May 9th "2024" Daily Prep
Welcome to day 130, known as Hurray for Buttons Day, Lost Sock Memorial Day, Guernsey Liberation Day. If you were born on this day, you were likely conceived the week of August 16th in the previous year. Your star sign is Taurus and your birthstone is Emerald.
1662 – The first recorded Punch & Judy Show in Britain took place at Covent Garden in London.
Todays birthdays
1941 – Dorothy Hyman (83), English retired sprinter who competed at the 1960 and 1964 Summer Olympics in the 100m, 200m and 4 × 100m events, winning three medals, born in Cudworth, Barnsley, South Yorkshire.
1949 – Billy Joel (75), American singer/songwriter (“We Didn’t Start the Fire”, “Just The Way You Are”), born in New York, New York, United States,
1950 – Matthew Kelly (74), English actor and television presenter (You Bet! and Stars in Their Eye), born in Urmston, Greater Manchester.
1962 – Paul Heaton (62), English singer/songwriter with both the Housemartins and Beautiful South (“Caravan of Love”, “One Last Love Song”), born in Bromborough, Merseyside.
1962 – David Gahan (62) English singer and the lead singer of electronic band Depeche Mode (“Just Can’t Get Enough”, “Personal Jesus”), born in Epping, Essex.
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
1904 – The steam locomotive City of Truro (engine number 3440), designed by George Jackson Churchward and built at the GWR Swindon Works, became the first steam engine in Europe to exceed 100 mph.
1941 – World War II: The German submarine U-110 was captured by the Royal Navy. On board was the latest Enigma cryptography machine which Allied cryptographers later used to break coded German messages.
1995 – Wayne Mills became the first soldier to win Britain’s new gallantry award for courage (the Conspicuous Gallantry Cross) when he put his life in danger by protecting his comrades in Bosnia as they withdrew from a Serb attack.
1996 – The British House of Commons voted to maintain the Ministry of Defence ban on homosexuals serving in the armed forces. In 2000 the Ministry of Defence changed its policy to allow LBGT+ people to serve openly.
2014 – Former cabinet minister Chris Huhne was ordered to pay £77,750 for the costs of his prosecution for passing speeding points to his then wife, the economist Vicky Pryce. Both Huhne and Pryce were sentenced to eight months imprisonment in March 2013.
Today in music
1967 – Sandie Shaw was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with “Puppet On A String”. That week’s two highest new entries were Jimi Hendrix with “The Wind Cries Mary” and The Kinks “Waterloo Sunset”.
1980 – “I Don’t Like Mondays” by The Boomtown Rats won the best pop song and outstanding British lyric categories at the 25th Ivor Novello Awards. And Supertramp’s “The Logical Song” won Best Song Musically and Lyrically.
1981 – Adam and the Ants were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with “Stand And Deliver.” The song enjoyed a five-week run at No.1.
1987 – Starship started a four-week run at No.1 on the UK singles chart with a song co-written by Albert Hammond and Diane Warren, “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now.” At 48, it made lead singer Grace Slick the oldest female to reach No.1 on the UK chart, (later broken by Cher’s “Believe” in 1999).
2013 – David Bowie’s latest video, which starred Gary Oldman and Marion Cotillard, was temporarily pulled from YouTube over its graphic content. ‘The Next Day’ featured heavy religious imagery, including Cotillard bleeding from stigmata marks. The video sees Bowie performing in a basement bar, surrounded by religious figures, while Oldman, dressed as a priest, punches a beggar before dancing with a prostitute, played by Oscar-winner Cotillard. YouTube admitted making the “wrong call” in removing the video, and reinstated it with an adult content warning.
Today in history
1092 – Lincoln Cathedral was consecrated. For 249 years it was reputedly the tallest building in the world. Writer John Ruskin declared that “The cathedral of Lincoln is out and out the most precious piece of architecture in the British Isles and roughly speaking worth any two other cathedrals we have.”
1386 – The Treaty of Windsor was ratified between England (succeeded by the United Kingdom) and Portugal. It is the oldest diplomatic alliance in the world that is still in force.
1662 – The first recorded Punch & Judy Show in Britain took place at Covent Garden in London performed by the Italian puppet showman Pietro Gimonde from Bologna, otherwise known as Signor Bologna.
1671 – Irishman Colonel Thomas Blood attempted to steal the British Crown Jewels from the Tower of London. Despite being caught red-handed, he was pardoned by King Charles II.
1896 – The first ‘Horseless Carriage’ Show opened at the Imperial Institute in London, when ten engine-powered models went on show to the public