Famous deaths
2018 – Chas Hodges (b. 1943), English musician and singer. He was the lead vocalist, pianist and guitarist of the musical duo Chas & Dave.
On This Day 2025
Hello, … Welcome to day 316 of the year.

Wednesday, November 12th Daily Prep.

Known as World Pneumonia Day and Chicken Soup for the Soul Day. Your star sign is Scorpio and your birthstone is Topaz.
1992 – British comedy TV series “Absolutely Fabulous” aired for the first time. The show was written by (and starring Jennifer Saunders) and Dawn French also starring Joanna Lumley.
British comedy TV series “Absolutely Fabulous” aired for the first time. The show was written by (and starring Jennifer Saunders) and Dawn French also starring Joanna Lumley.
Today’s birthdays
1962 – Mariella Frostrup (63), British journalist (The Guardian, The Observer, The Mail on Sunday) and presenter (The Big Painting Challenge, The Book Show), born in Oslo, Norway.
1967 – Grant Nicholas (58), Welsh musician and the lead singer and guitarist of the rock band Feeder (“Just the Way I’m Feeling”), born in Newport, Wales.
1969 – Jason Cundy (56), English former professional footballer (Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur) and radio broadcaster for talkSPORT, born in London.
1973 – Radha Mitchell (52), Australian actress (Man on Fire, London Has Fallen, Olympus Has Fallen, Angel Has Fallen, Surrogatesa), born in Melbourne, Australia.
1980 – Ryan Gosling (45), Canadian actor (La La Land, Barbie, Blade Runner 2049, The Fall Guy), born in London, Ontario, Canada.
1982 – Anne Hathaway (43), American actress (The Princess Diaries, The Devil Wears Prada, The Intern, Interstella), born in Brooklyn, New York, United States.
Famous deaths
2014 – Warren Clarke (b. 1947), English actor (A Clockwork Orange, Dalziel and Pascoe),

2018 – Stan Lee (b. 1922), American comic book writer including Spider-Man, the X-Men, Iron Man, Thor, the Hulk, Ant-Man, the Wasp, the Fantastic Four, Black Panther, Daredevil, Doctor Strange, the Scarlet Witch, and Black Widow.

2024 – Timothy West (b. 1934), English actor with a long and varied career across theatre, film, and television. He was also known for his collaborations with his second wife, actress Prunella Scales, in both acting and personal projects.
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The day today
1912 – The remains of English explorer Robert Scott and his companions were found on the Ross Ice Shelf in Antarctica. Scott’s party had reached the South Pole on 17th January 1912, only to find that they had been preceded by Roald Amundsen’s Norwegian expedition. Scott and his four comrades all perished on the return journey from a combination of exhaustion, starvation and extreme cold.
1928 – The birth, in South Africa of Bob Holness, English radio and television presenter. He is best known for presenting the British version of the quiz show Blockbusters, but also presented the quiz shows Take a Letter, Raise the Roof and Call My Bluff. Bob died on 6 January 2012 a result of a series of strokes, dementia, and natural causes.
1933 – The first photograph of the ‘Loch Ness monster’ was taken by Mr Hugh Gray. He managed to take five pictures altogether but after processing, four of them were blank and the fifth was not confirmed as being Nessie.
1938 – Nazi Germany issues the Decree on the Elimination of Jews from Economic Life prohibiting Jews from selling goods and services or working in a trade, totally segregating Jews from the German economy.
1984 – It was announced, by Chancellor Nigel Lawson, that the pound note, after being in circulation for more than 150 years, would be phased out and replaced with the pound coin.
1992 – British comedy TV series “Absolutely Fabulous” aired for the first time. The show, written by (and starring Jennifer Saunders) and Dawn French also starring Joanna Lumley, centers around Edina Monsoon, a heavy-drinking, drug-abusing PR mogul who spends her time failing to lose weight and chasing bizarre fads in a desperate attempt to stay young and “hip.”
1997 – Train robber Ronnie Biggs, was celebrating after Brazil’s Supreme Court rejected a British request to extradite him, for the 2nd time. The court in Rio de Janeiro ruled that because Biggs’ crime was committed more than 20 years previously he could not be extradited.
1997 – Ramzi Yousef was found guilty of masterminding the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. He was the primary architect of the attack that killed six people and injured more than a thousand others.
2001 – Greece held 12 plane-spotting British ‘spies’ to carry out further inquiries. All were arrested for allegedly taking photographs at an air show at a military base.
2016 – Jackie Chan was awarded an honorary Oscar at the 8th Annual Governors Awards for starring in over 200 movies.
2022 – New Zealand’s Black Ferns win the Women’s World Rugby Championship defeating England 34-31 at Eden Park in Auckland in front of a capacity crowd.
2024 – The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby resigned, following a damning report into a prolific child abuser John Smyth, associated with the Church of England. The report showed that Smyth’s abuse of more than 100 children and young men was covered up within the Church of England for decades and that Welby was told in 2013 that Smyth had been reported to police.
Today in music
1956 – Johnnie Ray was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Just Walking In The Rain.’ It stayed at No.1 for seven weeks making it this years Christmas No.1. Written in 1952 by Johnny Bragg and Robert Riley, two prisoners at Tennessee State Prison in Nashville, after a comment made by Bragg as the pair crossed the courtyard while it was raining.
1965 – After changing his name from Toby Tyler to Marc Bolan, the future T. Rex star performed his first single ‘The Wizard’ on the UK TV show Ready Steady Go!
1968 – UK book and record chain W.H. Smiths refused to display The Jimi Hendrix Experience album ‘Electric Ladyland’ due to the naked girls featured on the sleeve. The album was then made available as two albums with changed artwork after the complaints.

1977 – The Sex Pistols went to No.1 on the UK album chart with their debut LP Never Mind The Bollocks, Here’s The Sex Pistols. the punk group’s only No.1 album. The album was met by a hail of controversy upon its release. The first problems involved the allegedly ‘obscene’ name of the album, resulting in the prosecution of the manager of the Nottingham Virgin record shop for having displayed it in a window. More outrage was sparked by the lyrics of the songs ‘God Save the Queen’ and ‘Anarchy in the UK.’

1997 – The Spice Girls were at No.1 on the UK album chart with their second album ‘Spiceworld’, it was also the name of their tie-in film. The album became a huge hit worldwide, lengthening the so-called “Spicemania” fever at that time. It produced 4 singles all of which saw commercial success and has now sold over 20 million worldwide.
1998 – Winners at the MTV Europe Awards included Madonna best female artist and album for ‘Ray Of Light’, The Spice Girls won best group, All Saints won breakthrough artist, Robbie Williams, best male artist and Natalie Imbruglia won best song with ‘Torn.’
2000 – Destiny’s Child started an eleven week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Independent Women Part 1.’ Taken from the group’s third studio album, Survivor, the song first appeared on the soundtrack to the 2000 film Charlie’s Angels.
2004 – The funeral of DJ John Peel took place at St Edmundsbury Cathedral, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk. Pulp’s Jarvis Cocker, Undertones singer Feargal Sharkey and The White Stripes were among mourners, while Sir Elton John left a wreath of yellow roses.
2008 – American singer Beyoncé released her third studio album I Am… Sasha Fierce debuting at No.1 on the US Billboard chart. Her third consecutive US No.1 solo album was marketed with the release of several singles, including ‘If I Were a Boy’ and ‘Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)’, both of which charted highly internationally.
2016 – Robbie Williams broke the record for the most No.1 albums by a British solo artist. The singer’s latest album, The Heavy Entertainment Show, debuted at No.1 on this week’s chart. It is his 12th album to reach the summit and pushed him ahead of David Bowie who has 11 No.1 albums to his name.
Today in history
1035 – The death of Cnut the Great (King Canute of Denmark, England, Norway and parts of Sweden). On his death, the Danish throne went to his son Hardicanute and the English to another son, Harold Harefoot, who ruled England until AD 1040.
1439 – Plymouth becomes the first town incorporated by the English Parliament. The town was originally called Sutton, but the name gradually changed to Plymouth as the port at the mouth of the Plym estuary became more important. In 1254, the town was granted a market charter, and in 1276 it was first recorded as a borough.
1595 – The death of Admiral Sir John Hawkins chief architect of the Elizabethan navy. Among his many other roles, he rebuilt older ships and helped design the faster ships that withstood the Spanish Armada in 1588.
1600 – English author John Bunyan was arrested for preaching without a licence. He refused to give up preaching and remained in jail for 12 years.
1847 – The first public demonstration of the use of chloroform as an anaesthetic was given by James Simpson, at Edinburgh University.