November 10th "2024" Daily Prep
Welcome to day 315 of the “leap” year! Known as Vanilla Cupcake Day, Sesame Street Day, International Tongue Twister Day, World Science Day. Your star sign is Scorpio and your birthstone is Topaz.
1968 – England and Yorkshire fast bowler Fred Trueman announced his retirement. A bronze statue of him (pictured) is in the canal basin at Skipton, North Yorkshire, the town where he lived for many years.
Todays birthdays
1944 – Tim Rice (80), English lyricist best known for his collaborations with Andrew Lloyd Webber (Jesus Christ Superstar, Evita), born in Amersham, Buckinghamshire.
1963 – Hugh Bonneville (61), English actor (Notting Hill) best known for portraying Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham, in Downton Abbey, born in Paddington, London.
1965 – Eddie Irvine (59), Northern Irish former racing driver who competed in Formula One between 1993 and 2002 (Jordan, Ferrari, Jaguar), born in County Down, Northern Ireland.
1973 – Jacqui Abbott (51), English singer with the band The Beautiful South (“Rotterdam”, “Don’t Marry Her”) from 1994 to 2000, born in St Helens, Merseyside.
1989 – Taron Egerton (35), Welsh actor (Kingsman; Rocketman, Eddie the Eagle, Robin Hood), born in Birkenhead, Merseyside.
Famous deaths
2004 – Fred Dibnah (b. 1938), English steeplejack and television personality.
2012 – Clive Dunn (b. 1920), English actor best known for his role as Lance Corporal Jones in the BBC sitcom Dad’s Army.
The day today
1913 – Battersea elected the first black mayor in London, John Archer, born in Liverpool of Jamaican parents. The honour of Britain’s first black mayor goes to Allen Glaser Minns (Dr. Allan Glaisyer Minns?) who was elected Mayor of Thetford, Norfolk in 1904.
1958 – British speed enthusiast Donald Campbell broke the water speed record of 248mph on Coniston Water. He died in 1967 due to a high-speed crash during a water speed record attempt (also on Coniston Water) and his body was not found until May 2001.
1960 – Uncensored version of D. H. Lawrence’s “Lady Chatterley’s Lover” finally goes on sale in the UK after a jury finds publisher Penguin Books not guilty in an obscenity trial.
1997 – Louise Woodward, British child-minder, was freed from jail in the United States after her conviction for murdering a baby was reduced to manslaughter. Her sentence was cut to 279 days, the exact length of time she had already spent in jail.
2010 – Tens of thousands of people protested against plans to treble tuition fees and cut university funding in England. The Conservative Party headquarters were stormed and outside, placards and banners were set on fire and missiles were thrown.
Today in music
1975 – David Bowie was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Space Oddity’ the track was first released in 1969 to tie in with the Apollo 11 moon landing. Rick Wakeman (former keyboard player with Yes) provided synthesizer backing. Bowie would later revisit his Major Tom character in the songs ‘Ashes to Ashes’, ‘Hallo Spaceboy’ and ‘Blackstar’.
1979 – Fleetwood Mac scored their second UK No.1 album with the double set ‘Tusk’, the 12th album by the British/American rock band.
1984 – Chaka Khan was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘I Feel For You.’ Written by Prince, the song featured Stevie Wonder on harmonica and the Rap was by Grandmaster Melle Mel. The repetition of Khan’s name by rapper Melle Mel at the beginning of the song was originally a mistake made by producer Arif Mardin, who then decided to keep it.
1999 – Eighties hit making team Stock, Aitken and Waterman went to court fighting over song rights. Stock and Aitken claimed Waterman owed them hundreds of thousands of pounds as musicians and songwriters.
2008 – Coldplay were declared the biggest-selling act of 2008 at the World Music Awards held in Monaco. The band picked up the prize ‘ along with the Rock Act Of The Year award ‘ after their current album ‘Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends’ topped charts around the globe.
Today in history
1702 – English colonists under the command of James Moore besiege Spanish St. Augustine during Queen Anne’s War.
1793 – The Festival of Reason was held at Notre Dame, Paris. The Festival of Reason was part of France’s dechristianization, an attempt to banish Christianity. The Festival of Reason ordered that all Christian Churches be transformed into Temples of Reason. On this day across the country, altars were dismantled, and the churches were transformed. This was a new religious concept drawn up by the French government called the Cult of Reason, and this was a catalyst for the French revolution, as Christians had their religious beliefs and places of worship taken from them.
1847 – The passenger ship Stephen Whitney is wrecked in thick fog off the southern coast of Ireland, killing 92 of the 110 on board. The disaster results in the construction of the Fastnet Rock lighthouse.
1871 – Henry Morton Stanley locates missing explorer and missionary, David Livingstone near Lake Tanganyika, famously greeting him with the words, “Dr. Livingstone, I presume?”.
1885 – German engineer Gottlieb Daimler unveiled the world’s first motorcycle, referred to as the Daimler Reitwagen.