ones, Guest House Paradiso), born in Bradford, West Yorkshire.
1958 – Jools Holland (67), English pianist, singer, television presenter (Later… With Jools Holland) and former member of The Squeeze, born in Blackheath, London.
1959 – Vic Reeves (66), English comedian (Shooting Stars, Vic and Bob’s Big Night Out), born in Leeds, West Yorkshire.
1986 – Mischa Barton (39), British-American film and television actress (Notting Hill, The Sixth Sense, The O.C.), born in Hammersmith, London.
Famous deaths
2017 – Gorden Kaye (b. 1941), English actor best known for his role as René Artois in the British sitcom television series, ‘Allo ‘Allo!
The day today
1942 – World War II: The Allies bombarded Bangkok, leading Thailand to declare war against the United States and the United Kingdom.
1965 – Death of Sir Winston Churchill, aged 90, world famous soldier, politician, historian and Prime Minister of Britain. He was First Lord of the Admiralty at the time of the battle of Dogger Bank. He had correctly predicted that he would die on the same date as his father, Lord Randolph Churchill, who had died exactly 70 years previously.
1972 – A Japanese soldier was found hiding in Guam.
Local farmers discovered a Japanese sergeant, Shoichi Yokoi, hiding in Guam. He had been hiding in the jungles of Guam for a total of 28 years and was completely unaware that WWII had ended.
1976 – Margaret Thatcher, leader of the Conservative Party, was dubbed ‘The Iron Lady’ in the Soviet newspaper ‘Red Star’ after her speech on the threat of Communism.
2014 – Somerset County Council and Sedgemoor District Council declared a major incident throughout much of the Somerset Levels. The village of Muchelney was cut off by flood water from the River Parrett for almost 10 weeks.
Today in music
1953 – Eddie Fisher was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Outside Is Heaven’. The American singer and entertainer divorced his first wife, Debbie Reynolds to marry his best friend’s widow, Elizabeth Taylor, which gave him too much unwelcome publicity at the time. Eddie is father of actress Carrie Fisher who died in 2016.
1958 – The Quarry Men performed at The Cavern Club in Liverpool, (this was the bands only performance at the club). It was three years later when they appeared again at the Cavern but under their new name as The Beatles.
1998 – Oasis went to No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘All Around The World’. The longest running-time for a UK No.1 with a total duration of 9 minutes 38 seconds. It was one of the first songs to be written by Noel Gallagher, with the band rehearsing it as early as 1992.
2008 – Amy Winehouse was admitted into rehab in a battle to kick her addiction to drugs. A statement from her record company, Universal said “she entered the facility after talks with her record label, management, family and doctors to continue her ongoing recovery against drug addiction.”
2016 – David Bowie was at No.1 on both the UK & US album charts with his twenty-fifth and final studio album Blackstar, Bowie’s only album to top the Billboard 200 in the US. Bowie was the biggest-selling vinyl artist of 2016 in the UK, with five albums in the vinyl Top 30, including Blackstar as the No.1 selling vinyl album of the year.
Today in history
76 AD – The birth, in Spain, of Hadrian, Roman Emperor whose defensive policies led to the building of Hadrian’s Wall on the border between Scotland and England.
1121 – King Henry I of England married his second wife, Adeliza of Louvain. At the time, King Henry I was 53 years old, and Adeliza was 18.
1264 – In the conflict between King Henry III of England and his rebellious barons led by Simon de Montfort, King Louis IX of France issues the Mise of Amiens, a one-sided decision in favour of Henry that later leads to the Second Barons’ War.
1839 – Charles Darwin was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society for his revolutionary role in developing science. At the age of 30, he was recognised for his contribution as a naturalist on the Beagle and for being ‘well acquainted with geology, botany, zoology & many other branches of natural knowledge’.
1908 – Lieutenant General Robert Baden-Powell publishes “Scouting for Boys” as a manual for self-instruction in outdoor skills and self-improvement. The book becomes the inspiration for the Scout Movement.