June 4th "2024" Daily Prep
Welcome to day 156, known as National Cheese Day, Hug Your Cat Day. If you were born on this day, you were likely conceived the week of September 11th in the previous year. Your star sign is Gemini and your birthstone is Pearl.
1977 – Scottish football fans caused at least £15,000 damage by breaking the goals and digging up the pitch at Wembley after Scotland beat England 2-1.
Todays birthdays
1960 – Bradley Walsh (64), English actor (Law and Order UK, The Larkins), television presenter (The Chase, Gladiators) and comedian, born in Watford, London.
1964 – Sean Pertwee (60), English actor (Dog Soldiers, Event Horizon, Gotham), born in Hammersmith, London.
1975 – Russell Brand (49), English comedian, actor (Arthur, Get Him to the Greek) and presenter, born in Grays, Thurrock, Essex.
1975 – Angelina Jolie (49), American actress (Salt, Maleficent, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, Gone in 60 Seconds), born in Los Angeles, California, United States.
1987 – Mollie King (37), English pop singer (The Saturdays) and radio presenter (BBC Radio 1, Radio 1 weekend breakfast show), born in Wandsworth, London.
Famous deaths
2016 – Muhammad Ali (b. 1942), American boxer nicknamed “the Greatest”, he is regarded as one of the most significant sports figures of the 20th century and is often regarded as the greatest heavyweight boxer of all time.
The day today
1913 – Suffragette Emily Davison ran out in front of King George V’s horse, Anmer, at Tattenham Corner on the Epsom racecourse. She was trampled, never regained consciousness and died a few days later.
1940 – World War II: The Dunkirk evacuation ended. British forces completed the evacuation of 300,000 troops from Dunkirk in France. To rally the morale of the country, Winston Churchill delivered his famous ‘We shall fight on the beaches … we shall never surrender’ speech to the House of Commons.
1977 – Five British plane-spotters imprisoned in Greece for alleged spying were released after 10 weeks in jail.
1998 – The five major nuclear powers (the United States, Russia, China, France and Great Britain) renewed their appeal for India and Pakistan to stop development of nuclear arms and offered to help the two antagonists resolve their conflict over the Kashmir region.
1999 – A man who had all his fingers severed in a horrific accident at work became the first person to have all his fingers re-attached. Two teams of doctors along with nurses and theatre technicians performed the delicate micro-surgical procedure in a marathon 18-hour operation at Withington Hospital, Manchester.
Today in music
1967 – The Beatles started a 23 week run at No.1 on the UK album chart with Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Recorded over a 129-day period beginning in December 1966, the album widely regarded as one of the greatest of all time, includes songs such as ‘Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds’ and ‘A Day in the Life’.
1969 – Seven years after his first hit Tommy Roe was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Dizzy’ his only No.1 hit. Also a UK No. 1 for Vic Reeves and Wonder Stuff in 1991.
1983 – The Police started a four week run at No.1 in the UK with ‘Every Breath You Take’ the group’s fifth and final No.1 single. Taken from the bands album Synchronicity, Sting won Song of the Year and The Police won Best Pop Performance for the song at the 1984 Grammy Awards.
1994 – Wet Wet Wet started a fifteen-week run at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Love Is All Around’, from the film ‘Four Weddings & A Funeral’. The song was written by Reg Presley of The Troggs and was a former Top 10 hit for his band in 1967.
2006 – Sandi Thom was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘I Wish I Was A Punk Rocker, (with flowers in My Hair’). The song was originally released in October 2005 by Viking Legacy records, where it reached No.55.
Today in history
1411 – King Charles VI of France granted a monopoly for the ripening of Roquefort cheese to the village of Roquefort-Sur-Soulzon.
June is significant in the production of Roquefort cheese as legend tells that Roquefort was invented on June 4, 1070, when a shepherd left his lunch in a cave by accident.
1561 – The steeple of St Paul’s, the medieval cathedral of London, is destroyed in a fire caused by lightning and is never rebuilt.
1704 – The birth of Benjamin Huntsman who experimented in steel manufacture at Handsworth, near Sheffield. The local cutlery manufacturers initially refused to buy his steel as it was harder than the German steel they were accustomed to using. Huntsman did not patent his process, and his secret was discovered by a Sheffield iron-founder called Walker who, according to a popular story, got into Huntsman’s works in the disguise of a starving beggar asking to sleep by a fire for the night. One of the original main buildings at Sheffield’s Northern General Hospital is named after Huntsman, and in Sheffield city centre is a Wetherspoons pub called The Benjamin Huntsman.
1738 – The birth of George III, King of England from 1760. There was continual friction between him and his Prime Minister, Pitt “The Younger”, who was highly popular with the people. During his reign he mishandled the conflict with the American colony, which led to the War of Independence. He went insane in 1811 and the Prince of Wales was appointed Regent.
1805 – The first official Trooping The Colour took place at Horse Guards Parade in London.