Famous deaths
2018 – Chas Hodges (b. 1943), English musician and singer. He was the lead vocalist, pianist and guitarist of the musical duo Chas & Dave.
On This Day 2025
Hello, … Welcome to day 317 of the year.

Thursday, November 13th Daily Prep.

Known as World Kindness Day, Hug a Musician Day, World Quality Day, Tempranillo Day. Your star sign is Scorpio and your birthstone is Topaz.
2019 – Rod Stewart was featured on the cover of Britain’s Railway Modeller magazine. The singer had put the finishing touches to a 25-year project building a railway city, which was modelled on both New York and Chicago around 1945.
Rod Stewart was featured on the cover of Britain’s Railway Modeller magazine. The singer had put the finishing touches to a 25-year project building a railway city, which was modelled on both New York and Chicago around 1945.
Today’s birthdays
1951 – Trudie Goodwin (74), English actress best known for playing Sergeant June Ackland in the British television police drama The Bill from 1983 to 2007, born in Lewisham.
1952 – Art Malik (73), English actor (The Living Daylights, True Lies, The Jewel in the Crown) who achieved international fame in the 1980s, born in Bahawalpur, Pakistan.
1955 – Whoopi Goldberg (70), American actor (Ghost, Sister Act, Jumpin’ Jack Flash), comedian, author, and television personality, born in Chelsea, New York, United States.
1969 – Gerard Butler (56), Scottish actor (300, Law Abiding Citizen, Geostorm, Den of Thieves) and film producer, born in Paisley, Scotland.
1986 – Kevin Bridges (39), Scottish stand-up comedian (Live at the Apollo, Kevin Bridges: What’s the Story?), born in Clydebank, Scotland.
1999 – Lando Norris (26), English racing driver currently competing in Formula One with McLaren, born in Bristol.
Famous deaths
2020 – Peter Sutcliffe (b. 1946), English serial killer dubbed the “Yorkshire Ripper” who was convicted of murdering thirteen women and attempting to murder seven others between 1975 and 1980.
The day today
1901 – The Caister (Norfolk) Lifeboat Disaster. Lifeboat Beauchamp and its crew were lost while attempting a rescue during heavy seas. The following morning, eight bodies were recovered at the scene with another, that of Charles Bonney George being washed away, only to be recovered months later in April of the following year. The victims are all buried in Caister Cemetery.
1916 – World War One : The final Battle of the Somme, on the River Ancre. By the end of the battle, (which started on 1st July 1916) the British Army had suffered 420,000 casualties including 19,240 fatalities on the first day alone. The French lost 200,000 men and the Germans nearly 500,000. The Battle of the Somme epitomised the futility of trench warfare and the indiscriminate slaughter of so many men.
1940 – Disney’s animated feature “Fantasia” was released to movie theaters in the US (21 July 1941 in the UK). Over 1,000 artists and technicians were used in the making of Fantasia, which features more than 500 animated characters.
1954 – Great Britain defeated France to capture the first ever Rugby League World Cup, held in Paris, in front of around 30,000 spectators.
1987 – The BBC screened its first condom commercial as part of a major government campaign to encourage ‘safe sex’ and prevent the spread of AIDS. This marked the first time that a condom advertisement appeared on British television, a controversial move at the time, but one driven by the urgent public health crisis of the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
1988 – Brazilian McLaren driver Ayrton Senna finishes 2nd in the season ending Australian Grand Prix in Adelaide to win his first Formula 1 World Drivers Championship; wins title by 3 points from Alain Prost.
1994 – Title contenders Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill famously collide on lap 35 of the season ending Australian Grand Prix in Adelaide; Schumacher wins his first F1 World Drivers Championship by 1 point from Hill.
1995 – 18 year Leah Betts was on a life-support machine after taking a single ecstasy tablet at her 18th birthday party. Betts died on the morning of 16 November 1995, five days after being admitted to hospital, when her life support machine was switched off.
2023 – Disgraced former British PM David Cameron returned to the UK government. David Cameron stepped down as Prime Minister in 2016 following the complete and utter botching of the Brexit referendum. Cameron’s return as PM Rishi Sunak’s Foreign Secretary shocked many, as it appeared that he would never be allowed back.
2017 – The first-ever Barbie wearing a hijab was revealed at Glamour magazine’s Women of the Year summit. The hijab-wearing Barbie doll was designed after Olympic fencer Ibtihaj Muhammad and was part of the “Shero” Barbie series.
2024 – Historical epic film “Gladiator II,” directed and produced by Ridley Scott and starring Paul Mescal, Pedro Pascal, and Denzel Washington, receives a royal premiere with King Charles III at the ODEON Luxe in Leicester Square, London.
Today in music
1968 – Hugo Montenegro was at No.1 in the UK singles chart with ‘The Good The Bad And The Ugly’, the soundtrack from a Clint Eastwood spaghetti western film. The first instrumental No.1 since 1963.
1999 – A report showed that The Spice Girls were the highest earners in pop during the 90s with their debut album ‘Spice’ selling over 20 million copies. Elton John was second with 14 million sales from ‘The Lion King’.
2002 – Eminem releases the single ‘Lose Yourself’ from the soundtrack of “8 Mile”, the first rap song to win the Academy Award for Best Original Song.
2004 – Rap artist Ol’ Dirty Bastard, (real name Russell Jones), collapsed and died at a Manhattan recording studio in New York aged 35. A spokesman for his record company, said the rapper, had complained of chest pains, was dead by the time paramedics reached him. ODB was a founding member of the Wu-Tang Clan in the early 1990s.

2005 – Simon Cowell was named Show Business personality of the year by the Variety Club at the show business charity’s annual awards show in London. Katie Melua won recording artist of the year at the event, hosted by singer Myleene Klass.

2015 – Adele’s comeback single ‘Hello’ achieved platinum sales status in the UK, just three weeks after it was released after the chart-topping song sold more than 600,000 copies.
2019 – Rod Stewart was featured on the cover of Britain’s Railway Modeller magazine. The singer had put the finishing touches to a 25-year project building a railway city, which was modelled on both New York and Chicago around 1945. The model railway which spans 1,500 square feet was housed in the attic of his Los Angeles home.
2020 – Kylie Minogue went to No.1 on the UK album chart with Disco, making her the only woman to top the chart in five consecutive decades.
2020 – British pop singer Harry Styles becomes the first solo male to be featured on the cover of US Vogue magazine.
Today in history
1002 – English king Æthelred II orders the killing of all Danes in England, known today as the St. Brice’s Day massacre.
1093 – Battle of Alnwick: in an English victory over the Scots, Malcolm III of Scotland, and his son Edward, are killed.
1839 – The last bull run in Britain was held at Stamford. It was held on St Brice’s Day (13 November), for perhaps more than 600 years. Attempts to suppress the Stamford bull run began in 1788, the year the Tutbury bull run was brought to an end. Other bull-running events had earlier been held in Axbridge, Canterbury, Wokingham and Wisbech.
1841 – James Braid (Scottish surgeon), first sees a demonstration of animal magnetism by Charles Lafontaine, which leads to his study of the subject he eventually calls hypnotism.
1887 – The infamous Bloody Sunday Protests were held in London. The protests involved unemployed protestors in physical confrontations with London’s police. Four hundred people were arrested, while 75 were severely injured.