July 30th "2024" Daily Prep
Welcome to day 212 of the year! Known as National Cheesecake Day, National Father-in-Law Day, Share a Hug Day. If you were born today you were likely conceived the week of November 6th in the previous year. Your star sign is Leo and your birthstone is Ruby.
1966 – England won the Football World Cup in London, beating West Germany 4 – 2. This was England’s first (and only) win since the tournament began in 1930. England forward Geoff Hurst became the only man to score a hat-trick in a world cup final.
Todays birthdays
1958 – Daley Thompson (66), British former decathlete. Winner of the decathlon gold medal at the Olympic Games in 1980 and 1984, born in Notting Hill, London.
1961 – Laurence Fishburne (63), American actor (Boyz n the Hood, The Matrix, John Wick), born in Augusta, Georgia, United States.
1963 – Lisa Kudrow (61), American actress (Friends, Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion), born in Los Angeles, California, United States.
1970 – Christopher Nolan (54), British-American filmmaker (The Dark Knight, Interstellar, Dunkirk), born in Westminster, London.
1980 – Justin Rose (44), English professional golfer, born in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Famous deaths
2007 – Mike Reid (b. 1940), English comedian, actor (as Frank Butcher in Eastenders), and author.
The day today
1935 – ‘Penguin’ paperback books, founded by Allen Lane, went on sale in Britain.
1938 – The first edition of The Beano was published. It is the longest running British children’s comic magazine, published by DC Thomson in Dundee. By April 1950 the weekly circulation was almost 2,000,000. The Beano reached its 4,000th issue on 28th August 2019.
1966 – England won the Football World Cup in London, beating West Germany 4 – 2. This was England’s first (and only) win since the tournament began in 1930. England forward Geoff Hurst became the only man to score a hat-trick in a world cup final for a winning team.
1973 – British victims of the drug Thalidomide were awarded £20 million compensation as their 11 year case against the Distillers company ended in victory.
2006 – The world’s longest running music show Top of the Pops was broadcast for the last time on BBC Two. The show had aired for 42 years. 2213 episodes were screened, the first being broadcast on New Year’s Day 1964.
Today in music
1966 – The Troggs started a two week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Wild Thing’. Because of a distribution dispute, The Troggs’ single was available on two competing labels: Atco and Fontana. Because both pressings were taken from the identical master recording, Billboard combined the sales for both releases, making it the only single to simultaneously reach No. 1 for two companies.
2003 – The Rolling Stones, AC/DC, Rush, The Guess Who, Justin Timberlake, The Flaming Lips, Sass Jordan and The Isley Brothers played a benefit concert in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, to prove that the city is safe from SARS. With 450,000 spectators, it was the largest concert in Canadian history.
2006 – British gay magazine Attitude listed the ‘Top 10 Gay Albums’ of all time. No.1 was Scissor Sisters – Scissor Sisters, 2, Arrival – ABBA, 3, Vauxhall and I – Morrissey, 4, Light Years – Kylie Minogue, 5, Older – George Michael, 6, Welcome To The Pleasuredome – Frankie Goes To Hollywood, 7, Erotica – Madonna, 8, I Am a Bird Now – Antony and the Johnsons, 9, Bad Girls – Donna Summer and No. 10 The Man Who Sold The World – David Bowie.
2006 – Shakira feat Wyclef Jean started a four week run at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Hips Don’t Lie.’ A remake of Wyclef Jean’s 2004 song ‘Dance Like This’, the song went on to top the charts in over 50 countries.
2009 – Procol Harum organist Matthew Fisher won his long battle to be recognised as co-writer of the band’s hit ’A Whiter Shade Of Pale’. Law Lords ruled that Fisher, who claimed he wrote the song’s organ melody, was entitled to a share of future royalties.
Today in history
1502 – Christopher Columbus lands at Guanaja in the Bay Islands off the coast of Honduras during his fourth voyage.
1718 – William Penn, English Quaker leader and founder of the American colony of Pennsylvania died.
1746 – The death of Francis Towneley, English Jacobite who was executed for his role in the rebellion of 1745. His head was placed on a pike on Temple Bar, London but was secretly removed and has since been in possession of the Towneley family. The skull is now preserved in the chapel at Towneley Hall.
1818 – Emily Brontë, English novelist and author of Wuthering Heights was born in Thornton, West Yorkshire. Emily was the third eldest of the four surviving Brontë siblings, between the youngest Anne and her brother Branwell. She published under the pen name Ellis Bell.
1900 – London Underground’s The Central line, originally called the Central London Railway, opened as a cross-London route from Bank to Shepherd’s Bush. Popular from the start, part of its success stemmed from the cost: a flat fare of two old pence to travel. This inspired the press to call it the ‘Tuppenny Tube.