Saturday, August 16th "2025" Daily Prep
Welcome to day 228, known as Tell A Joke Day, National Rum Day, World Honey Bee Day. Your star sign is Leo and your birthstone is Peridot.
2004 – Flash floods struck the Cornish village of Boscastle after receiving an amount of rain equivalent to the area’s average August rainfall in just two hours.
Todays birthdays
1939 – Trevor McDonald (86), Trinidadian-British newsreader and journalist, best known for his career as a news presenter with ITN, born in San Fernando, Trinidad and Tobago.
1954 – James Cameron (71), Canadian filmmaker (Avatar, Titanic, Terminator, The Abyss), born in Kapuskasing, Canada.
1958 – Madonna (67), American singer (“Material Girl”, “Like a Virgin”), songwriter, and actress. Known as the “Queen of Pop”, born in Bay City, Michigan, United States.
1972 – Frankie Boyle (53), Scottish comedian and writer known for his cynical, surreal, graphic and dark sense of humour born in Pollokshaws, Glasgow.
1980 – Robert “Bob” Hardy (45), English musician and bassist with the band Franz Ferdinand (“Take Me Out”), born in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire.
1980 – Vanessa Carlton (45), American singer-songwriter and pianist (“A Thousand Miles”), born in Milford, Pennsylvania, United States.
Famous deaths
1964 – Ian Fleming (b. 1908), British writer, best known for his postwar James Bond series of spy novels.
2015 – Stephen Lewis (b. 1926), English actor and screenwriter best known for his roles as Inspector Blake in On The Buses and as Smiler in Last of the Summer Wine.
2021 – Una Stubbs (b. 1937), English actress, TV personality, and dancer (Till Death Us Do Part, In Sickness and in Health).
The day today
1930 – The world’s first coloured cartoon with synchronized sound was released. “Flip the Frog – Fiddlesticks” was created by animator Ubbe Eert Iwerks, Mickey Mouse’s co-creator. Although the cartoon was made in the USA, it was first shown in cinemas in England.
1960 – Britain granted independence to the crown colony of Cyprus.
1984 – John De Lorean was acquitted in Los Angeles of charges that he conspired to import 100 kg of cocaine, and used the proceeds to save his financially-troubled Northern Ireland sports car company.
1992 – British Williams driver Nigel Mansell finishes second in Hungarian Grand Prix at the Hungaroring to clinch his first Formula 1 World Drivers Championship.
2001 – Paul Burrell, former butler to Diana, Princess of Wales, was charged with theft from her estate relating to a total of 342 items, reportedly worth £5m.
2003 – Cristiano Ronaldo (18) makes his debut for Manchester United and the Premier League in a 4–0 home victory over Bolton Wanderers.
2004 – Flash floods struck the Cornish village of Boscastle after receiving an amount of rain equivalent to the area’s average August rainfall in just two hours. The heavy rainfall, combined with the village’s location on a narrow floodplain and other factors, led to severe flooding that devastated the area.
2012 – Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, was granted political asylum by Ecuador while he was residing in their embassy in London. He had been seeking refuge there to avoid extradition to Sweden on allegations of sexual assault, and Ecuador granted him asylum citing concerns for his human rights. However, after several years, Ecuador revoked his asylum status, leading to his arrest by British authorities.
Today in music
1975 – The Stylistics were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Can’t Give You Anything (But My Love)’, the Philadelphian soul group’s only UK No.1.
1975 – Peter Gabriel announced that he was leaving Genesis. The group auditioned more than 400 singers during the next 18 months before deciding that Phil Collins, who had been the drummer for Genesis since 1970, could front the band.
1980 – Jools Holland left the band Squeeze to pursue a solo career. He rejoined Squeeze for a period in 1985 before leaving again in 1990 to further focus on his solo work and television career.
1986 – Rick Allen, drummer with Def Leppard made his first live appearance with the band after losing an arm in a car accident, when they appeared at the Monsters Of Rock Festival, Castle Donington, England.
1986 – Madonna started a two week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Papa Don’t Preach.’ The singers fourth US No.1, & No.1 in the UK. Also on this day Madonna went to No.1 on the US album chart with ‘True Blue’.
1997 – Will Smith started a four-week run at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Men In Black’ taken from the film of the same name. The song won Smith a Grammy in 1997 for Best Rap Solo Performance.
2015 – One Direction were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Drag Me Down’. It was the band’s first single since Zayn Malik’s departure earlier in this year The track won the fan-voted ‘Best Video Award’ at the 2016 Brit Awards.
2018 – American singer and songwriter Aretha Franklin died in Detroit at the age of 76. Known as ‘The Queen of Soul’ and one of the best-selling musical artists of all time, having sold more than 75 million records worldwide was diagnosed with cancer in 2010.
Today in history
1513 – King Henry VIII of England and his troops defeated the French in the Battle of the Spurs, at Guinigatte, NW France.
1652 – The Battle of Plymouth, an action of the First Anglo-Dutch War (1652-1654). The sea battle took place off Plymouth, resulting in a Dutch victory for Admiral de Ruyter and an English defeat for Admiral George Ayscue who had to retreat to Plymouth, enabling the Dutch and its valuable convoy to continue on its journey west.
1743 – The earliest prize-ring code of boxing rules was formulated in England by the champion fighter Jack Broughton.
1819 – The Peterloo massacre took place at St Peter’s Field, Manchester when militia, with sabres drawn, charged on a crowd of 60,000–80,000 gathered to hear discussion on the reform of parliamentary representation. 15 people were killed and 650 injured.
1897 – The Tate Gallery in London, now known as Tate Britain, was opened thanks to the generosity of sugar merchant Henry Tate. The National Gallery of British Art, as it was then called, opened its doors on the site of the former Millbank Prison. Tate donated his collection of British art and provided significant funding for the gallery’s construction.