Monday, April 6th
Today is Easter Monday, National Tartan Day, Siamese Cat Day and caramel Popcorn Day.
Your star sign is Aries and your birthstone is Diamond.
Today’s birthdays
1947 – Tony Connor (78), English musician and co-founder of Hot Chocolate (“You Sexy Thing”, “So You Win Again”), with Errol Brown, born in Romford, London.
1961 – Rory Bremner (65), Scottish impressionist and comedian, noted for his work in political satire and impressions of British public figures, born in Edinburgh.
1964 – Phil Gayle (62), English newsreader, broadcaster and journalist (BBC, ITV and Channel 4) on both television and radio, born in Birmingham.
1967 – Jonathan Firth (59), English actor (Middlemarch, Far from the Madding Crowd, Victoria & Albert), born in Brentwood, Essex.
1974 – Gina Yashere (52), English comedian (The Standups, Lenny Henry in Pieces, Mock the Week), born in Bethnal Green, London.
1978 – Myleene Class (48), English musician and a former member of the pop group Hear’Say (“Pure & Simple”, “The Way to Your Love”), born in Great Yarmouth.
1983 – James Wade (43), English professional darts player (world number 6), born in Guildford, Surrey.
1998 – Peyton List (28), American actress (Cobra Kai, Diary of a Wimpy Kid), born in West Palm Beach, Florida, United States.
2001 – Oscar Piastri (25), Australian Formula One racing driver who currently competes for Mclaren, born in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
Famous deaths
1998 – Tammy Wynette (b. 1942), American country music singer and songwriter (“Stand by Your Man”).
2001 – Charles Pettigrew (b. 1963), American R&B singer with the soul duo Charles & Eddie (“Would I Lie To You?”).
2014 – Mickey Rooney (b. 1920), American actor (Night at the Museum, Boys Town, Home For Christmas, It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World).
2023 – Paul Cattermole (b. 1977), English singer and member of the pop group S Club 7 (“Bring It All Back”).
The day today
1907 – The death of Thomas Beecham, founder of the pharmaceutical business ‘Beechams’. The Grade II listed Beechams Clock Tower and Offices in St Helens, Merseyside were built as the headquarters and factory for his company in the 1880s.
1913 – Suffragettes, primarily from the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU) increased their militant activities by cutting telephone lines and damaging post boxes.
1938 – Teflon was accidentally discovered by American chemist Dr. Roy J. Plunkett at DuPont’s Jackson Laboratory. Plunkett, aged 27, was trying to create new chlorofluorocarbon refrigerants. After storing tetrafluoroethylene (TFE) gas in cylinders, he found the gas had spontaneously polymerized into a new solid material. The material was first used during World War II for the Manhattan Project to coat valves and seals, as it was resistant to corrosive uranium hexafluoride. DuPont registered the Teflon™ trademark in 1945, and it has since become famous for cookware and industrial applications.
1939 – Negotiations in London finalised a defensive alliance between Great Britain and Poland, following a March 31 guarantee to protect Polish independence against Nazi German aggression. The agreement meant mutual assistance in case of attack, shifting British policy from appeasement to active deterrence against Hitler. The formal, permanent Agreement of Mutual Assistance was signed on August 25, 1939.
1944 – Pay As You Earn (PAYE) income tax was introduced into Britain to streamline tax collection during World War II. Devised by Sir Paul Chambers, it required employers to deduct tax from employees’ wages on a weekly or monthly basis, replacing outdated annual or semi-annual collections to manage a rapidly increasing taxpayer base.
1973 – NASA launched the Pioneer 11 space probe to study the asteroid belt & the environment around Jupiter and Saturn. The Pioneer 11 became the first probe to encounter Saturn and the second to fly through the asteroid belt.
1980 – Post-it notes were first introduced to the public following a successful 1978 test market. Invented by 3M scientists Spencer Silver (adhesive) and Art Fry (concept), they were initially branded as “Press ‘n Peel” before becoming Post-its. The iconic “Canary Yellow” colour was chosen simply because that was the color of the scrap paper available in the lab next door at the time.
1984 – The 17-year-old South African barefooted, long and middle distance runner, Zola Budd, was granted British citizenship by Home Secretary, Leon Brittan, after only a matter of weeks, enabling her to compete as a British citizen in the Olympic games. The decision provoked considerable controversy.
1990 – Married women in Britain became independent entities for income tax purposes for the first time, making them responsible for their own tax declarations. Their income was no longer assessed with that of their husbands.
1992 – Microsoft launched Windows 3.1, which was a major upgrade to Windows 3.0 that significantly enhanced stability, added TrueType font support, and improved performance. Windows 3.1 was a crucial step for Microsoft, selling over 3 million copies in its first two months, strengthening the company’s dominance in the PC market before the arrival of Windows 95 which was officially released to retail on August 24, 1995.
1992 – The Bosnian War broke out following the dissolution of Yugoslavia and the declaration of independence by Bosnia and Herzegovina. The war was preceded by escalating tensions and significant violent incidents that occurred before the official start date of 6 April 1992.
2012 – A ban on tobacco displays was announced in England, with other parts of the UK planning similar action to drive down smoking rates. Cigarettes and other products are to be kept below the counter in large shops and supermarkets, while small outlets were exempt until 2015.
2014 – Polish MP Artur Debski arrived in London to live as a migrant on £100 a week, in an attempt to see why so many Poles prefer Britain to their homeland. Poland has one of the EU’s most successful economies; nevertheless, 72% of Poles living in the UK intend to stay and 40% are thinking of applying for British citizenship.
2013 – France passed a law criminalising the purchase of sex, adopting the “Swedish model” to prostitution. The legislation, titled “Strengthening the Fight Against the Prostitution System and Supporting Prostituted Persons,” shifted the legal focus from punishing sex workers to penalising those who purchase sexual acts.
2013 – Bayern Munich win their 23rd German Bundesliga title after only 28 games thanks to a 1-0 win at Frankfurt through Bastian Schweinsteiger’s goal that took them an unassailable 20 points clear of defending champions Dortmund with six matches to play.
2020 – Nadia, a 4-year-old Malayan tiger at the Bronx Zoo in New York, tested positive for COVID-19, marking the first known instance of a wildlife animal infected in a zoo setting.
2023 – Aevin Dugas, a 47-year-old from Louisiana, secured the Guinness World Record for the largest afro (female) for the third time measuring nearly 5ft 5in (165 cm) in circumference, 9.84 in (25 cm) tall, and 10.24 in (26 cm) wide.
Today in music
1967 – The first master tape of The Beatles new album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band was made. The song order on side one is different from the final product at this point, the last five songs on that side being initially ordered as follows: ‘Being For the Benefit of Mr. Kite’, ‘Fixing a Hole’, ‘Lucy In the Sky with Diamonds’, ‘Getting Better’, and ‘She’s Leaving Home’. The Beatles had specified that there were to be no gaps between songs – a unique idea at the time.
1968 – Cliff Richard sang ‘Congratulations’ the UK entry in the Eurovision Song Contest held at the Royal Albert Hall London, coming in second place behind the entry from Spain with “La La La”. France placed in third place with “La Source”.
1971 – The Rolling Stones launched their own record label, Rolling Stones Records’, with Atlantic Records, (after their recording contract with Decca Records expired). The first album to be released was Brian Jones Presents the Pipes of Pan at Joujouka in 1971, and is widely credited with being the first world music LP.
1973 – David Bowie released ‘Drive-In Saturday’ which became a Top 3 UK hit. The lyrics name-checked Mick Jagger ‘When people stared in Jagger’s eyes and scored’, the model Twiggy ‘She’d sigh like Twig the wonder kid’, and Carl Jung ‘Jung the foreman prayed at work’.
1974 – The Swedish pop group ABBA won the 19th annual Eurovision Song Contest, held at The Dome in Brighton, Sussex, with their song “Waterloo”. ABBA’s win marked Sweden’s first Eurovision victory and launched their career as one of the most successful pop groups of all time.
1998 – American country singer Tammy Wynette died aged 55. She scored 12 hit singles including ‘Stand By Your Man’, and sold over 30 million records world-wide, married five times and once filed for bankruptcy. Known as the first lady of country music.
2000 – Eighties pop star Steve Strange lead singer of Visage (“Fade to Grey”), was arrested after stealing a £10.99 Teletubbies doll in Bridgend, south Wales. Strange was already on bail for stealing a £15 ladies’ jacket from Marks and Spencer in Cardiff when he was arrested.
2022 – Ed Sheeran won a British High Court copyright battle over his 2017 hit ‘Shape of You’. Judge Antony Zacaroli ruled that Sheeran had “neither deliberately nor subconsciously copied” Sami Chokri’s song ‘Oh Why’. Chokri, a grime artist who performs under the name Sami Switch, had claimed the “Oh I” hook in Sheeran’s track was “strikingly similar” to an “Oh why” refrain in his own track. After the ruling, Sheeran said “It’s really damaging to the songwriting industry. There’s only so many notes and very few chords used in pop music. Coincidence is bound to happen if 60,000 songs are being released every day on Spotify. That’s 22 million songs a year and there’s only 12 notes that are available.” ‘Shape of You’ was the UK’s best-selling song of 2017 in the UK and is Spotify’s most-streamed ever.
2023 – English singer and actor Paul Cattermole died age 46. He was best known for being a member of the pop group S Club 7 from 1998 until his departure in 2002. Cattermole returned to the band in 2014 for their reunion tour and was originally due to return in 2023 for a planned second reunion tour before his death.
Today in history
1199 – King Richard I (Richard the Lionheart) died from an infection following the removal of an arrow from his shoulder, after being wounded by a crossbow bolt during a siege in France.
1320 – The Scots reaffirmed their independence by signing the Declaration of Arbroath. The Declaration was in the form of a letter submitted to Pope John XXII. It confirmed Scotland’s status as a sovereign state and defended Scotland’s right to use military action when unjustly attacked.
1652 – Cape Colony, the first European settlement in South Africa, is established by the Dutch East India Company under Jan van Riebeeck.
1663 – King of England Charles II signs the Carolina Charter, gifting land in the American Southeast to eight friends who had helped him regain the throne.
1757 – King George II dismissed William Pitt the Elder as Secretary of State for the Southern Department, halting the short-lived Pitt–Devonshire ministry. The King disliked Pitt, and the dismissal was spurred by Pitt’s opposition to the execution of Admiral John Byng and the instability of the government.
1812 – British forces, under the command of the Duke of Wellington, assaulted the fortress of Badajoz in Spain. It was the turning point in the Peninsular War against Napoleon-led France.
1843 – English poet William Wordsworth was appointed Poet Laureate, a day before his 73rd birthday.
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