Wednesday, March 19th "2025" Daily Prep
Welcome to day 78, known as National Poultry Day, International Read To Me Day, Feast of St. Joseph. Your star sign is Pisces and your birthstone is Aquamarine.
1969 – The 385-metre-tall (1,263 ft) TV-mast at Emley Moor transmitting station, United Kingdom, collapses due to ice build-up. The falling mast caused damage to a chapel and the transmitter building, but thankfully, no one was injured.
Todays birthdays
1936 – Ursula Andress (89), Swiss actress (Dr. No., Casino Royale, Clash of the Titans) former model and sex symbol, born in Ostermundigen, Switzerland.
1947 – Glenn Close (78), American actress (101 Dalmatians, Cruella, The Stepford Wives, Air Force One), born in Greenwich, Connecticut, United States.
1951 – Derek Longmuir (74), Scottish former drummer and a founding member of the pop group Bay City Rollers (“Shang‐A‐Lang”, “Bye Bye Baby”), born in Edinburgh, Scotland.
1955 – Bruce Willis (70), American actor (Die Hard, Pulp Fiction, The Sixth Sense, Armageddon), born in Idar-Oberstein, Germany.
1981 – Steve Cummings (44), English former racing cyclist (Tour de France and silver medalist at the 2004 Olympics in Athens), born in Clatterbridge, Birkenhead, Merseyside.
Famous deaths
2008 – Arthur C. Clarke (b. 1917), English science fiction writer most famous for 2001: A Space Odyssey and The Fountains of Paradise.
The day today
1938 – Scotland beats England, 21-16 at Twickenham, London to win the Home Nations Rugby Championship, Triple Crown and Calcutta Cup.
1945 – World War II: Adolf Hitler issued his ‘Nero Decree’ ordering all industries, military installations, shops, transportation facilities and communications facilities in Germany to be destroyed in order to prevent their use by Allied forces as they penetrated deep within Germany.
1958 – The London Planetarium was opened by Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh with public presentations commencing on 20th March. It occupied the site of a cinema destroyed in the Second World War, and seated an audience of around 330 people. In 2006, it was closed as a separate attraction and became part of Madame Tussauds.
1969 – The 385-metre-tall (1,263 ft) TV-mast at Emley Moor transmitting station, United Kingdom, collapses due to ice build-up.
1982 – A group of Argentines landed at South Georgia (a dependency of the disputed Falklands Islands which Britain claimed in 1833) and planted their nation’s flag. The provocation led to war between Britain and Argentina.
2003 – Airstrikes by an American and British-led coalition signal the beginning of the Invasion of Iraq, without United Nations support and in defiance of world opinion.
2015 – Top Gear presenters James May and Richard Hammond rejected an offer to present the season’s last three shows without the suspended star, Jeremy Clarkson. On 25th March the BBC’s director general confirmed that Jeremy Clarkson’s contract would not be renewed, after an ‘unprovoked physical attack’ on a Top Gear producer Oisin Tymon.
2018 – Sudan, the world’s last male northern white rhino, died in 2018. In his final years, he became a global celebrity and conservation icon, helping raise awareness about the brutality of poaching. Sudan was euthanized after suffering from age-related complications. His death ensures the extinction of the species.
Today in music
1970 – David Bowie was married to his first wife, Mary Angela Barnett, for ten years, from 1970 to 1980. He married his second wife, Iman, in 1992 and remained married to her until his death in 2016.
1971 – T Rex were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Hot Love.’ The group’s first of four UK No.1’s spent six weeks at the top of the charts. The two performances of the song in March 1971 on Top of the Pops, which saw Bolan dressed for the first time on television in shiny satin stagewear and glittery make-up were a crucial trigger for the glam rock movement.
2001 – 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.
2006 – Shakira was set to become the first pop star to release a single only in the form of a mobile download. The singer’s forthcoming release ‘Hips Don’t Lie’ would not be issued in the US as a CD or as a download via the internet but would be available to phone users connected to Verizon.
2015 – Ed Sheeran sold the two millionth copy of his second album, X, (pronounced multiply), in the UK, nine months after it was released. He became only the fifth artist to achieve the feat this decade, following in the footsteps of Adele, Emeli Sande, Take That and Michael Buble.
Today in history
1077 – Norman monk Gundulf consecrated as Bishop of Rochester – goes on to build Rochester Castle and the White Tower, Tower of London, as engineer of William the Conqueror.
1330 – Edmund of Woodstock, 1st Earl of Kent and son of Edward I, was beheaded (aged 28) at Winchester Castle, for plotting against the king.
1649 – The House of Commons of England passes an act abolishing the House of Lords, declaring it “useless and dangerous to the people of England”.
1863 – The SS Georgiana, the largest ship in the Confederate States Navy, was sunk on her maiden voyage. The Georgiana was on her way from Scotland, where she was built, to South Carolina when she encountered a Union Navy blockade. After sustaining heavy damage, she was scuttled by the ship’s captain.
1882 – 1st stone laid for the Sagrada Familia basilica in Barcelona, designed by Antoni Gaudí. On 12 November 2023 the Sagrada Família inaugurated the four towers of the Evangelists, with the central event of the mass and the subsequent blessing and lighting up for the first time.