February 23rd – On This Day
1965 - The death of Stan Laurel, film comedian, born in Ulverston (which was then in Lancashire but now lies in Cumbria) in 1890. In 1961 Laurel was given a Lifetime Achievement Academy Award for his pioneering work in comedy.
February 22nd – On This Day
2018 - Analysis of 65,000-year-old cave paintings in Spain revealed that Neanderthals were the first artists long before humans. These paintings were made tens of thousands of years before humans arrived.
February 21st – On This Day
1958 - The Peace symbol, commissioned by the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament was designed and completed by Gerald Holtom. The logo was not copyrighted and later became known in the wider world as a general-purpose peace symbol.
February 20th – On This Day
2023 - The 100th birthday of "The House in the Clouds" at Thorpeness, Suffolk. It is 70 feet high and was originally a water supply storage tank for Thorpeness village. Disguised as a house for aesthetic reasons, it is now available as a Holiday Let.
February 19th – On This Day
1985 - The first episode of the BBC soap opera, EastEnders was screened. 13 million viewers watched as Arthur Fowler, Ali Osman and Den Watts forced their way into Reg Cox’s flat and found Reg near death. Several weeks later Nick Cotton was revealed as Reg’s murderer.
February 18th – On This Day
1990 - Freddie Mercury made his final public appearance on stage when he joined the rest of Queen to collect the Brit Award for Outstanding Contribution to Music.
February 17th – On This Day
1955 - Fanny Cradock’s first cookery programme Kitchen Magic, was broadcast on television. She mostly worked with her then common-law husband Johnny Cradock, adopting his surname long before they married.
February 16th – On This Day
1923 - Egyptian King Tutankhamun’s coffin was discovered. English archeologist Howard Carter entered the tomb on November 22, where everything was fully intact, untouched for over 3,000 years. Inside there were four rooms, and upon opening the last chamber on this day, they found the golden coffin belonging to King Tutankhamun.
February 15th – On This Day
1998 - The Angel of the North, a 66ft tall steel sculpture by Antony Gormley is installed at Low Eighton in Gateshead. Gormley, chose an angel for the sculpture to recognise the sacrifice of the miners who had worked beneath the site of its construction for two centuries.