November 26th "2024" Daily Prep
Welcome to day 331 of the “leap” year! Known as Shopping Reminder Day, White Ribbon Day, National Brand Day. Your star sign is Sagittarius and your birthstone is Topaz.
1805 – Scottish civil engineer Thomas Telford designed and completed The Pontcysyllte Aqueduct. The aqueduct allowed the Llangollen Canal to cross the River Dee in the Vale of Llangollen in northeast Wales.
Todays birthdays
1945 – John McVie (79), British bass guitarist best known as a member Fleetwood Mac (“Go Your Own Way”, “Dreams”, “Everywhere”) since 1967, born in Ealing, London.
1965 – Des Walker (58), English football coach and former player (Nottingham Forest, Sheffield Wednesday, England 1988 – 1993), born in Hackney Central, London.
1975 – DJ Khaled (49), American DJ, record producer and rapper (“I’m the One”, “Higher”), born in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States.
1981 – Natasha Bedingfield (43), British singer and songwriter (“Unwritten”, “These Words”), born in Haywards Heath, West Sussex.
1990 – Rita Ora (34), British singer-songwriter (“Hot Right Now”, “Let You Love Me”), born in Pristina, Kosovo.
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 – British archaeologists entered the tomb of King Tutankhamun.
Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon were the first to set foot inside the tomb in more than three thousand years. The tomb itself was in immaculate condition; having been hidden away by sand, it had escaped plunder by thieves. Both Carter and Carnarvon died within seven months of opening the tomb, leading many to believe there was a dire curse unleashed upon them by King Tut.
1983 – The Brinks Mat security warehouse at London’s Heathrow Airport was robbed of £25 million worth of gold bars weighing three tons. The gang gained entry to the warehouse from an insider security guard called Anthony Black. The robbers expected to steal £3 million in cash, but when they arrived, they found the gold bullion, most of which was never recovered.
2003 – The last Concorde to ever fly made a lap of honor over the English channel. Departing from Heathrow at 11:30 GMT, it made a last, brief, supersonic flight, carrying 100 BA staff, over the Bay of Biscay. It then flew a “lap of honour” above Bristol, passing over Portishead, Clevedon, Weston-super-Mare, Bristol Airport and Clifton Suspension Bridge, before landing at Filton, soon after 13:00 GMT.
2014 – The Save the Children charity was criticised for giving former Prime Minister Tony Blair an award for his anti-poverty work in Africa. Critics said that his role in the Iraq war should disqualify him from receiving the honour.
2016 – Punk memorabilia said to be worth £5m was set on fire in the middle of the River Thames in London. Joe Corre, son of Sex Pistols manager Malcolm McLaren and fashion designer Dame Vivienne Westwood, burnt the items on the 40th anniversary of the release of Anarchy In The UK, saying that “punk was never meant to be nostalgic”.
Today in music
1976 – The Sex Pistols released the single ‘Anarchy In The UK’. Originally issued in a plain black sleeve, the single was the only Sex Pistols recording released by EMI, and reached No.38 on the UK Singles Chart before EMI dropped the group on 6 January 1977.
1988 – Russian cosmonauts aboard Soyuz 7 took into space a cassette copy (minus the cassette box for weight reasons) of the latest Pink Floyd album Delicate Sound Of Thunder and played it in orbit, making Pink Floyd the first rock band to be played in space. David Gilmour and Nick Mason both attended the launch of the spacecraft.
1994 – Boyz II Men started their 14th and final week at No.1 on the singles chart with ‘I’ll Make Love To You’ giving them the longest run in chart history along with ‘I Will Always Love You’ by Whitney Houston.
2000 – Manchester club the Hacienda was auctioned off raising £18,000 for charity. Madonna made her UK TV debut at the club when C4 music show The Tube was broadcast live from the venue. Oasis, Happy Mondays, U2, New Order, Stone Roses, The Smiths and James all played at the club.
2008 – The parents of missing Manic Street Preachers guitarist and lyricist Richey Edwards were granted a court order for him to be declared presumed dead, after he disappeared nearly 14 years ago. Despite alleged sightings all over the world many believed to be Edwards, whose car was found near the Severn Bridge, where he was thought to have taken his own life at the age of 27.
Today in history
1645 – English Civil War – The third siege of Newark, which lasted from 26th November 1645 to 8th May 1646. Newark was important to both sides, as two important roads ran through the town – the Great North Way and Fosse Way.
1703 – Henry Winstanley, the engineer who built the first Eddystone lighthouse, was among those who died when it was destroyed in the Great Storm that claimed 9000 lives and lasted from the 25th to the 27th November.
1805 – The offficial opening of Thomas Telford’s Pontcysyllte Aqueduct that carries the Llangollen Canal over the valley of the River Dee in Wales. It is the longest and highest aqueduct in Britain, a Grade I Listed Building and a World Heritage Site.
1865 – Lewis Carroll’s “Alice in Wonderland” novel was published. It would become one of the most famous works of English language fiction.
1867 – Mrs. Lily Maxwell of Manchester became the first ever woman to vote in a British election, due to a mistake in the electoral register. She had to be escorted to the polling station by a bodyguard to protect her from those opposed to women’s suffrage.