Monday, June 23rd "2025" Daily Prep

Welcome to day 174, known as National Pink Day, National Porridge Day, International Widow’s Day. Your star sign is Cancer and your birthstone is Pearl (Alexandrite and Moonstone is also recognised).
The RSPB told householders to stop weeding and let the garden grow messy, in its biggest ever campaign to save wildlife by building “homes for nature”.
2013 – The RSPB told householders to stop weeding and let the garden grow messy, in its biggest ever campaign to save wildlife by building “homes for nature”.

Todays birthdays

1963 – Colin Montgomerie (62), Scottish professional golfer (winner of 7 PGA Tour Championships), born in Glasgow, Scotland.

1966 – Mark Chadwick (59), British musician and singer with English folk rock band, the Levellers (“What a Beautiful Day”), born in Münster, Germany.

1972 – Zinedine Zidane (53), French professional football manager (Real Madrid) and former player (Juventus, Real Madrid, France), born in Marseille, France.
1975 – “KT” Tunstall (50), Scottish singer-songwriter and musician (“Suddenly I See”), born in Edinburgh, Scotland.
1981 – Anthony Costa (44), English singer and songwriter best known as a member of the boy band Blue (“All Rise”, “Fly By”), born in Burnt Oak, Edgware, London.
1984 – Duffy (41), born Aimée Anne Duffy, Welsh singer-songwriter (“Mercy”, “Warwick Avenue”), born in Bangor, Gwynedd, North Wales.
Famous deaths
2011 – Peter Falk (b. 1927), American actor best known for his role as the scruffy detective Lieutenant Columbo from the series Columbo.

The day today

1940 – The BBC’s Music While You Work programme was first broadcast on radio to brighten up the lives of munitions workers doing boring factory jobs.
1942 – Germany’s latest fighter, a Focke-Wulf Fw 190, was captured intact when it mistakenly landed at RAF Pembrey in Wales.
1986 – Brighton bomber Patrick Magee, found guilty of planting the bomb at the Grand Hotel, Brighton during the Conservative Party Conference in 1983, was jailed for a minimum of 35 years. He was released from prison in 1999 under the terms of the ‘Good Friday Agreement’, having served only 14 years.
1994 – It was announced that the Royal Yacht Britannia would be sold or scrapped. Her final voyage was to Hong Kong (1997) before being decommissioned. She is now based in Edinburgh, as a visitor attraction.
2013 – The RSPB told householders to stop weeding and let the garden grow messy, in its biggest ever campaign to save wildlife by building “homes for nature”.
2023 – The national press carried the news that the 5 people on board the Titan submersible had all perished, after debris, consistent with a ‘catastrophic implosion’, was found close to the wreck of the Titanic. The vessel went missing on Sunday, 18th June after embarking on a mission to survey the wreckage of the Titanic. Those on board included British businessman Hamish Harding, British-Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son Suleman.
Today in music
1957 – Lonnie Donegan was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Gamblin’ Man / Putting On The Style’, the singers second UK No.1. It was the last UK No.1 to be released as a 78rpm as well as a 7′ vinyl record.
1960 – Eddie Cochran was at No.1 in the UK with the single ‘Three Steps To Heaven’. The American singer had been killed three months earlier in a car crash while touring the UK.

1962 – The film soundtrack to ‘West Side Story’ went to No.1 on the UK charts for the first time. It spent a total of 13 weeks at No.1 on seven different occasions.

1965 – The Miracles released ‘The Tracks of My Tears’ on Motown’s Tamla label. Written by Smokey Robinson, Pete Moore, and Marv Tarplin, the song became a US Top 20 hit and peaked at No.2 on Billboard’s R&B chart. The broadly acclaimed song was reissued in the UK in 1969, where became a Top Ten hit.
1973 – 10cc were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Rubber Bullets’, the first of three UK No.1’s for the band, (who also had a No.1 as Hotlegs).
1984 – Duran Duran started a two week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘The Reflex’, the group’s first US No.1, was taken from their third album, Seven and the Ragged Tiger.
1990 – Elton John had his first UK solo No.1 single with ‘Sacrifice / Healing Hands’ after achieving over 50 previous UK hits and 6 chart toppers in the US.
1996 – Bryan Adams went to No.1 on the UK album chart with ’18-Till I Die’. Metallica went to No.1 on the US album chart with their sixth studio album ‘Load’. The album has now sold over five million copies in America alone.
2004 – Bob Dylan was awarded an honorary degree by the University of St. Andrews Scotland’s oldest University and made a “Doctor of Music.”

Today in history

1314 – Preliminary actions began for the Battle of Bannockburn, with the main battle beginning not long after daybreak the following day when the Scots began to move towards the English. It was one of the decisive battles of the First War of Scottish Independence. Robert the Bruce earned a place in Scottish history for his legendary victory over the English at Bannockburn.
1661 – A marriage contract was signed between Charles II of England and Portuguese Catherine of Braganza. Catherine’s dowry secured to England Tangier, the Seven islands of Bombay, trading privileges and two million Portuguese crowns (about £300,000).
1683 – William Penn, the English Quaker, signed a treaty with the Indian chiefs of the Lenni Lenade Tribe in an attempt to ensure peace in his new American colony, Pennsylvania.
1757 – British troops, commanded by Robert Clive, won the Battle of Plassey in Bengal laying the foundations of the British Empire in India.
1894 – Birth of Edward, Duke of Windsor who was King Edward VIII from 20th January to 10th December 1936 before abdicating to marry twice-divorced Mrs. Wallis Warfield Simpson.