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 270 of the year.

Saturday, September 27th Daily Prep.

Known as World Tourism Day, Ancestor Appreciation Day, National Chocolate Milk Day and National Singles Day. Your star sign is Libra and your birthstone is Sapphire.
1825 – The world’s first public railway service began with the opening of the Stockton and Darlington Railway. Built by George Stephenson, the track was 27 miles long, and the steam locomotive pulled 32 passenger wagons at ten miles per hour.
The world’s first public railway service began with the opening of the Stockton and Darlington Railway. Built by George Stephenson, the track was 27 miles long, and the steam locomotive pulled 32 passenger wagons at ten miles per hour.
Today’s birthdays
1947 – Barbara Dickson (78), Scottish singer (“I Know Him So Well”) and actress (Band of Gold), born in Dunfermline, Scotland.

1948 – Michele Dotrice (77), English actress better known as Betty Spencer, the long-suffering wife of Frank Spencer (Some Mothers Do ‘Ave ‘Em), born in Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire.

1958 – Irvine Welsh (67), Scottish novelist and short story writer. His 1993 novel Trainspotting was made into a film of the same name, born in Edinburgh, Scotland.
1970 – Anna Richardson (55), English television presenter (Changing Rooms, Naked Attraction, Supersize vs Superskinny), born in Wellington, Telford.
1972 – Gwyneth Paltrow (53), American actress (Shallow Hal, Sliding Doors, The Talented Mr. Ripley), born in Los Angeles, California, United States.
1984 – Avril Lavigne (41), Canadian singer and songwriter (“Sk8er Boi”, “Complicated”, “I’m with You”), born in Belleville, Canada.
2002 – Jenna Ortega (23), American actress (Miller’s Girl, Wednesday, Beetlejuice 2), born in Palm Desert, California, United States.
Famous deaths
2017 – Hugh Hefner (b. 1926), American publisher, founder of Playboy Enterprises.
2023 – Michael Gambon (b. 1940), Irish-English actor (Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Sleepy Hollow, Layer Cake, Gosford Park).
2024 – Maggie Smith (b. 1934), English actress (Harry Potter, Sister Act, Downton Abbey, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel).
The day today
1908 – The first Ford Model T car (assembly started on August 12th 1908), left the Ford Piquette Avenue Plant in Detroit. In May 1927, the 15 millionth Model T Ford roll off the assembly line.
1938 – The 83,000 ton liner ‘Queen Elizabeth’ was launched at John Brown’s Yard on Clydebank in Scotland by the Queen Mother. With her sister ship Queen Mary, she provided luxury liner service between Southampton and New York via Cherbourg in France.
1979 – The BBC’s Question Time aired for the first time, chaired by Robin Day, who stayed with the programme for ten years.
1982 – Filming begins on “Never Say Never Again” with Sean Connery playing James Bond for the final time.
1987 – Tony Jacklin led a team of 12 golfers, including Seve Ballesteros, to win the Ryder Cup. It was the first time the US team had been defeated on their home ground.
1988 – Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson was sent home from the Seoul Olympic Games in disgrace after testing positive for drugs. Samples of Johnson’s urine were tested for drugs immediately after the 100m final which he won in a world record time of 9.79 seconds. Olympic officials confirmed that traces of the anabolic steroid, Stanozol, had been detected.
1991 – The first Scrabble Championship was held in London, with 20 countries competing.
1993 – British crime series “Cracker,” created by Jimmy McGovern and starring Robbie Coltrane, debuts on ITV in the UK.
2011 – David Croft died, aged 89. He was particularly noted for producing and co-writing a string of popular BBC sitcoms including Dad’s Army, ‘Allo ‘Allo!, Hi-De-Hi!, Are You Being Served?, You Rang M’Lord? and It Ain’t Half Hot Mum.
2014 – Amy Hughes, a 26-year-old sports therapist, from Oswestry in Shropshire set a new world record by running 53 marathons in 53 consecutive days. The money she raised was for the Isabelle Lottie Foundation, set up after her friend’s daughter was diagnosed with a brain tumour.
2016 – The late Sir Terry Wogan (who died on 31st January 2016) was honoured in a special memorial service live in Westminster Abbey, on the 50th anniversary of his first BBC radio broadcast.
Today in music
1973 – Barbra Streisand released her single “The Way We Were.”

1979 – Elton John collapsed on stage when performing at the Hollywood Universal Amphitheater. Elton had been suffering from the flu. Emergency services revived him and gave him oxygen, and within just ten minutes, amazingly, he got back on stage and finished his performance.

1979 – Scottish guitarist Jimmy McCullough died from a heroin overdose in his flat in Maida Vale, London, aged 26. Member of Stone The Crows, Thunderclap Newman and Wings (1974 to 1977). When ‘Something in the Air’ by Thunderclap Newman went to No.1 in 1969, it made McCulloch the youngest guitarist to ever play on a UK No.1 single, as he was was just sixteen years old at the time.
1980 – David Bowie scored his fourth UK No.1 album with his fourteenth studio album Scary Monsters (And Supercreeps). The album featured the singles ‘Ashes to Ashes and ‘Fashion’.
1986 – The Beatles track ‘Twist and Shout’ re-entered the US singles chart over twenty-five years after it first appeared, after the song was featured in the film Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.
1998 – The Manic Street Preachers scored their first UK No.1 album with their fifth album ‘This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours’.
2011 – Tony Bennett became the oldest living person to top the album chart when the 85-year-old’s ‘Duets II’ album went to No.1. The record, which featured collaborations with Amy Winehouse and Lady Gaga, was also his first US No.1 in his 60 year career. Tony Bennett died on 21 July 2023 aged 96.
Today in history
1066 – William the Conqueror and his army set sail from the mouth of the Somme River in Picardy, northern France, beginning the Norman Conquest of England.
1672 – A new British company, the ‘Royal Africa Company’ was given a monopoly of the African slave trade to America, with discounts for those who purchased entire shiploads.
1825 – The world’s first public railway service began with the opening of the Stockton and Darlington Railway. Built by George Stephenson, the track was 27 miles long, and the steam locomotive Active pulled 32 passenger wagons at ten miles per hour.
1849 – The opening, by Queen Victoria, of Newcastle’s High Level Bridge. It was designed by Robert Stephenson to form a rail link towards Scotland for the developing English railway network.
1871 – The inauguration of Rochdale Town Hall, a Grade I listed building, described by art critic Nikolaus Pevsner as possessing a ‘rare picturesque beauty’. It’s said that Adolf Hitler admired it so much that he wished to ship the building, brick-by-brick, to Nazi Germany had the United Kingdom been defeated in the Second World War.
1888 – The first use of the name, ‘Jack the Ripper’ in an anonymous letter to the Central News Agency. He went on to kill five women, and it’s believed he may have been responsible for the deaths of four more.