September 6th "2024" Daily Prep
Welcome to day 250 of the year! Known as Read A Book Day, National Chianti Day, Coffee Ice Cream Day. If you were born today you were likely conceived the week of December 14th in the previous year. Your star sign is Virgo and your birthstone is Sapphire.
1997 – The funeral service for Diana, Princess of Wales, was held in Westminster Abbey, London. An estimated 2.5 billion people worldwide watched the service on television.
Todays birthdays
1972 – Idris Elba (52), English actor (Luther, The Wire, The Suicide Squad, Pacific Rim), born in the London Borough of Hackney, London.
1974 – Tim Henman (50), British former professional tennis player and the first British man to reach the singles semifinals of Wimbledon since Roger Taylor in the 70s, born in Oxford.
1978 – Mathew Horne (45), English actor and comedian (Gaving and Stacey, Catherine Tate Show, Bad Education), born in Burton Joyce, Nottinghamshire.
1980 – Kerry Katona (44), English television personality and former singer (Atomic Kitten – “Whole Again”), born in Warrington, Cheshire.
1983 – Pippa Middleton (41), British socialite, author, and columnist. She is the younger sister of Catherine, Princess of Wales, born at the Royal Berkshire Hospital, Reading.
Famous deaths
2021 – Sarah Harding (b. 1981), English singer who was a member of the girl group, Girls Aloud (“Sound of the Underground”). The group achieved twenty consecutive top ten singles (including four number ones) in the UK.
The day today
1944 – World War II: The city of Ypres in Belgium was liberated by allied forces. As it was a difficult name to pronounce in English, British troops nicknamed the city ‘Wipers’.
1952 – Erddig Hall, one of the country’s finest stately homes, was granted Grade I listed status. In 2007 it was voted the UK’s “favourite Historic House”. Erddig’s walled garden is one of the most important surviving 18th century formal gardens in Britain.
1960 – Ten skeletons were found in 3,800 year old graves at Stonehenge including one with the remains of a baby dating back more than 4,500 years.
1986 – The first series of the British medical drama television series ‘Casualty’ airs in the BBC.
1988 – 11 year old Thomas Gregory, from London, swam the channel, reaching Dover after 12 hours. He was the youngest person ever to achieve a cross-channel swim.
Today in music
1975 – Rod Stewart was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with his version of the Sutherland Brothers song ‘Sailing’. The song had been featured in the BBC TV series about HMS Ark Royal.
1980 – The Jam were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Start!’, the group’s second UK No.1 and taken from the band’s fifth album Sound Affects.
1997 – Elton John recorded a new version of ‘Candle In The Wind’ after performing the song live at Diana Princess of Wales funeral. An estimated 2.5 billion people around the world watched Elton play the special tribute to Diana. The track went on to become the biggest selling single of all-time.
2001 – Earth, Wind & Fire announced that Viagra would sponsor their forthcoming 30th anniversary American tour… “I wonder if they recieved a standing ovation at the end”.
2005 – Sir Bob Geldof was awarded the freedom of his native Dublin after the City Council voted in favour of giving him the accolade in honour of his campaign against world poverty and alleviating debt in Africa.
Today in history
1620 – 149 Pilgrims, The Pilgrim Fathers, set sail from Plymouth in the Mayflower bound for America – the New World. The Pilgrims’ story of people seeking to escape the religious controversies and economic problems of their time by emigrating to America, has become a central theme of the history and culture of the United States. (Note:- They had originally set sail from Southampton on 5th August but were beset with problems).
1651 – Charles II famously spent the night hidden in an oak tree at Boscobel after his defeat by Oliver Cromwell at the Battle of Worcester.
1803 – British scientist John Dalton begins using symbols to represent the atoms of different elements.
1852 – Britain’s first free lending library opened, in Manchester.
1879 – The opening of Britain’s first telephone exchange at Lombard Street in London.