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 275 of the year.

Thursday, October 2nd Daily Prep.

Known as Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur), Guardian Angel Day, World Farm Animals Day, Name Your Car Day. Your star sign is Libra and your birthstone is Pink Tourmaline.
1995 – British rock band Oasis released their second album, “(What’s the Story) Morning Glory?” featuring hits like “Wonderwall” and “Don’t Look Back in Anger,” it is one of the best-selling albums in UK history.
British rock band Oasis released their second album, "(What’s the Story) Morning Glory?" featuring hits like "Wonderwall" and "Don't Look Back in Anger," it is one of the best-selling albums in UK history.
Today’s birthdays
1945 – Don McLean (80), American singer-songwriter (“American Pie”), born in New Rochelle, New York, United States.

1948 – Trevor Brooking (77), English former international footballer (England, West Ham United) and manager (West Ham United in 2003), born in Barking, East London.

1950 – Mike Rutherford (75), English musician, singer and co-founder of the rock band Genesis (“I Can’t Dance”, “Jesus He Knows Me”), born in Guildford, Surrey.
1951 – Sting (74), English singer-songwriter with The Police (“Every Breath You Take”) and actor (Dune, Quadrophenia), born in Wallsend, Northumberland.
1955 – Phil Oakey (70), English singer-songwriter and co-founder of the band The Human League (“Don’t You Want Me”, “Together in Electric Dreams”), born in Oadby, Leicestershire.
1971 – Tiffany (54), American pop singer (“I Think We’re Alone Now”), born in Norwalk, California, United States.
1974 – Simon Gregson (51), English actor best known for his role as Steve McDonald in the ITV soap opera Coronation Street, born in Wythenshawe, Greater Manchester.
Famous deaths
2007 – Ronnie Hazlehurst (b. 1928), English composer and conductor who composed theme tunes for shows such as Yes Minister, Are You Being Served?, Some Mothers Do ‘Ave ‘Em, The Two Ronnies and Last of the Summer Wine.
2013 – Tom Clancy (b. 1944), American novelist (The Hunt for Red October, Patriot Games, The Sum of All Fears), his works also inspired games such as the Rainbow Six, Ghost Recon, Splinter Cell and The Division series.
The day today
1902 – The classic children’s book “The Tale of Peter Rabbit” by Beatrix Potter was published in London.

1925 – John Logie Baird (Scottish born engineer born at Helensburgh) performed the first test of a working television system. Although Baird’s electromechanical system was eventually displaced by purely electronic systems, his early successes earned him a prominent place in television’s invention.

1951 – The birth of Gordon Matthew Thomas Sumner, known by his stage name Sting. Prior to starting his solo singing career, he was the principal songwriter, lead singer and bass player for the rock band The Police.
1953 – A photograph of William Pettit, wanted for murder, was shown on BBC TV at the request of the police – the first time in Britain that television was used to help find a wanted man.
1968 – Sheila Thorns gave birth to six babies in what was hailed as the first recorded case of live sextuplets in Britain. While the initial birth of the six babies was a medical milestone, not all of them survived; one died shortly after birth, and two more died within the following two weeks.
1977 – Austrian Ferrari driver Niki Lauda finishes 4th in the US Grand Prix East at Watkins Glen to clinch his second Formula 1 World Drivers Championship; Englishman James Hunt wins the race.
1983 – Neil Kinnock becomes the new leader of the Labour party, with Roy Hattersley joining him as deputy.
1988 – Lennox Lewis, representing Canada, won the super-heavyweight gold medal at the 1988 Seoul Olympics by defeating American Riddick Bowe via a second-round technical knockout (TKO). Lewis’s victory in the final secured the gold for his amateur career before he went on to become a professional.
1991 – Ron Chassidy (who had been jailed for not paying his poll tax) was released after a ‘whip-round’ at his local pub so that he could play in a dominoes match.
2012 – The decision to award the West Coast Main Line rail franchise to FirstGroup was scrapped because of ‘significant technical flaws’ in the way the risks for each bid were calculated. FirstGroup, which beat current operator Virgin Trains to win the 13-year deal, said it had submitted its bid correctly and was disappointed at the news.
2020 – Two billionaire brothers from Blackburn won the battle to buy Asda from Walmart of the United States, in a deal valuing the supermarket chain at £6.8bn. Zuber and Mohsin Issa own EG Group (initially called Euro Garages) which was founded in 2001 on a single site in Bury, Greater Manchester. By 2020 they had more than 5,200 petrol stations across the UK, mainland Europe, the USA and Australia, along with 110 Starbucks stores and the largest franchise of KFC stores in the UK, with 125 sites.
Today in music
1981 – The Police went to No.1 on the UK album chart with Ghost In The Machine, the band’s third No.1 LP. The album produced the highly successful singles ‘Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic’, ‘Invisible Sun’, and ‘Spirits in the Material World’.
1982 – Dire Straits started a four-week run at No.1 on UK the album charts with ‘Love Over Gold’. The album marked a significant achievement, becoming the band’s first number-one album in the UK and solidifying their success.
1982 – Musical Youth were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Pass The Dutchie’. The group were made up of Birmingham school boys, aged 11-16. The song was a cover of The Mighty Diamonds song called ‘Pass The Kutchie’, a slang term for a cannabis smoking pipe, but the word was changed to avoid the song being banned for it’s drug reference.

1983 – Welsh singer Bonnie Tyler was at No.1 on the US singles chart with the Jim Steinman written and produced track ‘Total Eclipse Of The Heart’. It made her the only Welsh artist to score a US No.1.

1995 – Oasis released their second album ‘(What’s The Story), Morning Glory’, which entered the UK chart at No.1. The album has gone on to sell over 18 million copies worldwide, and it won the award for the best British Album of the last 30 Years at the 2010 Brit Awards.
2002 – Robbie Williams signed the most lucrative British record deal in history when he signed with EMI records for £80m. Asked what he was going to do with money Robbie said, “I’m going to count it all.”
2006 – British singer, songwriter Katie Melua entered the Guinness Book of Records for playing the deepest underwater concert. This took palce 303 metres below sea level on the Norwegian Statoil’s Troll A platform in the North Sea. Melua and her band underwent extensive medical tests and survival training in Norway before the concert. Melua later described achieving the record as “the most surreal gig I have ever done”.
2009 – Mumford & Sons released their debut album ‘Sigh No More’ in the UK. It peaked at No. 2 on 20 February 2011, in its 72nd week on the chart following its Album of the Year win at the 2011 BRIT Awards. In early 2011, the album peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 in the US. In the United States, it was the 3rd most digitally-downloaded album of 2011, selling 761,000 copies
Today in history
1263 – The battle of Largs: Scots defeat the Norwegians on the Firth of Clyde, Scotland, returning the Western Isles to Scotland and ending 500 years of Viking invasions.
1452 – King Richard III was born. He was killed at the Battle of Bosworth (Leicestershire) where there is a memorial to him. On 25th August 2012 archaeologists began a dig, searching under a car park in Leicester for his last resting place. On 12th September they said that the human remains found showed similarities to the king’s portrayal in records.
1528 – English Protestant author William Tyndale published “The Obedience of a Christian Man” in Antwerp, Belgium. The text is significant because it was the first document suggesting that the king of a country should be the head of that country’s church instead of the pope or other religious leader.
1780 – During the American Revolutionary War, John André, a British Army officer, was hanged as a spy by the Continental Army.
1836 – After a 5-year voyage around the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, Charles Darwin returned to England. He traveled on the HMS Beagle, exploring lands far and wide, including The Galapagos Islands, where he studied the wildlife. The findings from this trip would lead him to the theory of evolution.
1869 – The birth of Mahatma Gandhi in the coastal town of Porbandar, British India.