On This Day 2026
Hello, … and welcome to day 42 of the year.

Wednesday, February 11th

Today is National Latte Day, National Inventors Day, White Shirt Day and Satisfied Staying Single Day. Your star sign is Aquarius and your birthstone is Amethyst.
1983 – Police launched a mass murder investigation in London after discovering human remains in drains. Civil servant Dennis Andrew Nilsen, 37, was later charged with 12 murders and sentenced to six life sentences.
Civil servant Dennis Andrew Nilsen, 37, was charged with 12 murders and sentenced to six life sentences.
Today’s birthdays
1962 – Sheryl Crow (64), American musician, singer and songwriter (“All I Wanna Do”, “If It Makes You Happy”), born in Kennett, Missouri, United States.
1969 – Jennifer Aniston (57), American actress (Friends, We’re the Millers, Marley and Me), born in Sherman Oaks, Los Angeles, California, United States.
1971 – Damian Lewis (55), English actor (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Homeland, Band of Brothers), born in St John’s Wood, London.
1972 – Steve McManaman (54), English former professional footballer (Liverpool, Real Madrid, Manchester City), born in Bootle, Merseyside.
1977 – Mike Shinoda (49), American singer, songwriter and co-founder of Linkin Park (“In The End”, “New Divide”, “Somewhere I Belong”), born in Los Angeles, California, United States.
1981 – Kelly Rowland (45), American singer (“When Love Takes Over”) who rose to fame in the late 1990s as a member of Destiny’s Child, born in Atlanta, Georgia, United States.
1982 – Natalie Dormer (44), English actress (Rush, Game of Thrones, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 and 2), born in Reading, Berkshire.
1982 – Neil Robertson (44), Australian professional snooker player, nicknamed “The Thunder from Down-Under”, born in Melbourne, Australia.
Famous deaths
2010 – Alexander McQueen (b. 1969), British fashion designer who founded his own Alexander McQueen label in 1992 and was chief designer at Givenchy from 1996 to 2001.
2012 – Whitney Houston (b. 1963), American singer-songwriter (“I Will Always Love You”), producer and actress (The Bodyguard).
The day today
1938 – The BBC broadcast the world’s first science fiction television program, an adaptation of the play R.U.R. Rossumovi Univerzální Roboti (R.U.R., or Rossum’s Universal Robots) was written by Czech playwright Karel Čapek in 1920 and introduced the word “robot” to the English language.
1945 – Declaration of Liberated Europe is signed at the Yalta Conference by Franklin D. Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and Joseph Stalin, declaring that liberated nations are to establish democratic governments through free elections.
1971 – Eighty-seven countries, including the UK, the United States and the USSR, sign the Seabed Treaty. It outlawed nuclear weapons on the ocean floor in international waters.
1975 – Margaret Thatcher became the leader of the British Conservative Party. She also became the first woman to lead a majority party in the UK.
1976 – John Curry, known as “the Nureyev of the ice”, wins Britain’s first Olympic gold in figure skating. He achieved a 1976 “Grand Slam,” winning the British, European, World, and Olympic titles, earning record scores under the 6.0 system.
1978 – The Chinese government officially lifted the ban on literature by Aristotle, William Shakespeare, and Charles Dickens, marking a significant shift in cultural policy following the end of the Cultural Revolution. The ban, imposed in 1966 to isolate China from Western influence, was repealed to reopen the country to foreign literature.
1983 – Police launched a mass murder investigation in London after discovering human remains in drains. Civil servant Dennis Andrew Nilsen, 37, was later charged with 12 murders and sentenced to six life sentences.
1990 – Nelson Mandela is released from Victor Verster Prison outside Cape Town, South Africa after 27 years as a political prisoner.
1993 – Queen Elizabeth II and the Prince of Wales both volunteered to pay income tax and capital gains tax on their private income. The Queen also took over civil list payments to junior members of the royal family.
2009 – Self-proclaimed psychic Uri Geller purchased the uninhabited 100-by-50-meter Lamb Island in Scotland’s Firth of Forth for £30,000. Geller bought the island, known for 16th-century witch trials and potential links to Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island, believing it holds buried ancient Egyptian treasure.
2017 – It was announced that Andrew Lloyd Webber had become the first composer to have four shows on Broadway at one time since Rodgers and Hammerstein in 1953. His shows were School of Rock – The Musical, The Phantom of the Opera, Cats and Sunset Boulevard.
2022 – Koalas were listed as endangered for the first time in Australian history. While once prolific across Australia’s vast eucalyptus forests, koalas have lost large amounts of habitat due to excessive land clearing, deforestation, bushfires and drought. The endangered listing was announced for the Australian Capital Territory and the states of Queensland and New South Wales.
2022 – The national papers carried the story that Metropolitan Police Commissioner Dame Cressida Dick, the first woman to lead the UK’s biggest police force, was to leave her role after a series of damaging controversies. The police watchdog found ‘disgraceful’ misogyny, discrimination and sex harassment among some Met. PCs and London’s Mayor, Sadiq Khan, made it clear to her that he had no confidence in her leadership.
2023 – The Armenian-Turkish land border opened for the first time in 35 years. The border was opened briefly to allow a convoy of vehicles carrying aid to disaster-struck areas of Turkey affected by the 2023 Turkey-Syria Earthquake. The last time the border opened was in 1988 when Turkey sent aid to Armenia after another devastating earthquake.
2024 – Super Bowl LVIII which featured the Kansas City Chiefs’ 25-22 overtime victory over the San Francisco 49ers, became the most-watched TV program in US history, averaging 123.4 million viewers across television and streaming platforms.
Today in music
1958 – English singer Michael Holliday was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘The Story Of My Life.’ The song gave writers Bacharach and David their first UK No.1 hit.

1963 – In less than ten hours, The Beatles record ten new songs for their first album plus four other tracks which would be the next two singles. John Lennon’s vocal on The Isley Brothers ‘Twist & Shout’ was recorded in one take to complete the album.

1977 – David Bowie released ‘Sound and Vision’ as a single, which was taken from his latest album Low. ‘Sound and Vision’ was used by the BBC in the UK on trailers at the time, providing considerable exposure, much needed as Bowie opted to do nothing to promote the single himself, and helped the song to No.3 on the UK charts.
1978 – The Brotherhood Of Man were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Figaro’, the group’s third and last UK No.1.
1985 – The Police won Outstanding Contribution to British music at the fourth annual Brit Awards held in London. Other winners included Prince for best International Act and Best Soundtrack for Purple Rain, British Single was Frankie Goes To Hollywood ‘Relax’, British Video was Duran Duran for ‘Wild Boys’, British Comedy Recording Neil ‘Hole In My Shoe’, British Album went to Sade for ‘Diamond Life’, British Male Solo Artist was won by Paul Young, British Female Solo Artist, Alison Moyet and Best British Group went to Wham!
1985 – English pop stars Boy George and Culture Club appear on American TV action-adventure series “The A-Team” episode “Cowboy George”.
1987 – The Smiths were at No.1 in the UK indie charts with ‘Shoplifters Of The World Unite.’ The title alludes to the communist slogan “Workers of the world, unite!”, and the 1966 David and Jonathan hit ‘Lovers of the World Unite’. The photograph on the sleeve is of a young Elvis Presley.
1989 – Paula Abdul started a three-week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Straight Up’. Her debut studio album Forever Your Girl (1988) became one of the most successful debut albums at that time, selling seven million copies in the United States and setting a record for the most No.1 singles from a debut album on the Billboard Hot 100 chart: ‘Straight Up’, ‘Forever Your Girl’, ‘Cold Hearted’, and ‘Opposites Attract’.
1998 – The hand-written lyrics to ‘Candle in the Wind’ by Bernie Taupin were auctioned off at Christie’s in Los Angeles for £278,512. The lyrics begin with the famous first verse: “Goodbye Norma Jean/ though I never knew you at all.” The name “Norma Jean,” which appears on the final version of the recorded song, was preceded by “Marilyn Monroe,” which had been crossed off on the sheet. The song appeared to have been titled “Marilyn Monroe,” which appeared in upper-case handwriting on the top right of the first page. The original version, appeared on Elton John’s 1973 album Goodbye Yellow Brick Road and was released as a single in 1974.
2000 – Spice Girls Geri Halliwell appeared in court to give evidence over the dispute with Aprilla Motorcycles. The company were suing the Spice Girls for £1.6 million over lost advertising as sponsors for the 1998 Spiceworld World tour.
2012 – Whitney Houston was found dead in suite 434 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, submerged in the bathtub. Beverly Hills paramedics arrived at approximately 3:30 p.m. and found the singer unresponsive and performed CPR. Houston was pronounced dead at 3:55 p.m. Local police said there were “no obvious signs of criminal intent.” It was later ruled by the coroner to have been an “accidental drowning”.
2014 – Queen made UK chart history by becoming the first act to sell six million copies of an individual album. Their first Greatest Hits collection, which includes the hits ‘We Will Rock You’ and ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ had extended its lead after being Britain’s highest-selling album for several years. The Official Charts Company said one in three British families now owned a copy of the 1981 compilation.
2023 – Winners at the Brit Awards 2023 held at The O2 Arena in London, UK included: Harry Styles who won British Album of the Year for Harry’s House, British Artist of the Year, Song of the Year for ‘As It Was’ and Best Pop/R&B Act. British Group and Best New Artist went to Wet Leg, Best Rock/Alternative Act went to The 1975, International Group of the Year went to Fontaines D.C. and Beyoncé won International Artist of the Year and Best International Song for ‘Break My Soul’.
Today in history
1466 – The birth of Elizabeth of York, wife of Henry VII and mother of King Henry VIII. She died, on her birthday in 1503 aged 37. In the children’s nursery rhyme, ‘Sing a Song of Sixpence’ Elizabeth is reportedly the queen in the parlour, while her husband, with a reputation for thrift, is the king counting his money.
1534 – Henry VIII declared himself as supreme head of the Church of England.
1542 – Catherine Howard, the fifth queen consort of Henry VIII, was confined in the Tower of London to be executed three days later. Henry learned that Catherine had had several affairs before their marriage and had Parliament declare it treason for an unchaste woman to marry the king. The night before her execution, Catherine spent many hours practising how to lay her head upon the block.
1586 – Sir Francis Drake with an English force captures and occupies the Spanish colonial port of Cartagena de Indias for two months, obtaining a ransom and booty.
1806 – William Grenville becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom following the death of William Pitt the Younger.
1852 – The first female public toilet opened at Bedford Street, London. Nine days previous, the first modern public toilet for men opened on Fleet Street.
1858 – Bernadette Soubirous sees a vision of the Virgin Mary near Lourdes. The small town in southern France became one of the most important Christian places of pilgrimage.
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