Tuesday, June 17th "2025" Daily Prep
Welcome to day 168, known as Eat Your Vegetables Day, National Apple Strudel Day. Your star sign is Gemini and your birthstone is Pearl (Alexandrite and Moonstone is also recognised).
1982 – Manchester United footballer Norman Whiteside (pictured left) became the youngest player to appear in the World Cup finals playing for Northern Ireland against Yugoslavia in Spain.
Todays birthdays
1936 – Ken Loach (89), English film director and screenwriter who’s works include Kes and The Old Oak, born in Nuneaton, Warwickshire.
1943 – Barry Manilow (82), American singer and songwriter (“Copacabana”, “Could It Be Magic”, “Mandy”), born in Brooklyn, New York, United States.
1972 – Rik Rok (53), born Rickardo George Ducent, English singer (“It Wasn’t Me”, “Should I Tell Her”), born in London.
1976 – Scott Adkins (49), English actor and martial artist (John Wick, The Expendables, Assassination Games), born in The Royal Town of Sutton Coldfield.
1980 – Venus Williams (45), American professional tennis player. A former world No. 1 in both singles and doubles (7 grand slam tiles), born in Lynwood, California, United States.
1982 – Jodie Whittaker (43), English actress (Broadchurch), best known for her role as the Thirteenth Doctor in Doctor Who, born in Skelmanthorpe, West Yorkshire.
1983 – Lee Ryan (42), English singer, songwriter best known as a member of the boy band Blue (“All Rise”, “Fly By”), born in Chatham, Kent.
Famous deaths
1928 – Emmeline Pankhurst (b. 1857), English activist and academic best known for organizing the women’s suffrage movement in the United Kingdom.
1946 – John Logie Baird (b. 1888), Scottish-English physicist and engineer (inventor of the first publicly demonstrated colour television system and the first viable purely electronic colour television picture tube).
The day today
1939 – France carried out its last public execution.
German serial killer Eugen Weidman was executed by guillotine outside the Saint-Pierre prison in Versailles after being convicted of six murders. The display put on by the general public was so hysterical that the French President banned all further public executions.
1940 – World War II: The RMS Lancastria was sunk by the Luftwaffe near Saint-Nazaire, France. Over 4,000 lives were lost making it the worst ever loss of life in the sinking of a single British ship, and the bloodiest single engagement for UK forces (in terms of lives lost) in the whole of World War II. The sinking claimed more lives than the combined losses of the Titanic and Lusitania.
1964 – The first purpose-built floating trade fair docked at Tilbury in London with 22,000 samples of Japanese goods on board.
1980 – The locations for the first US nuclear missiles to be stored on British soil (at Greenham Common and Molesworth military bases) were revealed by the government.
1982 – Manchester United footballer Norman Whiteside became the youngest player to appear in the World Cup finals – playing for Northern Ireland against Yugoslavia in Spain. He was aged 17 years and 41 days.
1994 – Police captured O.J. Simpson for murder charges after a 90-minute police chase. The police hunt was captured and broadcast on live TV as it happened.
2013 – The 83 year old BBC broadcaster Stuart Hall was sentenced to 15 months in jail for sexually abusing girls, including one aged 9 years old. Hall admitted 14 offences that occurred between 1967 and 1985.
2014 – Blackpool sold off its 6,000 deckchairs that had been ‘mothballed’ since 2011. Quote – “We found that the majority of people would sit on the new benches or the Spanish steps and there was no longer a demand for the deckchairs.”
Today in music
1965 – The Kinks and the Moody Blues made their US concert debut at the Academy of Music in New York City.
1972 – Don McLean had his first UK No.1 single with ‘Vincent.’ The song was written about the 19th century artist Vincent Van Gogh. The song is played daily at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam.
1978 – ‘You’re The One That I Want’ by John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John (taken from the film Grease) started a nine week run at No.1 on the UK singles chart.
1979 – Anita Ward was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Ring My Bell’. The only hit for the gospel singer from Memphis, making her a One Hit Wonder.
2007 – The Traveling Wilburys went to No.1 on the UK album chart with Collection. The line up of the Wilburys was: George Harrison (Nelson Wilbury), Jeff Lynne (Otis Wilbury), Roy Orbison (Lefty Wilbury), Tom Petty (Charlie T. Wilbury Jr.) and Bob Dylan (Lucky Wilbury).
2008 – Welsh singer Duffy’s single Mercy was named song of the year at the Mojo magazine awards held in London. Best breakthrough act went to The Last Shadow Puppets – the side project of Arctic Monkeys singer Alex Turner. Other acts honoured at the reader-voted Mojo Honours included Led Zeppelin, Paul Weller, the Sex Pistols and Genesis. Ska band the Specials were welcomed into the Mojo Hall of Fame and former Creedence Clearwater Revival frontman John Fogerty, won the inspiration award for his contribution to rock music.
2022 – Kate Bush went to No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Running Up That Hill.’ Originally released in 1985, the song had enjoyed a new lease of life after featuring in the Netflix sci-fi show Stranger Things. With 44 years between her 1978 No.1 ‘Wuthering Heights’ and ‘Running Up That Hill’ the singer claimed the record of the longest time taken for a single to reach the top of the charts, the longest-ever gap between No.1 singles in UK chart history and she became the oldest female artist to ever score a No.1 on the Official Singles Chart, beating fellow icon Cher who was 52 when her hit ‘Believe’ topped the charts in 1998.
Today in history
1497 – The Battle of Deptford Bridge (also known as the Battle of Blackheath) took place. Forces under King Henry VII were victorious in what was the culminating event of the Cornish Rebellion. After spreading rumours that he would attack on the following Monday, Henry moved against the Cornish at dawn on his ‘lucky day’ which was Saturday (17th June). By 2pm, Henry had returned to the City in triumph, knighting deserving parties on the way, and accepted the acclamation of the Mayor followed by a service of thanksgiving at St. Paul’s.
1579 – Francis Drake anchored the Golden Hind just north of what is now San Francisco Bay, California and proclaimed England’s sovereignty over an area he named New Albion.
1703 – The birth of John Wesley, English evangelist who initiated the Methodist societies and brought about an evangelical revival, not only in England, but also in North America. John was the 15th of 19 children born to Samuel Wesley, Rector of Epworth, and his wife Susanna.
1775 – In the War of American Independence, British troops won a victory at Bunker Hill, north of Boston, Massachusetts.
1823 – Charles Macintosh patented the waterproof cloth he used to make raincoats, after experimenting with waste rubber products from Glasgow’s new gas works.
1867 – Pioneer doctor Joseph Lister amputated a cancerous breast from his sister Isabella using carbolic acid as an antiseptic. The operation in the Glasgow Royal Infirmary was the first under antiseptic conditions.
1883 – The Victoria Hall theatre panic in Sunderland killed 183 children. At the end of the show an announcement was made that children with certain numbered tickets would be presented with a prize upon exit. Worried about missing out on the treats, many of the estimated 1,100 children in the gallery stampeded toward the staircase leading downstairs. Those at the front became trapped, and were crushed by the weight of the crowd behind them.