Sunday, March 9th "2025" Daily Prep
Welcome to day 68, known as National Barbie Day, World Kidney Day, False Teeth Day. Your star sign is Pisces and your birthstone is Aquamarine.
2015 – Archaeologists began excavating around 3,000 skeletons from the Bedlam burial ground in London, used from 1569 to at least 1738. Also known as Bethlem and the New Churchyard, more than 20,000 Londoners are believed to have been buried there.
Todays birthdays
1945 – Robin Trower (80), English rock guitarist who achieved success with Procol Harum (“Whiter Shade of Pale”) throughout 1967–1971, born in Catford, London.
1949 – Neil Hamilton (76), Welsh former barrister and politician who was leader of the UK Independence Party from 2020 to 2024, born in Bedwellty, Caerphilly, South Wales.
1958 – Martin Fry (67), English singer, songwriter with ABC (“The Look of Love”, “When Smokey Sings”), born in Stockport, Greater Manchester.
1970 – Martin Johnson (55), English retired rugby union player who represented and captained England and Leicester in a career spanning 16 seasons, born in Solihull, West Midlands.
1987 – Bow Wow [Shad Moss] (38), American rapper discovered by Snoop Dogg in 1993 and actor (Like Mike, Fast and Furious: Tokyo Drift), born in Columbus, Ohio, United States.
Famous deaths
1997 – Terry Nation (b. 1930), Welsh author and screenwriter who created the Daleks and Davros for Doctor Who and the series, Blakes 7.
1997 – The Notorious B.I.G. (b. 1972), American rapper (“Hypnotize”), songwriter, and actor (City of Lies).
The day today
1925 – The start of Pink’s War, an air to ground bombardment carried out by the Royal Air Force, under the command of Wing Commander Richard Charles Montagu Pink, against the tribesmen in north west Pakistan. It was the first Royal Air Force operation conducted independently of the British Army and Royal Navy.
1946 – 33 fans were killed and hundreds injured when a barrier collapsed at the Bolton Wanderers’ football ground. The dead and injured were taken from the stand, with those who had perished lain along the touchline and covered in coats. Incredibly, a little under half an hour after leaving the pitch, the game was restarted, with a new sawdust lined touchline separating the players from the bodies. It was the deadliest football stadium-related disaster in British history until the Ibrox Park disaster in 1971.
1950 – Timothy Evans was hanged for the murder of his wife. Three years later John Christie admitted killing her and several other women.
1981 – John Lambe who became known as the M5 Rapist was sentenced to life imprisonment. He was given a life sentence on each of 12 counts of rape and a six year sentence (concurrent) on four charges of attempted rape.
2015 – Archaeologists began excavating up to 3,000 skeletons from a burial ground under London’s Liverpool Street station. The Bedlam burial ground was used from 1569 to at least 1738 and included bodies belonging to victims of the Black Death. The site is to serve the cross-London Crossrail line, due to open in 2018.
2022 – Sir Ernest Shackleton’s lost ship, the Endurance, was discovered, almost 2 miles deep, off Antarctica, 4 miles from where it was slowly crushed by pack ice in 1915. Underwater drones produced stunningly clear images of the 144 foot polar explorer’s ship, which had remained intact after more than a century under water, with gear piled against the taffrail as if Shackleton’s crew had only recently left.
Today in music
1964 – The Beatles filmed the last day of train scenes for the movie A Hard Day’s Night. During their six days of filming aboard a moving train, The Beatles travelled a total of 2,500 miles on the rails.
1966 – The Beach Boys started recording the Brian Wilson and Tony Asher penned song ‘God Only Knows’, which when released in May 1966 was the eighth track on the group’s album Pet Sounds. It became a UK No.2 single in 1966 and the B-side of ‘Wouldn’t It Be Nice’ when released in the US.
1970 – Having recently changed their name from Earth to Black Sabbath, Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward made their concert debut at The Roundhouse, London.
1985 – REO Speedwagon started a three week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Can’t Fight This Feeling’, it made No.16 in the UK.
1985 – Dead Or Alive were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘You Spin Me Round (Like A Record). It was the first No.1 for the production team of Stock, Aitken and Waterman who went on to produce over 100 UK Top 40 hits.
1991 – ‘Should I Stay Or Should I Go’ gave The Clash their only UK No.1 single after the track was used for a Levi’s TV advertisement. The track was first released in 1982 from their album Combat Rock. The Spanish backing vocals were sung by Joe Strummer and Joe Ely.
1996 – Take That scored their eighth and last UK No.1 single (until re-forming in 2006) with their version of The Bee Gees 1977 song ‘How Deep Is Your Love’, (originally intended for US singer Yvonne Elliman), and used as part of the soundtrack to the film Saturday Night Fever.
Today in history
1497 – Astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus recorded his first observation after witnessing a moon eclipse with a distant star. This observation was important as it started his thinking that the sun was in the center of the cosmos.
1566 – David Rizzio, Italian courtier and private secretary to Mary, Queen of Scots, was murdered in the Palace of Holyroodhouse, Edinburgh. Mary’s husband, Lord Darnley, is said to have been jealous of their friendship, because of rumours that he had made Mary pregnant, and he joined in a conspiracy of Protestant nobles to murder him. The murder led to the downfall of Darnley who was himself murdered, apparently by strangulation, less than a year later.
1736 – The birth of William Cobbett, English political journalist who championed the working class and became its first leader.
1881 – The birth, in Winsford, Somerset of Ernest Bevin, one of the founding leaders of the Transport and General Workers Union (TGWU), which soon became Britain’s largest trade union. He was Minister of Labour during the Second World War and created ‘Bevin Boys’; young men chosen by ballot to work down the mines as part of their war service.
1891 – Four days of storms began off England’s south coast, sinking 14 ships.