Sunday, April 6th "2025" Daily Prep
Welcome to day 96, known as National Siamese Cat Day, New Beers Eve, National Carbonara Day, Tartan Day. Your star sign is Aries and your birthstone is Diamond.
1974 – The Swedish pop group ABBA won the 19th annual Eurovision Song Contest, held at The Dome in Brighton, Sussex, with their song “Waterloo”. ABBA’s win marked Sweden’s first Eurovision victory and launched their career as one of the most successful pop groups of all time.
Todays birthdays
1947 – John Ratzenberger (78), American actor (Toy Story, Cars, Monsterts Inc, A Bug’s Life) best known for playing the character Cliff Clavin on the comedy series Cheers, born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, United States.
1961 – Rory Bremner (64), Scottish impressionist and comedian, noted for his work in political satire and impressions of British public figures, born in Edinburgh.
1964 – Phil Gayle (61), English newsreader, broadcaster and journalist (BBC, ITV and Channel 4), born in Birmingham.
1974 – Gina Yashere (51), English comedian (The Standups, Lenny Henry in Pieces, Mock the Week), born in Bethnal Green, London.
1976 – James Richard Mullett (49), known professionally as James Fox, is a Welsh pop singer, songwriter, pianist and guitarist. He represented the United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest 2004 in Istanbul, born in Cardiff, Wales.
1978 – Myleene Class (47), English musician and a former member of the pop group Hear’Say (“Pure & Simple”, “The Way to Your Love”), born in Great Yarmouth.
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
1913 – Suffragettes increased their militant activities by cutting telephone lines and damaging post boxes.
1944 – Pay As You Earn (PAYE) income tax was introduced into Britain. It was devised by Cornelius Gregg.
1984 – The 17-year-old South African barefooted, long and middle distance runner, Zola Budd, was granted British citizenship by Home Secretary, Leon Brittan, after only a matter of weeks, enabling her to compete as a British citizen in the Olympic games. The decision provoked considerable controversy.
1990 – Married women in Britain became independent entities for income tax purposes for the first time, making them responsible for their own tax declarations. Their income was no longer assessed with that of their husbands.
1991 – Argentine football star Diego Maradona was suspended for 15 months by the Italian League for testing positive for cocaine use.
2012 – A ban on tobacco displays was announced in England, with other parts of the UK planning similar action to drive down smoking rates. Cigarettes and other products are to be kept below the counter in large shops and supermarkets, while small outlets were exempt until 2015.
2014 – Polish MP Artur Debski arrived in London to live as a migrant on £100 a week, in an attempt to see why so many Poles prefer Britain to their homeland. Poland has one of the EU’s most successful economies; nevertheless, 72% of Poles living in the UK intend to stay and 40% are thinking of applying for British citizenship.
Today in music
1967 – The first master tape of The Beatles new album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band was made. The song order on side one is different from the final product at this point, the last five songs on that side being initially ordered as follows: ‘Being For the Benefit of Mr. Kite’, ‘Fixing a Hole’, ‘Lucy In the Sky with Diamonds’, ‘Getting Better’, and ‘She’s Leaving Home’. The Beatles had specified that there were to be no gaps between songs – a unique idea at the time.
1968 – Cliff Richard sang ‘Congratulations’ the UK entry in the Eurovision Song Contest held at the Royal Albert Hall London, coming in second place behind the entry from Spain with “La La La”. France placed in third place with “La Source”.
1971 – The Rolling Stones launched their own record label, Rolling Stones Records’, with Atlantic Records, (after their recording contract with Decca Records expired). The first album to be released was Brian Jones Presents the Pipes of Pan at Joujouka in 1971, and is widely credited with being the first world music LP.
1973 – David Bowie released ‘Drive-In Saturday’ which became a Top 3 UK hit. The lyrics name-checked Mick Jagger ‘When people stared in Jagger’s eyes and scored’, the model Twiggy ‘She’d sigh like Twig the wonder kid’, and Carl Jung ‘Jung the foreman prayed at work’.
1974 – The Swedish pop group ABBA won the 19th annual Eurovision Song Contest, held at The Dome in Brighton, Sussex, with their song “Waterloo”. ABBA’s win marked Sweden’s first Eurovision victory and launched their career as one of the most successful pop groups of all time.
1998 – American country singer Tammy Wynette died aged 55. She scored 12 hit singles including ‘Stand By Your Man’, and sold over 30 million records world-wide, married five times and once filed for bankruptcy. Known as the first lady of country music.
2022 – Ed Sheeran won a British High Court copyright battle over his 2017 hit ‘Shape of You’. Judge Antony Zacaroli ruled that Sheeran had “neither deliberately nor subconsciously copied” Sami Chokri’s song ‘Oh Why’. Chokri, a grime artist who performs under the name Sami Switch, had claimed the “Oh I” hook in Sheeran’s track was “strikingly similar” to an “Oh why” refrain in his own track. After the ruling, Sheeran said “It’s really damaging to the songwriting industry. There’s only so many notes and very few chords used in pop music. Coincidence is bound to happen if 60,000 songs are being released every day on Spotify. That’s 22 million songs a year and there’s only 12 notes that are available.” ‘Shape of You’ was the UK’s best-selling song of 2017 in the UK and is Spotify’s most-streamed ever.
2023 – English singer and actor Paul Cattermole died age 46. He was best known for being a member of the pop group S Club 7 from 1998 until his departure in 2002. Cattermole returned to the band in 2014 for their reunion tour and was originally due to return in 2023 for a planned second reunion tour before his death.
Today in history
1199 – King Richard I (Richard the Lionheart) died from an infection following the removal of an arrow from his shoulder, after being wounded by a crossbow bolt during a siege in France.
1320 – The Scots reaffirmed their independence by signing the Declaration of Arbroath. The Declaration was in the form of a letter submitted to Pope John XXII. It confirmed Scotland’s status as a sovereign state and defended Scotland’s right to use military action when unjustly attacked.
1663 – King of England Charles II signs the Carolina Charter, gifting land in the American Southeast to eight friends who had helped him regain the throne.
1812 – British forces, under the command of the Duke of Wellington, assaulted the fortress of Badajoz in Spain. It was the turning point in the Peninsular War against Napoleon-led France.
1843 – English poet William Wordsworth was appointed Poet Laureate, a day before his 73rd birthday.