Friday, May 2nd "2025" Daily Prep
Welcome to day 122, known as Brothers and Sisters Day, Harry Potter Day, World Password Day, National Space Day. Your star sign is Taurus and your birthstone is Emerald.
2016 – Ranked outsiders Leicester City win the Premier League title. They achieved the impossible and were crowned champions for the first time in their history at odds of 5,000- 1.
Todays birthdays
1936 – Englebert Humperdinck (89), British pop singer (“Release Me”, “Spanish Eyes”, “Quando Quando Quando”), born in Chennai, India.
1946 – David Suchet (79), English actor (Poirot, Death on the Nile, Executive Decision, The Au Pair), born in Paddington, London.
1949 – Alan Titchmarsh (76), English gardener, horticultural journalist and broadcaster (Groundforce, Gardeners’ World), born in Ilkley, West Yorkshire.
1962 – Jimmy White (63), English professional snooker player nicknamed “The Whirlwind” because of his fluid, swift and attacking style of play, born in Tooting, South London.
1975 – David Beckham (50), English former professional footballer, the president and co-owner of Inter Miami CF and co-owner of Salford City, born in London.
1975 – Joe Wilkinson (50), English comedian, actor, and screenwriter (8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown, After Life, Taskmaster), born in Bromley, Greater London.
1985 – Lily Allen (40), English singer-songwriter (“Smile”, “The Fear”, “Not Fair”, “Alfie”), born in Hammersmith, London.
Famous deaths
2015 – Ruth Rendell (b. 1930), English author of thrillers and psychological murder mysteries.
The day today
1942 – World War II: HMS Edinburgh was sunk in the Barents Sea off the Norwegian coast. Its cargo of gold bars lay in 800 feet of water until salvaged in 1981.
1952 – The world’s first ever jet airliner, the De Havilland Comet 1, set off from London to Johannesburg on its maiden flight.
1953 – Football legend Sir Stanley Matthews, at the age of 38, won an FA Cup winners’ medal as Blackpool came back from trailing 3-1 to beat Bolton 4-3. In recognition of the impact he had on the match, it become known as the ‘Matthews Final’.
1969 – The Cunard passenger liner Queen Elizabeth II (QE2) set sail from Southampton on its maiden voyage. One of the two QE2s 13 tonne anchors was donated by Cunard to Southampton in March 2010 ‘to commemorate the long association between the city and this iconic liner’. In March, 2017, a Dubai-based construction company announced that it had been contracted to refurbish the ship. On 18th April 2018 it opened to visitors, but with only five of the planned 13 restaurants and bars completed.
1982 – The Argentinean light cruiser General Belgrano was torpedoed by the British submarine HMS Conqueror during the Falklands War. The crew of 368 seamen perished and there was considerable criticism in Britain as the ship was sailing outside the 200-mile exclusion zone at the time.
1997 – Following Tony Blair’s victory in the general election, John Major announced that he was stepping down as leader of Britain’s Conservative Party.
2014 – 71 year old Max Clifford, the ‘master media manipulator and publicist’ and the man behind many of the tabloid scoops of the previous 30 years was sentenced to 8 years in jail. He was found guilty, on 28th April 2014, of eight counts of indecent assault on women and girls as young as 15 over a period of 20 years. Clifford became the first person to be convicted under the high profile ‘Operation Yewtree’, sparked by abuse claims against Jimmy Savile.’
Today in music
1963 – The Beatles were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘From Me To You’, the group’s first No.1 and the first of eleven consecutive No.1’s. The title of the song was inspired from a letters column called From You To Us that ran in the British music newspaper, The New Musical Express.
1970 – One Hit Wonder Norman Greenbaum was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Spirit In The Sky.’ Also a No.1 hit for Doctor and the Medics in 1986 and Gareth Gates in 2003.
1978 – Kate Bush was on the UK charts with her debut album ‘The Kick Inside’. The album which featured the singers No.1 hit ‘Wuthering Heights’ peaked at No.3 spent a total of 70 weeks on the UK chart.
1981 – Scottish singer Sheena Easton started a two week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Morning Train (9 to 5)’. The title of the song was changed to avoid any confusion with the Dolly Parton hit ‘9 to 5’, in the same year.
1987 – Cutting Crew started a two week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘(I Just), Died In Your Arms’, a No.4 hit in the UK.
1991 – The video for the R.E.M. song ‘Losing My Religion’, was banned in Ireland because its religious imagery was seen as unfit for broadcast.
2013 – It was announced that the Spice Girls musical Viva Forever! was to close at the end of June 2013. The production, which was written by Jennifer Saunders, suffered poor ticket sales after damning reviews.
2020 – Dua Lipa was at No.1 on the UK chart with her second album Future Nostalgia. The album won a Brit Award for British Album of the Year and at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards, Future Nostalgia was nominated for Album of the Year and won Best Pop Vocal Album, whilst the single ‘Don’t Start Now’ was nominated for Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Best Pop Solo Performance.
Today in history
1194 – King Richard I gave Portsmouth its first Royal Charter. The date that such a charter was granted is considered to be when a city was founded.
1536 – Anne Boleyn, second wife of England’s King Henry VIII, was sent to the Tower of London, accused of adultery, incest, treason and witchcraft. She was executed 17 days later.
1559 – Scottish clergyman John Knox returned from exile to become the leader of the ‘Scottish Reformation’. The movement led to the ousting of Mary of Guise, who governed the country in the name of her young daughter, Mary, Queen of Scots.
1568 – Mary, Queen of Scots, escaped from Loch Leven Castle in Perth and Kinross with the help of her jailer’s family. She was imprisoned there in 1567 and had been forced to abdicate as queen.
1611 – The Authorised Version of the Bible (King James Version) was first published and became the standard English language Bible.
1829 – Britain founded the Swan River Colony in Western Australia. The original landing site of the Swan River Colony, later on, became the city of Perth, Western Australia’s capital. The first settlers in the colony found life incredibly challenging as the land was not particularly suitable for growing crops. The colonists eventually eked out a meager existence as one of Australia’s only non-penal colonies.