Monday, June 2nd "2025" Daily Prep
Welcome to day 153, known as Leave Work Early Day, Rotisserie Chicken Day. Your star sign is Gemini and your birthstone is Pearl (Alexandrite and Moonstone is also recognised).
1953 – The coronation of Queen Elizabeth II aged 27 took place in Westminster Abbey, London. Her Majesty was the thirty-ninth Sovereign to be crowned at Westminster Abbey and this was the first British coronation to be televised.
Todays birthdays
1957 – Mark Lawrenson (68), English former professional footballer (Liverpool 81-88) and former manager (Oxford United, Peterborough United), born in Penwortham, Lancashire.
1960 – Tony Hadley (65), English pop singer and lead singer of the new wave band Spandau Ballet (“True”, “Gold”), born in Islington, London.
1960 – Shaun Wallace (65), English barrister, lecturer and television personality (The Dark Destroyer on ITV’s The Chase), born in London.
1965 – Jeremy Cunningham (60), English bassist with folk rock band The Levellers (“What a Beautiful Day”) and artist, born in Cuckfield, West Sussex.
1976 – Tim Rice-Oxley (49), English musician and songwriter with alternative rock band Keane (“Somewhere Only We Know”, “Everybody’s Changing”), born in Oxford, Oxfordshire.
1978 – Dominic Cooper (47), English actor (Dracula Untold, Need for Speed, Mamma Mia, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter), born in Greenwich, London.
Famous deaths
2017 – Peter Sallis, English actor (Norman “Cleggy” Clegg in Last of the Summer Wine) and the voice of Wallace in Wallace and Gromit.
The day today
1953 – The coronation of Queen Elizabeth II aged 27 took place in Westminster Abbey, London. Her Majesty was the thirty-ninth Sovereign to be crowned at Westminster Abbey and this was the first British coronation to be televised.
1962 – Chile and Italy played one of the most violent soccer games in history.
The game, a mere group-stage game in the FIFA World Cup, was so violent that it is known today as The Battle of Santiago. Two players were sent off the field after numerous brawls broke up, with the police having to intervene four times. The match’s referee, Ken Aston from Essex, England, later went on to invent yellow and red cards which were intoduced in the 1970 Mexico FIFA World Cup.
1970 – The collapse of the Cleddau Bridge in Pembrokeshire. Errors in the box girder design caused it to collapse during its construction. A 230 feet (70 m) cantilever being used to put one of the 150-tonne sections into position collapsed on the south side of the estuary. Four workers died and five were injured. The bridge finally became operational in 1975.
1985 – The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) announced an indefinite ban on English football clubs from taking part in any of the European competitions, after continued hooliganism by their fans when travelling abroad.
1989 – Up to 800 civilians and 12 soldiers died during a student protest for democracy at Tiananmen Square, Beijing, China.
1994 – 25 senior intelligence officers, involved in counter terrorism in Northern Ireland, were killed when their Chinook helicopter crashed on the Mull of Kintyre in Scotland.
2022 – Thursday 2nd and Friday 3rd June saw an extended Bank Holiday and weekend break to celebrate the Platinum Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II, the first British monarch to celebrate a Platinum Jubilee. She acceded to the throne on 6th February 1952 on the death of her father George VI, who died from a coronary thrombosis, aged 56.
Today in music
1962 – Owen Gray’s ‘Twist Baby’ became the first single released on UK based Island Records. The label became home to Free, Traffic, Jethro Tull, Bob Marley and U2.
1966 – Frank Sinatra was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Strangers In The Night’, the singers second UK No.1. The song was originally composed by Avo Uvezian as ‘Broken Guitar’ and later under the title ‘Beddy Bye’ as part of the instrumental score for the movie A Man Could Get Killed.
1972 – Pink Floyd released “Obscured By Clouds” in the UK. The album, which was recorded in Paris in less than two weeks, peaked at No.6 on the UK chart and No.46 on the US chart.
1979 – Donna Summer started a three week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Hot Stuff’, her second US No.1, it made No.11 in the UK.
1984 – Wham! had their first UK No.1 with ‘Wake Me Up Before You Go Go.’ Written and produced by George Michael, one half of the duo. Inspiration for the song was a scribbled note left by his Wham! partner Andrew Ridgeley for Andrew’s parents, originally intended to read “wake me up before you go” but with “up” accidentally written twice, so Ridgeley wrote “go” twice on purpose.
2014 – 97 year old Dame Vera Lynn released a new album (Vera Lynn: National Treasure – the Ultimate Collection) to mark the 70th anniversary of the D-day landings on 6th June 1944. Vera Lynn is the first person in music history to celebrate 90 years of showbusiness, the first British performer to top the US official charts, the oldest living artist to have had an official UK No.1 album and the only recording artist in the world to have spanned the pop charts from the 1940s to the 21st century. An unprecedented achievement, which breaks all records in the history of music.
Today in history
1420 – King Henry V of England married Catherine of Valois, daughter of Charles VI, King of France.
1692 – Bridget Bishop, born in Norwich, England is the first person to be tried for witchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts; she was found guilty and later hanged.
1840 – Thomas Hardy, English novelist and poet was born at Higher Bockhampton, Dorset. He continues to be widely regarded for his novels, such as Tess of the d’Urbervilles and Far from the Madding Crowd.
1850 – The birth of Jesse Boot, chemist, philanthropist and founder of ‘Boots the Chemist’.
1868 – A group of trade unionists from all over the UK came to Manchester, and together they held the first meeting of the Trades Union Congress, at the Mechanics’ Institute.
1896 – Italian engineer and inventor Guglielmo Marconi applies for the first ever patent for a system of wireless telegraphy (Radio) in the United Kingdom.