Friday, April 4th "2025" Daily Prep
Welcome to day 94, known as International Carrot Day, Vitamin C Day, World Rat Day, National Picky Eaters Day. Your star sign is Aries and your birthstone is Diamond.
1934 – Yorkshireman Percy Shaw, inspired by a foggy night drive, laid the first “cat’s eyes” road studs at an accident black spot near Bradford, West Yorkshire.
Todays birthdays
1960 – Hugo Weaving (65), British actor (The Matrix, Hacksaw Ridge, Lord of the Rings, V for Vendetta), born in University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, Nigeria.
1963 – Graham Norton (62), Irish comedian, actor (Father Ted) and TV host (The Graham Norton Show), born in Clondalkin, Ireland.
1963 – Jane McDonald (62), English singer and television presenter (The Cruise, Loose Women), born in Wakefield, West Yorkshire.
1965 – Robert Downey Jr (60), American actor (Ironman, Oppenheimer, Sherlock Holmes, The Avengers), born in Manhattan, New York, United States.
1973 – David Blaine (52), American illusionist, magician, mentalist, and endurance performer, born in New York, New York, United States.
1977 – Stephen Mulhern (48), English television presenter (Catchphrase, Britain’s Got More Talent), magician and comedian, born in Stratford, London.
1980 – Johnny Borrell (45), English guitarist, singer and frontman of the rock band Razorlight (“America”, “In the Morning”), born in Sutton, South London.
Famous deaths
2022 – June Brown (b. 1927), English actress best known for her role as Dot Cotton on the BBC soap EastEnders from 1985 to 2020 (2,884 episodes).
The day today
1949 – The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was established by 12 Western states including Great Britain. The military alliance provided for a collective self-defence against Soviet aggression and greatly increased American influence in Europe.
1981 – An emotional Aintree saw Bob Champion win the Grand National on Aldaniti. Champion, suffering from cancer, had been given eight months to live, while Aldaniti, who had led all the way, had been plagued with tendon problems and a broken back.
1984 – The women from the main peace camp at Greenham Common in Berkshire were evicted, but said it would not end their protest against nuclear weapons being sited at the RAF base.
1988 – The British TV soap opera ‘Crossroads’ came to an end after 24 years with the transmission of the last of its 4,510 episodes.
1991 – Children at the centre of ‘satanic abuse allegations’ in the Orkney Islands were reunited with their families after the case was thrown out of court.
2007 – Fifteen British Royal Navy personnel from HMS Cornwall who had been held in Iran, were released by the Iranian President. In the course of events the Iranians claimed that the British forces had been sailing in Iranian waters.
2014 – Levi Bellfield the triple murderer and killer of 13 year old Milly Dowler in 2011 was awarded £4,500 compensation after a prison attack in 2009 in which he suffered minor cuts. Bellfield had launched his legal action after claiming that the prison staff should have protected him.
2015 – ‘Thunderbirds Are Go’ returned as a TV series, a remake of the 1960s television series ‘Thunderbirds’ created by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson. Additional note: – Gerry Anderson died on 26th December, 2012 (aged 83) and Sylvia died on 15th March 2016 (aged 88).
Today in music
1953 – The Stargazers were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Broken Wings.’ The first record by any British group to reach No.1. Stargazers’ member Fred Dachtler is the father of Clark Datchler of 80s group Johnny Hates Jazz.
1964 – The Beatles held the top five places on the US singles chart, at No. 5 ‘Please Please Me’, No.4 ‘I Want To Hold Your Hand’, No.3, ‘Roll Over Beethoven’, No.2 ‘Love Me Do’ and at No.1 ‘Can’t Buy Me Love.’ They also had another nine singles on the chart, bringing their total to fourteen singles on the Hot 100.
1981 – Bucks Fizz won the Eurovision Song Contest held in Dublin, Ireland with the UK entry ‘Making Your Mind Up’.
1982 – ‘Layla’ was on the UK singles chart. The re-released track originally featured on the Derek and the Dominos, album Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs (November 1970). Inspired by Clapton’s then unrequited love for Pattie Boyd, the wife of his friend George Harrison, ‘Layla’ is considered one of rock music’s definitive love songs, and features an unmistakable guitar figure played by Eric Clapton and Duane Allman.
1987 – Starship started a two week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Nothin’s Gonna Stop Us’, taken from the film ‘Mannequin’, also a No.1 in the UK.
1999 – The Corrs album Talk On Corners went to No.1 on the UK album chart for the 10th time. They also had the No.2 position with Forgiven, Not Forgotten.’Both albums had spent over a year on the chart. Talk on Corners was the UK’s biggest selling album of 1998 and the 9th best selling album of 1999.
2008 – Beyoncé Knowles married Jay-Z at his New York apartment. Coldplay frontman Chris Martin and wife Gwyneth Paltrow and her former bandmates in Destiny’s Child, Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams all attended the private ceremony.
Today in history
1581 – Queen Elizabeth I knighted Francis Drake aboard his ship the Golden Hind at Deptford after his circumnavigation of the world.
1660 – The ‘Declaration of Breda’ was proclaimed by King Charles II in which he promised a general pardon for crimes committed during the English Civil War.
1687 – English King James II publishes his Declaration of Indulgence, a step towards establishing freedom of religion in the British Isles.
1811 – The opening of the Standedge Tunnel. It is located on the Huddersfield Narrow Canal and is the longest, deepest and highest canal tunnel ever built in Britain, being over 3 miles long, 638 feet (194m) underground and 645 feet (196m) above sea level.
1873 – The Kennel Club was founded. It is the oldest, recognized kennel club in the world and was the first official registry of purebred dogs in the world. Its role is to act as governing body for various canine activities including dog shows, dog agility and working trials.
1900 – An assassination attempt was made on the Prince of Wales, later British King Edward VII when shot by Jean-Baptiste Sipido in protest over the Boer war.