September 17th "2024" Daily Prep

Welcome to day 261 of the year! Known as Professional House Cleaners Day, World Patient Safety Day, National Pet Bird Day. Your star sign is Virgo and your birthstone is Sapphire.
The opening of the Gateshead Millennium Bridge that spans the River Tyne between Gateshead’s Quays arts quarter on the south bank, and the Quayside of Newcastle upon Tyne on the north bank.
2001 – The opening of the Gateshead Millennium Bridge that spans the River Tyne between Gateshead’s Quays arts quarter on the south bank, and the Quayside of Newcastle upon Tyne on the north bank.
Todays birthdays
1942 – Des Lynam (82), Irish-born television broadcaster (Grandstand, Match of the Day, Wimbledon, the Grand National), born in Ennis, County Clare, Ireland.
1950 – Sherrie Hewson (74), English actress (Coronation Street, Crossroads, Emmerdale, Benidorm), born in Beeston, Nottinghamshire.
1962 – “Baz” Luhrmann (62), Australian film director, producer, writer and actor (Moulin Rouge, Romeo + Juliet, Strictly Ballroom), born in Sydney, Australia.
1968 – Anastacia (56), American singer, songwriter and former dancer (“I’m Outta Love”), born in Chicago, Illinois, United States.
1969 – Ken Doherty (55), Irish professional snooker player, commentator and radio presenter, born in Ranelagh, Dublin, Ireland.
Famous deaths
2007 – Colin McRae (b. 1968), Scottish race car driver (1991 and 1992 British Rally Champion, and the first British driver to win the World Rally Championship Drivers’ title in 1995.)
The day today
1944 – Blackout regulations eased in Britain to allow lights on buses, trains and at railway stations for the first time since the beginning of World War II in 1939.
1969 – Media on both sides of the Atlantic were running stories that said Paul McCartney was dead. He was supposedly killed in a car accident in Scotland on November 9, 1966 and that a double had been taking his place for public appearances.
1998 – There was chaos in Staffordshire, when animal rights activists release around 6,000 animals from a mink farm. Mink are now devastating British wildlife, so it was not a particularly wise or humanitarian move!
2001 – The opening of the Gateshead Millennium Bridge that spans the River Tyne between Gateshead’s Quays arts quarter on the south bank, and the Quayside of Newcastle upon Tyne on the north bank. The bridge is sometimes referred to as the ‘Blinking Eye Bridge’ due to its shape and its tilting method to let tall ships pass underneath.
2007 – Worried savers continued to flock to some Northern Rock bank branches to withdraw their savings when the bank applied to the Bank of England for emergency funds. Chancellor Alistair Darling appealed for calm, nevertheless £2bn was withdrawn from Northern Rock accounts in just 3 days.
Today in music
1976 – The Sex Pistols played a gig for the inmates at Chelmsford Prison, Essex in England.
1978 – The video for Queen’s single ‘Bicycle Race’ was filmed at Wimbledon Stadium, Wimbledon, UK. It featured 65 naked female professional models racing around the stadium’s track on bicycles, which had been hired for the day. The rental company was reported to have requested payment for all the saddles when they found out how their bikes had been used.
1996 – A bomb was found at a South London sorting office addressed to Icelandic singer Bjork. Police in Miami had alerted the post office after finding the body of Ricardo Lopez who had made a video of himself making the bomb and then killing himself.
2000 – Paula Yates was found dead in bed from a suspected drug overdose. Yates had presented the UK music TV show The Tube during the 80s, married Bob Geldof and was the girlfriend of INXS singer Michael Hutchence.
2011 – Adele went to No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Someone Like You’. The track was also No.1 in Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, Finland, France, Italy, Poland, Switzerland, the United Kingdom.
Today in history
1683 – Dutch scientist Antonie van Leeuwenhoek declared his discovery of microorganisms to the Royal Society in London. Although Leeuwenhoek never made an official publication of his findings, he was the first to discover microorganisms and bacteria’s existence.
1701 – King James II of England died whilst in exile in France.
1745 – Prince Charles Edward Stewart or ‘Bonnie Prince Charlie’ as he was better known, arrived in Edinburgh and declared his father to be the rightful King of Scotland. He could not capture Edinburgh Castle so he set up his Court in Holyrood Palace.
1789 – German-British astronomer William Herschel discovered the moon of Saturn, “Mimas.”
1827 – ‘Wides’ in cricket were first scored in the Sussex v Kent game at Brighton.