Wednesday, May 21st "2025" Daily Prep
Welcome to day 141, known as International Tea Day, National Strawberries and Cream Day, Eat More Fruits and Vegetables Day. Your star sign is Gemini and your birthstone is Emerald.
1932 – American Amelia Earhart landed in Derry, Ireland, after taking off from Newfoundland the previous day. It was the world’s first solo nonstop flight across the Atlantic Ocean by a female pilot.
Todays birthdays
1948 – Leo Sayer (77), English-Australian singer and songwriter (“Dancing the Night Away”, “Thunder in My Heart”), born in Shoreham-by-Sea, Sussex.
1952 – Mr T (73), born Laurence Tureaud, American actor known for his role as B. A. Baracus in the 80s series The A-Team, born in Chicago, Illinois, United States.
1973 – Noel Fielding (52), English comedian, actor (The Mighty Boosh) and co-presenter of The Great British Bake Off, born in City of Westminster, London.
1976 – Stuart Bingham (49), English professional snooker player and 2015 World Champion, born in Basildon, Essex.
1980 – Gotye (45), born Wouter André De Backer, Belgian-born Australian singer-songwriter (“Somebody That I Used to Know”), born in Bruges, Belgium.
1985 – Mutya Buena (40), English singer and a member of girl group Sugababes (“Push the Button”, “Round Round”), born in Kingsbury, London Borough of Brent.
1994 – Tom Daley (31), English diver (Olympic gold medallist in the men’s synchronised 10-metre platform event at the 2020 Olympics), born in Plymouth.
Famous deaths
2000 – Barbara Cartland (b. 1901), English author known as the Queen of Romance (The Impetuous Duchess, The Wicked Marquis).
The day today
1917 – The Commonwealth War Graves Commission was established through Royal Charter to mark, record and maintain the graves and places of commemoration of Commonwealth military forces.
1932 – American Amelia Earhart landed in Derry, Ireland, after taking off from Newfoundland the previous day. It was the world’s first solo nonstop flight across the Atlantic Ocean by a female pilot.
1950 – Two people died in violent storms including a tornado which devastated southern England. Several others were injured in lightning strikes and fierce winds which caused massive damage to property around London.
1966 – American boxer Cassius Clay (Muhammad Ali) ended the hopes of British heavyweight champion Henry Cooper winning the world heavyweight titles when the bout was stopped in Round 6 because of a severe cut above Cooper’s eye.
1972 – Michelangelo’s Pietà in St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome was vandalized. A man with a hammer attacked the statue, hitting it 15 times. He removed Mary’s arm at the elbow, knocked off a chunk of her nose, and chipped one of her eyelids. Eventually, he was restrained by bystanders.
2013 – Microsoft announced the release of the Xbox One. Microsoft publicly unveiled the new console’s name in a press conference and presented it as an all-in-one home entertainment device.
2015 – At 8:00 am, roughly 50 small boats that were involved in the evacuation of allied troops from the beaches of Dunkirk in World War Two set sail from Ramsgate to mark the 75th anniversary of the rescue. The Dunkirk evacuation, codenamed ‘Operation Dynamo’ took place between 26th May and 4th June 1940 and saw hundreds of wooden fishing boats, pleasure yachts and lifeboats rescue 338,000 troops after they retreated from Nazi forces.
Today in music
1977 – Rod Stewart was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with the double A sided single ‘I Don’t Want To Talk About It / First Cut Is The Deepest.’ The Danny Whitten song ‘I Don’t Want To Talk About It’ was also a UK No.3 hit for Everything But The Girl in 1988.
1979 – Elton John started a tour of Russia, when he played the first of eight concerts making him the first Western star ever to do so.
1981 – Bob Marley received a state funeral in Jamaica.
The funeral combined elements of Ethiopian Orthodoxy and Rastafari tradition, both of which he held to. He was buried in a chapel near his birthplace with his guitar.
1982 – The Hacienda Club was opened in Manchester, England. Madonna made her UK TV debut at the club when C4 music show The Tube was broadcast live. The Hacienda Club was home to many Manchester acts including Oasis, Happy Mondays, The Smiths, Charlatans, James and M People (The club closed in 1997).
1988 – Prince scored his first UK No.1 album with ‘Lovesexy.’ The cover (based on a photo by Jean Baptiste Mondino) caused some controversy upon release as it depicts Prince in the nude. Some record stores refused to stock it or wrapped the album in black.
1988 – Wet Wet Wet and Billy Bragg were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘With A Little Help From My Friends’ and ‘She’s Leaving Home.’ The two Beatles songs had been recorded for the ChildLine charity, sales of the single, which spent four weeks at No.1 on the UK chart, were over £600,000, all of which was donated to ChildLine .
2011 – Adele went to No.1 on the singles chart with ‘Rolling In The Deep’, taken from her second studio album, 21. The video to the song was nominated for seven MTV Video Music Awards nominations, ‘Rolling in the Deep’ was also the Billboard Year End Hot 100 Number One Single of 2011. And on 12 February 2012, ‘Rolling in the Deep’ received three Grammy Awards for Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best Short Form Music Video.
2015 – Black Sabbath received a lifetime achievement prize at the Ivor Novello songwriting awards. Guitarist Tony Iommi picked up the trophy, confirming the heavy metal band would embark on their “final tour” next year. Ed Sheeran was named songwriter of the year, and Annie Lennox was awarded the fellowship of the British Society of Songwriters, Composers and Authors (Basca) – the society’s highest honour.
Today in history
1420 – The Treaty of Troyes was signed, in which it was agreed that Henry V would marry Catherine, the daughter of King Charles VI of France and that Henry and his heirs would inherit the throne of France upon the death of the French king. The treaty was undermined by the deaths of both Henry V and Charles VI within two months of each other in 1422.
1471 – Henry VI, King of England, was murdered in the Tower of London where he had been imprisoned by Edward IV, who then resumed the throne.
1662 – England’s Charles II married Catherine de Braganza, daughter of John IV of Portugal.
1780 – The birth of Elizabeth Fry, English Quaker and prison reformer who visited Newgate Prison, London in 1813 where over 300 women and their children were living in filthy, overcrowded conditions. From this time, she devoted herself to improving conditions, providing hostels for the homeless and establishing various charitable organizations to help the poor.
1894 – The official opening, by Queen Victoria, of the Manchester Ship Canal. At its opening it was the largest river navigation canal in the world. Its designer, Edward Leader Williams, was later knighted.