Thursday, March 20th "2025" Daily Prep
Welcome to day 79, known as Alien Abduction Day, World Oral Health Day, Spring Equinox, Astrology Day. Your star sign is Pisces and your birthstone is Aquamarine.
1999 – British balloonist Brian Jones and Swiss physicist Bertrand Piccard became the first to fly a hot-air balloon non-stop around the world. They eventually landed in the Egyptian desert after a 45,755-kilometer (28,431-mile) flight lasting 19 days, 21 hours, and 47 minutes.
Todays birthdays
1959 – Steve McFadden (66), English actor best known for playing Phil Mitchell in Eastenders, born in Maida Vale, London.
1963 – David Thewlis (62), English actor (The Artful Dodger, The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas and as Remus Lupin in the Harry Potter franchise), born in Blackpool, Lancashire.
1968 – Ultra Naté (57), American singer, songwriter, record producer, DJ best known for her song “Free”, born in Havre de Grace, Maryland, United States.
1972 – Shelly Poole (53), English singer-songwriter and co-founder of the pop duo Alisha’s Attic (“I am, I Feel”), alongside her sister Karen, born in Barking, London.
1984 – Fernando Torres (41), Spanish football manager (Atlético Madrid U19) and former player (Chelsea, AC Milan, Atlético Madrid), born in Municipality of Fuenlabrada, Spain.
1986 – Ruby Rose (39), Australian model and actress (John Wick, Orange Is the New Black, Resident Evil: The Final Chapter), born in Melbourne, Australia.
Famous deaths
2013 – James Herbert (b. 1943), English horror writer (The Secret of Crickley Hall, The Rats, Shrine, The Fog).
2020 – Kenny Rogers (b. 1938), American singer (“Islands in the Stream”) and Country Music Hall of Famer.
The day today
1966 – The Jules Rimet Trophy, awarded to the winner of the football World Cup, was stolen prior to the 1966 FIFA World Cup in England. The trophy was later recovered by a dog named Pickles who was later commended and gained a cult following for his heroism.
1974 – An attempt was made to kidnap Princess Anne in the Mall by a gunman who fired six shots, then tried to drag her out of the car. He fled as passers-by joined her bodyguard and police to foil the attempt, and was later caught. Ian Ball, who was charged with attempted murder, claimed he did it to highlight the lack of mental care facilities.
1980 – Mi Amigo, the ship from which the pirate radio station Radio Caroline broadcast its music programmes, sank during a severe storm. Radio Caroline was unlicensed by any government for most of its early life and was launched to circumvent the record companies’ control of popular music broadcasting in the United Kingdom and the BBC’s radio broadcasting monopoly. The station is still on the air today and currently broadcasts 24 hours a day via the Eurobird 1 satellite and the Internet.
1993 – Two young boys (Johnathan Ball, aged 3 and Tim Parry aged 12) died and at least 50 people were injured in two bomb blasts close to Warrington’s shopping centre.
1999 – British balloonist Brian Jones and Swiss physicist Bertrand Piccard became the first to fly a hot-air balloon non-stop around the world. They eventually landed in the Egyptian desert after a 45,755-kilometer (28,431-mile) flight lasting 19 days, 21 hours, and 47 minutes.
2014 – Cancer Research UK released figures which showed that lung cancer rates among women in the UK had risen by 73% since 1975, but had fallen by 47% among men. “The proportion of men who smoke has been declining since the 1950s, while figures for women did not start to drop until the 1970s.”
2015 – A solar eclipse in the UK peaked at around 9.30am amid grey skies. On the Isle of Lewis, coverage of the sun reached 98%.
2020 – UK schools were shut from the end of afternoon school until further notice, as a response to the coronavirus pandemic. Assurance was given that the children of ‘key workers’ such as NHS staff, police and delivery drivers and also ‘vulnerable children’ would still be looked after in schools. All exams in May and June were cancelled, including GCSEs, AS- and A-Levels and primary school national curriculum tests known as SATs.
Today in music
1968 – Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘The Legend Of Xanadu’, the group’s only UK No.1.
1973 – Slade were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Com On Feel The Noize’, the group’s fourth UK No.1.
1982 – Joan Jett And The Blackhearts started a seven week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll’, a No.4 hit in the UK. The song had been a B-side from 60s bands The Arrows.
1991 – Eric Clapton’s four year old son, Conor, fell to his death from the 53rd story of a New York City apartment after a housekeeper who was cleaning the room left a window open. The boy was in the custody of his mother, Italian actress, Lori Del Santo and the pair were visiting a friend’s apartment. Clapton was staying in a nearby hotel after taking his son to the circus the previous evening. The tragedy inspired his song ‘Tears in Heaven’.
1993 – Shaggy was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Oh Carolina’, the Jamaican singer’s first of four UK No.1’s.
2017 – Ed Sheeran was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Shape of You’. The song peaked at No.1 on the singles charts of 34 countries, including the US Billboard Hot 100. In December 2018, the song became the first song to hit 2 billion streams and the most streamed song on Spotify. ‘Shape of You’ also won the Grammy Award for Best Pop Solo Performance at the 60th Annual Grammy Awards.
Today in history
1345 – Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars came into alignment. Medieval scholars believed this phenomenon brought forth the Black Death. The Black Death was a pandemic covering Europe, the Middle East, and Asia and killed around 25 million people.
1413 – The death of King Henry IV of England. It partly fulfilled a prophecy saying that he would die in Jerusalem. He died in Westminster Abbey’s Jerusalem Chamber.
1469 – The birth, at Westminster Palace, London, of Cecily (also known as Cecelia) of York. She was the the third daughter of the ten children of King Edward IV. In 1474, aged just 5 years old, her father contracted a marriage alliance, betrothing Cecily to the future James IV of Scotland. This was later negated because of military conflicts between Edward IV and James III. Her first marriage (aged 16) was then annulled on the accession of her future brother-in-law, Henry Tudor, as King Henry VII of England. Tragedy then beset her second marriage when two of her daughters died and she was also widowed. She married one more time.
1549 – Thomas Seymour, Lord High Admiral of England who had planned to marry Princess Elizabeth after his wife, Catherine Parr died, was tried and executed for treason.
1616 – Sir Walter Raleigh was freed from the Tower of London after 13 years of imprisonment to conduct a second expedition to Venezuela in search of El Dorado. On Raleigh’s return to England, the outraged Spanish ambassador successfully demanded that King James reinstate Raleigh’s death sentence.
1727 – Isaac Newton, English scientist and discoverer of the ‘Laws of Gravity’, died, aged 84. Isaac Newton was born (4 January 1643) at Woolsthorpe Manor near Grantham and was buried in Westminster Abbey.
1806 – The foundation stone of Dartmoor prison in Devon was laid. It opened three years later to house French prisoners of war, but by 1850 the first convicts were being imprisoned.