July 31st "2023" daily prep

Welcome to day 212 of the year! Known as Jump for Jelly Beans Day and Avocado Day. If you were born today, you were likely conceived the week of November 7th 2022 and have the star sign “Leo”.
1970 – The last day of the officially sanctioned rum ration in the Royal Navy. The centuries-old tradition of issuing alcohol to the sailors of British warships came to the end with the final tots of rum being handed out that morning in ships and establishments around the world.
Todays birthdays
1960 – Pete Tong (63), English DJ (Essential Mix and Essential Selection on BBC Radio 1), born in Dartford, England.
1962 – Wesley Snipes (61), American actor (Blade, Demolition Man, Passenger 57), born in Orlando, Florida.
1963 – Norman Cook / Fatboy Slim (60), British musician and record producer (Praise You, The Rockafeller Skank), born in Bromley, London, England.

1965 – J.K. Rowling (58), British author (Harry Potter novels) and philanthropist, born in Yate, Gloucestershire. Also on this day in 1980,  Harry Potter, the fictional character portrayed by Daniel Radcliffe, born in Godric’s Hollow, England.

1978 – Will Champion (45), British drummer (Coldplay – “Viva La Vida”), born in Southampton, England.
The day today
1968 – The first episode (entitled The Man and the Hour) of Dad’s Army, a British comedy about the Home Guard in the Second World War. The TV series regularly gained audiences of 18 million viewers during the 1970s and is still repeated today.
1969 – The pre-decimal half penny ceased being legal tender. It had been a regular feature of British coinage since the 13th century.
1990 – In the England v India Test Match at Lords, a total of 1603 runs were scored, in exactly 1603 minutes.
1999 – NASA intentionally crashes the Lunar Prospector into the Moon, ending its mission to detect frozen water on the moon’s surface.
2012 – Zara Phillips wins a silver medal as part of the GB Olympic Equestrian team and Michael Phelps breaks the record set in 1964 by Larisa Latynina for the most medals won at the Olympics.
Today in music
1959 – Cliff Richard was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Living Doll.’ The singers first of 14 UK No.1’s. The song was one of three from the film, Serious Charge.
1982 – Survivor’s ‘Eye Of The Tiger’ was at No.1 on the US chart. The song, which was commissioned by actor Sylvester Stallone for the theme for the movie Rocky III, received an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song and go on to sell over five million copies.
1992 – Michael Jackson made an unscheduled appearance on his hotel balcony in London after a man had threatened to jump from an apartment building across the street. 28 year-old Eric Herminie told police he would leap to his death if he didn’t see Jackson, who was in Britain for a series of concerts.
1999 – Christina Aguilera scored her first US No.1 single with ‘Genie In A Bottle’, also No.1 in the UK. The song spent 5 weeks at No.1 on the US chart and won Aguilera the Best New Artist Grammy for the year.
2006 – Former Culture Club singer Boy George (O’Dowd) was ordered to do community service by picking up trash on New York City streets after pleading guilty last March to false reporting of an incident. He called police with a bogus report of a burglary at his lower Manhattan apartment in October and the responding officers found cocaine inside.
Historical events
1423 – The French army is defeated by the English on the banks of the river Yonne in Burgundy at the Battle of Cravant during the Hundred Years War.
1498 – Christopher Columbus discovered Trinidad on his third voyage. He entered the Gulf of Paria in Venezuela and planted the Spanish flag in South America on August 1.
1786 – “Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish dialect” by Robert Burns is published.
1856 – Christchurch became a City by Royal Charter making it officially the oldest established city in New Zealand.
1932 – Enzo Ferrari retired from racing. In 1950 he launched a series of cars under his name.
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