Welcome to day 323 of the year! Known as Play Monopoly Day, International Men’s Day, Woman’s Entrepreneurship Day, National Bagpipes Day and Have A Bad Day Day. If you were born on this day, you were likely conceived the week of February 26th. Your star sign is “Scorpio” and your birthstone is Topaz.
1994 – Britain’s first National Lottery draw was shown live on BBC television with a jackpot of 7 million pounds.
Todays birthdays
1942 – Calvin Klein (81), American fashion designer. In addition to clothing, he also has given his name to a range of perfumes, watches, and jewellery, born in The Bronx, New York, United States.
1949 – Raymond Blanc (74), French chef and author (Simply Raymond). He is the chef patron at Le Manoir aux Quat’ Saisons, a hotel-restaurant in Great Milton, Oxfordshire which has two Michelin stars and scored 9/10 in the Good Food Guide, born in Besançon, France.
1961 – Meg Ryan (62), American actress (When Harry Met Sally…), born in Fairfield, Connecticut, United States.
1962 – Jodie Foster (61), American actress (The Silence of the Lambs, Panic Room), born in Los Angeles, California, United States.
1980 – Adele Silva (43), British actress whoplayed the role of Kelly Windsor in the ITV soap opera Emmerdale on and off from 1993 to 2011, born in Norbury, Staffordshire.
The day today
1911 – Doom Bar (previously known as Dunbar sands or Dune-bar) in Cornwall claimed two ships in a single day, Island Maid and Angele, the latter killing the entire crew, except the captain. There have been over 600 beachings, wrecks and capsizings at Doom Bar since records began early in the 19th century, with about 300 ships being wrecked.
1960 – The first VTOL (vertical take off and landing) aircraft P.1127, made by the British Hawker Siddeley Company was flown, untethered, for the first time. It’s first conventional flight, (i.e. a horizontal take off) was on 13th March 1961.
1969 – Pelé, the legendary Brazilian soccer star, scored his 1,000th goal. Known primarily as Pelé, Edson Arantes do Nascimento started playing for the Brazilian national soccer team when he was just 16.
2009 – Floods in Cumbria brought devastation to towns such as Cockermouth. In just 24-hours the total rainfall at Seathwaite was 31.44cm (12.4 inches); a UK record for a single location in any given 24-hour period. William Wordsworth was born in Cockermouth, on Main Street and his house was one of many historic houses in the region to be affected by the floods.
2012 – Two snap bags of the class A drug cocaine were identified by the police officer father of children who had been trick-or-treating in the Royton area of Oldham. Magistrates heard that Donald Junior Green, 23, was mortified by his ‘terrible mistake. He was given a 12-month community order and 130 hours community work.
Today in music
1964 – The Supremes became the first all girl group to have a UK No.1 single when ‘Baby Love’ went to the top of the charts. Written and produced by Motown’s main production team Holland–Dozier–Holland, it was also the second of five Supremes songs in a row to go to No.1 in the United States.
1988 – Bon Jovi started a two week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with lead single from the band’s album New Jersey, ‘Bad Medicine’, which became the group’s third US No.1, and a No.17 hit in the UK.
2000 – The Beatles started an eleven-week run at No.1 on the UK album chart with The Beatles 1. The album features virtually every number-one single released from 1962 to 1970. Issued on the 30th anniversary of the band’s break-up, it was their first compilation available on one CD. The world’s best-selling album of the 21st century, 1 has sold over 31 million copies.
2000 – LeAnn Rimes started a two-week run at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Can’t Fight The Moonlight’, the singer’s first UK chart topper. Written by Diane Warren and featured on the soundtrack of the film Coyote Ugly.
2002 – Safety experts blasted Michael Jackson after dangling his baby from a third-floor hotel balcony. Jacko was in Berlin for an awards ceremony and was showing his nine-month old baby to his fans outside the hotel.
Today in history
1600 – The birth of Charles I, King of England and Scotland who believed that the king ruled by Divine Right, until his action in dissolving Parliament led to the civil war with Cromwell and his eventual execution.
1620 – The ship Mayflower arrived at Cape Cod, America. Its 87 passengers were a Protestant sect, known as The Pilgrim Fathers. (Note:- The Pilgrim Fathers were thwarted in their first attempt to sail to America when they left from Havenside, near Boston, Lincolnshire in September 1607.
1850 – The British poet Alfred Lord Tennyson became Britain’s Poet Laureate.
He succeeded William Wordsworth and was followed by Alfred Austin. Some of his most celebrated poems include “Claribel” and “Mariana.”
1861 – The first major shipment of petroleum and refined oil products took place when the 224-ton brigantine Elizabeth Watts delivered 1,329 barrels (about 182 tons) of crude and refined products from Philadelphia to London.
1863 – One of the greatest speeches of all American history, The Gettysburg Address, was given by Abraham Lincoln.
Fact of the day
The shortest commercial flight in the world is in Scotland. Regional airline Loganair flies between the islands Westray and Papa Westray. The journey is just 1.7 miles and takes 90 seconds (with the fastest recorded time being 53 seconds).