On This Day 2026
Hello, … and welcome to day 43 of the year.

Thursday, February 12th

Today is Charles Darwin Day, Digital Learning Day, Fat Thursday. Your star sign is Aquarius and your birthstone is Amethyst.
2017 – Elaine Hopley, a 45 year old Scottish mother-of-two, broke the solo female record in a prestigious rowing race across the Atlantic. Her time for the event, dubbed “the world’s toughest row”, was 59 days, 19 hours and 14 minutes.
Elaine Hopley, a 45 year old Scottish mother-of-two, broke the solo female record in a prestigious rowing race across the Atlantic.
Today’s birthdays
1934 – Annette Crosbie (92), Scottish actress (Calendar Girls), best known for her role as Margaret Meldrew in the BBC sitcom One Foot in the Grave, born in Gorebridge, Scotland.

1956 – Arsenio Hall (70), American comedian and actor (Coming to America, Harlem Nights), born in Cleveland, Ohio, United States.

1967 – Hermione Norris (59), English actress (Cold Feet, Wire in the Blood, Spooks), born in Paddington, London.

1968 – Josh Brolin (58), American actor (Sicario, American Gangster, Jonah Hex, Deadpool 2, The Goonies), born in Santa Monica, California, United States.

1969 – Steve Backley (57), retired British track and field athlete who competed in the javelin throw (formerly held the world record 91.46m throw), born in Sidcup, South East London.
1974 – Naseem Hamed (52), English former professional boxer and International Boxing Hall of Famer who competed from 1992 to 2002, born in Sheffield, South Yorkshire.
1978 – Gethin Jones (48), Welsh television presenter (Blue Peter, The One Show, Sell Me the Answer), born in Cardiff, Wales.
1978 – Paul Anderson (48), English actor (The Revenant, Legend, The Firm), better known as Arthur Shelby in Peaky Blinders, born in London. Note: Some sources may incorrectly cite November 19, 1978, but the February 12, 1978, date is widely listed in reputable film databases.
1979 – Jesse Spencer (47), Australian actor (House, Chicago Fire), best known for his role as Billy Kennedy in the soap opera Neighbours from 1994-2022, born in Melbourne, Australia.
1980 – Christina Ricci (46), American actress (The Addams Family, Casper, Sleepy Hollow, Pan Am), born in Santa Monica, California, United States.
Famous deaths
1554 – Lady Jane Grey (b. 1537), English noblewoman and great-granddaughter of Henry VII who was proclaimed Queen of England for just 9 days (10 July 1553 – 19 July 1553) and later beheaded for high treason.

2000 – Charles M. Schulz (b. 1922), American cartoonist who created the comic strip Peanuts, featuring the characters Charlie Brown and Snoopy.

2019 – Gordon Banks (b. 1937), English professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper for England starting every game of the nation’s 1966 World Cup victory.
The day today
1932 – Ramsey MacDonald introduced a bill to improve youth courts, raise the age of juveniles and ban whipping of under 14s.
1943 – William Morris (Lord Nuffield), the founder of Morris Motors, created the Nuffield Foundation, Britain’s biggest charitable trust, with a gift of £10 million. The Nuffield Foundation’s income comes from the interest on its investments. It does not fund raise or receive funding from the Government. It is financially and politically independent.
1949 – A Spanish-language radio adaptation of H.G. Wells’ The War of the Worlds aired in Quito, Ecuador, causing mass panic that resulted in a deadly riot. Listeners believed the invasion was real. Many rushed into the streets in panic, with police and fire brigades leaving the city to combat the supposed invaders. Upon discovering the broadcast was a hoax, an enraged mob surrounded the building housing Radio Quito and the El Comercio newspaper, setting it on fire.
1964 – Intense fighting erupted in Limassol and other areas between Greek and Turkish Cypriots in the disputed island of Cyprus. Following the failure of local efforts, the UN Security Council authorized the deployment of a peacekeeping force (UNFICYP) in March 1964, which remains on the island to monitor a buffer zone.
1989 – Pat Finucane, a 39-year-old Belfast defence solicitor, was shot 14 times and killed by loyalist Ulster Defence Association (UDA) paramilitaries in his North Belfast home while having Sunday lunch with his wife, Geraldine, and three children. Finucane was a prominent solicitor who represented high-profile IRA members as well as loyalists, making him a target.
1994 – One hundred people made history by walking from France to England. Each represented charities and voluntary organisations and walked the 31 mile Channel Tunnel which took, on average, 13 hours to complete.
1994 – The 1893 version of The Scream by Edvard Munch was stolen from the National Gallery of Norway in Oslo in a daring, 50-second heist. The thieves left a note saying “Thanks for the poor security”. The painting was recovered undamaged by police on May 7.
1994 – The XVII Olympic Winter Games officially opened in Lillehammer, Norway. Known as the first “green” Games due to a heavy focus on sustainability, including eco-friendly venues and medals made from local granite.
2001 – NASA’s NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft successfully touched down on the asteroid 433 Eros 196 approximately million miles from Earth, becoming the first probe to land on an asteroid. It transmitted data for roughly two weeks after landing, with the final transmission on March 1, 2001.
2002 – The trial of former President of Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Slobodan Milosevic begins at the United Nations war crimes tribunal in The Hague.
2010 – The XXI Olympic Winter Games officially opened in Vancouver, Canada at BC Place Stadium. Canada set a record for the most gold medals (14) at a single Winter Olympics. Approximately 2,600 athletes from 82 nations participated in 86 events in fifteen disciplines.
2016 – The Marvel superhero film “Deadpool” starring Ryan Reynolds is released in the US. The film achieved both critical and commercial success, earning $782.6 million against a $58 million budget, becoming the ninth-highest-grossing film of 2016 and breaking numerous records, including the highest-grossing film in the X-Men series.
2017 – Elaine Hopley, a 45 year old Scottish mother-of-two, broke the solo female record in a prestigious rowing race across the Atlantic. Her time for the event, dubbed “the world’s toughest row”, was 59 days, 19 hours and 14 minutes. She was raising money for Alzheimer Scotland and completed the challenge in her boat Jan, named after her mother.
2019 – Mexican drug lord Joaquín aka “El Chapo,” was finally brought to justice. He was found guilty of a number of criminal charges related to his leadership of the Sinaloa Cartel, was sentenced to life imprisonment, and incarcerated in ADX Florence, Colorado, United States.
2019 – The Republic of Macedonia officially renamed itself the Republic of North Macedonia, settling a 27-year dispute with Greece. The agreement, signed in June 2018, allowed the nation to join NATO and pursue EU membership, as Greece previously blocked these efforts due to concerns over the name’s potential to suggest territorial claims on its own northern province.
2024 – The 11,000-year-old “Blinkerwall,” a 971-meter-long submerged stone structure, has been identified in the Bay of Mecklenburg off Germany’s coast, representing one of Europe’s oldest, largest Stone Age, hunting megastructures. Discovered 21 meters deep by Kiel University researchers using sonar, it was likely built by hunter-gatherers to drive reindeer into traps.
Today in music
1956 – Dean Martin was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Memories Are Made Of This’. The American actor, comedian, singer and TV hosts biggest hit. Also covered by The Everly Brothers, Johnny Cash, Frank Sinatra and The Driffters.
1967 – Following a tip-off to the News of the World newspaper regarding a drug-fueled party, Police officers raid Redlands, the West Sussex home of Keith Richards with a warrant issued under the dangerous drugs act. Richards, Mick Jagger and Marianne Faithfull are arrested. It is widely believed that George Harrison and Pattie Boyd were present earlier but were given a tip-off to leave before the raid to avoid the embarrassment of a Beatle being arrested.
1969 – ‘(If Paradise Is) Half As Nice’ by Amen Corner was at No.1 on the UK singles chart, the group’s only UK No.1. The song was first offered to The Tremeloes as a potential single, who rejected it.
1970 – John Lennon performed ‘Instant Karma!’ on BBC TV’s Top Of The Pops, becoming the first Beatle to have appeared on the show since 1966. Lennon wrote, recorded, and mixed his new single, all in one day. It ranks as one of the fastest-released songs in pop music history. Lennon later stated, “I wrote it for breakfast, recorded it for lunch, and we’re putting it out for dinner.”
1972 – Al Green entered the singles chart (No. 7 in the UK) with ‘Let’s Stay Together’, his only US chart topper. It was ranked the 60th greatest song of all time by Rolling Stone magazine on their list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. Tina Turner had a hit with the song in 1984.
2014 – It was reported that Rock music overtook pop in UK album sales during 2013, winning a bigger share of the market for the first time in five years. Rod Stewart’s Time was the best-selling album to be classified as rock by the Official Charts Company, followed by Arctic Monkeys and Bastille.
2015 – Welsh singer Steve Strange, (born Steven Harrington) lead singer of Eighties pop band Visage, died aged 55 following a heart attack in hospital in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. His band, Visage, formed in 1979 (with Rusty Egan and Midge Ure from Rich Kids, Billy Currie from Ultravox, and Barry Adamson, John McGeoch and Dave Formula from Magazine), and their breakthrough single, ‘Fade To Grey’, peaked at No.8 in the UK in 1981.
2017 – Adele was the biggest winner at The 59th Annual Grammy Awards with five trophies, including Album of the Year for 25, Record of the Year, and Song of the Year for ‘Hello’. Adele also became the first artist in history to win all three general field awards in the same ceremony twice, previously winning all three categories in 2012. David Bowie won Best Rock Performance, Best Alternative Music Album, Best Rock Song and Best Recording Package for Blackstar.
2023 – Rihanna headlined the Apple Music Super Bowl LVII Halftime Show at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona. Breaking from tradition, she performed the entire show without any special musical guests, supported only by dozens of backup dancers on suspended, levitating platforms. She performed a career-spanning medley of hits, including “Bitch Better Have My Money,” “Where Have You Been,” “Only Girl (In The World),” “We Found Love,” “Rude Boy,” “Work,” “Umbrella,” and “Diamonds”. Rihanna became the first person to perform the Super Bowl halftime show while pregnant, revealing her second pregnancy during the opening moments of the broadcast.
Today in history
1554 – At the tender age of 16, the ‘nine days queen’, Lady Jane Grey and her husband Lord Guildford Dudley were beheaded; he on Tower Hill, she on Tower Green, after being implicated in the Wyatt’s rebellion. The rebellion arose out of concern over Queen Mary I’s determination to marry Philip II of Spain, which was an unpopular policy with the English.
1588 – The conclusion of the ‘Glorious Revolution’. James II fled with his family to France, and the Prince of Orange and Princess Mary were declared King and Queen of England, France and Ireland.
1733 – Englishman James Oglethorpe founded Georgia (USA), the 13th colony of the Thirteen Colonies, and its first city at Savannah. The 12th of February is known as Georgia Day for its historic importance to the state.
1808 – A mortar-fired lifeline was used for the first time to save a person from a shipwreck, at Gorleston. It was invented by George William Manby who lived in the Norfolk village of Hilgay. He also invented the first modern form of fire extinguisher and built an ‘unsinkable’ ship but the boatmen rocked his boat back and forth, so that it eventually turned over.
1809 – Charles Darwin, English naturalist and author of The Origin of Species, was born, in Shrewsbury (a statue is outside Shrewsbury library, a building that was once Darwin’s former school). He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestry, and proposed that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection. He published his theory with compelling evidence for evolution in his 1859 book On the Origin of Species. By the 1870s the scientific community and much of the general public accepted evolution as a fact. The Quantum Leap sculpture in Shrewsbury was created to celebrate the bicentenary of Darwin’s birth.
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