March 18th "2024" Daily Prep
Welcome to day 78, known as Forgive Mum & Dad Day and Awkward Moments Day. If you were born on this day, you were likely conceived the week of June 25th in the previous year. Your star sign is Pisces and your birthstone is Aquamarine.
1960 – The naming ceremony of the steam locomotive Evening Star, at the Swindon Works, where the locomotive was built.
Todays birthdays
1955 – Jeff Stelling (69), English television presenter (Gillette Soccer Saturday from 1994 until 2023, Champions League between 2011 to 2015 as well as hosting Countdown on channel 4), born in Hartlepool, County Durham.
1966 – Peter Jones (58), British entrepreneur, businessman, investor reality television personality (Dragons Den), born in Maidenhead, Berkshire.
1970 – Queen Latifa (54), American singer and actress (Hairspray, Taxi and the voice of Ellie in the Ice Age franchise), born in Newark, New Jersey, United States.
1979 – Adam Levine (45), American singer, musician and lead vocalist of Maroon 5 (“Moves Like Jagger”, “This Love”), born in Los Angeles, California, United States.
1985 – Marvin Humes (39), English singer-songwriter with boyband JLS (“Everybody in Love”, “One Shot”), radio host and television presenter, born in Greenwich, London.
Famous deaths
2016 – Barry Hines (b. 1939), English author and screenwriter best known for the novel “A Kestrel for a Knave” (1968), which he helped adapt for Ken Loach’s film Kes (1969).
2017 – Chuck Berry (b. 1926), nicknamed “Father of Rock N’ Roll”, he was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter who pioneered rock and roll.
The day today
1922 – Indian leader Mahatma Gandhi was jailed for six years by the British authorities for encouraging public disorder. He was released in February 1924 for an appendicitis operation, having served only 2 years of his sentence.
1949 – NATO (the North Atlantic Treaty Organization) was proposed. The aim was to ‘safeguard the freedom and security of its 26 member countries by political and military means.’
1960 – The naming ceremony of the steam locomotive Evening Star, at the Swindon Works, where the locomotive was built. Evening Star was the last steam locomotive built for British Rail and holds the distinction of being the only British main line steam locomotive that was earmarked for preservation from the date of its construction.
1967 – The Torrey Canyon oil tanker, with a cargo of 100,000 gallons of crude oil, ran aground on rocks between Land’s End and the Scilly Isles and its cargo discharged into the sea. The RAF and the Royal Navy were called in to napalm bomb the slick in an attempt to reduce the risk of pollution. In the weeks that followed the accident, oil escaped and spread along the shores of the south coast of England and the Normandy coast of France. Worst hit were the Cornish beaches of Marazion and Prah Sands, where sludge was up to a foot deep.
2015 – Two Polish men were rescued after trying to paddle from Britain to Calais in a rowing boat, after failing to find jobs in Britain. The previous year, 28 illegal immigrants were caught trying to smuggle themselves out of Britain.
Today in music
1965 – The Rolling Stones were each fined £5 for urinating in a public place, following an incident that had taken place at a petrol station after a gig at the ABC Theatre in Romford, Essex, England. This was after the last show on their fifth UK package tour with The Hollies, The Konrads, all girl-group Goldie and the Gingerbreads and Dave Berry and the Cruisers.
1972 – Paul Simon scored his first solo No.1 album when his self-titled debut went to the top on the UK charts. Featuring the singles ‘Mother And Child Reunion’ and ‘Me And Julio Down By The School Yard.’
1977 – The Clash released their debut single ‘White Riot.’ The song is in the typical punk style of three chords played very fast. Mick Jones counts off ‘1-2-3-4’ at the start of the album version while the single version begins with the sound of a police siren instead.
1989 – Stock, Aitken and Waterman had three singles in the UK Top 5: Jason Donovan’s ‘Too Many Broken Hearts’, Bananarama’s ‘Help’, and Donna Summer’s ‘This Time I Know Its For Real.’ SAW are considered to be one of the most successful songwriting and producing partnerships of all time, scoring more than 100 UK top 40 hits.
2013 – David Bowie’s first album in a decade become the fastest-selling of the year, hitting the No.1 spot in the UK in its first week of release. Bowie took great pains to keep the recording of the album secret, requiring people involved in the recording to sign NDAs. Bowie had to change recording studios after one day when someone at the studio leaked the rumour that he was recording there. The Next Day was the 66-year-old’s first No.1 since 1993’s Black Tie White Noise and sold 94,000 copies in the first week.
Today in history
978 AD – Edward the Martyr, King of England and the eldest son of King Edgar, was murdered at Corfe Castle. The murder is thought to have been ordered by his stepmother Aelfryth, mother of Ethelred the Unready who was eager to see her son crowned.
1766 – American Revolution: The British Parliament repealed the Stamp Act. It was a direct tax imposed by the British Parliament specifically on the colonies of British America and required many printed materials in the colonies to be produced on stamped paper produced in London. The purpose of the tax was to help pay for troops stationed in North America after the British victory in the Seven Years’ War.
1824 – The birth of the brewer John Smith. The brewery’s headquarters are in Tadcaster where brewing began in 1758 by Stephen Hartley as the area’s hard water proved to be well-suited for brewing. John Smith’s has been the biggest selling bitter in the United Kingdom since the mid-1990s.
1834 – Six farm labourers from Tolpuddle, Dorset were sentenced to be transported to Australia for seven years for forming the first trade union and introducing collective bargaining for better wages. There was such an outcry that they were pardoned two years after sentencing and allowed to return to England. The annual Tolpuddle Martyrs’ festival is held in the village of Tolpuddle in the third weekend of July. Each year a wreath is laid at the grave of James Hammett, one of the martyrs.
1869 – Neville Chamberlain, British prime minister was born. In 1938 he returned from Munich with the claim – ‘peace in our time’ but in less than a year Britain was at war with Germany. His appeasement policy towards Hitler led to his downfall in 1940, when he handed over to Churchill.