Tuesday, March 11th "2025" Daily Prep
Welcome to day 70, known as World Plumbing Day, Debunking Day. Your star sign is Pisces and your birthstone is Aquamarine.
1988 – The Bank of England pound note, first introduced on 12th March 1797, ceased to be legal tender in Britain at midnight. It was the smallest denomination note until it was replaced with the £1 coin.
Todays birthdays
1950 – Bobby McFerrin (75), American singer and songwriter (“Don’t Worry Be Happy”), born in Manhattan, New York, United States.
1963 – Alex Kingston (62), English actress (Doctor Who, A Discovery of Witches) best known for her role as Dr. Elizabeth Corday in ER, born in Epsom, Surrey.
1964 – Shane Richie (61), English actor (Alfie Moon – Eastenders) and television presenter (Win, Lose or Draw), born in Harlesden, London.
1967 – John Barrowman (58), Scottish actor (Doctor Who, Torchwood, Arrow) and presenter, born in Glasgow, Scotland.
1971 – Johnny Knoxville (54), American stunt performer and actor (MTV reality stunt show Jackass), born in Knoxville, Tennessee, United States.
1978 – Didier Drogba (47), Ivorian former professional footballer (Galatasaray, Chelsea FC), born in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire.
1993 – Jodie Comer (32), English actress (Killing Eve, Doctor Foster, My Mad Fat Diary), born in Liverpool.
Famous deaths
1955 – Alexander Fleming (b. 1881), Scottish biologist, pharmacologist (discoverer of Penicillin) and Nobel Prize laureate.
2018 – Ken Dodd (b. 1927), English comedian and singer described as “the last great music hall entertainer”.
The day today
1945 – The huge Krupps munitions factory in Germany was destroyed when 1,000 Allied bombers took part in the biggest ever daylight raid.
1988 – The Bank of England pound note, first introduced on 12th March 1797, ceased to be legal tender in Britain at midnight. When the deadline for returning old notes was reached, it was estimated that some 70 million were still outstanding.
1997 – Ann Widdecombe became the first Prisons’ Minister to visit all the 129 jails in Britain.
2011 – 15,899 lives were lost after a severe 9.0 magnitude earthquake occurred in Japan. The earthquake shook the island, causing a tsunami and the second-worst nuclear accident in history at the Fukushima nuclear plant. Total damage was equivalent to around £210 billion.
2014 – Dozens of firefighters were called out to deal with a blaze at a fire station. The retained fire crew at Downham Market in Norfolk could do nothing because their own fire engine was caught up in the blaze that started in their own building.
2021 – Prince William made a public statement saying that the British Royal Family was not a racist family. The comment followed the allegations by his younger brother, Prince Harry, and his wife, Meghan, that she faced racism from members of the family.
2023 – Buckingham Palace announced that Prince Edward would be the new Duke of Edinburgh. King Charles gave the title to his youngest brother on Prince Edward’s 59th birthday. The title is strongly associated with their father, Prince Philip, who was Duke of Edinburgh for more than 70 years, up until his death in 2021.
Today in music
1965 – Tom Jones was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘It’s Not Unusual.’ The Welsh singer’s first of 16 UK Top 40 hits during the 60s. Written by Les Reed and Gordon Mills, the song was first offered to Sandie Shaw. Jones recorded a demo for Shaw, and when she heard it she was so impressed with Jones’s delivery that she declined the song and recommended that Jones release it himself.
1968 – The Otis Redding single ‘(Sittin’ On) The Dock Of The Bay’ went gold in the US three months after the singer was killed in a plane crash. Recorded just days before his death, it became the first posthumous single to top the charts in the US.
1978 – The debut single from Kate Bush, ‘Wuthering Heights’ a song inspired by the Emily Bronte novel, started a four-week run at No.1 on the UK singles chart. Record company, EMI had originally chosen another track, ‘James and the Cold Gun’ as the lead single, but Bush was determined that ‘Wuthering Heights’ would be the first release from the album.
1978 – Meat Loaf’s Bat Out Of Hell album began a 416-week run on the UK chart. The album went on to become one of the most influential and iconic albums of all time and its songs have remained classic rock staples.
1989 – Australian actor turned singer Jason Donovan scored his first UK No.1 single with ‘Too Many Broken Hearts’ which was written and produced by Stock, Aitken and Waterman.
1996 – Pulp singer Jarvis Cocker walked free from Kensington police station after police failed to charge him with any criminal offence following his ‘stage invasion’, during Michael Jackson’s performance at the Brit Awards on 19th February 1996.
2008 – Madonna was inducted into the US Rock and Roll Hall of Fame at a star-studded ceremony in New York City, she received her honour at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel from singer Justin Timberlake. The 49-year-old thanked her detractors in an acceptance speech, including those who ‘said I couldn’t sing, that I was a One Hit Wonder’. Rock star John Mellencamp, Leonard Cohen, The Ventures and The Dave Clark Five were also among the inductees.
2009 – Tickets for a one-off gig by Sir Paul McCartney in Las Vegas sold out seven seconds after going on sale. The former Beatle was booked to perform at the opening of the New Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino on 19 April 2009 in-front of 4,000 fans. Tickets cost $750 each.
Today in history
1682 – The Chelsea Hospital, a retirement home and nursing home for British soldiers (known as the Chelsea Pensioners) who were unfit for further duty due to injury or old age, was founded by Charles II.
1702 – The Daily Courant, the first successful English newspaper, was first published. It consisted of only 1 sheet but lasted until 1735 when it was merged with the Daily Gazetteer.
1708 – Queen Anne withheld Royal Assent from the Scottish Militia Bill, the last time a British monarch has vetoed legislation. The Bill’s long title was ‘An Act for settling the Militia of that Part of Great Britain called Scotland.’
1819 – The birth, at White Coppice in Lancashire, of Sir Henry Tate, English sugar producer & founder of London’s Tate Gallery.
1858 – The end of the Indian Mutiny that had lasted for 10 months. The Indian sepoys had mutinied after believing that their rifle cartridges had been lubricated in animal fat.
1864 – The Great Sheffield Flood: The largest man-made disaster ever to befall England destroyed 800 houses and killed 270 people in Sheffield when the Low Bradfield Reservoir bursts its banks while it was being filled for the first time. The claims for damages formed one of the largest insurance claims of the Victorian period.