April 1st "2024" Daily Prep
Welcome to day 92, known as April Fools Day, Easter Monday, Nature Day. If you were born on this day, you were likely conceived the week of July 9th in the previous year. Your star sign is Aries and your birthstone is Diamond.
2000 – The Enigma machine, used by the Germans to encrypt messages in the Second World War, was stolen from Bletchley Park, Buckinghamshire and a ransom was demanded for its return.
All Fools’ Day, also known as April Fools’ Day is a day for practical jokes and hoaxes, but only until 12 noon. The earliest recorded association between 1st April and foolishness can be found in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales (1392).
Todays birthdays
1950 – Billy Currie (74), British multi-instrumentalist and songwriter best known as the keyboard and strings player with new wave band Ultravox (“Vienna”), born in Huddersfield.
1957 – David Gower (67), English cricket commentator and former cricketer who was captain of the England cricket team during the 1980s, born in Royal Tunbridge Wells.
1961 – Susan Boyle (63), Scottish singer who rose to fame in 2009 after appearing on Britain’s Got Talent, singing “I Dreamed a Dream”, born in Blackburn, West Lothian, Scotland.
1966 – Chris Evans (58), English television presenter (The Big Breakfast, TFI Friday, Don’t Forget Your Toothbrush) and radio DJ (Virgin Radio), born in Warrington, Cheshire.
1985 – Beth Tweddle (39), retired British artistic gymnast (the first female gymnast from Great Britain to win a medal at the European Championships, World Championships, and Olympic Games), born in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Famous deaths
1984 – Marvin Gaye (b. 1939), American singer-songwriter (“I Heard It Through the Grapevine”, “How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You)”).
The day today
1908 – The foundation of the Territorial Force, (renamed the Territorial Army in 1920.) It was formed as a volunteer reserve component of the British Army.
1918 – The Royal Air Force is created by the merger of the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Naval Air Service.
1976 – Apple was launched from the home of Steve Jobs and with the help of Steve Wozniak. Their first personal computers were personally assembled and went on sale in July 1976.
1983 – Tens of thousands of peace demonstrators formed a human chain stretching for 14 miles, lining a route along what the protesters called ‘Nuclear Valley’ in Berkshire.
1990 – Up to 1,000 prisoners staged a riot at Strangeways Prison in Manchester in a violent protest against overcrowding. It was the longest prison riot in British history and lasted until 25th April. One remand prisoner died.
Today in music
1966 – The Troggs recorded ‘Wild Thing’ at Regent Sound Studio in London. The song went on to be a No.1 US and No.2 UK hit in June the following year. The track was recorded in one complete take (take two).
1975 – The Bay City Rollers TV series Shang-A-Lang premiered on ITV in the UK. It featured the band in comedy sketches and performing their songs to a live studio audience made up of their teenage fans. This resulted in chaotic scenes at times as some members of the audience attempted to run onto the studio floor to meet their heroes. It ran for one 20-week series in 75.
1984 – Marvin Gaye was shot dead by his father at his parent’s home in Los Angeles, California. The argument started after his parents squabbled over misplaced business documents, Gaye attempted to intervene, and was killed by his father using a gun he had given him four months before. Marvin Sr. was sentenced to six years of probation after pleading guilty to manslaughter. Charges of first-degree murder were dropped after doctors discovered Marvin Sr. had a brain tumour.
1989 – Madonna scored her third UK No.1 album with ‘Like A Prayer.’ Also a US No.1 the album spent 70 weeks on the UK chart. Also on this day, The Bangles went to No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Eternal Flame’, also a No.1 in the UK and the biggest selling single of 1989 in Australia.
2000 – Santana started a two-week run at No.1 on the UK album chart with ‘Supernatural.’ The album went on to win eight Grammy Awards including Album Of The Year, Record Of The Year (for ‘Smooth’) and Song Of The Year.
Today in history
1204 – The death, aged 81, of Eleanor of Aquitaine, wife of Henry II and the mother of Richard the Lionheart, Henry “the Young King” and King John.
1873 – The British steamer RMS Atlantic ran onto rocks and sank off Nova Scotia, killing 547. It remained the deadliest civilian maritime disaster in history until the sinking of the Danish liner SS Norge in 1904.
1748 – The lost Roman city of Pompeii was rediscovered by a Spanish engineer Rocque Joaquin de Alcubierre. Pompeii was basically lost and forgotten until it was rediscovered. Thanks to excavations, which are still going on today, scientists have been able to figure out almost exactly what happened on that terrible day.
1867 – Great Britain claimed The Straits Settlements as crown colonies: Singapore, Penang, and Malacca. The Settlements became answerable directly to the Colonial Office in London instead of the government of British India, based in Calcutta.
1900 – The formation of the Irish Guards. The current regiment was formed by order of Queen Victoria in recognition of the many courageous acts carried out by Irish soldiers in the Second Boer War.