November 12th "2023" daily prep

Welcome to day 316 of the year! Known as Chicken Soup for the Soul Day, Tempranillo Day and World Pneumonia Day. If you were born on this day, you were likely conceived the week of February 19th 2023. Your star sign is “Scorpio” and your birthstone is Topaz.
2015 – Storm Abigail, the first storm to be officially named by the Met Office, was upgraded to amber, with winds forecast of up to 90mph in the Western Isles of Scotland.
Todays birthdays
1962 – Mariella Frostrup (61), British journalist and presenter (The Big Painting Challenge), born in Oslo, Norway.
1969 – Jason Cundy (54), former professional footballer (Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur) and radio broadcaster for talkSPORT, born in London.
1979 – Cote de Pablo (44), Chilean-American actress known best for her role as Ziva David in NCIS, born in Santiago, Chile.
1980 – Ryan Gosling (43), Canadian actor (La La Land, Barbie, Blade Runner 2049), born in London, Canada.
1982 – Anne Hathaway (41), American actress (The Princess Diaries, The Devil Wears Prada), born in Brooklyn, New York, United States.
The day today
1928 – The birth, in South Africa of Bob Holness, English radio and television presenter. He is best known for presenting the British version of the quiz show Blockbusters, but also presented the quiz shows Take a Letter, Raise the Roof and Call My Bluff.
1933 – The first photograph of the ‘Loch Ness monster’ was taken by Mr Hugh Gray. He managed to take five pictures altogether but after processing, four of them were blank and the fifth was not confirmed as being Nessie.
1974 – A salmon was caught in the Thames, the first since around 1840. It was an 8lb 4 1/2oz female and she was discovered entangled in the protective nets around West Thurrock power station It was regarded by Thames Water authority as a vindication of the £100m they had spent on effluent control.
1997 – Train robber Ronnie Biggs, was celebrating after Brazil’s Supreme Court rejected a British request to extradite him, for the 2nd time. The court in Rio de Janeiro ruled that because Biggs’ crime was committed more than 20 years previously he could not be extradited.
2001 – Greece held 12 plane-spotting British ‘spies’ to carry out further inquiries. All were arrested for allegedly taking photographs at an air show at a military base.
Today in music
1977 – The Sex Pistols went to No.1 on the UK album chart with their debut LP Never Mind The Bollocks, Here’s The Sex Pistols. the punk group’s only No.1 album. The album was met by a hail of controversy upon its release. The first problems involved the allegedly ‘obscene’ name of the album, resulting in the prosecution of the manager of the Nottingham Virgin record shop for having displayed it in a window. More outrage was sparked by the lyrics of the songs ‘God Save the Queen’ and ‘Anarchy in the UK.’
1997 – The Spice Girls were at No.1 on the UK album chart with their second album ‘Spiceworld’, it was also the name of their tie-in film. The album became a huge hit worldwide, lengthening the so-called “Spicemania” fever at that time. It produced 4 singles all of which saw commercial success and has now sold over 20 million worldwide.
1998 – Winners at the MTV Europe Awards included Madonna best female artist and album for ‘Ray Of Light’, The Spice Girls won best group, All Saints won breakthrough artist, Robbie Williams, best male artist and Natalie Imbruglia won best song with ‘Torn.’
2008 – American singer Beyoncé released her third studio album I Am… Sasha Fierce debuting at No.1 on the US Billboard chart. Her third consecutive US No.1 solo album was marketed with the release of several singles, including ‘If I Were a Boy’ and ‘Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)’, both of which charted highly internationally.
2016 – Robbie Williams broke the record for the most No.1 albums by a British solo artist. The singer’s latest album, The Heavy Entertainment Show, debuted at No.1 on this week’s chart. It is his 12th album to reach the summit and pushed him ahead of David Bowie who has 11 No.1 albums to his name.
Today in history
1035 – The death of Cnut the Great (King Canute of Denmark, England, Norway and parts of Sweden). On his death, the Danish throne went to his son Hardicanute and the English to another son, Harold Harefoot, who ruled England until AD 1040.
1595 – The death of Admiral Sir John Hawkins chief architect of the Elizabethan navy. Among his many other roles, he rebuilt older ships and helped design the faster ships that withstood the Spanish Armada in 1588.
1600 – English author John Bunyan was arrested for preaching without a licence. He refused to give up preaching and remained in jail for 12 years.
1847 – The first public demonstration of the use of chloroform as an anaesthetic was given by James Simpson, at Edinburgh University.
1912 – The remains of English explorer Robert Scott and his companions were found on the Ross Ice Shelf in Antarctica. Scott’s party had reached the South Pole on 17th January 1912, only to find that they had been preceded by Roald Amundsen’s Norwegian expedition. Scott and his four comrades all perished on the return journey from a combination of exhaustion, starvation and extreme cold.
Fact of the day
Computer mouse speed is measured in “Mickeys.” The roller-ball device was first invented by a British scientist in 1946 while working for the Royal Navy. However, the word “mouse” was not coined until 1965.
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