September 9th "2024" Daily Prep
Welcome to day 253 of the year! Known as International Sudoku Day, Teddy Bear Day, When Pigs Fly Day. If you were born today you were likely conceived the week of December 17th in the previous year. Your star sign is Virgo and your birthstone is Sapphire.
1963 – Scotsman Jim Clark became the youngest person to win the world motor racing championships, driving Colin Chapman’s Lotus. He was aged 27 and 188 days. The youngest winner to date is Sebastian Vettel (in 2010), aged 23 years and 134 days.
Todays birthdays
1952 – Dave Stewart (72), English musician, songwriter and record producer (Eurythmics – “Sweet Dreams”, “There Must Be an Angel”), born in Sunderland, Tyne and Wear.
1960 – Hugh Grant (64), English actor (Notting Hill, Bridget Jones’s Diary, Four Weddings and a Funeral), born in Hammersmith Hospital, London.
1968 – Julia Sawalha (56), English actress best known for playing Saffron “Saffy” Monsoon in the BBC sitcom Absolutely Fabulous, born in Wandsworth, London.
1974 – Gok Wan (50), English fashion consultant, author, television presenter, actor, DJ and chef, born in Leicester.
1975 – Michael Bublé (49), Canadian singer (“Haven’t Met You Yet”, “Feeling Good”), and songwriter, born in Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada.
Famous deaths
2021 – Sarah Harding (b. 1981), English singer who was a member of the girl group, Girls Aloud (“Sound of the Underground”). The group achieved twenty consecutive top ten singles (including four number ones) in the UK.
The day today
1958 – There were race riots in London’s Notting Hill Gate, with television crews accused of encouraging the rioting by staging reconstructions in the streets.
1985 – Champion jockey Lester Piggott announced his retirement, having won more than 5,000 races around the world. In 1987 he was jailed following an investigation over tax evasion but resumed his career following his release and rode his last winner in October 1994.
1988 – The Indian cricket tour was cancelled as English cricket captain Graham Gooch and seven other members of his squad were refused visas to travel to India.
1996 – The European Court of Human Rights agreed to hear a case in which a 12-year old boy was challenging British laws allowing parents to use corporal punishment on their children.
2005 – Liverpool City Council confirmed it was to demolish Ringo Starr’s birthplace because it had “no historical significance.” The house in Dingle, was one of 460 properties to be demolished for a regeneration project. The council said Madryn Street had no significance because Ringo had spent only three months of his life there.
Today in music
1965 – The Rolling Stones were at No.1 in the UK with “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction”, giving the band their 4th UK No.1 single.
1972 – Slade were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with “Mama Weer All Crazee Now”, the group’s third UK No.1. Taken from their album ‘Slayed?’
1989 – Italian based Black Box started a six-week run at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Ride On Time’. The track sampled the uncredited use of Loleatta Holloway’s song ‘Love Sensation’, who objected resulting in a settlement that paid the singer an undisclosed sum. New pressings had M People singer Heather Small singing the vocals. Biggest selling single of 1989.
1995 – Coolio featuring L.V. scored his first US No.1 single with ‘Gangsta’s Paradise’. The song sampled the chorus of the 1976 Stevie Wonder song ‘Pastime Paradise’ and featured in the 1995 movie Dangerous Minds (starring Michelle Pfeiffer). Coolio was awarded a Grammy Award for the song.
2018 – Eminem was at No.1 on the UK chart with his tenth studio album Kamikaze. The album also reached No.1 in 15 countries, becoming Eminem’s tenth consecutive No.1 album in the United States, and later becoming the best-selling hip-hop album of 2018.
Today in history
1087 – William the Conqueror died in Maine (France) from injuries he sustained after a fall from his horse.
1513 – The Scots were heavily defeated by the English at the Battle of Flodden Field and James IV was killed, along with all his nobles. Flodden Field is close to the village of Branxton, Northumberland. The slain, including King James IV were taken to Branxton Parish Church.
1543 – Mary Stuart, at just nine months old, was crowned ‘Queen of Scots’ in the Scottish town of Stirling.
1855 – The Siege of Sevastopol (Sebastopol) came to an end when Russian forces abandon the city. Although defended heroically and at the cost of heavy Allied casualties, (almost 130,00 in total), the fall of Sevastopol led to the Russian defeat in the Crimean War.
1879 – The death of John Smith, English brewer, best known for operating the John Smith’s Brewery in Tadcaster, North Yorkshire. As at 2012, John Smith’s was the highest selling bitter in the world.