October 29th "2024" Daily Prep
Welcome to day 303 of the “leap” year! Known as National Cat Day, Nationa; Internet Day, RSPB Feed The Birds Day, World Psoriasis Day, World Stroke Day. Your star sign is Scorpio and your birthstone is Pink Tourmaline.
2013 – The Lonely Planet Guide named Yorkshire as one of the top places in the world to visit. It put the area third in the top 10 world regions, behind destinations in India and Australia.
Todays birthdays
1955 – Roger O’Donnell (69), English keyboardist best known as a longtime member of The Cure – “Friday I’m In Love”, born in East London.
1964 – Yasmin Le Bon (60), British supermodel (one of the highest-earning models during the 1980s) and the wife of Duran Duran singer, Simon Le Bon (since 1985), born in Oxford.
1967 – Rufus Sewell (57), English actor (A Knight’s Tale, The Tourist), born in Twickenham, London.
1971 – Winona Ryder (53), American actress (Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Edward Scissorhands, Beetlejuice), born in Winona, Minnesota, United States.
1974 – Michael Vaughan (50), English cricket commentator and former cricketer (England captain of the Test team 2003 – 2008), born in Eccles, Salford, Greater Manchester.
Famous deaths
2023 – Bobby Charlton (b. 1937), English footballer and manager (member of the England team that won the 1966 FIFA World Cup).
The day today
1975 – The world’s largest mining complex was opened at Selby, Yorkshire. With 124 miles of underground roadways, it was capabale of producing 10 million tons of coal per year.
1986 – The final section of the M25 was opened. The motorway around Greater London was designed to relieve traffic congestion within the capital.
1988 – Two of Britain’s greatest middle distance runners, Sebastian Coe and Steve Cram, re-ran the 367 metre ‘Chariots of Fire’ race around the Great Court at Trinity College, Cambridge. Sebastian Coe was the winner in 45.52 seconds. In the original race Lord Burghley crossed the line in 42.5 seconds.
2008 – TV and radio presenters Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand were suspended. All their shows were taken off air whilst the BBC investigated what the media called their ‘prank calls’ made to actor Andrew Sachs (Fawlty Towers) and comments made about the actor’s granddaughter. Brand and Ross called Sachs to interview him on-air; when he did not answer, they left a series of lewd messages on his answering machine, including comments about Brand’s relationship with Sachs’ granddaughter, Georgina Baillie. Brand and Radio 2 controller Lesley Douglas resigned from the BBC. On 30th October, the BBC suspended Ross without pay for 12 weeks and the BBC was fined £150,000 by Ofcom. The BBC issued an apology on 8th November, stating that the telephone calls were “grossly offensive” and a “serious breach of editorial standards”.
2010 – Take That fans complained after facing major problems buying tickets to see Robbie Williams tour with the group for the first time in 16 years. The websites of official agencies including Ticketmaster, See Tickets, Ticketline and The Ticket Factory all buckled under the strain as the tickets went on sale at 0900 BST.
Today in music
2000 – The Spice Girls went to No.1 on the UK singles chart with “Holler”. The group made musical history by scoring their ninth No.1 making them joint fourth in the list of acts that have had nine UK No.1 singles.
2007 – Kylie Minogue was honoured with the Music Industry Trust prize for her 20-year career and status as an “icon of pop and style” at a London ceremony. The first time in the event’s 16-year history that the award has gone to a woman, past winners included Sir Elton John and Peter Gabriel.
2013 – Hundreds of viewers complained about Lady Gaga’s recent UK performance on The X Factor according to Ofcom. Around 200 people contacted the broadcasting watchdog about her outfit of shells and flesh-coloured underwear. Another 60 viewers complained directly to ITV about the singer’s appearance, before the 9pm watershed.
2019 – Ed Sheeran became the UK’s richest star under 30 according to the annual Rich List of Britain’s wealthiest young stars with an estimated fortune of £170million – almost double his worth the previous year. Coming in second was Harry Potter actor Daniel Radcliffe with £90million and former One Direction singer Harry Styles was placed at number three.
2022 – Taylor Swift overtook Madonna by setting a new chart record for the quickest succession of nine UK No.1 albums by a female artist after her 10th album, Midnights, topped the UK chart. The album also became the fastest-selling record of 2022.
Today in history
1618 – Sir Walter Raleigh, English seafarer, courtier, writer and once a favourite of Queen Elizabeth I (he named Virginia after her) was beheaded at Whitehall. He had been falsely accused of treason and sentenced to death. He was released after 13 years to try and find the legendary gold of El Dorado in South America that originated from a legend told by the Muisca people, an indigenous tribe in what is now Colombia. He failed, and returned to an undeserved fate.
1656 – Edmund Halley, British astronomer, was born. He studied at the University of Oxford. In 1676 he set sail for the South Atlantic with the intention of compiling an accurate catalogue of the stars of the Southern Hemisphere. Halley found the similarities in the orbits of bright comets reported in 1531, 1607, and 1682 and he suggested that the trio was actually a single comet making return trips. Halley correctly predicted the comet would return in 1758. History’s first known “periodic” comet was later named in his honour.
1704 – The birth, in Southill, Bedfordshire of the British Admiral John Byng. He failed to relieve a besieged British garrison during the Battle of Minorca in 1756 (at the beginning of the Seven Years’ War) and was court-martialled and executed by firing squad on 14th March the following year for “failing to do his utmost” to relieve Minorca from the French fleet.
1843 – The world’s first telegram was sent, from Paddington to Slough.
1863 – Eighteen countries, including Britain, met in Geneva and agreed to form the International Red Cross. The final resolutions adopted included The foundation of national relief societies for wounded soldiers – Neutrality and protection for wounded soldiers and a protection symbol for medical personnel in the field, namely a white armlet bearing a red cross.