March 3rd "2024" Daily Prep
Welcome to day 63, known as The World Wildlife Day and International Irish Whiskey Day. If you were born on this day, you were likely conceived the week of June 10th in the previous year. Your star sign is Pisces and your birthstone is Aquamarine.
1995 – A bill which would ban hunting with hounds in England and Wales became the first such proposal to get a second reading in parliament.
Todays birthdays
1958 – Miranda Richardson (66), English actress (Alice in Wonderland, Sleepy Hollow, Blackadder), born in Southport, Merseyside.
1961 – Fatima Whitbread (63), British retired javelin thrower (first British athlete to set a world record in a throwing event), born in London.
1972 – Darren Anderton (52), English former professional footballer (England, Tottenham Hotspur, Birmingham City), born in Southampton.
1977 – Ronan Keating (47), Irish singer and songwriter (“When You Say Nothing At All”, “Life Is A Rollercoaster”), born in Dublin, Ireland.
1997 – Camilla Cabello (27), American singer and songwriter (“Havana”, “Señorita”), born in Cojímar, Cuba.
Famous deaths
1983 – Hergé (b. 1907), Belgian author and illustrator (Tin Tin).
2010 – Michael Foot (b. 1913), English journalist and politician, Secretary of State for Employment.
2018 – Roger Bannister (b. 1929), English middle-distance athlete, first man to run a four-minute mile.
The day today
1934 – The largest ever English football crowd outside Wembley watched the match between Manchester City and Stoke City, in the FA Cup 6th round. Spectators numbered 84,569.
1943 – World War II: 173 people were killed in a crush while trying to enter an air-raid shelter at Bethnal Green tube station, in London.
1985 – NUM members (National Union of Mineworkers) returned to work after their costly year long strike, without a peace deal being won by their leader Arthur Scargill.
1995 – A bill which would ban hunting with hounds in England and Wales became the first such proposal to get a second reading in parliament.
2015 – Paul Coyle (aged 50), the former treasurer and head of tax at Morrisons supermarkets was jailed for 12 months after pleading guilty to two counts of insider trading after buying Ocado Group shares. He was also handed a confiscation order for £203,234.
Today in music
1984 – Nena started a three week run at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ’99 Red Balloons.’ Originally sung in German, ’99 Luftballons’ was re-recorded in English as ’99 Red Balloons’. The song was a No.2 hit in the US and the only UK hit for Nena making her a One Hit Wonder.
1990 – Lindy Layton and Beats International were at No.1 in the UK with the single ‘Dub Be Good To Me.’ Formed by ex-Housemartins Norman Cook, the song was based on the SOS Band’s 1984 hit ‘Just Be Good To Me’ and The Clash song ‘Guns of Brixton’.
2001 – Stereophonics were forced to change the title of their new album after car manufacturer Daimler Chrysler objected to their use of the copyrighted word ‘Jeep’. The UK title became ‘Just Enough Education To Perform.’
2002 – TV show ‘Pop Idol’ winner Will Young scored his first UK No.1 single with ‘Anything Is Possible / Evergreen.’ Young set a new sales record for a debut artist with over 1 million in the first week. It became the biggest selling single of 2002.
2004 – Elton John announced he was planning to marry his long-term partner David Furnish if new UK laws allowed it. A Civil Partnership bill was being passed through Parliament which would give gay couple’s greater rights.
Today in history
1284 – The Statute of Rhuddlan (also known as the Statutes of Wales) was enacted ‘On This Day’. It introduced the English common law system to Wales, allowing the King to appoint royal officials such as sheriffs, coroners and bailiffs to collect taxes and administer justice.
1847 – The birth, in Edinburgh, of Scottish inventor Alexander Graham Bell. He was an eminent scientist, inventor, engineer and innovator who is credited with inventing the first practical telephone.
1857 – The Second Opium War: Britain and France declared war on China, using the killing of a missionary as the pretext.
1884 – Gladstone resigned as Prime Minister, aged 84, because his sight and hearing were failing, but he continued to sit as an MP until the General Election. Gladstone was born in Liverpool to Scottish parents. He first entered the House of Commons in 1832 and was both the oldest person to serve as Prime Minister and the only Prime Minister to have served four terms.
1891 – The penalty spot kick rule in football is conceived, but does not come into effect until the following season.