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 304 of the year.

Friday, October 31st Daily Prep.

Known as Halloween, Frankenstein Friday, National Magic Day, Samhain (Gaelic festival), Your star sign is Scorpio and your birthstone is Pink Tourmaline.
Happy Halloween – The Halloween holiday has its roots in the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain (a Gaelic word pronounced “SAH-win”), a pagan religious celebration to welcome the harvest at the end of summer, when people would light bonfires and wear costumes to ward off ghosts.
The Halloween holiday has its roots in the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain (a Gaelic word pronounced “SAH-win”), a pagan religious celebration to welcome the harvest at the end of summer, when people would light bonfires and wear costumes to ward off ghosts.
Today’s birthdays
1946 – Norman Lovett (79), English stand-up comedian and actor best known for his portrayal of Holly, the ship’s computer in Red Dwarf, born in Windsor, Berkshire.

1961 – Larry Mullen (64), Irish musician, best known as the drummer and co-founder of the rock band U2 (“With Or Without You”), born in Artane, Dublin, Ireland.

1961 – Peter Jackson (64), New Zealand filmmaker (King Kong, The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, The Hobbit, District 9), born in Pukerua Bay, Porirua, New Zealand.
1963 – Sanjeev Bhaskar (62), English actor, comedian and television presenter. (Goodness Gracious Me, The Kumars at No. 42, Unforgotten), born in Ealing, London.
1970 – Linn Berggren (55), Swedish singer-songwriter, co-founder and principal vocalist with Ace of Base (“All That She Wants”), born in Gothenburg, Sweden.
1972 – Matt Dawson (53), English retired rugby union player (Northampton Saints, London Wasps, British & Irish Lions), born in Birkenhead, Merseyside.
1982 – Monica and Gabriela Irimia (43), Romanian singing duo known as The Cheeky Girls (“Cheeky Boy”, “Take Your Shoes Off”), born in Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
1997 – Marcus Rashford (28), English professional footballer who currently plays for Barcelona (on loan from Manchester United) and the England national team, born in Manchester.
2000 – Willow Smith (25), American singer (“Wait a Minute!”), actress, dancer and the daughter of Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith, born in Los Angeles, California, United States.
Famous deaths
1993 – River Phoenix (b. 1970), American actor (Stand By Me, My Own Private Idaho, Sneakers).

2020 – Sean Connery (b. 1930), Scottish actor (The Rock, Entrapment, Highlander) and the first actor to portray fictional British secret agent James Bond on film in Dr No (1962).

The day today
1926 – Jimmy Savile, radio and TV entertainer was born. In October 2012 numerous allegations were made that Savile had sexually abused up to 200 young people, dating back to 1958. In the aftermath, his gravestone at Scarborough was removed at the request of Savile’s family and plaques and statues of him in other locations were removed to prevent further defacement.
1940 – Battle of Britain, fought between the RAF and Luftwaffe over the English Channel and southern England, ends with a British victory.

1951 – The first zebra crossing was introduced on Slough High Street. Pedestrian crossings with Belisha beacons (amber-coloured globe lamp atop a tall black and white striped pole) had been in use in the UK since the 1930s, originally introduced under Section 18 of the Road Traffic Act, 1934.

1956 – Britain and France bombed Egypt in the Suez Crisis of 1956 in retaliation for Egypt’s nationalization of the Suez Canal, which had been under Anglo-French control. This was a joint military action with Israel, and after an initial success, the intervention ultimately failed due to international pressure, particularly from the United States and the United Nations.
1964 – The Windmill Theatre off London’s Piccadilly Circus closed after 32 years. Their slogan ‘We Never Closed’ was a tribute to them staying open to troops during the war.
1971 – A terrorist bomb exploded at the top of the Post Office Tower (now the BT Tower). The explosion, which occurred in the Top of the Tower restaurant, caused significant damage but no injuries. As a direct result of the attack, the building was closed to the public, and the popular revolving restaurant was shut down permanently in 1980.
1988 – Coventry became Britain’s first city to introduce a by-law banning the drinking of alcohol in public places. Coventry was made famous much earlier by Lady Godiva who, in July 1040, clothed only in her long hair, rode through the city after her husband agreed to repeal the taxes if she would strip naked and ride through the streets.
1999 – Finnish McLaren driver Mika Häkkinen wins season ending Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka to clinch his second straight F1 World Drivers Championship; wins by 2 points from Irishman Eddie Irvine.
1999 – Medal of Honor was released for PlayStation, instantly becoming the best shooter to date. The story for this iconic WWII game was written and directed by Steven Spielberg, who was inspired to create a game based on the war after watching his son play Goldeneye 007. He wrote the story for Medal of Honor at the same time he was working on Saving Private Ryan.
2003 – A 14-foot tiger shark attacked American surfer Bethany Hamilton whilst surfing in Hawaii, and she lost her left arm. She returned to surfing just 26 days later, inspiring many with her resilience. Hamilton went on to become a successful professional surfer, competing and winning events despite her injury. Her story is the subject of a documentary and the movie Soul Surfer.
2008 – Officials asked for the Welsh translation of a bilingual road sign which in English read – “No entry for heavy goods vehicles. Residential site only.” When the automatic e-mail came back from Swansea council it read “Nid wyf yn y swyddfa ar hyn o bryd. Anfonwch unrhyw waith i’w gyfieithu” and this was duly printed on the road sign. Only later was it discovered that the Welsh part of the sign said “I am not in the office at the moment. Send any work to be translated.”
Today in music
1954 – Vera Lynn was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘My Son, My Son.’ The singers only No.1 hit. Lynn who had three songs in the first ever Top 12 in 1952 was known as the “Forces Sweetheart” during World War II.

1963 – Gerry And The Pacemakers were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone.’ The group’s third and final No.1.

1974 – Led Zeppelin held the UK launch for their new record label Swan Song at Chislehurst Caves, Kent, England on Halloween night. Drinks were served by nuns in suspenders, a naked woman lay in a coffin covered in jelly and naked male wrestlers cavorted in recesses of the caves. Label mates Bad Company, The Pretty Things and Maggie Bell also attended. The launch also tied in with the releases of The Pretty Things new album Silk Torpedo. The label was named after an unreleased Zeppelin instrumental track.
1986 – A new series of TV’s Channel 4’s The Tube started with Jermaine Stewart, Troublefunk, Bob Geldof and Frankie Goes To Hollywood plus Spandau Ballet who played live in the studio at Newcastle upon Tyne.
1990 – UK DJ Roger Scott died of cancer aged 46. Scott was one of the most respected broadcasters in the UK, working on Capital Radio for 15 years and then BBC Radio 1. Working as a presenter at the Montreal station 1470 CFOX, Scott sang on ‘Give Peace a Chance’, recorded by John Lennon and Yoko Ono during their “Bed-in” for peace at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal, Canada.
1992 – Boyz II Men were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘End Of The Road’, taken from the film Boomerang’ The quartet from Philadelphia were Motown’s biggest selling act of the 1990s, with 5 US No.1’s.
1998 – Chart history was made when the UK Top 5 singles chart was made up entirely of new entries. Alanis Morissette went in at No.5, Culture Club at No.4, U2 at No.3, George Michael at No.2 and Cher with ‘Believe’ at No.1. It made Cher (who was 52) the first female artist to have a No.1 single over the age of 50. The song was a No.1 in 23 countries.
2007 – 22-year-old X Factor winner singer Leona Lewis helped boost UK online music downloads to a record 1.7 million in one week making it the biggest week ever for download sales. Lewis sold more than 106,000 downloads of her track ‘Bleeding Love.’
2015 – One Direction played the final gig of their world tour before their self-proclaimed extended break. The show in Sheffield, South Yorkshire was the last of 80 shows across 20 countries. But 1D insisted they were not splitting up and instead wanted to focus on solo projects.
2023 – The Rolling Stones were at No.1 on the UK chart with their twenty-fourth studio album Hackney Diamonds. The album went to No.1 in 20 countries and was promoted with an extensive, worldwide advertising campaign. On 17 August 2023, an advertisement appeared in the Hackney Gazette teasing the album, referencing several Rolling Stones song titles and displaying their tongue logo.
Today in history
1541 – After over four years in the making, Michelangelo unveiled “The Last Judgment” painting at the Sistine Chapel, Vatican City.
1794 – English scientist John Dalton theorized to the Manchester Literary/Philosophical Society that colour blindness was caused by an abnormal tint in the vitreous humor, the jelly-like fluid in the eye, which filtered certain wavelengths of light. Dalton’s theory was met with resistance, so he donated his eyes for examination after his death. Dalton’s work led to the term “Daltonism” becoming a synonym for colour blindness.
1795 – The birth of John Keats, English romantic poet. His poems had been in publication for less than four years when he died of tuberculosis at the age of 25.
1828 – William Burke and William Hare, two Edinburgh-based “body snatchers,” were exposed for murdering 16 people and selling their corpses to medical schools, most notably to anatomist Robert Knox. The murders, which occurred over a period of about ten months, were driven by a high demand for cadavers for dissection in a time when the legal supply of bodies for anatomical study was insufficient.
1863 – The Maori Wars resumed as British forces in New Zealand led by General Duncan Cameron began their Invasion of the Waikato in North Island. In 1995 the Waikato Tainui tribe completed negotiations with the New Zealand government and accepted a settlement package worth approximately 1 percent of the value of the lands confiscated in 1863.
1888 – Scottish inventor John Boyd Dunlop patented pneumatic bicycle tyres. Dunlop’s company also manufactured other rubber products, including golf and tennis balls, floor coverings, and brake shoes.