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 303 of the year.

Thursday, October 30th Daily Prep.

Known as British Summertime Ends, Mischief Night, National Checklist Day. Your star sign is Scorpio and your birthstone is Pink Tourmaline.
1979 – Barnes Wallis, British aeronautical engineer and inventor of the wartime dam busting ‘bouncing bomb’ died. The pilots of 617 squadron used Derwent Reservoir in Derbyshire to practice their low level flying.
Barnes Wallis, British aeronautical engineer and inventor of the wartime dam busting 'bouncing bomb' died. The pilots of 617 squadron used Derwent Reservoir in Derbyshire to practice their low level flying.
Today’s birthdays
1941 – Otis Williams (84), American singer, founder and last surviving original member of The Temptations (“My Girl”, “Just My Imagination”), born in Texarkana, Texas, United States.

1945 – Henry Winkler (80), American actor (Waterboy) best known for his role as Arthur “Fonzie” Fonzarelli in the US series Happy Days, born in Manhattan, New York, United States.

1956 – Juliet Stevenson (69), English actress (Truly, Madly, Deeply. Bend It Like Beckham), born in Kelvedon, Essex.
1969 – Darrin O’Brien aka Snow (56), Canadian reggae musician, rapper and singer best known for his 1992 single “Informer”, born in North York, Toronto, Canada.
1972 – Jessica Hynes (53), English actress (Spaced) best known for her role as Cheryl on the BBC sitcom, The Royle Family, born in Lewisham, London.

1981 – Ivana Marie “Ivanka” Trump (44), American businesswoman and the second-born child of Donald Trump, born in Manhattan, New York, United States.

1989 – Vanessa White (36), English singer who rose to fame in 2008 as a singer in the girl group The Saturdays (“Don’t Wanna Be Your Lover”, “Up”), born in Yeovil, Somerset.
Famous deaths
1972 – Barnes Wallis (b. 1887), British aeronautical engineer and inventor of the wartime dam busting ‘bouncing bomb’. The pilots of 617 squadron used Derwent Reservoir in Derbyshire to practice their low level flying.
The day today
1925 – In his workshop in London, Scotsman John Logie Baird achieved the transmission of the first television pictures using the head of a dummy as his image source. He then persuaded a 15 year old office boy, William Taynton, to sit in front of a camera, becoming the first live person captured on camera.
1938 – The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells was broadcasted on the radio, creating mass public hysteria. The “breaking news” style of storytelling in the show’s first half scared many people into believing that Martians had invaded the Earth.
1944 – Anne Frank and her sister Margot Frank were deported from Auschwitz to Bergen-Belsen. Anne stayed with her sister until March 1945, when they both died from typhus.
1960 – English surgeon Michael Woodruff performed Britain’s first successful kidney transplant, at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary.

1965 – English model Jean Shrimpton wore a miniskirt to the first day of the Melbourne Cup Carnival in Australia. The event became a milestone in the advancement of the mini as the defining fashion of the 1960s.

1973 – The Bosphorus Bridge in Istanbul, Turkey, is completed, connecting the continents of Europe and Asia over the Bosphorus Strait for the first time.
1988 – Brazilian McLaren driver Ayrton Senna wins the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka, his record 8th GP win of the season to clinch his first Formula 1 World Drivers Championship.
1990 – English and French tunnellers met for the first time underneath the English Channel during the construction of the Channel Tunnel.
1995 – At Winchester Crown Court, Rosemary West, the wife of serial killer Frederick West, broke her 20 month silence to plead her innocence over her husband’s murders.
1997 – Diego Maradona officially announced his retirement from professional football on his 37th birthday. His final professional match was a 2-1 victory with Boca Juniors against River Plate on October 25, 1997.
2002 – Freeview, the UK’s digital terrestrial television (DTT) service launches and starts transmission in various parts of the United Kingdom. It replaced the failed ITV Digital service by providing free-to-air channels over the airwaves via a terrestrial aerial, a service that would later be made available throughout the entire UK with the completion of the digital switchover in 2012.
2012 – Walt Disney bought Lucasfilm Ltd for $4.05 billion in a combination of cash and stock. The purchase included the Star Wars and Indiana Jones franchises.
2018 – The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) reported that the global population of vertebrate wildlife declined by an average of 60% between 1970 and 2014, and linked this decline to expanding human consumption. Other major contributing factors identified in the report include habitat loss, pollution, climate change, and over-exploitation.
Today in music
1959 – Cliff Richard and the Shadows were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Travellin’ Light’. Their 6th release and second No.1 hit.

1968 – Marvin Gaye released ‘I Heard It Through The Grapevine’ which became his first US No.1 single. It was Marvin’s 15th solo hit and also his first UK No.1 single in March 69. Written by Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong in 1966, the single was first recorded by Smokey Robinson & the Miracles as well as Gladys Knight & the Pips.

1970 – Hotlegs made their live debut supporting The Moody Blues at the Festival Hall, London. Their only hit ‘Neanderthal Man’ made No. 2 in July 1970. The members from the group went on to become 10cc.
1971 – John Lennon and The Plastic Ono Band went to No.1 on the UK album chart with Imagine. The album contained two tracks attacking Paul McCartney, ‘How Do You Sleep’ and ‘Crippled Inside.’ Early editions of the LP included a postcard featuring a photo of Lennon holding a pig, in mockery of McCartney’s similar pose with a sheep on the cover of Ram. The front cover photo was a Polaroid taken by Andy Warhol.
1978 – Blondie released the single ‘Hanging on the Telephone’, as the second single from the album Parallel Lines. Written by Jack Lee from US West Coast power pop trio The Nerves. The song gave Blondie their first UK Top 10 hit.
2002 – Jam Master Jay from Run-DMC (“It’s Like That”, “Walk This Way”), was murdered by an assassin’s single bullet at his recording studio in Queen’s, New York. During the 1980s, Run-DMC became one of the biggest hip-hop groups and is credited with breaking hip-hop into mainstream music.
2005 – Hundreds of people queued outside the Sheffield Arena to make sure of getting tickets to see a Sir Cliff Richard. By the time the tickets went on sale some fans had been outside the Arena for nine days, the concert was not until November 2006.
2015 – Adele went to No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Hello’, the lead track from her third album 25. The track was streamed 7.32 million times in its first week, breaking the streaming record previously held by Justin Bieber’s ‘What Do You Mean?’ The song also debuted at No.1 in Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Lebanon, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Scotland, Slovakia and Switzerland.
Today in history
130 AD – The Roman emperor Hadrian officially founded the city of Antinoöpolis in ancient Egypt.
1470 – Henry VI returned to the English throne after the Earl of Warwick (known as Warwick the Kingmaker) defeated the Yorkists in battle.
1485 – The coronation of Henry VII of England. He founded the Yeoman of the Guard – ‘Beefeaters’ – to guard Royal Palaces in London.
1451 – Birth of Christopher Columbus in the Italian seaport of Genoa, to a family of wool weavers. He went to sea from an early age, and was an experienced sailor by his twenties.
1811 – Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility is published anonymously. A small circle of people, including the Prince Regent, learned Austen’s identity, but most of the British public knew only that the popular book had been written “by a Lady.”