January 9th

National Day

• National Apricot Day, National Nerd Word Day, Poetry at Work Day, Static Electricity Day, International Choreographers Day
• Your star sign is “Capricorn” and your birthstone is Garnet.

Birthdays

• 1973 – Sean Paul, Jamaican rapper and singer (“Get Busy”, “No Lie” – Ft Dua Lipa), born in Kingston, Jamaica.
• 1956 – Imelda Staunton, English actress (The Crown, Maleficent, Nanny McPhee), born in Archway,
• London.
• 1972 – Sarah Beeny, English broadcaster and entrepreneur, best known for presenting Property Ladder, Britain’s Best Home, Streets Ahead, Property Snakes and Ladders, How to Live Mortgage Free with Sarah Beeny, Sarah Beeny’s New Life in the Country and Sarah Beeny’s New Country Lives.
• 1982 – Catherine, Princess of Wales, member of the British royal family and wife of Prince William, The Prince of Wales, born in Royal Berkshire Hospital, Reading.
• 1987 – Paolo Nutini, Scottish rock singer & songwriter (“Sunny Side Up”), born in Paisley, Scotland.

On This Day

• 1909 – Ernest Shackleton, leading the Nimrod Expedition to the South Pole, planted the British flag 112 miles from the South Pole, the furthest anyone had ever reached at that time.
•  1929 – Alexander Fleming successfully treated his assistant Stuart Craddick’s infection with a penicillin broth, at St Mary’s, Paddington.
•  2016 – The Flying Scotsman, (engine no. 60103) and the first steam engine to be officially recorded at 100mph carried its first passengers, after a 10 year restoration that cost £4.2M. Test run services were carried out on the East Lancashire Railway, between Bury and Rawtenstall, for two successive weekends.

Music

• 1976 – Queen were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’. The single enjoyed a nine
• week run on the chart selling more than a million copies by the end of the month. It reached No.1 again in
• 1991 for five weeks following Mercury’s death, eventually becoming the UK’s third best selling single of all
• time.
• 2005 – Elvis Presley went to No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Jailhouse Rock.’ The single sold just 21,262 copies to reach No.1, the lowest sales ever for a UK chart topper since data began in 1969. The single was released to celebrate the 70th anniversary of his birth, a previous Elvis chart topper was re-released each week.
• 2008 – Spice Girl Victoria Beckham was named the worst dressed celebrity in an annual list of fashion disasters. Fashion critic Richard Blackwell, who had compiled the poll every year since 1960, said Beckham stepped out in “one skinny-mini monstrosity after another”. Amy Winehouse’s trademark beehive and tattoos helped earn her second place in the list.

History

• 1735 – The birth of British admiral, John Jervis (Earl of St. Vincent). In 1797, he and Nelson, who was then a captain, defeated the Spanish fleet off Cape St. Vincent.
• 1799 – Income tax was introduced into Britain by William Pitt the Younger, to raise funds for the Napoleonic War. The rate was two shillings in the pound.
• 1806 – Lord Nelson, naval commander and hero of the Battle of Trafalgar, was buried beneath the dome of St Paul’s cathedral, in London, after a grand and solemn procession along the river to Whitehall and then to the City.
• 1816 – Sir Humphry Davy tested his Davy safety lamp for miners at Hebburn Colliery. In January 1819, Davy was awarded a baronetcy, at the time the highest honour ever conferred on a man of science in Britain. A year later he became President of the Royal Society.
• 1888 – The London Financial Guide was launched. It later became The Financial Times on 13th February.