October 6th "2024" Daily Prep
Welcome to day 280 of the year! Known as National Badger Day, Mad Hatter Day, World Cerebral Palsy Day, National Noodle Day. Your star sign is Libra and your birthstone is Pink Tourmaline.
1997 – British astronaut, Michael Foale, returned safely to earth aboard the space shuttle ‘Atlantis’ after four and a half months on ‘MIR’, the Russian space station.
Todays birthdays
1942 – Britt Ekland (82), Swedish actress (The Man with the Golden Gun, The Wicker Man, Get Carter), model and singer, born in Stockholm, Sweden.
1957 – Bruce Grobbelaar (67), Zimbabwean former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper (Liverpool, Zimbabwean national team), born in Durban, South Africa.
1966 – Niall Quinn (58), Irish soccer striker (92 caps, Rep of Ireland; Manchester City, Sunderland), born in Dublin, Ireland.
1973 – Ioan Gruffudd (51), Welsh actor (Titanic, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, Hornblower), born in Llwydcoed, Wales.
1978 – Ricky Hatton MBE (46), British former professional boxer (1997 – 2012), and has since worked as a boxing promoter and trainer, born in Stockport, Greater Manchester.
Famous deaths
1980 – Hattie Jacques (b. 1922), English actress and producer. She is best known as a regular of the Carry On films.
2020 – Eddie Van Halen (b. 1955), Dutch-American guitarist, songwriter, and producer (“Jump”).
The day today
1889 – The Moulin Rouge (In English: The Red Mill), opened in the Jardin de Paris at the foot of the Montmartre hill.
1952 – ‘The Mousetrap’, a murder-mystery written by the novelist and playwright Agatha Christie, opens at the Ambassadors Theatre in London. The crowd-pleasing whodunit would go on to become the longest continuously running play in history, with more than 10 million people to date attending its more than 20,000 performances in London’s West End.
1956 – Bobby Charlton makes his League debut for Manchester United against Charlton Athletic, scoring twice in United’s 4-2 victory at Old Trafford.
1978 – Anni-Frid Lyngstad marries fellow ABBA member Benny Andersson. However, after only two years of marriage, they separated on 26 November 1980, and were divorced in 1981.
1985 – Police officer Keith Blakelock is hacked to death by a mob during riots at the Broadwater Farm housing estate in Tottenham. On the same day, McLaren driver Alain Prost clinches his first Formula 1 World Drivers Championship with a fourth place in the European Grand Prix at Brands Hatch.
Today in music
1972 – During sessions at RCA Studios, New York City, David Bowie recorded ‘The Jean Genie’, which became the lead single from his 1973 album Aladdin Sane. The track spent 13 weeks in the UK charts, peaking at No.2, making it Bowie’s biggest hit to date. The line “He’s so simple minded, he can’t drive his module” would later give the Scottish band Simple Minds their name.
1982 – Madonna released her debut single ‘Everybody’ on Sire Records. The track failed to enter the Billboard Hot 100 chart, it did however, appear on the dance charts and the song helped Madonna achieve her first appearance in a dance magazine.
1999 – Winners at The Mobo Awards included Kele Le Roc, for best newcomer and best single. Shanks & Bigfoot (Sweet Like Chocolate) won best dance act. TLC won best video for ‘No Scrubs’. Lauryn Hill, won best International act and Tina Turner won a Lifetime Achievement Award.
2007 – Queen’s groundbreaking promo for their 1975 hit Bohemian Rhapsody was named the UK’s best music video in a survey of music fans. Out of 1,051 adults polled by O2, 30% named the six-minute video, (which took only three hours to shoot and cost a mere £3,500 to make), their favourite.
2011 – Starship’s “We Built This City” was named ‘the worst song of the 1980s’ in a poll by Rolling Stone magazine. ‘The Final Countdown’ by the Swedish band Europe came in second and ‘Lady in Red’ by Chris de Burgh was third.
Today in history
1536 – William Tyndale, English religious reformer and translator of the Bible’s New Testament, was strangled and burned at the stake, for heresy.
1769 – English explorer Captain James Cook, aboard the Endeavour, discovered New Zealand. Cook and a landing party arrived onshore on 8 October at Poverty Bay in the north-east of the North Island.
1829 – Locomotive trials began at Rainhill near Liverpool to find an engine for use on the Liverpool and Manchester Railway. On trial were Cycloped, Perseverance, Sans Pareil, Novelty and the winner, Rocket, designed by George and Robert Stephenson and built by Robert Stephenson and Company. A replica of the Rocket is at York’s railway museum.
1854 – The Great fire of Newcastle and Gateshead started shortly after midnight, leading to 53 deaths and hundreds injured in a series of fires and an explosion. The initial fire started in a mill and large quantities of oil in the premises added fuel to the fire. The explosion, which could be heard 10 miles away, was thought to be the result of storing 2800 tons of sulphur and 128 tons of nitrate of soda in one of the warehouses.
1895 – Conductor Sir Henry Wood instituted the Promenade Concerts; known worldwide as ‘The Proms’, at the Queen’s Hall in London.