November 23rd "2024" Daily Prep
Welcome to day 328 of the “leap” year! Known as Adoption Day, National Espresso Day, Fibonacci Day. Your star sign is Sagittarius and your birthstone is Topaz.
2014 – Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton wins the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at the Yas Marina Circuit to clinch his second Formula 1 World Drivers Championship.
Todays birthdays
1959 – Maxwell Caulfield (65), British actor (Grease 2, Dynasty, The Boys Next Door), born in Duffield, Derbyshire.
1968 – Kirsty Young (56), Scottish television (Crimewatch UK) and radio presenter (BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs from 2008 to 2015), born in East Kilbride, Scotland.
1970 – Zoë Ball (54), British television (Live & Kicking, The Priory) and radio presenter (BBC Radio 1 and Radio 2 breakfast shows), born in Blackpool, Lancashire.
1979 – Kelly Brook (45), British model, actress (The Italian Job – 2003, Surbival Island), and media personality, born in Rochester, Kent.
1992 – Miley Cyrus (32), American singer (“Nothing Breaks Like a Heart”, “Flowers”), songwriter, and actress (Hannah Montana), born in Franklin, Tennessee, United States.
Famous deaths
2015 – Warren Mitchell (b. 1926), English actor and screenwriter best known for playing bigoted cockney Alf Garnett (Till Death Us Do Part, In Sickness and in Health).
2020 – Des O’Connor (b. 1932), English comedian, singer and television presenter (Today with Des and Mel, Take Your Pick!, Countdown).
The day today
1915 – ‘Pack Up Your Troubles in Your Old Kit Bag’, the famous First World War song, was published, by Felix Powell and George Asaf, who were really two brothers from Wales.
1962 – British surgeon John Charnley developed a technique at Wrightington Hospital Lancashire that revolutionised hip replacement operations. He was later knighted for his efforts and his work became the standard procedure across the world.
1963 – The BBC broadcast the first ever episode of Doctor Who, starring William Hartnell as the Doctor, and Ann Ford as his first female companion. It is the world’s longest running science fiction drama.The producer, Sydney Newman, thought the Daleks, designed by Ray Cusick, were ‘bug-eyed monsters’ and totally wrong for the series.
1984 – Almost 1,000 passengers are trapped in smoke-filled tunnels for three hours after a fire at Oxford Circus underground station.
1990 – The death of the author Roald Dahl. He was born in Cardiff, (to Norwegian parents). His notable works include James and the Giant Peach, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Fantastic Mr Fox, George’s Marvellous Medicine and The BFG (Big Friendly Giant).
Today in music
1975 – Queen started a nine-week run at No.1 on the UK singles chart with Bohemian Rhapsody. The promotional video that accompanied the song is generally acknowledged as being the first pop video and only cost £5,000 to produce. When the band wanted to release the single various record executives suggested to them that, at 5 minutes and 55 seconds, it was too long and would never be a hit.
1979 – Pink Floyd released ‘Another Brick In The Wall (Part 2)’ in the UK. The song rapidly topped the charts in the UK, followed by the US and a further 9 countries. Featuring children from Islington Green School in North London, close to Floyd’s Britannia Row Studios, it was the group’s first UK single since Point Me At The Sky in 1968, and their first chart hit since See Emily Play in 1967.
1991 – Genesis scored their 5th UK No.1 album with ‘We Can’t Dance’, featuring the singles ‘Jesus He Knows Me’ and ‘I Can’t Dance’.
2008 – Leona Lewis was at No.1 on the UK album chart with her debut album ‘Spirit’. The album held the record for the biggest digital album sales in a week ever for a new artist and was the 6th biggest selling of 2008 in the world. It has gone on to sell over seven million copies worldwide.
2015 – Taylor Swift dominated the American Music Awards, winning three prizes, including album of the year and song of the year. One Direction were named favourite group and artist of the year, for the second year in a row and Ariana Grande was the surprise winner of best female, beating Taylor Swift.
Today in history
1499 – The Pretender to the throne, Flemish impostor Perkin Warbeck, was hanged for reportedly attempting to escape from the Tower of London. He had invaded England in 1497, claiming to be Richard of Shrewsbury, Duke of York, the younger son of King Edward IV.
1852 – Britain’s first four pillar boxes came into service on the Channel Island of Jersey. The idea came from English novelist Anthony Trollope who worked for the General Post Office in London before becoming a writer.
1867 – The Manchester Martyrs (William Philip Allen, Michael Larkin, and Michael O’Brien) of the IRA were hung in front of 10,000 people at Salford Gaol, Manchester, UK. The three men were responsible for the shooting and death of a police officer who was transporting two leaders of the group they belonged to, the “Irish Republican Brotherhood.”
1890 – King William III of the Netherlands dies without a male heir and a special law is passed to allow his daughter Princess Wilhelmina to succeed him.
1896 – The first Royal Command Performance for the British Sovereign. The event was in the Red Drawing Room at Windsor Castle, before H.M. Queen Victoria.