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 321 of the year.

Monday, November 17th Daily Prep.

Known as Odd Socks Day, National Unfriend Day, National Hiking day, Zinfandel Day. Your star sign is Scorpio and your birthstone is Topaz.
1996 – The Spice Girls were at No.1 on the UK album chart with their debut release ‘Spice Girls.’ Five singles were released from the album: ‘Wannabe’, ‘Say You’ll Be There’, ‘2 Become 1’, ‘Who Do You Think You Are’ and ‘Mama’.
The Spice Girls were at No.1 on the UK album chart with their debut release ‘Spice Girls.’ Five singles were released from the album: ‘Wannabe’, ‘Say You’ll Be There’, ‘2 Become 1’, ‘Who Do You Think You Are’ and ‘Mama’.
Today’s birthdays
1942 – Martin Scorsese (83), American filmmaker (Goodfellas, Shutter Island, The Wolf of Wall Street, Raging Bull), born in Flushing, New York, United States.

1944 – Danny Devito (81), American actor (Twins, Matilda, Taxi, Batman Returns), comedian, and filmmaker, born in Neptune Township, New Jersey, United States.

1955 – Peter Cox (70), English singer-songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist of the English pop duo Go West (“King of Wishful Thinking”, “We Close Our Eyes), born in London.
1960 – Jonathan Ross (65), English broadcaster (The Masked Singer UK, The Jonathan Ross Show), film critic, comedian, actor and writer, born in Saint Pancras, London.
1972 – Lorraine Pascale (53), English TV chef and former model. Her TV shows are in 70 countries worldwide, born in London.
1978 – Tom Ellis (47), Welsh actor (as Gary Preston in Miranda and as Lucifer Morningstar in the urban fantasy series Lucifer), born in Cardiff, Wales.
Famous deaths
2009 – Edward Woodward (b. 1930), English actor (The Wicker Man, The Equalizer).
The day today
1955 – Anglesey became the first authority in Britain to introduce fluoride into its water supply as part of a pilot scheme The scheme, which began on November 17, 1955, was later extended to the whole island in 1964, but was eventually withdrawn in 1991.
1959 – Glasgow Prestwick Airport became the first in Britain to offer duty-free goods. Heathrow followed soon after.
1963 – John Weightman, the headmaster of a Surrey grammar school, banned “Beatle haircuts” because he believed the style was “ridiculous” and made boys look like “morons”.
1970 – Stephanie Marrian became the Sun newspaper’s first ‘Page Three Girl’ where she was named as Stephanie Rahn. Marrian was using her father’s surname of Khan at the time; a subeditor at the newspaper misread her surname as Rahn.
1970 – American engineer Douglas Engelbart received the patent for the first computer mouse, titled an “X-Y position indicator for a display system”. He filed the patent in 1967, and the first prototype was built in 1964 with the help of his lead engineer, Bill English.

1998 – Football legend Geoff Hurst was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace for his services to Association Football. He was recognized for his achievements, most notably scoring a hat-trick in England’s 1966 World Cup final victory, which made him the second member of that winning team to be knighted after Sir Bobby Charlton.

2013 – German Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettel wins his 8th consecutive Formula 1 race with a victory in the US Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas.
2014 – The family of murdered schoolgirl April Jones (aged 5) watched the demolition of the house owned by her killer Mark Bridger. The rented home was bought by the Welsh government in August and is where Bridger is believed to have killed and dismembered April after snatching her outside her parents’ home in Machynlleth, mid Wales, on 1st October 2012.
2014 – The Anglican General Synod formally enacted legislation allowing women to be nominated and appointed as bishops. The first woman bishop – the Rt. Rev. Libby Lane, was consecrated Bishop of Stockport in a ceremony at York Minster 10 weeks later, on 26th January 2015.
2015 – Actor Charlie Sheen publicly confirmed his HIV-positive diagnosis during a televised interview, stating he had been diagnosed about four years prior. He revealed this after a period of media speculation and admitted that he had paid millions in “hush money” to people to keep quiet about his condition.
2018 – Ireland beats Rugby World Cup champions New Zealand, 16-9 at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin making it the first victory over the All Blacks ever on home soil.
Today in music
1957 – Harry Belafonte was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Mary’s Boy Child,’ the first single to sell over 1 million copies in the UK. It stayed at No.1 for seven weeks making it this years Christmas No.1. The first Christmas song to hit No.1 in two different versions – the other was Boney M’s version in 1978.
1962 – The Four Seasons started a five week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Big Girls Don’t Cry’, the group’s second No.1 of the year. It made No.13 in the UK.

1966 – The Beach Boys were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Good Vibrations.’ As a child, Brian Wilsons mother told him that dogs could pick up “vibrations” from people, so that the dog would bark at “bad vibrations” Wilson turned this into the general idea for the song.

1973 – The Who’s double album Quadrophenia entered the UK album chart peaking at No.2. One of two two full-scale rock operas from The Who (the other being the 1969 ‘Tommy’). The 1979 film based on the story stars Phil Daniels, Toyah Willcox, Ray Winstone, Michael Elphick and Sting.
1984 – Wham! Were at No.1 on the UK album chart with ‘Make It Big’ and No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Wake Me Up Before You Go Go’. Michael’s inspiration for the song was a scribbled note left by his Wham! partner Andrew Ridgeley for Andrew’s parents, originally intended to read “wake me up before you go” but with “up” accidentally written twice, so Ridgeley wrote “go” twice on purpose.
1995 – English singer-songwriter and founding member of folk rock band, Lindisfarne Alan Hull died of a heart attack aged 50 whilst working on a new album, Statues & Liberties. After his death, Hull’s ashes were scattered at the mouth of the River Tyne. Lindisfarne scored the 1972 UK No.3 single ‘Lady Eleanor’, ‘Fog on the Tyne’ and ‘Run for Home’. On 19 July 2012, following a public campaign an Alan Hull memorial plaque was unveiled on the front of Newcastle City Hall, at a ceremony attended by hundreds of fans.
1996 – The Spice Girls were at No.1 on the UK album chart with their debut release ‘Spice Girls.’ Five singles were released from the album: ‘Wannabe’, ‘Say You’ll Be There’, ‘2 Become 1’, ‘Who Do You Think You Are’ and ‘Mama’. The first single, ‘Wannabe’, went to No.1 in 31 countries, and the next two singles, ‘Say You’ll Be There’ and ‘2 Become 1’, the top of the charts in 53 countries.
2000 – It was reported that Andy White who played drums on The Beatles track ‘Love Me Do’ which was featured on the new Beatles Greatest Hits album would not earn enough from it to buy his own copy. White would get no more than his original session fee of £7.
2003 – 21 year-old Britney Spears became the youngest singer to get a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The only other performer to get a Hollywood star at her age was Little House on the Prairie actress Melissa Gilbert.
Today in history
1278 – All of London’s Jews (approx. 680) were accused and arrested for coin clipping and counterfeiting. Two hundred and ninety-three of them were later hanged.
1292 – King of Scotland, John Balliol was stripped of power by Edward I of England, leading to his Scottish nickname “Toom Tabard” (Empty Coat). This nickname referred to the ceremonial removal of his heraldic insignia from his clothing by Edward I after Balliol surrendered his kingdom, symbolizing his complete loss of authority.
1558 – The Elizabethan era began when Mary I, England’s first queen (also known as ‘Bloody Mary’), died at St James’s Palace London. She was succeeded by her half-sister Elizabeth I.
1603 – The trial of Sir Walter Raleigh began. Falsely accused of treason, he had been offered a large sum of money by Lord Cobham, a critic of England’s King James I, to make peace with the Spanish and put Arabella Stuart, James’s cousin, on the throne. Raleigh claimed he turned down the offer, but Lord Cobham told his accusers that Raleigh was involved in the plot.
1810 – Sweden declared war on its ally Britain during the Napoleonic Wars to begin the Anglo-Swedish War, although no fighting ever took place! The declaration of war was the result of an ultimatum by France to the Swedish government that France and its allies would declare war against Sweden if Sweden did not meet the French demands to declare war on Britain, confiscate all British ships and seize all British products. The war existed only on paper, and Britain was still officially allowed to station ships in the Swedish port of Hanö and trade with the Baltic nations.
1855 – David Livingstone became the first European to see the Victoria Falls in what is now present day Zambia-Zimbabwe.