On This Day 2026
Hello, … and welcome to day 52 of the year.

Saturday, February 21st

Today is National Sticky Bun Day, World Pangolin Day, International Mother Language Day, Mental Health Nurses Day and National Red Sock Day. Your star sign is Pisces and your birthstone is Amethyst.
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. The design incorporated the semaphore signals for ‘N’ and ‘D’ standing for ‘nuclear disarmament’.
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.
Today’s birthdays
1946 – Anthony Daniels (80), English actor and mime artist best known for playing C-3PO in 11 Star Wars films, from Star Wars to Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, born in Salisbury.

1955 – Kelsey Grammer (71), American actor (Cheers, Frasier, X-Men: The Last Stand, voice of Sideshow Bob – The Simpsons), born in Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands.

1958 – Kim Coates (68), Canadian actor (Sons of Anarchy, American Primeval, Goon), born in Saskatoon, Canada.
1962 – Vanessa Feltz (64), English television personality, broadcaster, and journalist (The Wright Stuff, This Morning, and Strictly Come Dancing), born in Islington, London.
1963 – William Baldwin (63), American actor (Backdraft, Sliver, Flatliners, Internal Affairs), born in Massapequa, New York, United States.
1976 – Michael McIntyre (49), British comedian, writer, and television presenter (Michael McIntyre’s Big Show, The Wheel), born in London.
1979 – Jennifer Love Hewitt (47), American actress (I Know What You Did Last Summer, Garfield: The Movie, 9-1-1, Criminal Minds), born in Waco, Texas, United States.
1986 – Charlotte Church (40), Welsh singer-songwriter (“Crazy Chick” and various classical songs), born in Llandaff, Cardiff.
1996 – Sophie Turner (30), English actress (X-Men: Apocalypse). She made her acting debut as Sansa Stark Game of Thrones), born in Northampton.
Famous deaths
1958 – Duncan Edwards (b. 1936), English footballer who played as a left-half for Manchester United and the England national team. One of the Busby Babes.

1965 – Malcolm X (b. 1925), African American revolutionary and human rights activist who founded Muslim Mosque, Inc. (MMI) and the Organization of Afro-American Unity (OAAU).

2020 – John Thaw (b. 1942), English actor and producer (Inspecter Morse, Goodnight Mister Tom).

The day today
1917 – The loss of SS Mendi, a British passenger steamship that was chartered as a troopship in the First World War. She was hit, (south of the Isle of Wight), in thick fog, by the cargo steamship Darro. The damaged Darro did not stay to assist. SS Mendi sank, killing 646 people, most of whom were black South African troops who were going to fight in France. The sinking was a major loss of life for the South African military, and one of the 20th century’s worst maritime disasters in UK waters.
1922 – The United Kingdom issued a unilateral declaration ending its protectorate over Egypt, officially recognizing it as an independent sovereign state. This move, driven by the 1919 revolution and rising nationalism, established the Kingdom of Egypt. British forces maintained a presence in the country to protect imperial communications.
1931 – Alka-Seltzer was officially introduced to the U.S. market by Miles Laboratories, following development by chemist Maurice Treneer to treat colds, headaches, and indigestion. Created from a combination of aspirin, sodium bicarbonate, and citric acid, it was marketed for rapid, effervescent relief of minor aches and stomach issues. The idea was inspired by a 1928 flu epidemic in Elkhart, Indiana, where a newspaper editor told Miles Laboratories president Hub Beardsley that a mix of aspirin and baking soda kept his staff healthy.
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. The design incorporated the semaphore signals for ‘N’ and ‘D’ standing for ‘nuclear disarmament’.
1958 – Duncan Edwards, the Manchester United and England midfielder, passed away at 2:15 a.m. on February 21, 1958, aged 21. He died 15 days after suffering severe injuries in the Munich air disaster on February 6. Considered one of the finest players of his generation and a key member of the “Busby Babes,” Edwards succumbed to multiple injuries in a Munich hospital, including fractured ribs, fractured legs, and severely damaged kidneys.
1965 – Malcolm X was assassinated at the Audubon Ballroom in Harlem, New York City, while preparing to address his Organization of Afro-American Unity. Shot multiple times at close range at age 39, the killing was a major event in the civil rights era, with three Nation of Islam members originally convicted, though two were exonerated in 2021.
1980 – British figure skater Robin Cousins won the men’s singles gold medal in figure skating at the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York. After placing fourth in the compulsory figures and second in the short program, Cousins delivered a spectacular, near-flawless free skate to win the overall gold beating East Germany’s Jan Hoffmann (silver) and USA’s Charles Tickner (bronze).
1988 – The grave of Boadicea, the warrior queen who fought the Romans in Britain nearly 2,000 years ago, was located by archaeologists under Platform 8 at King’s Cross railway station, London. British Rail said they had just refurbished the platform and anyone wanting to dig it up would have to come up with a strong case… and they did!
1990 – “The Batman Theme” by Danny Elfman wins Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Composition at 32nd Annual Grammy Awards. The theme was composed for the 1989 film Batman, directed by Tim Burton. It was one of several accolades for the film’s score.
1997 – Three men (known as part of the “Bridgewater Four”) were released from prison after spending 18 years behind bars for the 1978 murder of 13-year-old paperboy Carl Bridgewater. Their convictions were ruled unsafe by the Court of Appeal after it was discovered that West Midlands police had fabricated evidence, including a coerced confession, making it one of the UK’s most infamous miscarriages of justice. Cousins Michael Hickey and Vincent Hickey, along with James Robinson, were convicted of murder in November 1979. A fourth man, Patrick Molloy, was convicted of manslaughter.
2001 – The European Commission banned all British milk, meat and livestock exports following the UK’s first outbreak of foot and mouth disease for two decades.
2013 – Rhossili Bay on the Gower peninsula, was listed as the best beach in Britain and third best of all European beaches. It was beaten only by Rabbit Beach in Sicily, and Playa de las Catedrales in Spain.
2014 – Chris Moyles, former BBC Radio 1 host and TV presenter attempted to use a tax avoidance scheme called Working Wheels to avoid a £1M tax bill. He told HM Revenue & Customs that he had spent a year ‘engaged in self-employment as a used car trader’. Moyles claimed to have run up £1m of losses selling £3,731 worth of used cars. He then tried to offset the claimed £1m loss in the 2007-08 financial year against tax he owed on his other income, including an estimated £700,000 salary from the BBC, which is funded by licence fee payers.
2014 – Great Britain’s men’s curlers are denied a historic gold medal following a crushing 9-3 defeat by Canada in Sochi.
2015 – Mevagissey council in Cornwall abandoned plans to name a road “Hitler’s Walk” after protests from across Britain. Councillors said the road has been called Hitler’s Walk unofficially by locals for decades, not in memory of Adolf Hitler, but after a local man called called Wright Harris. In his self-appointed role as enforcer of harbour fees in the 1930s Councillor Harris was fond of recording the comings and goings of fishing vessels from a vantage point at the top of the Cornish village.
2021 – The World Health Organization urged Tanzania to start reporting coronavirus cases and share its data. Tanzania is one of the few countries in the world to not publish data on Covid-19 cases (in 2021).
2022 – Russia declared the Donetsk People’s Republic and the Luhansk People’s Republic as independent states. Putin’s Russia then deployed Russian troops to the region, setting the stage for Russia’s large-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Today in music
1964 – During the height of Beatlemania, 24,000 rolls of Beatles-themed wallpaper were flown from the UK to the US to meet intense fan demand. Produced by Wall Paper Manufacturers Ltd of Manchester, the “Beat770” labeled paper arrived just before the band’s third Ed Sullivan Show appearance. Despite the massive, fast-tracked shipment aimed at teenage fans, the product saw limited sales success.
1969 – Apple Records released Welsh singer Mary Hopkin’s debut album, Post Card. Produced by Paul McCartney, who also designed the sleeve, the 14-track folk-pop album reached number 3 in the UK. It featured Donovan songs and George Martin’s arrangement of “Inch Worm”.

1970 – Simon and Garfunkel went to No.1 on the UK chart with Bridge Over Troubled Water. The album went on to stay on the chart for over 300 weeks, returning to the top of the charts on eight separate occasions and spending a total of 41 weeks at No.1.

1976 – The Four Seasons were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘December ’63 (Oh What A Night). Written by original Four Seasons keyboard player Bob Gaudio and his future wife Judy Parker who first met when both were working as producers for Motown Records. The song’s lyrics were originally set in 1933 with the title “December 5th, 1933,” and celebrated the repeal of Prohibition.
1981 – Dolly Parton started a two week run at No.1 on the US charts with ‘9 to 5’, the singer’s first No.1 hit. The track was taken from the 1980 comedy film of the same name. The song garnered Parton an Academy Award nomination and four Grammy Award nominations, winning her the awards for Best Country Song and Best Country Vocal Performance, Female. For a time, the song became something of an anthem for office workers in the US.
1987 – Ben E King was at No.1 in the UK singles chart with ‘Stand By Me.’ The track was first released in 1961 and became a hit in 1987 after being featured in the film ‘Stand By Me.’
1998 – Celine Dion went to No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘My Heart Will Go On’. The song was the theme from the movie Titanic. The world’s best selling single of 1998.
2001 – Robbie Williams was pushed off a 5-foot-high stage into a security pit by a fan during his concert at Stuttgart’s Schleyerhalle in Germany. The attacker, believed to be a “mentally unstable” 20-year-old, was detained by German authorities, while Williams continued to perform six more songs after the incident.
2002 – Elton John accused the music industry of exploiting young singers and dumping talented artists for manufactured group’s. He said ‘There are too many average and mediocre acts; it damages real talent getting airplay. It’s just fodder.’
2004 – Les Gray the lead singer of the British band Mud died of a heart attack, whilst fighting throat cancer, aged 57. Mud scored the 1974 UK No.1 single ‘Tiger Feet’ plus had 14 other UK Top 40 singles.
2008 – A computer expert was jailed for two years for electronically stalking Linkin Park singer Chester Bennington. Devon Townsend worked at a US national security laboratory in New Mexico, where she used a computer to track Bennington, she admitted to obtaining family photos, accessing e-mail and voicemail, and threatening his wife Talinda.
Today in history
1173 – Pope Alexander III canonized Thomas Becket, the Archbishop of Canterbury murdered in 1170, as a saint and martyr, following immense popular pressure and reported miracles at his tomb. This swift canonization, barely three years after his death, recognized Becket’s defense of Church rights against King Henry II.

1431 – In a trial demanded by the English, French heroine Joan of Arc was accused of heresy before the judges in Rouen.

1437 – James I, King of Scotland, was assassinated by a group of dissident nobles led by the earl of Atholl. The crown went to his son, James II.
1741 – The death of Jethro Tull, English agricultural innovator. Born on 30th March 1674, he perfected a horse-drawn seed drill that economically sowed the seeds in neat rows, an invention that helped form the basis of modern British agriculture.
1804 – Cornish engineer Richard Trevithick demonstrated the world’s first steam railway locomotive at Samuel Homfray’s Penydaren Ironworks in South Wales. The engine won a wager for Homfray by hauling a load of 10 tons of iron and 70 men along 10 miles of tramway.
1808 – Without a previous declaration of war, Russian troops cross the border to Sweden at Abborfors in eastern Finland, thus beginning the Finnish War, in which Sweden will lose the eastern half of the country (i.e. Finland) to Russia.
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