Tuesday, May 6th "2025" Daily Prep
Welcome to day 126, known as Sauvignon Blanc Day, World Asthma Day, National Nurses Day, International No Diet Day. Your star sign is Taurus and your birthstone is Emerald.
1979 – Six rock-cut tombs at Heysham in Lancashire became Grade I listed and a Scheduled Ancient Monument. Further excavation in 1993 on land below the stone coffins showed that the site had been occupied about 12,000 years previously.
Todays birthdays
1953 – Graeme Souness (72), Scottish former professional football player (Liverpool, Rangers), manager (Newcastle United) and television pundit, born in Edinburgh, Scotland.
1953 – Tony Blair (72), British politician who served as Prime Minister of the UK from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007, born in Edinburgh, Scotland.
1961 – George Clooney (64), American actor (Oceans 11, ER, From Dusk Till Dawn, The Perfect Storm), born in Lexington, Kentucky, United States.
1962 – Ian [Stan] Cullimore (63), English musician and former member of the Hull-based indie rock band The Housemartins (“Caravan of Love”), born in Kingston upon Hull.
1968 – Tony Wright (57), English musician and the lead singer of Terrorvision (“Tequila”), born in Bradford, West Yorkshire.
1993 – Naomi Scott (32), English actress (The Martian, Aladdin, Charlie’s Angels – 2019), born in Hounslow. West London.
Famous deaths
1984 – Diana Dors (b. 1931), English actress (Lady Godiva Rides Again).
The day today
1937 – The Hindenburg zeppelin caught fire and was destroyed while attempting to dock in New Jersey. To this day, we still don’t know exactly how the zeppelin caught fire, although there are many hypotheses. The catastrophe was highly publicised, which abruptly halted the airship industry.
1954 – Roger Bannister, a 25 year old British medical student, became the first man to run a mile in less than four minutes (at the Iffley Road Sports Ground, Oxford). His time was 3 minute 59.4 seconds.
1959 – Icelandic gunboats fire lived ammunition at British trawlers during a Cod War between Britain and Iceland over fishing rights in the North Sea.
1961 – Tottenham Hotspur, led by Danny Blanchflower, became the first football team in the 20th century (and the third overall) to achieve The Double i.e. FA Cup and League championships, when they beat Leicester City 2-0 to win the Cup at Wembley. Previous FA Double winners were Preston North End 1888-1889 season and Aston Villa 1896-1897 season.
1966 – At Chester Crown Court, ‘Moors murderers’ Ian Brady and Myra Hindley were found guilty of torturing and killing several children before burying their bodies on the moors north of Manchester.
1979 – Six rock-cut tombs at Heysham in Lancashire became Grade I listed and a Scheduled Ancient Monument. Further excavation in 1993 on land below the stone coffins showed that the site had been occupied about 12,000 years previously.
1994 – The Queen and France’s President Francois Mitterrand formally opened the Channel Tunnel during two elaborate ceremonies in France and Britain.
2004 – The 10th season of “Friends” was it’s last. The final episode, “The One Where They Say Goodbye,” had 52.5 million viewers. It was the 5th most-watched TV finale in the history of the US and the most-watched episode of any TV series in the 2000s.
2023 – The coronation of His Majesty The King and Her Majesty The Queen Consort at Westminster Abbey, the 40th reigning monarch to be crowned there since 1066. Coronation timetable – Procession departure from Buckingham Palace at 10:20am to arrive at Westminster Abbey, shortly before 11:00am for the 2 hour service. Procession of King Charles III and Queen Camilla back along Whitehall and The Mall, to Buckingham Palace, a distance of 1.42 miles. In 1953, the route for Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation was more than four miles long and it took 45 minutes for the whole procession to pass a single point.
Today in music
1972 – The Tyrannosaurus Rex double album ‘Prophets, Seers And Sages And The Angels Of The Ages / My People Were Fair And Had Sky In Their Hair But Now Their Content To Wear Stars On Their Brows’ went to No.1 in the UK. The longest title of an album ever at the time!
1978 – The soundtrack to Saturday Night Fever started an 18 week run at No.1 on the UK album chart, also No.1 in the US. The album, which features seven Bee Gees songs, went on to sell over 30 million copies worldwide.
1989 – Former Frankie goes To Hollywood singer Holly Johnson went to No.1 on the UK album chart with his debut solo album ‘Blast’.
1995 – Oasis scored their first UK No.1 single when ‘Some Might Say’ went to the top of the UK charts. It was the first single to be released from the Manchester bands second album ‘(What’s the Story) Morning Glory?’ And the last Oasis track to feature original drummer Tony McCarroll.
1997 – Both Michael Jackson and the Bee Gees were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
2015 – British-Jamaican singer and songwriter Errol Brown, best known as the frontman of the soul and funk band Hot Chocolate died of liver cancer at his home in the Bahamas. Their hits included ‘You Sexy Thing’, ‘So You Win Again’ and ‘Brother Louie’. His break in music came in 1969 when he recorded a version of ‘Give Peace a Chance’ with some friends. Unable to change the lyrics without John Lennon’s permission, he sent a copy to his record label, Apple, and the song was released with Lennon’s approval.
2002 – ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ by Queen was voted the UK’s favourite single of all time in a poll by the Guinness Hit Singles book. ‘Imagine’ by John Lennon was voted in at No.2 and ‘Hey Jude’, The Beatles No.3, ‘Dancing Queen’ by ABBA was fourth and Madonna ‘Like A Prayer’ was in fifth place.
Today in history
878 AD – The Battle of Edington, a village in Wiltshire. The arrival of a Danish great army in East Anglia in 865 marked the start of a new phase of Viking attacks on Britain. Previously, the Vikings had come to raid and settle around the coast, but this force came to conquer. Only the victory of Alfred the Great against the Viking Guthrum the Old saved Anglo-Saxon independence. Guthrum was forced to withdraw from Wessex and agree to the division of England.
1536 – Henry VIII ordered that English language Bibles be placed in every church.
1682 – King Louis XIV made Versailles the de-facto capital of France when he moved his courts to the Versailles Palace.
While Paris remained the official capital, the relocation of the king’s government essentially made Versailles the heart of France until 1789. During these hundred or so years, Versailles was constantly improved upon by the monarchy.
1801 – Captain Thomas Cochrane (born at Annsfield, near Hamilton, Lanarkshire) captured the 32-gun Spanish frigate El Gamo in his 14 gun ship HMS Speedy.
1840 – The first postage stamps, the ‘Penny Black’ and two-penny ‘blues’, which were the brainchild of Roland Hill, became officially valid for postage.
1870 – The British and Foreign Society for Improving the Embossed Literature of the Blind (which later became the Royal National Institute for Blind People) adopts Braille as best format for blind people.