On This Day 2026
Hello, … and welcome to day 44 of the year.

Friday, February 13th

Today is World Radio Day, National Cheddar Day, Welsh Language Music day and International Condom Day. Your star sign is Aquarius and your birthstone is Amethyst.
1996 – Take That split up. The biggest band of the 90s announced their demise in front of the world’s press at The Hilton in Manchester. Gary Barlow stated, “Unfortunately the rumours are true… From today Take That is no more”.
Take That split up. The biggest band of the 90s announced their demise in front of the world's press at The Hilton in Manchester.
Today’s birthdays
1944 – Stockard Channing (82), American actress (The West Wing), best known for her role as Rizzo in the film Grease, born in Manhattan, New York, United States.

1948 – Rod Deas (78), English singer and musician with revival band Showaddywaddy (“Under The Moon of Love”, A Little Bit of Soap”), born in Scarborough, North Yorkshire.

1950 – Peter Gabriel (76), English singer-songwriter (“Solsbury Hill”) and original lead singer of Genesis, born in Chobham, Surrey.
1956 – Peter Hook (70), English musician and co-founder of Joy Divison (“Love Will Tear Us Apart”) and New Order (“Blue Monday”), born in Broughton, Salford, Greater Manchester.
1962 – Hugh Dennis (64), English comedian (Mock the Week), presenter and actor (Outnumbered, The Couple Next Door), born in Kettering, Northamptonshire.
1971 – Sonia (55), English pop singer (“You’ll Never Stop Me Loving You”) who became the first female UK artist to achieve five top 20 hit singles from one album, born in Liverpool.
1974 – Robbie Williams (52), English singer-songwriter (“Angels”, “Rock DJ”, “She’s the One”) and former Take That member, born in Stoke-on-Trent.
1975 – Katie Hopkins (51), English media personality, far-right political commentator, and former columnist, born in Barnstaple, Devon.
1988 – Aston Merrygold (38), English singer-songwriter, dancer with JLS (“Everybody in Love”) and television presenter, born in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire.
Famous deaths
1542 – Catherine Howard (b. 1523), Queen of England from July 1540 until November 1541. Catherine was stripped of her title as queen in November 1541 and beheaded three months later on the grounds of treason for committing adultery with her distant cousin, Thomas Culpeper.

1883 – Richard Wagner (b. 1813), German composer, theatre director, and conductor. Known for his operas including his four-opera epic, The Ring Cycle, Tristan und Isolde and Parsifal.

2014 – Ralph Waite (b. 1928), American actor, best known for his lead role as John Walton Sr. on The Waltons (1972–1981), which he occasionally directed.
The day today
1938 – The birth of Oliver Reed, English actor. His films included Oliver, Women in Love and The Three Musketeers. His final role was as the elderly slave dealer Proximo in Gladiator, in which he played alongside Richard Harris, an actor whom Reed admired greatly. During a break from filming Gladiator in Valletta on the afternoon of 2 May 1999, Reed died from a sudden heart attack at the age of 61.
1945 – 1400 RAF and 450 US Airforce planes bombed Dresden in three waves over a 14-hour period, devastating one of the world’s most beautiful cities. Over a three-day period, 3,900 tons of explosives and incendiaries reduced much of the city to smouldering rubble and killed between 35,000 and 135,000 civilians.
1948 – The Science Museum in London announced that it would return the Wright Brothers’ biplane, Kitty Hawk, the first to fly, to the Smithsonian Institution. It had been sent to England in 1928 by Orville Wright when he found that the Smithsonian had labelled another plane as the first capable of sustained flight.
1960 – France became the fourth nuclear-capable nation following its successful Gerboise Bleue atomic test. The yield of the French nuclear bomb was 70 kilotons, which was the largest first test bomb at the time, with the detonation taking place in French Algeria during the height of the Algerian War.
1975 – The birth of Ben Collins, British racing driver. On 1st September 2010 the BBC was refused a court injunction to prevent the revelation that ‘Stig’, Top Gear’s ‘tame racing driver’ was, in fact Ben Collins. In future Top Gear programmes the team regularly referred to him as ‘sacked Stig’.
1978 – Tomorrow’s World presenter Anna Ford was officially announced as ITN’s first female newsreader.
1980 – The XIII Winter Olympic Games officially opened in Lake Placid, New York. The 1980 Games are celebrated for several historic sporting achievements, most notably the “Miracle on Ice”, where the underdog U.S. men’s ice hockey team defeated the heavily favoured Soviet Union. These Games marked the first use of artificial snow in Olympic competition and China, Cyprus, and Costa Rica made their Winter Olympic debuts at these Games.
1987 – London’s property boom resulted in a 5ft 6in x 11ft broom cupboard opposite Harrods being offered for sale at £36,500 – over £600 per square foot.
1988 – The Winter Olympics opened in Calgary, Canada. English ski-jumper and plasterer Eddie Edwards, became the surprise sensation of the Games. The fearless contestant came last, but won all the headlines and the nickname The Eagle. His life story was made into a film, Eddie the Eagle, in 2016.
1997 – The container ship Tokio Express traveling from Rotterdam to New York, was struck by a rogue wave off the coast of Cornwall, causing 62 shipping containers to fall overboard. One of these containers held nearly 4.8 million Lego pieces, which began washing up on Cornish beaches for years, a, event known as the “Great Lego Spill”.
2001 – Stephen Kelly, aged 33, went on trial in Glasgow for knowingly infecting a woman with the HIV virus in a case believed to be the first of its kind in Scotland. He was found guilty of ‘culpable and reckless conduct’ and was sentenced to five years in prison.
2012 – The European Space Agency successfully launched the Vega launch rocket for the first time. The launch took off from the Centre Spatial Guyanais, otherwise known as Europe’s Spaceport, located in French Guiana. The Vega’s maiden flight carried nine satellites into orbit – two science satellites and seven miniature satellites called CubeSats.
2015 – PC Robert Brown, who joined the Metropolitan Police in the era of ‘Dixon of Dock Green’, retired after 47-years service. He was the country’s longest serving policeman. In recognition of his service, he was awarded the Queen’s Police Medal at Buckingham Palace, one of the highest honours bestowed on police officers.
2019 – NASA officially declared that the mission of the Mars Opportunity rover had ended after 15 years of exploration. The solar-powered rover had been silent since June 10, 2018, following a massive, planet-wide dust storm that covered its solar panels, preventing it from recharging its batteries and cutting off communication.
2021 – A joint Egyptian-American mission discovered what is believed to be the world’s oldest high-production brewery, dating back 5,000 years, in the ancient city of Abydos. Located in a desert burial ground south of Cairo. The brewery was likely built specifically to supply beer for the funerary rituals and sacrifices of early Egyptian kings.
2025 – In a top 100 list compiled by Sportico, Cristiano Ronaldo was the world’s highest paid athlete in 2024 earning a reported $260 million, followed by Stephen Curry (NBA) and Tyson Fury (Boxer). There were no female athletes on the top 100 list.
2025 – A humpback whale briefly engulfed a kayaker and his kayak off the coast of Chilean Patagonia near the San Isidro Lighthouse in the Strait of Magellan. Adrián Simancas was kayaking with his father, Dell, who captured the terrifying moment on video. The whale released the kayaker unharmed after a few seconds, with experts suggesting it was likely an accidental, unintentional ingestion during feeding.
Today in music
1960 – Frank Sinatra launched his own record label, Reprise Records, in order to allow more artistic freedom for his own recordings. Hence, he garnered the nickname “The Chairman of the Board.”One of the label’s founding principles under Sinatra’s leadership was that each artist would have full creative freedom, and at some point complete ownership of their work.
1967 – The Monkees announced they would take creative control, writing and playing on their own recordings rather than relying on session musicians. Driven by Michael Nesmith and fed up with the “Prefab Four” label, the group forced a change to play their own instruments, culminating in the 1967 album Headquarters.
1970 – Black Sabbath released their debut self-titled studio album on Vertigo records in the UK. Peaking at No.8 on the charts, the album has been recognised as the first main album to be credited with the development of the heavy metal genre.
1972 – David Bowie reportedly declined a request from a Gay Liberation group to compose the “world’s first Gay National Anthem”. Despite being a major icon for the LGBTQ+ community at the time due to his androgynous persona and public discussions of his bisexuality, Bowie often avoided being pigeonholed as a political figurehead.

1977 – Julie Covington was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Don’t Cry For Me Argentina’, taken from the Tim Rice & Andrew Lloyd-Webber musical Evita. Covington had been in the 1977 UK TV series based on an all female group called Rock Follies. Madonna had a hit with her version of the song in 1996.

1978 – Dire Straits began recording their first album. The album which featured the group’s breakthrough single ‘Sultans of Swing’ went on to enjoy a 132 week run on the UK chart. The inspiration for ‘Sultans of Swing’ came from Mark Knopfler witnessing a mediocre jazz band playing in the corner of a practically deserted pub. At the end of their performance, the lead singer came up to the microphone and announced that they were the “Sultans of Swing.”
1982 – The Jam became the first band since The Beatles to play two numbers on the same edition of Top Of The Pops when they performed ‘A Town Called Malice’, and ‘Precious’, their latest double A sided No.1.
1996 – Following the departure of Robbie Williams in 1995, the remaining members, Gary Barlow, Howard Donald, Mark Owen, and Jason Orange confirmed at the Manchester Airport Hilton that the band would cease to exist after their upcoming Greatest Hits album and final tour. Gary Barlow stated, “Unfortunately the rumours are true… From today Take That is no more”. The news caused widespread devastation among fans, leading to the Samaritans setting up a special helpline to support them.
2005 – Readers of UK newspaper The Sun voted George Michael’s ‘Careless Whisper’ as the greatest British pop single of the past 25 years. Oasis came second with ‘Wonderwall’ and Kate Bush third with ‘Wuthering Heights’. The rest of the Top 10: No.4, Robbie Williams, ‘Angels’, No.5, The Jam, ‘Going Underground’, in equal 6th, Sex Pistols, ‘God Save The Queen’ and Joy Division, ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart’, 7th was Queen, ‘We Are The Champions’, 9th, The Stone Roses, ‘Fool’s Gold’ and 10th The Undertones ‘Teenage Kicks’.
2012 – Adele won all six categories she was nominated for at this years Grammy Awards. The British singer won song of the year for ‘Rolling In the Deep’, and also received Grammys for best pop solo performance for ‘Someone Like You’, best pop vocal album and album of the year for 21, and record of the year and best short form music video for ‘Rolling In the Deep’.
2013 – Lady Gaga was forced to postponed her world tour after sustaining an injury which left her unable to walk. The singer had severe inflammation of the joints, known as synovitis.
2016 – All four members of English indie rock group Viola Beach, Kris Leonard (guitar and vocals), River Reeves (guitar), Tomas Lowe (bass guitar), and Jack Dakin (drums) along with their manager Craig Tarry, died in a car crash in Södertälje, Sweden. Witnesses said they saw the car fall through a gap on the E4 motorway bridge, which was open to let a boat pass. In 2017, Arriva Buses launched five buses in the home town of Viola Beach in Warrington. Each vehicle had a picture of one of the band members and their manager.
Today in history
1462 – The Treaty of Westminster is finalised between Edward IV of England and the Scottish Lord of the Isles.
1542 – Catherine Howard, fifth wife of Henry VIII is beheaded for adultery aged 18. On the same day Jane Boleyn, Viscountess Rochford, sister-in-law of Henry VIII is also beheaded.
1601 – A fleet of five British East India Company vessels departs on its first voyage from London, led by James Lancaster commanding the “Red Dragon”, with the journey lasting almost 16 months. Despite high mortality from scurvy (losing over 20% of their crew), the expedition was deemed a success.
1633 – Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei arrived in Rome for trial before Inquisition for professing belief that earth revolves around the Sun.
1689 – William and Mary ascended to the English throne as co-rulers. While this isn’t the only case of England being co-ruled, it’s the only time both co-rulers had equal power.
1692 – The massacre of the MacDonalds at Glencoe, for not promptly pledging allegiance to the new king, William of Orange. The massacre began simultaneously in three settlements along the glen – Invercoe, Inverrigan, and Achnacon, although the killing took place all over the glen as the fleeing MacDonalds were pursued. Thirty eight MacDonalds from the Clan MacDonald of Glencoe were killed and another forty women and children died of exposure after their homes were burned.
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