Sunday, July 27th "2025" Daily Prep
Welcome to day 208, known as National Scotch Day, Bagpipe Appreciation Day, National Crème Brûlée Day, National Tree Day. Your star sign is Leo and your birthstone is Ruby.
1974 – At Ascot, English champion jockey Lester Piggott had 3 wins, bring his total to 3,001. By the time that he retired in 1985–86 he had 5,300 winners in the UK & abroad, including nine Epsom Derby victories.
Todays birthdays
1958 – Christopher Dean (67), English ice dancer (Torvill & Dean; Olympic gold 1984), born in Calverton, Nottinghamshire.
1963 – Donnie Yen (62), Hong Kong actor, martial artist and director (Ip Man, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, John Wick 4), born in Guangzhou, China.
1969 – Triple H, born Paul Michael Levesque (56), American pro wrestler (14 x world champion; D-Generation X), born in Nashua, New Hampshire, United States.
1973 – Tom Kerridge (52), English chef (The Hand and Flowers in Buckinghamshire. The only pub in the UK with two Michelin stars), born in Salisbury, Wiltshire.
1977 – Jonathan Rhys Meyers (48), Irish actor (Bend It Like Beckham, Mission Impossible 3), model and musician, born in Drimnagh, Dublin, Ireland.
1993 – George Shelley (31), English singer with boy band Union J (“Loving You Is Easy”), born in Clevedon, North Somerset.
Famous deaths
2003 – Bob Hope (b. 1903), English-American actor, comedian, television personality, entertainer and producer with a career that spanned nearly 80 years.
2022 – Bernard Cribbins (b. 1928), English actor (The Railway Children, Carry On Jack) and childrens television presenter (Old Jack’s Boat).
The day today
1929 – The Geneva Convention on Prisoners of War was signed in Geneva, Switzerland.
The Hague Regulations of 1899 and 1907 already covered the treatment of prisoners of war, but the atrocities committed during World War I clearly showed that this needed updating. The Geneva Convention vastly improved the existing regulations and included points such as the organization of POW’s work and the prohibition of collective penalties and reprisals.
1949 – The British De Havilland Comet, the first jet-propelled airliner, made its maiden flight. It was a 40-passenger airliner.
1969 – English rower Tom McLean arrived off the Irish coast to become the first man to row solo across the Atlantic Ocean – from west to east – a distance of 2000 miles. His voyage took 72 days.
1974 – At Ascot, English champion jockey Lester Piggott had 3 wins, bring his total to 3,001. By the time that he retired in 1985–86 he had 5,300 winners in the UK & abroad, including nine Epsom Derby victories.
1978 – Two British balloonists battling to be the first to cross the Atlantic got into difficulties half way across the ocean. Their balloon finally collapsed into the sea, just 110 miles from land.
1982 – The musical “Little Shop of Horrors” by Alan Menken and Howard Ashman premiered on Broadway at Orpheum Theater, New York, US. A film version starring Rick Moranis, Steve Martin and John Candy was released on 19th December 1986.
1985 – English athlete Steve Cram set a new world record for the mile at 3 minutes 46.32 seconds in Oslo.
1999 – Tony Hawk landed the first “900” on a skateboard at the 5th annual X Games in San Francisco. The “900” is a dangerous two-and-a-half revolution spin of a vertical ramp.
2012 – Queen Elizabeth declared the 30th Olympics opened in London, UK. To the audience’s surprise, a stand-in for the Queen made an entrance by skydiving from a helicopter with James Bond’s assistance.
Today in music
1974 – Wings started a seven-week run at No.1 on the UK album chart with Band On The Run. Although sales were modest initially, its commercial performance was aided by two hit singles ‘Jet’ and ‘Band on the Run’, such that it became the top-selling studio album of 1974 in the UK and Australia; in addition to revitalising McCartney’s critical standing. It remains McCartney’s most successful album and the most celebrated of his post-Beatles works.
1976 – Tina Turner filed for divorce from her husband Ike, ending their violent 16-year marriage and successful musical partnership.
1985 – The Eurythmics were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘There Must Be An Angel (Playing With My Heart)’, the duo’s only UK No.1 single. The song featured a harmonica solo by Stevie Wonder.
1986 – Queen became the first western act since Louis Armstrong in 1964 to perform in Eastern Europe when they played at Budapest’s Nepstadion, Hungary.
1992 – Michael Jackson sued the British paper The Daily Mirror over photos and an article that said he was left a “scar face” from numerous plastic surgeries. The suit was later settled out of court.
1996 – The Spice Girls scored their first No.1 UK single with ‘Wannabe’. Seven weeks at No.1, the song won Best British-Written Single at the 1997 Ivor Novello Awards and Best Single at the 1997 Brit Awards. The Girl Power song became the best-selling single by a female group selling over six million copies worldwide.
2002 – Mariah Carey checked herself into an undisclosed hospital suffering from “extreme exhaustion.” The singer cancelled all public appearances, including her headlining appearance at MTV’s 20th birthday party.
Today in history
1054 – Siward, Earl of Northumbria invaded Scotland and defeated Macbeth, King of Scotland ‘somewhere north’ of the Firth of Forth.
1586 – Sir Walter Raleigh brought the first tobacco to England, from Virginia.
1663 – The English Parliament passed the Second Navigation Act requiring that all goods bound for the American colonies had to be sent in English ships from English ports.
1694 – The Bank of England was founded by act of Parliament. It was primarily founded to fund the war effort against France. The King and Queen of the time, William and Mary, were two of the original stockholders.
1866 – The first permanent transatlantic telegraph cable is successfully completed, stretching from Valentia Island, Ireland, to Heart’s Content, Newfoundland.
1890 – Vincent van Gogh shot himself in the chest with a revolver. He died two days later, with his brother Theo at his bedside.