March 19th "2024" Daily Prep
Welcome to day 79, known as International Read To Me Day and National Chocolate Caramel Day. If you were born on this day, you were likely conceived the week of June 26th in the previous year. 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.
Todays birthdays
1936 – Ursula Andress (88), Swiss actress (Dr. No., Casino Royale, Clash of the Titans) former model and sex symbol, born in Ostermundigen, Switzerland.
1947 – Glenn Close (77), American actress (101 Dalmatians, Cruella, The Stepford Wives, Air Force One), born in Greenwich, Connecticut, United States.
1955 – Bruce Willis (69), American actor (Die Hard, Pulp Fiction, The Sixth Sense, Armageddon), born in Idar-Oberstein, Germany.
1981 – Steve Cummings (43), English former racing cyclist (between 2005 and 2019 for the Landbouwkrediet–Colnago, Discovery Channel, Barloworld, Team Sky, BMC Racing Team and Team Dimension Data squads, and rode for Great Britain at the Summer Olympic Games), born in Clatterbridge, Birkenhead, Merseyside.
1982 – Eduardo Saverin (42), Brazilian billionaire (co-founder of Facebook), entrepreneur and angel investor based in Singapore, born in São Paulo, State of São Paulo, Brazil.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 the towers of the Evangelists, with the central event of the mass and the subsequent blessing and lighting up for the first time.
1921 – Irish War of Independence: One of the biggest engagements of the war takes place at Crossbarry, County Cork. About 100 Irish Republican Army (IRA) volunteers escape an attempt by over 1,300 British forces to encircle them.