Sunday, June 29th "2025" Daily Prep
Welcome to day 180, known as Feast Day of Saints Peter and Paul, International Fisherman Day. Your star sign is Cancer and your birthstone is Pearl (Alexandrite and Moonstone is also recognised).
1927 – For the first time in 200 years, a total eclipse of the sun was seen in Britain. Those at Giggleswick in Yorkshire were able to see a perfect, full eclipse which lasted for less than 1/2 minute.
Todays birthdays
1944 – Gary Busey (81), American actor (Lethal Weapon, Under Siege, Point Break, The Buddy Holly Story), born in Baytown, Texas, United States.
1948 – Ian Paice (77), English musician and last remaining original member of the rock band Deep Purple (“Smoke on the Water”), born in Nottingham.
1953 – Colin Hay (72), Scottish-Australian musician and the lead vocalist and sole continuous member of Men at Work (“Down Under”), born in Kilwinning, North Ayrshire, Scotland.
1977 – Sam Bailey (48), English pop singer who won the tenth series of The X Factor in 2013 (Christmas number one on 22 December 2013), born in Bexley, Greater London.
1978 – Nicole Scherzinger (47), American singer, songwriter, dancer with the Pussycat Dolls (“Don’t Cha”, “Buttons”), born in Honolulu, Hawaii, United States.
1980 – Katherine Jenkins (45), Welsh operartic singer (“Time To Say Goodbye”, “Requiem for a Soldier”), born in Neath, Port Talbot, Wales.
2003 – Jude Bellingham (22), English professional footballer (Real Madrid, England national team), born in Stourbridge, West Midlands.
Famous deaths
2001 – Joan Sims (b. 1930), English actress best remembered for her roles in the Carry On franchise, appearing in 24 of the films.
The day today
1916 – The British diplomat Sir Roger Casement, an Irish patriot, poet, revolutionary, and nationalist, was sentenced to death for his part in the Easter Rising, an attempt to end British rule in Ireland.
1927 – For the first time in 200 years, a total eclipse of the sun was seen in Britain. Those at Giggleswick in Yorkshire were able to see a perfect, full eclipse which lasted for less than 1/2 minute.
1966 – Barclays Bank introduced the Barclaycard, the UK’s first credit card.
1986 – Millionaire Richard Branson smashed the world record for the fastest powerboat crossing of the Atlantic.
1986 – With over 100,000 spectators, Argentina won West Germany at the FIFA World Cup Final held in Mexico City. The final score wasd 3-2.
1995 – Lisa Clayton, from Birmingham, became the first British woman to sail solo around the world from the northern hemisphere. Her voyage, in a 39 ft sloop, Spirit of Birmingham, took 285 days.
2001 – The government announced that a memorial fountain in honour of Diana, Princess of Wales, was to be built in London’s Hyde Park.
2010 – The England football team returned home after being knocked out of the second round of the World Cup by Germany. England ultimately lost 4-1, suffering their worst defeat to date in a World Cup finals match. (In 2014 England were eliminated at the group stage of the Fifa World Cup for the first time since 1958, with just two goals scored. It was their worst goal tally since 1950 and the worst World Cup showing in the history of the national team.)
Today in music
1961 – Del Shannon was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Runaway.’ His only UK No.1 and the first of 14 UK Top 40 hits.
1974 – Charles Aznavour was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘She’, the French singers only UK No.1. At the time it made Aznavour the oldest living male chart-topper in the UK charts (at fifty years old).
1985 – David Bowie and Mick Jagger recorded a version of the Martha Reeves and the Vandellas 1964 hit ‘Dancing In The Street’ for the forthcoming Live Aid fundraising event. The single went on to become a No.1 UK hit. The original plan was to perform a track together live, with Bowie performing at Wembley Stadium and Jagger at John F. Kennedy Stadium, until it was realised that the satellite link-up would cause a half-second delay that would make this impossible unless either Bowie or Jagger mimed their contribution, something neither artist was willing to do.
1991 – Jason Donovan had his third UK No.1 single with ‘Any Dream Will Do’ a song written by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice for the 1968 musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Donovan was playing the lead role in a new London production of the musical.
1999 – Michael Jackson suffered severe bruising after falling over 50 feet when a bridge collapsed during a concert at Munich’s Olympic stadium. Jacko was singing ‘Earth Song’ at the time of the accident.
2000 – Eminem’s mother went to court claiming defamation of character in a $10 million (around £8 million GBP) civil suit, after taking exception to the line “My mother smokes more dope than I do” from her son’s single ‘My Name Is’.
2003 – Destiny’s Child singer Beyoncé started a five week run at No.1 on the UK album chart with her debut solo studio album ‘Dangerously In Love’. The album debuted atop the US Billboard 200, and at the 46th Annual Grammy Awards (2004), the album and its songs won five awards, including Best Contemporary R&B Album.
2022 – US singer R. Kelly was sentenced to 30 years in prison for using his celebrity status to sexually abuse children and women. The R&B artist was convicted in September 2001 in New York of racketeering and sex trafficking crimes. He had faced years of allegations and the judge said he had an “indifference to human suffering”.
Today in history
1613 – The original Globe Theatre in London burned down after a cannon was fired during a performance of a Shakespearean play and set fire to the straw roof. The theatre was totally destroyed, but rose again in June 1614, this time with a tiled roof. That theatre closed in 1642 and a modern reconstruction of the Globe opened in 1997, approximately 250 yards (230 m) from the site of the original theatre.
1620 – After denouncing smoking as a health hazard, King James I of England banned the growing of tobacco in Britain.
1644 – Charles I of England defeated a Parliamentarian detachment at the Battle of Cropredy Bridge (near Banbury, Oxfordshire). It was the last battle won by an English King on English soil.
1801 – Britain held its first population census – producing a population figure of 8,800,000.
1855 – Britain’s Daily Telegraph newspaper was first published, a result of the publisher’s anger over the Crimean War and a desire to express it.