January 4th "2024" daily prep
Welcome to day 4 of 2024! Known as National Spaghetti Day, National Trivia Day, World Braille Day, World Hypnotism Day. If you were born on this day, you were likely conceived the week of April 13th. Your star sign is “Capricorn” and your birthstone is Garnet.
2017 – The last ABC cinema closed its doors. The Bournemouth cinema (which opened in June 1937) had only kept its name by a quirk of positioning in the town. It closed with a final screening of ‘Back to the Future’, which was chosen by its audience.
Todays birthdays
1947 – Rick Stein (77), English celebrity chef, televiosion presenter (Seafood Lover’s Guide, Rick Stein’s Food Heroes) and restaurateur, born in Oxfordshire.
1956 – Bernard Sumner (68), English musician and record producer and founding member of the band New Order (“Blue Monday), born in Broughton, Salford.
1960 – Michael Stipe (64), American singer and songwriter, best known as the lead singer the of alternative rock band R.E.M (“Losing My Religion”), born in Georgia, United States.
1965 – Craig Revel Horwood (59), Australian-British author, dancer, choreographer and Strictly Come Dancing judge since 2004, born in Ballarat, Australia.
1986 – James Milner (38), English professional footballer (Leeds United, Newcastle United, Liverpool), born in Wortley, Leeds.
The day today
1938 – Bertram Mills’ Circus became the first circus to be shown on television. This was also the first time that a paying audience for any event had been televised, and audience members were informed that they could request seats out of range of the cameras. Originally from Paddington, London, his circus became famous in Britain for its Christmas shows at Olympia in West London and his troupe were the last to perform with live animals on the Drury Lane Theatre stage.
1972 – Rose Heilbron became Britain’s first woman judge at the Old Bailey. Her career included many ‘firsts’ for a woman – she was the first woman to win a scholarship to Gray’s Inn, the first woman to be appointed King’s Counsel in England, the first to lead in a murder case, the first woman Recorder, the first woman judge to sit at the Old Bailey and the first woman Treasurer of Gray’s Inn.
2000 – Catherine Hartley and Fiona Thornewill, the first British women to walk across Antarctica to the South Pole arrived safely, more than two months after starting their record-breaking journey.
2014 – Richard Parks, a former Welsh rugby player turned adventurer claimed a record for the fastest solo, unsupported and unassisted journey to the South Pole by a Briton. The 715 mile journey took 29 days, 19 hours and 24 minutes. In 2011, Parks achieved his world-record-breaking dream to reach seven summits and three poles in seven months in his 737 Challenge, aiming to raise £1m for Marie Curie Cancer Care.
2021 – Scottish MP Margaret Ferrier was arrested and charged by police after she admitted using public transport in September while infected with Covid-19. She admitted travelling to London and attending debates in the Commons despite taking a Covid-19 test. After being told her test was positive, Ferrier then travelled home by train from London via Glasgow, and later acknowledged visiting several businesses in her Rutherglen constituency on the day she took the test.
Today in music
1970 – The Beatles (without John Lennon) re-record vocals and a new guitar solo on the Paul McCartney song ‘Let It Be’ at Studio Two, EMI Studios, London. This session will be the final studio appearance for The Beatles, as a group. (The final date that all four of The Beatles were in the studio together is August 20, 1969).
2001 – Madame Tussaud’s waxworks in London revealed that Oasis singer Liam Gallagher had come third in ‘The Most Hated Characters’ list of exhibits, behind Adolf Hitler and Slobodan Milosevic.
2009 – Led Zeppelin singer Robert Plant was voted the Greatest Voice In Rock by listeners of radio station Planet Rock. Plant beat Queen’s Freddie Mercury, Free’s Paul Rodgers and Deep Purple’s Ian Gillan to the top spot in the UK poll.
2011 – Scottish singer songwriter Gerry Rafferty died aged 63 after a long illness. Rafferty had been a member of Stealers Wheel, who had the 1973 US No.3 & UK No.8 single ‘Stuck In The Middle With You’ and had the solo 1978 UK No.3 and US No.2 single ‘Baker Street.’
2020 – Miley Cyrus reached a settlement in the $300 million copyright infringement lawsuit that accused the singer of stealing her 2013 hit ‘We Can’t Stop.’ The lawsuit, filed in 2018, was made by Jamaican songwriter Michael May, who alleged that ‘We Can’t Stop’ replicated his 1988 track ‘We Run Things.’
Today in history
871 AD – The Battle of Reading took place, in the county of Berkshire. It followed an invasion of the then kingdom of Wessex by an army of Danes. The Saxon forces retreated, allowing the Danes to continue their advance into Wessex. Much of King Alfred’s 28-year reign was taken up with this Danish conflict.
1642 – Under the orders of King Charles I, armed soldiers entered Parliament and attempted to arrest five members. The arrest was unsuccessful as these members were tucked away safely at a top hiding spot in the City of London. This violent act was a significant cause that led to the English Civil War.
1813 – Birth of Sir Isaac Pitman, English inventor of the first major shorthand system. Pitman founded a company called Sir Isaac Pitman and Sons, which became one of the world’s leading educational publishers and training businesses. In 1837-38 he became a teetotaller and vegetarian, practices to which he attributed his health and his ability to work long hours.
1890 – The Daily Graphic was launched; the first daily illustrated paper. It merged with the Daily Sketch in 1926
1932 – Gandhi was arrested and his National Congress of India declared illegal by the British administration.The warrant for Gandhi’s arrest merely said that he was being arrested ‘for good and sufficient reasons.’
Fact of the day
The “French-language” Scrabble World Champion doesn’t speak French. New Zealand native Nigel Richards memorised the entire French Scrabble dictionary, which has 386,000 words, in nine weeks to earn his title. He has also won the English World Scrabble Championship three times, the U.S. national championships five times, and the U.K. Open Scrabble tournament six times. This comes 20 years after a 28-year-old Richards first played the game.