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 308 of the year.

Tuesday, November 4th Daily Prep.

Known as Use Your Common Sense Day, Roast Dinner Day. Your star sign is Scorpio and your birthstone is Topaz.
2001 – The first Harry Potter film “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone” premiered in Leicester Square, London introducing young stars Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson.
The first Harry Potter film “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone” premiered in Leicester Square, London introducing young stars Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson.
Today’s birthdays
1961 – Ralph Macchio (64), American actor best known for his role as Daniel LaRusso in three Karate Kid films and in Cobra Kai, born in Huntington, New York, United States.
1965 – Malandra Burrows (60), English actress and singer best known for her long-running role as Kathy Glover in the ITV soap Emmerdale, born in Woolton, Liverpool.
1965 – Shaun Williamson (60), English actor best known as Barry Evans in EastEnders and as a satirical version of himself in the sitcom Extras, “Barry from EastEnders”, born in Kent.
1969 – Matthew McConaughey (56), American actor (The Gentlemen, Failure to Launch, A Time to Kill, Magic Mike), born in Uvalde, Texas, United States.
1974 – Louise Redknapp (51), English singer (“Naked”, “Arms Around the World”) with former girl group, Eternal (“I Wanna Be the Only One”), born in Lewisham, London.
1977 – Kavana (48), English singer (“I Can Make You Feel Good”), born in Moston, Manchester.
1981 – Guy Martin (43), English former motorcycle racer who now presents a string of Documentary TV programs (Speed with Guy Martin), born in Grimsby, North East Lincolnshire.
Famous deaths
1995 – Paul Eddington (b. 1927), English actor who played Jerry Leadbetter in the television sitcom The Good Life (1975–1978) and politician Jim Hacker in the sitcom Yes Minister (1980–1984) and its sequel, Yes, Prime Minister (1986–1988).
The day today
1922 – English explorers Lord Carnarvon and Howard Carter discovered the Tomb of King Tutankhamen, in the Valley of the Kings near Luxor, Egypt. The first day of excavations uncovered the first step, which descended into the famed Egyptian pharaoh’s final resting place. Otherwise known as King Tut, Tutankhamun ruled from 1333 to 1323 BC. He was entombed in the typical fashion for rulers at the time, with plenty of gold, jewelry, artwork, and other priceless treasures to aid his passage to the afterlife. The tomb had been undisturbed since 1337 BC.
1974 – Judith Ward was convicted of an army coach bombing on the M62 motorway in which 12 people died. She received a life term for each of those who died. Her conviction was quashed in 1992 when her lawyers argued that the trial jury should have been told of her history of mental illness.
1987 – Peter de Savary outbid the National Trust to purchase Land’s End for almost £7 million from David Goldstone. He had two new buildings erected and much of the present theme park development was instigated by him. He sold both Land’s End and John o’ Groats to businessman Graham Ferguson Lacey in 1991.

1994 – 400 years of shipbuilding came to an end at the Swan Hunter Shipyard, Tyneside, with the launch of the Royal Naval Frigate ‘Richmond’. The yard stood empty for a few years, before it was bought by Jaap Kroese, a Dutch millionaire.

2001 – The first Harry Potter film “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone” premiered in Leicester Square, London introducing young stars Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson. The title of the first Harry Potter book was changed from “Philosopher’s Stone” to “Sorcerer’s Stone” for the U.S. market to make it more appealing to American children and to better reflect the magical, exciting theme of the story. The U.S. publisher, Scholastic, believed the word “philosopher” sounded too archaic or academic and that American audiences might not be familiar with the mythical concept of the Philosopher’s Stone.
2008 – Barack Obama becomes the first African-American to be elected President of the United States, defeating Republican candidate John McCain.
2011 – The magazine Woman’s Weekly celebrated its 100th anniversary with a special exact facsimile re-publication of the very first edition. The 4th November 1911 edition sold around 500,000 copies and reached its peak in 1950 when it regularly sold more than two million copies a week. Quote from the publishing director Sandy Gale – “The past one hundred years of Woman’s Weekly provides a unique record of the lives of women and social issues of the last century and it remains as resolutely and proudly relevant to its hundreds of thousands of readers today.”
2014 – The body of the last missing victim, Indian waiter Russel Rebello, was found in a cabin on the wrecked Costa Concordia while the ship was being dismantled in Genoa. The discovery concluded the search for the 32nd victim of the 2012 disaster, almost three years after the shipwreck off the coast of Italy.

2014 – Statistics from the 2011 census showed that Polish migrants had the highest employment rate of any nationality living in Britain, including the British. Results also showed that European migrants to the UK added £4.96bn more in taxes in the years to 2011 than they took out in public services.

2022 – Astronomers have discovered the closest known black hole to Earth, named Gaia BH1, which is about 1,600 light-years away and has a mass roughly 10 times that of the Sun. This dormant black hole was identified by observing its effect on a companion Sun-like star that orbits it at a distance similar to Earth’s orbit around the Sun. The discovery was made possible by the European Space Agency’s Gaia spacecraft and confirmed with other telescopes.
Today in music
1961 – Cliff Richard scored his first UK No.1 album with his 5th release ’21 Today’. The album was released on October 14, 1961, the exact date of Cliff Richard’s 21st birthday. Side 1 of the album contained rock tunes while side 2 consisted of ballads.

1966 – The Beach Boys ‘Good Vibrations’, entered the UK chart and went on to be a UK & US No.1 hit single. As a child, Brian Wilson’s mother told him that dogs could pick up “vibrations” from people, so that the dog would bark at “bad vibrations”. Wilson turned this into the general idea for the song.

1979 – The Police released ‘Walking on the Moon’ as the second single from their second studio album, Reggatta de Blanc which became the band’s second No.1 hit in the UK. Sting has said that he wrote the song when he was drunk one night after a concert in Munich. The following morning, he remembered the song and wrote it down.
1980 – Bob Marley was baptised at the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, Kingston, converting to a Christian Rastafarian and taking on the new name Berhane Selassie.
1989 – Elton John scored his 50th UK chart hit when ‘Sacrifice’, entered the charts. Only Cliff Richard and Elvis Presley had also achieved this feat. Sacrifice was initially released as a single in 1989, but stalled at No.55 in the UK and at No.18 in the US. English DJ, Steve Wright, began playing the song on BBC Radio 1 and the song was then re-released as a double A-side single, along with ‘Healing Hands’.
1996 – British girl group the Spice Girls release their debut album, Spice and sell more than 23 million copies worldwide, becoming the best-selling album by a female group in history. It also produced three more number-one singles: “Say You’ll Be There”, “2 Become 1” and “Who Do You Think You Are”/”Mama”.
1997 – Shania Twain released her third studio album Come On Over which became the best-selling country music album, by a female act. To date, the album has sold more than 40 million copies worldwide, shipped over 20 million copies in the United States, and in the UK it has sold over 3.3 million. Out of the album’s 16 tracks, 12 were released as singles.
2015 – Katy Perry was named the highest-paid musician of 2015 by Forbes, earning $135 million that year.
2007 – The Eagles went to No.1 on the UK album chart with Long Road Out of Eden. It was the group’s first full studio album since The Long Run in 1979 and became the highest selling album of the year.
2013 – Rihanna joined The Beatles and Elvis Presley as one of just three acts to top the UK singles chart seven times over seven years. The singer made the No.1 spot, as the featured artist on Eminem’s new track ‘The Monster’.
Today in history
1530 – Cardinal Thomas Wolsey was arrested on charges of treason after falling out of favour with King Henry VIII for failing to secure an annulment of the king’s marriage to Catherine of Aragon. He was arrested at Cawood Castle and was en route to London to face the charges when he died at Leicester Abbey on November 29, 1530.

1650 – William III, King of England, Scotland and Ireland was born in Holland. On the day after his 38th birthday he landed at Torbay with an army of English and Dutch troops, and when Parliament declared the throne empty, he was proclaimed king.

1677 – The future Mary II of England married William, Prince of Orange. They later jointly reigned as William and Mary.
1832 – The birth, in Monmouthshire, of James James, harpist and musician from Pontypridd in South Wales. He composed the tune of the Welsh national anthem Hen Wlad fy Nhadau (also known as Land of my Fathers).
1839 – The Newport Rising took place. It was the last large scale armed rebellion against authority in mainland Britain. Between 1,000 and 5,000 marched on the town of Newport in Monmouthshire, intent on liberating those who were reported to have been taken prisoner in the town’s Westgate Hotel.
1890 – The Prince of Wales, Albert Edward travelled by the underground electric railway from King William Street to the Oval to mark the opening of what is now the City Branch of the Northern Line. It was the first electrified underground railway system.