Saturday, May 17th "2025" Daily Prep
Welcome to day 137, known as World Fiddle Day, International Child Helpline Day, International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia. Your star sign is Taurus and your birthstone is Emerald.
1899 – Queen Victoria laid the foundation stone of the newly named Victoria & Albert Museum, and proclaimed, “I trust it will remain for ages a monument of discerning liberty and a source of refinement and progress”.
Todays birthdays
1956 – Sugar Ray Leonard (69), American former professional boxer, motivational speaker and actor, born in Wilmington, North Carolina, United States.
1961 – Enya (64), Irish singer with Clannad (“Harry’s Game”) and composer best known for her 1988 UK No.1 single “Orinoco Flow”, born in Gweedore, Ireland.
1965 – Jeremy Vine (60), English television and radio presenter (BBC Radio 2, Eggheads) and journalist (Jeremy Vine on Channel 5), born in Epsom, Surrey.
1966 – Jan Kincaid (59), English former drummer, songwriter and founder of the Brand New Heavies (“Midnight at the Oasis”), born in Ealing, London.
1970 – Jordan Knight (55) American singer and lead vocalist of the boy band New Kids on the Block (“You Got It, The Right Stuff”), born in Worcester, Massachusetts, United States.
1971 – Vernie Bennett (54), English singer and a founding member of R&B girl group Eternal (“I Wanna Be The Only One”), born in
1974 – Andrea Corr (51), Irish musician and lead singer of the Celtic folk pop and rock group, The Corrs (“Breathless”, “Runaway”, “What Can I Do”), born in Dundalk, Ireland.
Famous deaths
2019 – Freddie Starr (b. 1943), English comedian, impressionist, singer and actor (Opportunity Knocks and the Royal Variety Performance).
2020 – Little Richard (b. 1932), American singer, songwriter, and pianist (“Tutti Frutti”, “The Girl Can’t Help It”).
The day today
1916 – The Daylight-Saving Act (‘Summer Time’) was passed in Britain.
1969 – Tom McClean from Dublin left Newfoundland, Canada aboard Super Silver and completed the first transatlantic solo crossing in a rowing boat on 27th July when he arrived at Blacksod Bay, Co. Mayo.
1978 – The coffin containing the body of Charlie Chaplin, missing since his grave was pillaged nearly two months previously, was found buried in a cornfield beside Lake Geneva, and returned to its original resting place – this time in a theft-proof concrete tomb.
1984 – Polish born Holocaust survivor, Jack Tramiel founded Atari as Tramel Technology, Ltd. The company changed its name to Atari just under two months later. Atari released several video gaming consoles and introduced us to some of the most iconic games in history, such as Space Invaders and Pac-Man. He was also the founder of Commodore International which gave us the Commodore 64.
1993 – Nurse Beverley Allitt was convicted of murdering four babies under her ‘care’ at the Grantham and Kesteven hospital.
2000 – Two Royal Marine commandos (Corporal Alan Chambers, 31, and Marine Charlie Paton, 29) became the first Britons to reach the geographical North Pole.
2010 – Four weeks after a volcanic ash cloud disrupted flights over much of Europe, restrictions were lifted at all UK airports after the volcanic ash cloud moved away from UK airspace.
Today in music
1967 – The Tremeloes were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with their version of a Four Seasons song, (the B-side to Rag Doll), ‘Silence Is Golden’, the group’s only UK No.1.
1971 – Dawn were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Knock Three Times’, the group’s first of two UK No.1’s. Singer Tony Orlando had retired from singing when he was persuaded to front Dawn for studio recordings.
1986 – Spitting Image started a three-week run at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘The Chicken Song.’ Spitting Image had become the ‘must see’ Sunday night UK TV show, which mocked politicians and public figures. Also on this day, Whitney Houston started a three week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Greatest Love Of All’, the singers third US No.1, a No.8 hit in the UK.
2006 – Paul McCartney and his wife Heather Mills admitted that they had given up the fight to save their marriage, saying that after four years together, they were going their separate ways.
2012 – Donna Summer, the 1970s pop singer known as the Queen of Disco, died of lung cancer, an illness she believed she contracted from inhaling toxic particles released after the September 11 terrorist attacks in New York. She won five Grammy Awards, six American Music Awards, and had three multi-platinum albums, including the hits ‘Hot Stuff’, ‘Love to Love You, ‘Baby’ and ‘I Feel Love’.
2013 – French Electronic Duo Daft Punk released their fourth album Random Access Memories. It would debut at No.1 on both the US and UK charts and go on to win five Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year.
2015 – Blurryface, the fourth studio album by Twenty One Pilots, was released.
It was also the first album ever to have every track gold-certified.
Today in history
1215 – The country was in a state of Civil War and English barons, in revolt against King John, took possession of London.
1527 – Archbishop Warham began a secret inquiry into Henry VIII’s marriage with Catherine of Aragon, the first step in divorce proceedings.
1536 – George Boleyn (an English courtier and nobleman, and the brother of queen consort Anne Boleyn) along with Viscount Rochford and four other men were executed for treason.
1590 – Anne of Denmark was crowned Queen of Scotland.
1649 – Cromwell’s troops captured 300 Levellers and locked them up in Burford church. (The Levellers believed in civil rights, a ‘level’ society and religious tolerance and Cromwell was determined to crush them.) Three of the Levellers were executed on Oliver Cromwell’s orders in Burford churchyard, Oxfordshire.