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 332 of the year.

Friday, November 28th Daily Prep.

Known as Black Friday, Red Planet Day, French Toast Day. Your star sign is Sagittarius and your birthstone is Topaz.
1935 – The Miles quadruplets (Ann, Ernest, Michael and Paul) were born in Cambridgeshire and were the first British quads to survive infancy.
The Miles quadruplets (Ann, Ernest, Michael and Paul) were born in Cambridgeshire and were the first British quads to survive infancy.
Today’s birthdays
1950 – Ed Harris (75), American actor (The Rock, Apollo 13, Enemy at the Gates, Top Gun: Maverick, Appaloosa), born in Englewood, New Jersey, United States.
1958 – Kriss Akabusi (67), English broadcaster & former sprint and hurdling track and field athlete (World C’ship gold 4x400m; Olympic silver 1984), born in Paddington, London.
1961 – Martin Clunes (64), English actor (Doc Martin), best known for his role as Gary Strang in Men Behaving Badly, born in Wimbledon, London.
1969 – Nick Knight (56), English cricket batsman (17 Tests, 1 x 100, HS 113; Essex CCC, Warwickshire CCC) and broadcaster (Sky Sports), born in Watford, Northwest London.
1970 – Richard Osman (55), English television presenter and comedian. He is the creator and former co-presenter of the BBC One television quiz show Pointless, born in Billericay, Essex.
1974 – Allan Pineda Lindo, known as apl.de.ap (50), Filipino musician and a founding member of Black Eyed Peas, (“I Gotta Feeling”), born in Sapangbato, Angeles, Philippines.
1987 – Karen Gillan (38), Scottish actress known for her roles as Amy Pond in Doctor Who and Nebula in the Marvel films Guardians of the Galaxy, born in Inverness, Scotland.
1988 – Joe Cole (37), English actor (Peaky Blinders), best known for his role as Sean Wallace in Gangs of London, born in Kingston upon Thames, London.
Famous deaths
1968 – Enid Blyton (b. 1897), English children’s writer best remembered for her Noddy, Famous Five, Secret Seven, the Five Find-Outers, and Malory Towers books.

2010 – Leslie Nielsen (b. 1926), Canadian actor and comedian (Airplane!, The Naked Gun film series, Spy Hard) who has appeared in more than 100 films.

2020 – David Prowse (b. 1935), English actor, bodybuilder, strongman and weightlifter who portrayed Darth Vader in the original Star Wars trilogy.

The day today
1919 – Lady Nancy Astor became the first woman to become a member of the British House of Commons. She was elected with a large majority, taking the place of her husband Waldorf Astor, who moved into the House of Lords.

1935 – The Miles quadruplets (Ann, Ernest, Michael and Paul) were born in Cambridgeshire and were the first British quads to survive infancy.

1967 – All horse racing in Britain was cancelled indefinitely by the National Hunt Committee, on the advice of the Ministry of Agriculture, to help prevent the spread of foot-and-mouth disease. The ban lasted for two months in most areas, continuing even longer in some directly affected regions, and led to the cancellation of major races like the King George VI Cup.

1971 – An English farmer uncovered a major immigrant smuggling operation when he rammed a plane which had landed at a disused airfield on his farm in Kimbolton, 10 miles from Huntingdon. The pilot escaped but police officers arrived soon after the incident and detained the five occupants of the plane.
1990 – Margaret Thatcher made a brief, tearful farewell speech outside 10 Downing Street immediately before departing for Buckingham Palace to formally tender her resignation to the Queen. In her statement, she said “We’re leaving Downing Street for the last time after eleven-and-a-half wonderful years and we’re happy to leave the UK in a very much better state than when we came here.”
1994 – Serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer is clubbed to death by fellow inmate Christopher Scarver in the Columbia Correctional Institution gymnasium in Wisconsin. Also known as the Milwaukee Cannibal or the Milwaukee Monster, Dahmer was an American serial killer and sex offender who killed and dismembered seventeen men and boys between 1978 and 1991.
2006 – A modern spy drama unfolded following the death of former KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko in London when traces of polonium-210 radiation were found at central London addresses.
2011 – British company Captive Media announced details of its urinal mounted, urine-controlled games console for men. It called it the first ‘hands-free’ video gaming console of its kind, with games on offer including a skiing challenge, and a multiple choice pub quiz. A noted side effect was that the toilets became markedly cleaner, as a new premium was set on accuracy.
2013 – A Newport man (James Howells) searched a landfill site in South Wales hoping to find a computer hard drive he threw away, worth over £4m. The drive contained 7,500 bitcoins, a virtual form of currency for use online. The drive was not found. As of 2025, the missing Bitcoin has an estimated worth of £597 million.
2013 – The grand unveiling of TV’s Coronation Street (Weatherfield) at its new home on Salford Quays, across the water from the BBC. In January 2014 the soap left its long established Quay Street site in Manchester city centre, which was sold for £26.5m.
2023 – A Virgin Airlines plane became the first to fly using 100% sustainable jet fuel. Flight VS100, which flew from London to New York, used a sustainable fuel made from a blend of used cooking oils, tallow, and other waste products. While planes using sustainable jet fuel emit the same amount of carbon, their net carbon emissions are 70% lower.
2024 – Australia became the first country in the world to pass laws banning kids and teens from using social media. The controversial bill, which banned anyone under 16 from accessing apps like TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, and Facebook, was passed despite a huge public outcry.
Today in music
1954 – Winifred Atwell was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Let’s Have Another Party.’ Atwell was the first Black artist to reach No.1 in the UK and the first black artist to sell a million records.

1964 – The Shangri-Las went to No.1 on the US singles chart with the ‘teen death song’, ‘Leader Of The Pack’. When released in the UK the song was refused airplay by the BBC, (probably due to its death theme), where it went on to chart three times: No.11 in 1965; No.3 in 1972 (by which time the BBC ban had been lifted); and once again at No.7 in 1976.

1970 – Dave Edmunds was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with his version of the 1955 Smiley Lewis hit ‘I Hear You Knocking.’
1976 – The Tom Robinson Band made their live debut at The Hope & Anchor, London. The bands biggest hit ‘2-4-6-8 Motorway’ peaked at No.5 in the UK in Oct 77.
1987 – Taken from the film ‘Dirty Dancing’, the Jennifer Warnes’ duet with Bill Medley ‘(I’ve Had) The Time Of My Life’, went to No.1 on the US singles chart. In the UK the song had two chart outings: in November 1987, after the film’s initial release, the song peaked at No.6; and in January 1991, after the film was shown on mainstream television, the song reached No.8.
1991 – Nirvana recorded a performance for BBC TV music show Top Of The Pops in London. When asked to lip-sync ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ to a pre-recorded tape Kurt Cobain protested by singing an octave lower (he later confirmed he was imitating Morrissey from The Smiths), and attempted to eat his microphone at one point. He also changed some of the lyrics, exchanging the opening line “load up on guns, bring your friends,” for “load up on drugs, kill your friends.”
1992 – Whitney Houston started a record-breaking fourteen-week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘I Will Always Love You’, taken from the ‘Bodyguard’ soundtrack. The song was written by Dolly Parton.
1999 – Cliff Richard started a three-week run at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Millennium Prayer’, despite the record being boycotted by most radio stations. It became Cliff’s 14th UK No.1.
2000 – Madonna played her first British show for more than seven years at London’s Brixton Academy. Tickets changed hands for more than £1,000. QXL.com the internet auctioneers sold one pair for £2,204.
2000 – David Bowie was crowned the musician’s musician. Bowie beat The Beatles and alternative rockers Radiohead in a survey by the NME that asked hundreds of top rock and pop stars to name their biggest musical influence.
Today in history
1290 – Eleanor of Castile, wife of King Edward I, died at Harby, Nottinghamshire. After her death, her body was taken to London for burial in Westminster Abbey, and King Edward I commissioned a series of 12 crosses, known as the Eleanor Crosses, to mark the overnight resting places along the funeral procession.

1520 – Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan enters the Pacific Ocean with three ships, becoming the first European explorer to reach the Pacific from the Atlantic.

1660 – At Gresham College in Central London, 12 men, including Christopher Wren, Robert Boyle, John Wilkins, and Sir Robert Moray founded what was later known as the Royal Society, an organization dedicated to promoting excellence in science.
1717 – Blackbeard attacks and captures a French merchant slave ship, which he renames as his flagship the “Queen Anne’s Revenge”. After its capture, many of the enslaved people on board were freed, with some joining his crew.
1757 – The birth of the poet William Blake. His work included a poem that began ‘And did those feet in ancient time’, which became the words for the anthem Jerusalem.
1814 – The Times newspaper was, for the first time, printed by automatic, steam powered presses built by the German inventors Friedrich Koenig and Andreas Friedrich Bauer. It signalled the beginning of the availability of newspapers to a mass audience.