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 298 of the year.

Saturday, October 25th Daily Prep.

Known as World Pasta Day, Muddy Dog Day, Fine Art Appreciation Day, National Greasy Food Day. Your star sign is Scorpio and your birthstone is Pink Tourmaline.
1964 – The Beatles won five UK Ivor Novello Awards – 1963’s Most Broadcast Song, and Top-Selling Single ‘She Loves You’, Second Best-Selling Single ‘I Want to Hold your Hand’, Second Most Outstanding Song ‘All My Loving’, and the Most Outstanding Contribution to Music.
The Beatles won five UK Ivor Novello Awards – 1963’s Most Broadcast Song, and Top-Selling Single ‘She Loves You’, Second Best-Selling Single ‘I Want to Hold your Hand’, Second Most Outstanding Song ‘All My Loving’, and the Most Outstanding Contribution to Music.
Today’s birthdays
1950 – Chris Norman (75), English soft rock singer and original lead vocalist with Smokie (“Living Next Door to Alice”), born in Redcar, North Yorkshire.
1957 – Nancy Cartwright (68), American voice actress and the voice of Bart Simpson (and others) in The Simpsons, born in Dayton, Ohio, United States.
1961 – Pat Sharp (64), English former BBC radio 1 presenter, television presenter (Fun House, Top of the Pops) and DJ. Currently presenting the mid-morning show on Heart 80s.

1962 – Nick Hancock (63), English actor (Holding the Baby) and television presenter (They Think It’s All Over, Room 101), born in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire.

1958 – Phil Daniels (67), English actor (Quadrophenia, EastEnders, Time Gentlemen Please, Scum). He was also the voice on the song “Parklife” by Blur, born in Islington, London.
1981 – Shaun Wright-Phillips (44), English former professional footballer (Manchester City, Chelsea and Queens Park Rangers), born in Greenwich, London.
1984 – Katy Perry (41), American singer (“I Kissed A Girl”, “Teenage Dream”), dubbed the “Queen of Camp” by Vogue and Rolling Stone, born in Santa Barbara, California, United States.
Famous deaths
2002 – Richard Harris (b. 1930), Irish actor (Gladiator, Camelot) who played as Albus Dumbledore in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone and the Chamber of Secrets.

2004 – John Peel (b. 1939), English radio presenter and journalist. He was the longest-serving of the original disc jockeys on BBC Radio 1, from 1967 until his death in 2004.

The day today
1951 – Margaret Roberts (later Thatcher), aged 26, of the Conservative Party, became the youngest candidate to stand at a general election. The Conservatives won a narrow overall majority but the future British Prime Minister failed to win the seat.
1964 – English driver John Surtees finishes 2nd behind American Dan Gurney in season ending Mexican Grand Prix at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez to clinch his first F1 World Drivers Championship edging Graham Hill by 1 point.
1976 – The National Theatre on London’s South Bank was officially opened by the Queen, after years of delays due to funding issues and construction problems. The complex, designed by Sir Denys Lasdun, was planned after the political go-ahead in 1949, but work didn’t begin until 1969.
1978 – “Halloween”, directed by John Carpenter, starring Donald Pleasence and Jamie Lee Curtis in her film debut, is released (advertised as John Carpenter’s Halloween).
1986 – The South African government expelled the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) from the country in retaliation for the government’s own delegation being ousted from an International Red Cross conference in Geneva. The South African government delegation was expelled from the conference in protest of its apartheid policies.
1995 – Fans gathered outside Buckingham Palace, to sing ‘Congratulations’ after singer Cliff Richard formally received his knighthood.
2013 – A dog walker found around sixty thousand pounds in banknotes (some charred after being burnt), floating in a Lincolnshire waterway (South Drove Drain in Spalding). Six months later police were still following up a number of lines of enquiry.
2015 – Lewis Hamilton won the 2015 United States Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas. This victory secured his third Formula One World Drivers’ Championship and his second consecutive title. The win marked Hamilton’s 10th victory of the 2015 season and the 43rd of his career.

2017 – Scientists in India discovered a 152-million-year-old fossil of an extinct marine reptile called the ichthyosaur. The fossil was found inside rocks from the Mesozoic Era, which ran between 252 and 66 million years ago.

2020 – Lewis Hamilton secured his 92nd career Formula 1 victory at the Portuguese Grand Prix at the Algarve International Circuit in Portimão. This win moved him past Michael Schumacher to become the driver with the most Grand Prix wins in F1 history.
2022 – Sportswear manufacturer Adidas cuts ties with American rapper and fashion designer Kenye West over anti-Semitic remarks he made in interviews and on his social media. Adidas said West’s comments and actions were “unacceptable, hateful and dangerous” and that they violated the company’s values of “diversity and inclusion, mutual respect and fairness”.
Today in music
1958 – Cliff Richard made his British radio debut on the BBC’s ‘Saturday Club.’ The show had started life as Saturday “Skiffle” club in 1957 hosted by Brian Matthew and was broadcast from 10am to 12noon Saturday mornings on the BBC Light Programme.

1969 – ‘Sugar Sugar’ by The Archies was at No.1 on the UK singles chart. It stayed at the top for eight weeks, and was also No.1 in the US, selling over six million copies worldwide. The Archies were a rock group based on comic book characters.

1975 – Art Garfunkel was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with his version of ‘I Only Have Eyes For You.’ Written in 1934 for the film Dames the song was a No.2 hit for Ben Selvin in 1934 and most notably a hit for The Flamingos in 1959.
1986 – Bon Jovi went to No.1 on the US album chart with ‘Slippery When Wet’. Featuring two US No.1 singles, ‘You Give Love A Bad Name’ and ‘Livin’ On A Prayer’. The album went on to sell over 8 million copies world wide.
1986 – For the first time in the history of the Billboard Hot 100, the top three spots were held by female solo acts. Cyndi Lauper’s ‘True Colors’ held down the No.1 position, followed by Tina Turner’s ‘Typical Male’ at No.2 and Janet Jackson’s ‘When I Think Of You’ at No.3.
1997 – The Spice Girls went to No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Spice Up Your Life’. Taken from their second album ‘Spiceworld’ the single set new record, making them the only act to have their first five singles reach No.1.
2002 – Richard Harris, who had the 1968 US No.2 & UK No.4 hit MacArthur Park died of cancer. The 72-year-old Irish-born actor had been undergoing chemotherapy at a private clinic in London. Though he charted three other times, Harris was better known for his acting roles on stage and in film, most recently playing Albus Dumbledore in two Harry Potter films.
2004 – John Peel died in Cuzco, Peru of a heart attack, aged 65. He was BBC’s longest-serving radio DJ and the first DJ to introduce the Ramones, The Smiths, Rod Stewart, Blur, the Sex Pistols, T Rex and others to the masses. He founded Dandelion Records in 1969, and was also known for his ‘Peel Sessions’, releases of live radio sessions. Peel was appointed an OBE in 1998.
2012 – Forbes magazine reported that Michael Jackson topped their list of highest-earning dead musical celebrities by earning $145 million in the past year. Elvis Presley ranked No.2 with $55 million in earnings, and Bob Marley No.3 with $17 million.
Today in history
1145 – The death of King Stephen, the last of the Norman kings. He was the nephew of Henry I and the grandson of William I. He was succeeded by Henry II, the first Plantagenet king.

1400 – The death of Geoffrey Chaucer, the English poet famous for the Canterbury Tales. Chaucer is known as the Father of English literature, is widely considered the greatest English poet of the Middle Ages and was the first poet to have been buried in Poet’s Corner of Westminster Abbey.

1415 – In the Hundred Year’s War, King Henry V’s Longbowmen defeated a numerically superior French Army at the Battle of Agincourt. His victory crippled France and started a new period in the war, during which Henry married the French king’s daughter and his son, Henry VI, was made heir to the throne of France.
1760 – King George II died. George III Hanover, his grandson, became king. In the later part of his life, George III suffered from recurrent, and eventually permanent, mental illness which may have been caused by a blood disease. After a final relapse in 1810, a regency was established, and George III’s eldest son, George, Prince of Wales, ruled as Prince Regent.
1828 – St Katharine Docks opened in Central London, England, and it was one of the largest ports for trade in London in the 19th Century.
1854 – The Battle of Balaclava took place during the Crimean War. This battle featured The Charge of the Light Brigade, a disastrous cavalry charge by the British against the Russians. This charge alone resulted in over 100 casualties for the British.