November 15th "2024" Daily Prep
Welcome to day 320 of the “leap” year! Known as National Clean Out Your Refrigerator Day, Children in Need, World Vasectomy Day. Your star sign is Scorpio and your birthstone is Topaz.
2001 – Microsoft entered the video game market with the launch of its first game console, the Xbox. Much of the first Xbox’s success came down to the game it was launched alongside, Halo.
Todays birthdays
1932 – Petula Clark (92), British pop singer-songwriter (“Downtown”, “My Love”, “Don’t Sleep in the Subway”) and actress, born in Ewell, Epsom, Surrey.
1945 – Anni-Frid Lyngstad (79), Norwegian-born Swedish singer who is best known as one of the founding members and lead singers of the pop band ABBA, born in Bjørkåsen, Norway.
1953 – Alexander O’Neal (71), American R&B singer, songwriter (“Criticize”), born in Natchez, Mississippi, United States.
1965 – Nigel Bond (59), English former professional snooker player (1989 to 2022), born in Darley Dale, Derbyshire.
1974 – Chad Kroeger (50), Canadian singer, guitarist, and songwriter (Nickelback “How You Remind Me”; “Photograph”), born in Hanna, Alberta, Canada.
Famous deaths
2015 – Warren Mitchell (b. 1926), English actor and screenwriter best known for playing bigoted cockney Alf Garnett (Till Death Us Do Part, In Sickness and in Health).
2020 – Des O’Connor (b. 1932), English comedian, singer and television presenter (Today with Des and Mel, Take Your Pick!, Countdown).
The day today
1922 – Children’s Hour was first broadcast on the radio. It established a tradition of drama and story-telling and built up a devoted audience of over three million at its peak.
1968 – The liner Queen Elizabeth completed her final passenger voyage when she landed at Southampton. She was sold to a US group who planned to moor her in Florida as a tourist attraction. She was replaced by the new liner the QE2.
1969 – ATV (Midland) screened the first colour TV commercial in Britain; for Birds Eye Peas. It cost £23 for the off peak 30 second slot.
2001 – Microsoft entered the video game market with the launch of its first game console, the Xbox. Much of the first Xbox’s success came down to the game it was launched alongside, Halo. The Xbox sold more than 1.5 million units in the US alone by the end of the year.
2014 – Pensioner Kelvin Sibthorpe got his hopes up when he discovered he’d been the victim of pension mis-selling, which meant he could be entitled to a ‘windfall’. The windfall entitled him to only an extra 18p a month in pension payments. It would consist of seven years of back payments, coming to a grand total of £10.08.
Today in music
1980 – Blondie had their fifth UK No.1 single and third No.1 of this year with ‘The Tide Is High’ a song written by reggae star John Holt, also a No.1 in the US.
1987 – Dire Straits became the first act to sell over three million copies of an album in the UK. Brothers in Arms contained five, top 40 singles: ‘Money for Nothing,’ ‘So Far Away,’ ‘Walk of Life,’ ‘Brothers in Arms’ and ‘Your Latest Trick.’ The album is the eighth-best-selling album in UK chart history.
1990 – Milli Vanilli producer Frank Farian held a press conference to confirm the rumours that the two members of the group Rob and Fab had not sung on any of their hit records.
2000 – Winners at The MTV Europe Awards included All Saints for best pop act, Ricky Martin won best male artist, Madonna won best female artist, Red Hot Chili Peppers won best rock band, Blink 182 won best new act & Jennifer Lopez won best R&B act.
2015 – Trumpeter Miles Davis was voted the greatest jazz artist of all time by listeners of UK stations BBC Radio and Jazz FM. Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Charlie Parker and Billie Holiday also all made the top 10.
Today in history
655 – The death (at the Battle of the Winwaed) of Penda, 7th-century King of Mercia, one of the most powerful kingdoms of Anglo-Saxon England. Mercia originally comprised the border areas of modern Staffordshire, Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, the northern West Midlands and Warwickshire.
1492 – Christopher Columbus first encounters dried tobacco leaves. They were given to him as a gift by the American Indians.
1577 – English explorer and navigator Sir Francis Drake began his voyage to sail around the world.
1720 – Pirates Anne Bonny, Mary Read and Calico Jack (John Rackham) are captured by Capt Jonathan Barnet and brought to Spanish Town, Jamaica, for trial.Franz Müller, a German tailor, who had murdered Thomas Briggs in the first murder committed on a British train (on 9th July) was publicly hanged at Newgate prison.
1899 – Winston Churchill was captured by the Boers while covering the war as a reporter for the Morning Post. He escaped a few weeks later.