Saturday, July 19th "2025" Daily Prep
Welcome to day 200, known as National Stick Out Your Tongue Day and Daiquiri Day, International Snowdon Race. Your star sign is Cancer and your birthstone is Ruby.
1941 – Winston Churchill introduced his ‘V for Victory” campaign which rapidly spread through Europe. The BBC took the first four notes of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, which matched the dot-dot-dot-dash Morse code for the letter V, and played it before news bulletins.
Todays birthdays
1947 – Brian May (78), English rock guitarist with Queen (“Bohemian Rhapsody”, “We Are The Champions”) and astrophysicist, born in Hampton, London.
1959 – Louisa Gabriella Bobb, known professionally as Gabrielle (56), English singer (“Dreams”, “If You Ever”), born in the London Borough of Hackney, London.
1970 – Nicola Sturgeon (55), Scottish politician who served as First Minister of Scotland, born in North Ayrshire, Scotland.
1976 – Benedict Cumberbatch (49), English actor (Sherlock, Doctor Strange, The Imitation Game, Star Trek Into Darkness), born in London.
1979 – Michelle Heaton (46), English singer with Liberty X (“Just a Little”), stage actress & television presenter, born in Gateshead, Tyne and Wear.
1983 – Helen Skelton (42), English television presenter (Blue Peter, Countryfile, Holiday Hit Squad), born in Carlisle, Cumbria.
Famous deaths
2013 – Alan Whicker (b. 1921), Journalist and broadcaster who’s TV career stretched nearly six decades. He was best known for his documentary series, Whicker’s World.
The day today
1919 – Following Peace Day celebrations marking the end of World War I, ex-servicemen, unhappy with unemployment and other grievances, rioted and burn down Luton Town Hall. During the riot people broke into Farmers Music Shop and dragged pianos into the streets for dancing and singing, including, ironically ‘Keep the home fires burning’. The mayor at the time, Henry Impey was smuggled out of Luton never to return.
1941 – “The Midnight Snack” cartoon was released, making it Tom and Jerry’s very first appearance.
1969 – British rower John Fairfax arrived at Fort Lauderdale, Florida, after becoming the first person to row across the Atlantic alone. He had left the Canary Islands on January 20th in a 24’ rowing boat and after 180 days and 4000 miles he had finished his journey. Three years later, with his girl friend, he rowed the 8000 miles from San Francisco to the Hayman Islands off the Queensland Coast.
1970 – The SS Great Britain was finally welcomed home, back to Great Western Dockyard in Bristol where she was built, exactly 127 years to the day after her launch in 1843.
1972 – The Battle of Mirbat, arguably the finest moment in SAS history. The battle was fought in the Gulf state of Oman, with British troops supporting the Sultan of Oman. Just nine Special Forces soldiers overcame 300 Communist guerrillas, known as the Adoo.
1976 – British fishermen urged the Foreign Secretary, Anthony Crosland, to secure a 50-mile fishing zone around the UK.
2013 – Comic actor and writer Mel Smith died of a heart attack, aged 60. He was known for the sketch shows ‘Alas Smith and Jones’ and ‘Not The Nine O’Clock News’. Smith formed a lasting partnership with co-performer Griff Rhys Jones with whom he set up the independent television company, Talkback Productions.
2022 – The UK recorded temperatures of over 40C (104F) for the first time. 40.3C was recorded at Coningsby in Lincolnshire, one of 34 locations to exceed the previous high of 38.7C that was set as recently as July 2019. Scotland also recorded its hottest day ever, with a temperature of 34.8C at Charterhall in the Borders. London’s fire service had its busiest day since World War Two. In Wennington, east London, two rows of terraced houses, four other homes, 12 stables and five cars were destroyed by multiple fires and 15 areas around the UK declared major incidents.
Today in music
1975 – The Bay City Rollers were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Give A Little Love’, the Scottish group’s second and final UK No.1.
1980 – Queen scored their third UK No.1 album with ‘The Game’, featuring the single ‘Another One Bites The Dust’.
1996 – The Spice Girls made their debut on UK TV music show Top Of The Pops performing their debut single ‘ Wannabe’ which gave them their first of nine UK chart toppers.
1997 – Oasis went to No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘D’You Know What I Mean’. The first single from their third album ‘Be Here Now’.
2005 – James Blunt was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘You’re Beautiful’, from his debut album ‘Back To Bedlam’. The UK singer songwriters first No.1, spent 5 weeks at the top of the charts.
2014 – Ed Sheeran was at No.1 on the UK album chart with X (pronounced multiply), his second studio album. The album peaked at No. 1 in fifteen countries, and the lead single, ‘Sing’, became Sheeran’s first UK No.1 song. By the end of 2014 Spotify named X the most-streamed album in the world for 2014, racking up more than 430 million streams for the year.
2022 – Queen made UK chart history when they become the first act ever to reach 7 million UK chart sales of an album with their 1981 Greatest Hits album. The Official best-selling album of all time in the UK, the record includes such classic tracks as ‘We Will Rock You’, ‘Don’t Stop Me Now’ and ‘Bohemian Rhapsody.’ The record also recently celebrated its 1000th week on the Official Albums Chart, with Queen becoming the first British act ever to achieve this landmark milestone.
Today in history
1333 – Wars of Scottish Independence: The English won a decisive victory over the Scots at the Battle of Halidon Hill, near Berwick-upon-Tweed. In England the victory, the first for many years, brought a great boost to the morale of the nation. Bannockburn had finally been avenged.
1545 – The Mary Rose, the pride of Henry VIII’s battle fleet, sank in the Solent with the loss of 700 lives. The ship was raised on 11th October 1982 and taken to Portsmouth Dockyard where she is undergoing conservation.
1553 – Lady Jane Grey was replaced by Mary I as Queen of England after having the title for just nine days.
1832 – The British Medical Association was founded, as the Provincial Medical and Surgical Association, by Sir Charles Hastings, at a meeting in the Board Room of the Worcester Infirmary.
1843 – Brunel’s SS Great Britain ship, the first Atlantic liner built of iron was launched after taking four years to build. The steamship became the world’s largest ship of its time. It has since been restored and can be viewed at the Great Western Dockyard in Bristol.