Saturday, April 19th "2025" Daily Prep
Welcome to day 109, known as National Garlic Day, National Amaretto Day, Cat Lady Day, Husband Appreciation Day, Easter Saturday. Your star sign is Aries and your birthstone is Diamond.
2020 – Captain Sir Tom Moore, a veteran of the British Army, became the oldest person to score a UK No.1 with “You’ll Never Walk Alone,” a collaboration with singer Michael Ball. Recorded amid Covid-19 to raise funds for the UK’s NHS Charities Together, the single topped the charts on Moore’s 100th birthday.
Todays birthdays
1933 – Harold “Dickie” Bird (92), English former cricketer and retired international cricket umpire, born in Barnsley, South Yorkshire.
1942 – Alan Price (83), English musician and keyboardist with the Animals (“House of the Rising Sun”, “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood”), born in Fatfield, Washington, Tyne and Wear.
1943 – Eve Graham (82), Scottish singer and former member of the New Seekers (“I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing”), born in Auchterarder, Perth and Kinross, Scotland.
1946 – Tim Curry (79), British actor (IT, Rocky Horror Picture Show, Home Alone, Annie), born in Warrington, Cheshire.
1956 – Sue Barker (69), English former television presenter (Grandstand, A Question of Sport) and professional tennis player (15 WTA Tour singles titles), born in Paignton, Devon.
1970 – Kelly Holmes (55), retired English middle distance athlete (won gold medals for 800m and 1500m at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens), born in Pembury, Kent.
1987 – Joe Hart (38), English football pundit and former goalkeeper (Celtic, Manchester City, Tottenham Hotspur, England), born in Shrewsbury, Shropshire.
Famous deaths
1882 – Charles Darwin (b. 1809), English biologist and theorist widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology.
1992 – Frankie Howerd (b. 1917), English actor and screenwriter (The Great St Trinian’s Train Robbery, Carry On Up the Jungle, Up Pompeii).
The day today
1927 – American actress Mae West was sentenced to 10 days in jail, convicted of obscenity and “corrupting the morals of youth” with her portrayal of a prostitute in the Broadway play Sex, which she also wrote; the publicity made her nationally known.
1928 – The 125th and final section of the Oxford English Dictionary was published. This marked the completion of the first edition of the dictionary, published as “A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles”. The final fascicle covered words from “Wise” to the end of “W”.
1943 – Jews refuse to surrender the Warsaw Ghetto to SS officer Jürgen Stroop, who then orders its destruction. On the same day, Swiss chemist Dr. Albert Hofmann deliberately takes LSD for the first time.
1972 – The British army is largely cleared of blame for Bloody Sunday which ended in the deaths of 14 civilians in Northern Ireland.
1995 – The first television advert for football pools was screened in a £1.5m Littlewood’s campaign. The ban on such commercials was lifted after the company protested to the government that the National Lottery was hitting their profits.
2014 – A family had to flee their people carrier after suffering the misfortune of seeing it catch fire in the middle of the lion enclosure at Longleat Safari Park.
2020 – UK COVID-19 death toll reaches 16,060 (hospitals only), as “The Sunday Times” criticizes Boris Johnson’s government’s response, saying they “sleepwalked into disaster”.
Today in music
1969 – Smile (later to be known as Queen) appeared at the Revolution Club in London, England.
1980 – 32 year old English singer Brian Johnson joined Australian group AC/DC, replacing Bon Scott who had died after a drinks binge in February 1980. On the same day, Blondie went to No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Call Me’, featured in the Richard Gere movie ‘American Gigolo’, the track was also a No.1 in the UK.
1980 – Blondie went to No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Call Me’, featured in the Richard Gere movie ‘American Gigolo’, the track was also a No.1 in the US.
1985 – Bryan Adams was on the UK album chart with Reckelss. His fourth studio album was the first Canadian album to sell more than one million units within Canada. Six singles were released from the album: ‘Run to You,’ ‘Somebody,’ ‘Heaven,’ ‘Summer of ’69,’ ‘One Night Love Affair,’ and ‘It’s Only Love.’
1986 – George Michael was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘A Different Corner’, the singers second solo No.1. Michael became the first solo act in the history of the UK chart to reach No.1 with his first two releases. The song was also credited with being the second No.1 (after ‘I Just Called To Say I Love You’ by Stevie Wonder), which was written, sung, played, arranged and produced by the same person.
1998 – Robbie Williams started a two-week run at No.1 on the UK album chart with his debut solo album Life Thru A Lens. The album spent a total of 218 weeks on the UK chart, with sales of 2.4 million copies.
2020 – Michael Ball and Captain Tom Moore went to No.1 on the UK singles chart with their version of “You’ll Never Walk Alone”. The charity single made Moore (six days short of his one hundredth birthday) the oldest person to achieve a No.1 (he was at the top of the charts on his 100th birthday), beating the previous record-holder Tom Jones.
2021 – Producer and songwriter Jim Steinman, most famous for his work on Meat Loaf’s best-selling Bat Out Of Hell album, died at the age of 73. His most successful chart singles include Bonnie Tyler’s ‘Total Eclipse of the Heart’, Air Supply’s ‘Making Love Out of Nothing at All’, Meat Loaf’s ‘I’d Do Anything for Love (But I Won’t Do That)’, the Sisters of Mercy’s ‘This Corrosion’.
Today in history
1587 – The English naval commander Sir Francis Drake sailed a small number of ships into Cadiz Harbour and sank most of the Spanish fleet. The incident became known as ‘singeing the King of Spain’s beard’.
1770 – Captain James Cook, still holding the rank of lieutenant, sights the eastern coast of what is now Australia.
1775 – The Battle of Lexington and Concord began, which kicked off the American Revolutionary War between 1775 and 1783. Politically disastrous for the British, it persuaded many Americans to take up arms and support the cause of independence.
1764 – The English Parliament bans the American colonies from printing paper money.
1881 – The death, in London, of Benjamin Disraeli, first Earl of Beaconsfield and British Prime Minister. He became the first Conservative Prime Minister in 1868, but was defeated at the next election. He was Prime Minister again in 1874 with a substantial majority.
1882 – Charles Darwin publishes his final book, “The Formation of Vegetable Mould, through the Action of Worms.”
1883 – British banker Thomas Agnew whilst at a meeting in Liverpool to establish a home for dogs, suggested it should perhaps be turned into a home for children as he had seen the work of the New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to children. On the evening of this day, the Liverpool Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children was formed. Later, it would become the National Society (NSPCC).