November 19th "2024" Daily Prep
Welcome to day 324 of the “leap” year! Known as Play Monopoly Day, International Men’s Day, Woman’s Entrepreneurship Day, National Bagpipes Day and Have A Bad Day Day. Your star sign is Scorpio and your birthstone is Topaz.
2009 – Floods in Cumbria brought devastation to towns such as Cockermouth. In just 24-hours the total rainfall at Seathwaite was 31.44cm (12.4 inches); a UK record for a single location in any given 24-hour period.
Todays birthdays
1942 – Calvin Klein (82), American fashion designer who launched the company that later became Calvin Klein Inc., in 1968, born in The Bronx, New York, United States.
1949 – Raymond Blanc (74), French chef and author (Simply Raymond). He is the chef patron at Le Manoir aux Quat’ Saisons, a hotel-restaurant in Great Milton, Oxfordshire which has two Michelin stars and scored 9/10 in the Good Food Guide, born in Besançon, France.
1961 – Meg Ryan (63), American actress (When Harry Met Sally, Sleepless in Seattle, City of Angels), born in Fairfield, Connecticut, United States.
1962 – Jodie Foster (62), American actress (The Silence of the Lambs, Panic Room), born in Los Angeles, California, United States.
1980 – Adele Silva (44), British actress who played the role of Kelly Windsor in the ITV soap opera Emmerdale on and off from 1993 to 2011, born in Norbury, Staffordshire.
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
1911 – Doom Bar (previously known as Dunbar sands or Dune-bar) in Cornwall claimed two ships in a single day, Island Maid and Angele, the latter killing the entire crew, except the captain. There have been over 600 beachings, wrecks and capsizings at Doom Bar since records began early in the 19th century, with about 300 ships being wrecked.
1960 – The first VTOL (vertical take off and landing) aircraft P.1127, made by the British Hawker Siddeley Company was flown, untethered, for the first time. It’s first conventional flight, (i.e. a horizontal take off) was on 13th March 1961.
1967 – The Prime Minister, Harold Wilson, stood by his decision to devalue the pound saying it would tackle the ‘root cause’ of Britain’s economic problems. The Bank of England spent £200m in a single day trying to shore up the pound from its gold and dollar reserves.
1994 – Britain’s first National Lottery draw. It had a jackpot of £7M and was shown live on BBC television. A £1 ticket gave a one in 14-million chance of correctly guessing the winning six out of 49 numbers.
2009 – Floods in Cumbria brought devastation to towns such as Cockermouth. In just 24-hours the total rainfall at Seathwaite was 31.44cm (12.4 inches); a UK record for a single location in any given 24-hour period. William Wordsworth was born in Cockermouth, on Main Street and his house was one of many historic houses in the region to be affected by the floods.
Today in music
1964 – The Supremes became the first all girl group to have a UK No.1 single when ‘Baby Love’ went to the top of the charts. Written and produced by Motown’s main production team Holland–Dozier–Holland, it was also the second of five Supremes songs in a row to go to No.1 in the United States.
1988 – Bon Jovi started a two week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with lead single from the band’s album New Jersey, ‘Bad Medicine’, which became the group’s third US No.1, and a No.17 hit in the UK.
2000 – The Beatles started an eleven-week run at No.1 on the UK album chart with The Beatles 1. The album features virtually every number-one single released from 1962 to 1970. Issued on the 30th anniversary of the band’s break-up, it was their first compilation available on one CD. The world’s best-selling album of the 21st century, 1 has sold over 31 million copies.
2000 – LeAnn Rimes started a two-week run at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Can’t Fight The Moonlight’, the singer’s first UK chart topper. Written by Diane Warren and featured on the soundtrack of the film Coyote Ugly.
2012 – Two farmers were found not guilty of health and safety offences after a giant hay bale crushed former ELO cellist Mike Edwards to death. He was killed instantly when the 600kg bale rolled down a field and landed on his van near Totnes in Devon in September 2010. In March 2011 in Plymouth an inquest jury returned a verdict of accidental death on Mr Edwards.
Today in history
1600 – The birth of Charles I, King of England and Scotland who believed that the king ruled by Divine Right, until his action in dissolving Parliament led to the civil war with Cromwell and his eventual execution.
1620 – The ship Mayflower arrived at Cape Cod, America. Its 87 passengers were a Protestant sect, known as The Pilgrim Fathers. (Note:- The Pilgrim Fathers were thwarted in their first attempt to sail to America when they left from Havenside, near Boston, Lincolnshire in September 1607.
1794 – The United States and the Kingdom of Great Britain sign Jay’s Treaty, which attempts to resolve some of the lingering problems left over from the American Revolutionary War.
1850 – The British poet Alfred Lord Tennyson became Britain’s Poet Laureate. He succeeded William Wordsworth and was followed by Alfred Austin. Some of his most celebrated poems include “Claribel” and “Mariana.”
1861 – The first major shipment of petroleum and refined oil products took place when the 224-ton brigantine Elizabeth Watts delivered 1,329 barrels (about 182 tons) of crude and refined products from Philadelphia to London.