Monday, July 21st "2025" Daily Prep

Welcome to day 202, known as National Ice Cream Day, National Junk Food Day, Royal Welsh Show. Your star sign is Cancer and your birthstone is Ruby.
The flagship of the British task force to the Falklands, HMS Hermes, arrived back in Portsmouth. Thousands crowded the dockside to see the 1,700 on board disembark 108 days after she had left for her historic mission.
1982 – The flagship of the British task force to the Falklands, HMS Hermes, arrived back in Portsmouth. Thousands crowded the dockside to see the 1,700 on board disembark 108 days after she had left for her historic mission.

Todays birthdays

1945 – John Lowe (80) English former professional darts player known for dominating darts during the 1980s, born in Tupton, Derbyshire.

1948 – Cat Stevens (77), British singer-songwriter and musician (“Peace Train”, “Morning Has Broken”), born in Marleybone, London.

1964 – Ross Kemp (61), English actor (Eastenders; Ultimate Force), author and television presenter (Ross Kemp: Extreme Gangs), born in London.
1974 – Terry Caldwell (51), English singer and former member of East 17 (“Stay Another Day”, “House of Love”), born in London Borough of Islington, London.
1981 – Paloma Faith (44), English singer, songwriter (“Only Love Can Hurt Like This”) and actress, born in Hackney, London.
2000 – Erling Haaland (25), Norwegian professional footballer (Manchester City, Norway), born in Leeds, West Yorkshire.
Famous deaths
1973 – Bruce Lee (b. 1940), American actor and martial artist (Enter the Dragon, Fist of Fury).

2017 – Chester Bennington (b. 1976), American singer and lead vocalist of the rock band Linkin Park (“Numb”, “New Divide”).

The day today

1944 – Claus von Stauffenberg and four fellow conspirators are executed for the July 20 plot (referred to as Operation Valkyrie) to assassinate Adolf Hitler.

1960 – English yachtsman Francis Chichester docked in New York in his boat Gypsy Moth II – setting a new record of 40 days for a solo crossing of the Atlantic.

1972 – The Provisional IRA detonated twenty-two bombs in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Poor communication between the British government and the IRA was partly to blame for the bombings. The bombs were all detonated within an 80-minute window across the city. Nine people died from the blasts, and another 130 were injured, leading the day to be known as Bloody Friday.
1994 – Tony Blair is declared the winner of the leadership election of the British Labour Party, paving the way for him to become Prime Minister in 1997.
2007 – J.K. Rowling’s final book in the series “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” book was published. A record 12 million copies were sold within just 24 hours of its release.
2013 – Britain’s Chris Froome won the 100th Tour de France, making it Britain’s second successive victory. Froome’s Team Sky colleague Sir Bradley Wiggins became the first Briton to win the prestigious cycle race in 2012.
Today in music
1977 – Despite protests, The Sex Pistols made their first appearance on the UK music show Top Of The Pops where they lip-synched to their third single, ‘Pretty Vacant’. The performance helped push the song up the charts to No.7.

1987 – Guns N’ Roses released their debut album on Geffen Records: Appetite For Destruction featured the singles ‘Welcome to the Jungle’, ‘Sweet Child o’ Mine’, and ‘Paradise City’. The album now has worldwide sales in excess of 28 million, 18 million of which are in the US, making it the best-selling debut album of all time there.

1996 – Alanis Morissette started a second run at No.1 on the UK album chart with Jagged Little Pill which stayed at the top for eight weeks. Overall, the album has sold over 33 million copies worldwide, becoming one of the most successful albums in music history.
2001 – TV talent show Opportunity Knocks winners Peters And Lee were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with their first single and only chart topper ‘Welcome Home.’
2003 – Coldplay singer Chris Martin was charged with malicious damage in Australia after he allegedly attacked a photographer’s car after he had taken pictures of him surfing at Seven Mile Beach.
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.
2017 – Justin Bieber was banned from performing in China, according to Beijing’s Culture Bureau. In a statement, the ministry said it was not appropriate to allow in entertainers who have engaged in “bad behaviour.”

Today in history

356 BC – The Temple of Artemis, one of the Seven Wonders of the World, was set on fire by Herostratus. Herostratus was sentenced to death for his crime, and nobody was allowed to speak his name after that.
1403 – Battle of Shrewsbury: Army led by the Lancastrian King of England, Henry IV defeats a rebel army led by Henry “Harry Hotspur” Percy of Northumberland thus ending the Percy challenge to the throne. Also the first battle English archers fought each other on English soil.
1545 – The first landing of French troops onto the coast of the Isle of Wight during the French invasion.
1588 – First engagement between the English fleet and the Spanish Armada off the Eddystone Rocks.
1897 – The Tate Gallery opened its doors to the public in London. Henry Tate, an industrialist who had made his fortune as a sugar refiner, offered his collection of British nineteenth-century art to the nation and provided funding for the first Tate Gallery.