January 24th "2024" daily prep

Welcome to day 24, known as ‘Just Do It’ Day, National Compliment Day, National Lobster Day, National Peanut Butter Day. If you were born on this day, you were likely conceived the week of May 3rd. 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 (83), American singer-songwriter (“Sweet Caroline”, “Love On The Rocks”, “Forever In Blue Jeans”), born in New York, United States.
1957 – Adrian Edmondson (67), English actor and comedian (Bottom, The Young Ones, Guest House Paradiso), born in Bradford, West Yorkshire.
1959 – Vic Reeves (65), English comedian (Shooting Stars, Vic and Bob’s Big Night Out), born in Leeds, West Yorkshire.
1979 – Tatyana M. Ali (45), American actress and singer best known for her role as Ashley Banks (Fresh Prince of Bel-Air), born in North Bellmore, New York, United States.
1986 – Mischa Barton (38), British-American film and television actress (Notting Hill, The Sixth Sense, The O.C.), born in Hammersmith, London.
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 (see above). 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 – Japanese Sgt Shoichi Yokoi was found hiding in a Guam jungle, where he had been since the end of World War II. He was among the last three Japanese hold-outs to surrender after the end of hostilities in 1945, almost 28 years after the island had been liberated by allied forces in 1944.
2006 – Walt Disney announced it was going to buy Pixar. The sale of the computer animation film studio Pixar cost Disney $7.4 billion. The deal was approved the following day.
2014 – Somerset County Council and Sedgemoor DC 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
AD 76 – 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 published his manual “Scouting for Boys.” The manual included details on self-instruction in outdoor skills and self-improvement. The book became the inspiration for the Scout Movement.
Fact of the day
Knowing how to speak Russian is a requirement to become an International astronaut. The ISS has operations in Russian and will not provide a translator during the job. Most new astronauts claim that learning a new language is the most difficult part of the job.