Wednesday, April 16th "2025" Daily Prep

Welcome to day 106, known as National Librarian Day, National Orchid Day, National Banana Day, Save the Elephant Day. Your star sign is Aries and your birthstone is Diamond.
A DNA database for birds, particularly raptors, was been launched in the UK to combat the illegal trade of wild birds and to deter thieves from stealing eggs and young birds, using DNA analysis to identify the source of stolen birds and eggs.
1997 – A DNA database for birds, particularly raptors, was been launched in the UK to combat the illegal trade of wild birds and to deter thieves from stealing eggs and young birds, using DNA analysis to identify the source of stolen birds and eggs.

Todays birthdays

1963 – Jimmy Osmond (62), American singer and youngest member of the group, the Osmonds (“Long Haired Lover From Liverpool”), born in Los Angeles, California, United States.
1963 – Nick Berry (62), Retired English actor (Eastenders, Heartbeat) and pop singer ( “Every Loser Wins”, “Heartbeat”), born in Woodford, East London.
1965 – Martin Lawrence (60), American actor (Bad Boys, Big Momma’s House, Life) and comedian, born in Frankfurt, Germany.
1969 – Gabrielle (56), British singer and songwriter (“Dreams”, “Rise”, “Out Of Reach”), born in London Borough of Hackney, London.
1971 – Max Beesley (54), English actor (The Gentlemen, Hotel Babylon, Suits), born in Burnage, Manchester.
1973 – Akon (52), Senegalese-American singer (“Lonely”, “Locked Up”, “Smack That”), born in St. Louis, Missouri, United States.
1984 – Claire Foy (41), English actress (The Girl in the Spider’s Web) best known for her role as Queen Elizabeth II in The Crown, born in Stockport, Greater Manchester.
Famous deaths
2004 – Caron Keating (b. 1962), Northern Irish television host (Blue Peter, This Morning) and daughter of Gloria Hunniford.

The day today

1919 – Gandhi organized a day of ‘prayer and fasting’ in response to the killing of Indian protesters in the Amritsar Massacre by the British. Official Government of India sources estimated the fatalities at 379, with 1,100 wounded, many of them women and children.
1921 – The birth of Peter Ustinov (Peter Alexander Freiherr von Ustinov), British actor, film maker and writer. He was also a goodwill ambassador for UNICEF and chancellor of Durham University from 1992 until his death in 2004.
1953 – Queen Elizabeth II launched the Royal Yacht Britannia at Clydeside in Scotland. She was used by the British Royal Family for state visits and diplomatic missions for the next 45 years and is now permanently moored as an exhibition ship at Ocean Terminal, Leith in Edinburgh.
1964 – Twelve members of the Great Train Robbery gang, who stole £2.6m in used bank notes after holding up the night mail train travelling from Glasgow to London, were sentenced to a total of 307 years.
1986 – Brewery heiress Jennifer Guiness was released in Dublin after being kidnapped and held hostage for 7 days.
1996 – The Duke and Duchess of York, Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson, announced that they were to divorce.
2008 – It was announced that Karen Matthews (aged 32, from Dewsbury) was to stand trial alongside Michael Donovan, charged with the kidnapping and false imprisonment of her 9 year old daughter Shannon who disappeared on 19th February. On 23rd January 2009, Matthews and Donovan were sentenced to eight years in prison by Mr. Justice McCombe. In February 2017 a British television drama of the kidnap (entitled ‘The Moorside) was shown on BBC Television.
2020 – Shortly before 06:00 this morning, Tom Moore, a 99-year-old war veteran from Bedfordshire, who is walking 100 laps of his garden with the aid of a walking frame before he turns 100, had raised nearly £12million for the NHS. More than 600,000 people from around the world donated money to his fundraising page since it was set up the previous week.
Today in music
1956 – Chuck Berry recorded “Roll Over Beethoven” which was released by Chess Records the following month. It is said that Berry wrote the song in response to his sister Lucy always using the family piano to play classical music when Berry wanted to play pop music. The lyric “roll over Beethoven and tell Tchaikovsky the news” refers to how classical composers would roll over in their graves upon hearing that classical music had given way to rock and roll.
1964 – The Rolling Stones first album was released in the UK, it went to No.1 two weeks later and stayed on the chart for 40 weeks, with 11 weeks at No.1. The American edition of the LP, with a slightly different track list, came out on London Records on 30 May 1964, subtitled England’s Newest Hit Makers, which later became its official title.
1969 – Desmond Dekker and the Aces were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘The Israelites’, making Dekker the first Jamaican artist to have an UK No.1 single.

1972 – The Electric Light Orchestra made their debut at The Fox and Greyhound in Croydon, London. ELO were formed to accommodate former Move members Roy Wood and Jeff Lynne’s desire to create modern rock and pop songs with classical overtones. Wood departed following the band’s debut record, Lynne wrote and arranged all of the group’s original compositions and produced every album.

1977 – David Soul one half of TV cop show Starsky & Hutch, went to No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Don’t Give Up On Us’, his only US hit. Also No.1 in the UK.
1994 – Prince had his first UK No.1 with ‘The Most Beautiful Girl In The World’, (his 37th single release). It was his first release since changing his stage name to a symbol.

Today in history

1705 – Queen Anne of England knighted the scientist Isaac Newton at Trinity College, Cambridge.
1746 – Charles Edward Stuart (Bonnie Prince Charlie) was defeated at the Battle of Culloden Moor by British government forces under the command of William, Duke of Cumberland. Cumberland’s army comprised 16 infantry battalions, including four Scottish units and one Irish. The bloody battle earned the Duke the name ‘Butcher Cumberland’. The Young Pretender Charles Stuart escaped and was later helped by Flora Macdonald to flee the country.
1786 – The birth of John Franklin, English Arctic explorer who, in 1845, was assigned to traverse the last, unnavigated sections of the Northwest Passage. After being icebound for more than a year, his ships Erebus and Terror were abandoned and by that point Franklin and nearly two dozen others had died. The survivors, led by Franklin’s deputy Francis Crozier and Erebus’ captain James Fitzjames, set out for the Canadian mainland and disappeared. In 2014, a Canadian search team discovered the wreck of Erebus. Two years later, the Arctic Research Foundation found the wreck of his ship Terror. Both sites are now protected as a combined National Historic Site.
1847 – The shooting of a Māori by an English sailor results in the opening of the Wanganui Campaign of the New Zealand Wars.
1886 – The death of Alexander Balfour, Scottish merchant and founder of the Liverpool shipping company ‘Balfour Williamson’. He was a committed philanthropist, and founded the Duke Street Home, to provide better conditions for sailors, and orphanages for their children.
1889 – Charlie Chaplin, English-born film actor and director was born. Chaplin was given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1972, having been previously excluded because of his political beliefs. He died on the 25th December 1977 (aged 88) in Corsier-sur-Vevey, Switzerland.
1895 – The birth of Sir Ove Arup, English structural engineer, to Danish parents. He built the Sydney Opera House and worked with Sir Basil Spence on Coventry Cathedral.