Tuesday, May 13th "2025" Daily Prep
Welcome to day 133, known as Fair Trade Day, Top Gun Day, Tulip Day, National Apple Pie Day. Your star sign is Taurus and your birthstone is Emerald.
1949 – Britain’s first jet bomber, the Canberra, was given its first test flight at Warton in Lancashire and was flown by Wing Cdr. RP Beaumont.
Todays birthdays
1939 – Harvey Keitel (86), American actor (Reservoir Dogs, Taxi Driver, From Dusk Till Dawn, Sister Act), born in Brooklyn, New York, United States.
1949 – Zoë Wanamaker (76), British actress (My Family, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, 5 Children and It), born in New York, New York, United States.
1950 – Stevie Wonder (75), American singer-songwriter (‘Isn’t She Lovely’, ‘I Just Called to Say I Love You’), born in Saginaw, Michigan, United States.
1956 – Richard Madeley (69), English television presenter (This Morning, Richard & Judy), born in Romford, East London.
1964 – Lorraine McIntosh (61), Scottish singer and member of the pop/rock band Deacon Blue (“Real Gone Kid”, “Dignity”), born in Cumnock, East Ayrshire, Scotland.
1966 – Alison Goldfrapp (59), English musician and vocalist with the electronic music duo Goldfrapp (“Ooh La La”), born in Enfield, London.
1977 – Samantha Morton (48), English actress (Minority Report, The Serpent Queen, The Walking Dead, Band of Gold), born in Nottingham, Nottinghamshire.
Famous deaths
2019 – Freddie Starr (b. 1943), English comedian, impressionist, singer and actor (Opportunity Knocks and the Royal Variety Performance).
2020 – Little Richard (b. 1932), American singer, songwriter, and pianist (“Tutti Frutti”, “The Girl Can’t Help It”).
The day today
1940 – Winston Churchill made his famous speech to the House of Commons.
This was Winston Churchill’s first-ever speech, where he said his famous quote, “I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat.” It was his first speech as Prime Minister.
1949 – Britain’s first jet bomber, the Canberra, was given its first test flight at Warton in Lancashire and was flown by Wing Cdr. RP Beaumont.
1981 – An assassination attempt was made on Pope John Paul II. While the Pope was entering St. Peter’s Square, he was shot four times and suffered blood loss. The shooter was arrested and sentenced to life in prison; however, the Pope pardoned him, and the shooter was deported to Turkey.
1991 – Apple released its Macintosh System 7.0. Qualities of this new operating system included virtual memory, personal file sharing, QuickTime, QuickDraw 3D, and an improved user interface.
1995 – A British mother (Alison Hargreaves, aged 33) became the first woman to conquer Everest without oxygen or the help of sherpas. she died 13th August, the same year while descending from the summit of K2.
2007 – The first episode of ‘Gavin & Stacey’, a romantic situation comedy. Filmed mainly in South Wales, locations included Boofy’s Chip Shop and Island Leisure Amusement Arcade, both at Western Shelter on Barry Island. It ran for a total of 20 episodes.
2024 – OpenAI’s newest version of ChatGPT, GPT-4 Omni (GPT-4o), went live.
This latest iteration boasted unprecedented capabilities, including enhanced contextual understanding and multilingual proficiency, making it a significant milestone in AI development.
Today in music
1967 – The Monkees second album More Of The Monkees, went to No.1 on the UK charts. In 1967 only four albums reached No.1; The Sound Of Music which spent 17 weeks at No.1, The Beatles Sgt. Pepper, 25 weeks at No.1 and The Monkees first and second albums spent 9 weeks at No.1.
1978 – Boney M were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Rivers of Babylon’. The single which stayed at the top of the charts for five weeks was originally by the Jamaican reggae group The Melodians, whose version of the song appeared in the sound track to the 1972 movie The Harder They Come.
1988 – Scottish band Fairground Attraction were at No.1 on the UK singles with ‘Perfect’. The group featured Eddi Reader who had previously worked as a backing singer with the Eurythmics and Sandie Shaw. ‘Perfect’ won the award for Best Single at the 1989 BRIT Awards.
1989 – Kylie Minogue was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with her second solo No.1 ‘Hand On Your Heart.’ The song was written and produced by Stock, Aitken & Waterman. On the same day, Simple Minds went to No.1 on the UK album chart with ‘Street Fighting Years’, their fourth No.1 album. The album featured ‘Mandela Day’, ‘Belfast Child’ and ‘Biko’.
1996 – Oasis became the fastest selling group in UK history after all 330,000 tickets for their summer shows sold out in just nine hours, the tickets for shows at Knebworth and Loch Lomand were priced at £22.50.
2000 – Shaun Ryder’s Volkswagen Corrado was found abandoned after being used as a getaway car. The former Happy Mondays singer’s car, was used in an armed robbery on Harry Ramsden’s fish and chip restaurant in Manchester. £7,000 cash was taken in the robbery.
Today in history
1515 – Mary Tudor, Queen of France and Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk, were officially married at Greenwich.
1568 – In the Battle of Langside, the forces of Mary, Queen of Scots, were defeated by a confederacy of Scottish Protestants under James Stewart, Earl of Moray, who was her half-brother.
1607 – Captain John Smith landed on the coast of Virginia and began the first permanent English settlement in the New World, calling it Jamestown.
1660 – Diarist Samuel Pepys witnessed the removal of the Irish Harp from the Union Flag, on the Restoration of Charles II. The cross of St Patrick was not added until 1801.
1787 – The first fleet of ships carrying convicts to the new penal colony of Australia left England. They arrived in January 1788. ‘On This Day’ in 1987 several sailing ships left Portsmouth, re-enacting the first voyage.
1861 – Queen Victoria of Great Britain, acting on the advice of her government, announced the British government’s position of neutrality in the American Civil War.