Sunday, May 18th "2025" Daily Prep
Welcome to day 138, known as World Baking Day, International Museum Day, Stepmother’s Day, World Aids Vaccine Day. Your star sign is Taurus and your birthstone is Emerald.
1991 – Chemist Helen Sharman from Sheffield in South Yorkshire was the first Briton to go into space as a participant in a Soviet space mission. Sharman was selected from over 13,000 applicants through Project Juno.
Todays birthdays
1941 – Miriam Margolyes (84), British actress (Call the Midwife, The Real Marigold Hotel, Blackadder), born in Oxford.
1949 – Rick Wakeman (76), English keyboardist and composer best known as a member of the progressive rock band Yes (“Owner of a Lonely Heart”), born in Perivale, London.
1958 – Toyah Willcox (67), English singer (“It’s A Mystery”), actress (Quadrophenia), and TV presenter, born in King’s Heath, Birmingham.
1961 – Hugh Whitaker (64), English musician and the former drummer for the British indie rock band The Housemartins (“”Happy Hour”), born in Kingston upon Hull, East Yorkshire.
1969 – Martika, born Marta Marrero (56), American singer best known for her hit “Toy Soldiers”, born in Whittier, California, United States.
1975 – John Higgins (50), Scottish professional snooker player nicknamed The Wizard of Wishaw, born in Wishaw, North Lanarkshire, Scotland.
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
1952 – Professor Willard Libby says England’s prehistoric monument of Stonehenge dates back to 1848 BC.
1964 – Scores of youths were given prison sentences following violent clashes between gangs of Mods and Rockers at a number of resorts on the south coast of England.
1969 – Britain’s champion motor racing driver, Graham Hill, won his fifth and record-breaking Monaco Grand Prix.
1980 – Eruption of Mount St. Helens in Washington state USA triggers the largest landslide in history, killing 57 people and causing over $1 billion in damage.
1991 – Chemist Helen Sharman from Sheffield, South Yorkshire was the first Briton to go into space as a participant in a Soviet space mission.
1998 – High Society burglar Peter Scott was jailed for 3 years after being involved in a plot to sell a stolen Picasso painting worth £750,000.
2014 – AstraZeneca, a British multinational pharmaceutical and biologics company with operations in over 100 countries, rejected America company Pfizer’s final offer of £63bn
Today in music
1975 – Tammy Wynette was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Stand By Your Man.’ Originally released as a single in 1968 in the USA. It proved to be the most successful record of Wynette’s career and is one of the most covered songs in the history of country music.
1980 – 23-year-old Joy Division singer and guitarist Ian Curtis took his own life at home in Macclesfield, England. The artist, who struggled with depression and epilepsy, left a note that said, ‘At this very moment, I wish I were dead. I just can’t cope anymore.’ Joy Division released the critically acclaimed debut album Unknown Pleasures in 1979, and recorded their follow-up ‘Closer’ in 1980.
1985 – Simple Minds were at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Don’t You Forget About Me’, (a No. 7 hit in the UK). Written by Keith Forsey (who won an Oscar for “Flashdance… What a Feeling”) and Steve Schiff (guitarist and songwriter from the Nina Hagen band), the track was featured in the 1985 American teen drama film The Breakfast Club.
1997 – Blur won pop music’s equivalent of the FA Cup, the Music Industry Soccer Six. The band’s win at Fulham’s FC’s ground Craven Cottage saw them beating off competition from Robbie Williams, My Life Story and The Prodigy.
2004 – Clint Warwick the original bass player with The Moody Blues died from liver disease at the age of 63. Clint left the band in 1966 after playing on their only number one hit, ‘Go Now’.
2008 – Ting Tings scored their first UK No.1 single with ‘That’s Not My Name’. Taken from the Manchester duo’s debut studio album ‘We Started Nothing’.
2017 – It was announced that The Killers’ ‘Mr Brightside’ was the most-streamed song released before 2010 in the UK. The 2004 single was streamed 26 million times the previous year, beating any other song released before 2010, according to music industry body the BPI.
Today in history
1152 – Eleanor, Duchess of Aquitaine, married Henry Plantagenet (later Henry II of England). She had been divorced two months earlier from King Louis VII of France.
1593 – Playwright Thomas Kyd’s accusations of heresy lead to an arrest warrant for fellow playwright Christopher Marlowe. No reason for the arrest was given, though a manuscript believed to have been written by Marlowe was said to contain ‘vile heretical conceipts’. Twelve days later, Marlowe was stabbed to death by Ingram Frizer.
1756 – The Seven Years’ War began when Britain declared war on France.
1812 – John Bellingham was found guilty and sentenced to death by hanging for the assassination of British Prime Minister Spencer Perceval seven days earlier. To date, Perceval is the only British Prime Minister to have been assassinated.
1830 – Briton Edwin Budding signed an agreement for his invention, the lawn mower, to go into mass production. His first customer was Regent’s Park Zoo in London.