January 9th "2025" Daily Prep
Welcome to day 9, known as National Apricot Day, National Nerd Word Day, Poetry at Work Day, Static Electricity Day. Your star sign is Capricorn and your birthstone is Garnet.
2016 – The Flying Scotsman, (engine no. 60103) and the first steam engine to be officially recorded at 100mph carried its first passengers, after a 10 year restoration that cost £4.2M. Test run services were carried out on the East Lancashire Railway, between Bury and Rawtenstall, for two successive weekends.
Todays birthdays
1956 – Imelda Staunton (69), English actress (The Crown, Maleficent, Nanny McPhee, Vera Drake), born in Archway, London.
1965 – Nestor Alexander Haddaway (60), Trinidadian-born German singer best known for his 1993 hit single “What Is Love”, born in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago.
1973 – Sean Paul (52), Jamaican dancehall singer (“Like Glue”, “Temperature”, “Get Busy”, “No Lie” – Ft Dua Lipa), born in Kingston, Jamaica.
1982 – Catherine, Princess of Wales (43), member of the British royal family and wife of Prince William, The Prince of Wales, born in Royal Berkshire Hospital, Reading.
1987 – Paolo Nutini (38), Scottish singer-songwriter (“Sunny Side Up”, “Candy”, “Through The Echoes”), born in Paisley, Scotland.
Famous deaths
2011 – Gerry Rafferty (b. 1947), Scottish singer-songwriter (solo hit with “Baker Street”) and a founding member of Stealers Wheel (“Stuck in the Middle with You”).
The day today
1909 – Ernest Shackleton, leading the Nimrod Expedition to the South Pole, planted the British flag 112 miles from the South Pole, the furthest anyone had ever reached at that time.
1929 – Alexander Fleming successfully treated his assistant Stuart Craddick’s infection with a penicillin broth, at St Mary’s, Paddington.
1957 – Sir Anthony Eden resigned as prime minister of Britain due to ill health, after just one year and 279 days in the post. He was succeeded by Harold Macmillan.
2015 – A New York judge sentenced the extradited radical preacher Abu Hamza to life in prison for supporting terrorist organisations. The Muslim cleric rose to prominence for his fiery sermons at a north London mosque prior to the protracted extradition battle. The US justice department and Theresa May, the UK home secretary, hailed the sentence.
2016 – The Flying Scotsman, (engine no. 60103) and the first steam engine to be officially recorded at 100mph carried its first passengers, after a 10 year restoration that cost £4.2M. Test run services were carried out on the East Lancashire Railway, between Bury and Rawtenstall, for two successive weekends
Today in music
1955 – Rosemary Clooney was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Mambo Italiano’ the singers second No.1. The song was banned by all ABC owned stations in the US because it “did not reach standards of good taste”.
1970 – During a UK tour Led Zeppelin appeared at The Royal Albert Hall, London, the night of Jimmy Page’s 26th birthday. (John Lennon, Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck were all in the audience). The two and a quarter hour set was recorded and filmed but shelved for several decades, eventually seeing a release on a 2003 official DVD.
1976 – Queen were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’. The single enjoyed a nine week run on the chart selling more than a million copies by the end of the month. It reached No.1 again in 1991 for five weeks following Mercury’s death, eventually becoming the UK’s third best selling single of all time.
2005 – Elvis Presley went to No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Jailhouse Rock.’ The single sold just 21,262 copies to reach No.1, the lowest sales ever for a UK chart topper since data began in 1969. The single was released to celebrate the 70th anniversary of his birth, a previous Elvis chart topper was re-released each week.
2008 – Spice Girl Victoria Beckham was named the worst dressed celebrity in an annual list of fashion disasters. Fashion critic Richard Blackwell, who had compiled the poll every year since 1960, said Beckham stepped out in “one skinny-mini monstrosity after another”. Amy Winehouse’s trademark beehive and tattoos helped earn her second place in the list.
Today in history
1735 – The birth of British admiral, John Jervis (Earl of St. Vincent). In 1797, he and Nelson, who was then a captain, defeated the Spanish fleet off Cape St. Vincent.
1799 – Income tax was introduced into Britain by William Pitt the Younger, to raise funds for the Napoleonic War. The rate was two shillings in the pound.
1806 – Lord Nelson, naval commander and hero of the Battle of Trafalgar, was buried beneath the dome of St Paul’s cathedral, in London, after a grand and solemn procession along the river to Whitehall and then to the City.
1816 – Sir Humphry Davy tested his Davy safety lamp for miners at Hebburn Colliery. In January 1819, Davy was awarded a baronetcy, at the time the highest honour ever conferred on a man of science in Britain. A year later he became President of the Royal Society.
1888 – The London Financial Guide was launched. It became The Financial Times on 13th February.