On This Day 2026
Hello, … and welcome to day 38 of the year.

Saturday, February 7th

Today is National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, National Periodic Table Day and Hug an Addict Day. Your star sign is Aquarius and your birthstone is Amethyst.
1964 – Beatlemania arrived in the United States when the Beatles landed in New York. Over 5,000 screaming fans greeted the Pan Am Flight 101 from London, UK to get a glimpse of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, and George Harrison.
Beatlemania arrived in the United States when the Beatles landed in New York. Over 5,000 screaming fans greeted the Pan Am Flight 101 from London, UK to get a glimpse of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, and George Harrison.
Today’s birthdays
1959 – Mick McCarthy (67), English football manager (Cardiff City, Blackpool), pundit and former player (Barnsley FC, Manchester City), born in Barnsley, South Yorkshire.
1960 – James Spader (66), American actor (Boston Legal, Blacklist), born in Boston, Massachusetts, United States.
1962 – Eddie Izzard (64), British stand-up comedian, actor (Six Minutes to Midnight, Valkyrie, Ocean’s Twelve), and activist, born in Aden, Yemen.
1965 – Chris Rock (61), American comedian and actor (Grown Ups, Lethal Weapon 4, The Longest Yard), born in Andrews, South Carolina, United States.
1977 – Mariusz Pudzianowski (49), Polish former strongman competitor (Worlds Strongest Man 2002, 2003, 2005, 2007 and 2008), born in Biała Rawska, Poland.
1978 – Ashton Kutcher (48), American actor (The Butterfly Effect, That ’70s Show, Two and a Half Men) and entrepreneur, born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, United States.
Famous deaths

1952 – King Georg VI (b. 1895), King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until his death in 1952. He was also the last Emperor of India from 1936 until the British Raj was dissolved in August 1947, and the first Head of the Commonwealth following the London Declaration of 1949.

1958 – Manchester United victims of the Munich Air Disaster.
  • Geoff Bent (b. 1932), English Footballer.
  • Roger Byrne (b. 1929), English Footballer.
  • Eddie Coleman (b. 1936), English Footballer.
  • Liam Whelan (b. 1935), English Footballer.
  • Mark Jones (b. 1933), English Footballer.
  • David Pegg (b. 1935), English Footballer.
  • Duncan Edwards (b. 1936), English Footballer (died 15 days after the accident).
  • Tommy Taylor (b. 1932), English Footballer.
The day today
1922 – The birth of the comedy actress Hattie Jacques. She is best known as a regular of the Carry On films, but also appeared in three highly popular radio series – with Tommy Handley in It’s That Man Again, with ventriloquist Peter Brough on Educating Archie and then with Tony Hancock on Hancock’s Half Hour. She was married to the actor John Le Mesurier (Sergeant Wilson in the BBC TV comedy Dad’s Army) from 1949 until their divorce in 1965.
1937 – Britain’s first dive-bomber, the prototype B-24 Skua, made its maiden flight over Yorkshire, piloted by Dasher Blake.
1974 – Grenada gained full independence from Britain becoming a sovereign state within the Commonwealth of Nations. The “Spice Isle” of the Caribbean attained this status following a period of internal self-governance starting in 1967.
1976 – Joan Bazeley (often referred to as Jenny or Jennifer Bazeley) is widely credited with becoming the first woman to referee a football match between two men’s teams in Britain. She took charge of a game between Saints Athletic and Croydon Old Boys at Lloyd Park in Croydon, London.
1991 – Prime Minister John Major and senior Cabinet Ministers escaped unhurt during an apparent assassination attempt, when the IRA fired three mortar shells at 10 Downing Street from a van parked several streets away in the centre of London.
1992 – In Maastricht, Netherlands, the Treaty on European Union was signed by 12 European Community member states to establish the European Union (EU). Entering into force on November 1, 1993, it laid the foundations for the euro, introduced European citizenship, and expanded cooperation in foreign policy and security.
1994 – It was reported that 13.1 million television viewers watched British boxer Chris Eubank beat German Graciano Rocchigiani in Berlin. It was the most watched programme of the year.
1998 – The XVIII Olympic Winter Games officially opened in Nagano, Japan, with a ceremony at the Nagano Olympic Stadium. Emperor Akihito declared the Games open, with themes of peace, harmony, and environmental responsibility, featuring traditional elements like onbashira logs and Ode to Joy.
2005 – Britain’s Ellen MacArthur (born 8th July 1976) became the fastest person to sail solo around the world. Two months after her amazing feat she also became the youngest person to receive a damehood.
2009 – Black Saturday bushfires in Victoria, Australia, caused 173 deaths (including 35 children), marking the nation’s highest-ever loss of life from a bushfire. The disaster destroyed over 2,000 homes, injured 414 people, and burned 450,000 hectares. These fires were caused by extreme weather, arson, and faulty power lines.
2018 – It was announced that citrus fruit originated in the Himalayas millions of years ago. Climate change created the ideal environment for citrus to travel to other parts of the world, according to the research of 60 types of citrus fruits.
2018 – DNA analysis of Cheddar Man, a 10,000-year-old Mesolithic skeleton found in Somerset, reveals he had dark-to-black skin, dark curly hair, and blue eyes. This groundbreaking study shows that lighter skin tones in European populations developed much later than previously believed.
2019 – At least 100 people died in the neighbouring northern Indian states of Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand due to consuming contaminated (often with methanol), illicitly brewed alcohol, often known as spurious liquor. The incidents were linked, with many deaths occurring after a mourning ritual in Uttarakhand where the illegal liquor was consumed.
2019 – New kangaroo fossil research published from Riversleigh, Australia, show Kangaroos learned to hop 20 million years ago, much earlier than first thought.
2023 – UK Metropolitan police officer David Carrick was jailed for life for 85 serious offences including 48 rapes over 17 years, amid calls for a radical overhaul of the police service.
2024 – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejects Hamas’s ceasefire proposal, saying he will continue till “total victory”, saying forces will push further south and into city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, Palestine.
2025 – The Greek island of Santorini is placed under a state of emergency amid a swarm of earthquakes that began on 27th January.
Today in music
1963 – The first Beatles single ‘Please Please Me’ was released in the US on the Vee Jay label. Capitol Records, EMI’s United States label, were offered the right to release the single in the US, but turned it down. Dick Biondi, a disc jockey on WLS in Chicago and a friend of Vee-Jay executive Ewart Abner, played the song on the radio from February 1963, thus becoming the first DJ to play a Beatles record in the United States.
1964 – Beatlemania arrived in the United States when the Beatles landed in New York. Over 5,000 screaming fans greeted the Pan Am Flight 101 from London, UK to get a glimpse of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, and George Harrison.
1967 – Robin, Maurice and Barry Gibb of The Bee Gees returned to the UK after living in Australia for nine years.

1981 – John Lennon was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Woman’, an ode to his wife Yoko Ono. It was Lennon’s third No.1 in seven weeks after his death on December 8, 1980.

1981 – Kool & The Gang started a two week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Celebration’ the group’s first No.1 and 8th top 40 hit, a No.7 hit in the UK.
1985 – English singer Matt Monro died from liver cancer age 54. Known as “The Man with the Golden Voice” he scored the 1964 UK No.4 & US No.23 single ‘Walk Away’ plus 10 other UK Top 40 hits including the 1965 hit with his version of The Beatles’ ‘Yesterday’. He also recorded several film themes such as ‘From Russia with Love’ for the eponymous James Bond film, the theme to ‘Born Free’ and ‘On Days Like These’ for The Italian Job.
1987 – George Michael and Aretha Franklin were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)’. Written by Simon Climie it gave Aretha her first UK No.1 almost 20 years after her first hit.
1999 – Blondie went to No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Maria’, giving the group their sixth UK No.1 single, 20 years after their first No.1 ‘Heart of Glass.’ At the age of 54, lead singer Debbie Harry became the oldest female to make No.1 in the UK.
2004 – Queen’s single ‘We Will Rock You’ topped a poll of music fans to find the greatest rock anthem of all time. The 1977 song beat the band’s classic ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ into second place in a survey of 1,000 people carried out for the UCI cinema chain. The poll was carried out to mark the release of new Jack Black comedy ‘School of Rock.’
2008 – Amy Winehouse was told she could not perform at this year’s Grammy awards ceremony because her US visa application had been rejected by the embassy in London. The singer was arrested for marijuana possession in Norway the previous year. Winehouse had been nominated for six Grammy awards ahead of the ceremony in Los Angeles.
2005 – Michael Jackson’s Thriller was named the top pop video in a poll of Channel 4 viewers in the UK. The 1983 video, which depicts the singer as a werewolf and a zombie, beat videos by Madonna and Robbie Williams. Animated videos for Peter Gabriel’s Sledgehammer and A-Ha’s Take On Me were in second and third place respectively. 4th was Queen with Bohemian Rhapsody, 5th, Madonna Like a Prayer, 6th, Robbie Williams, Rock DJ, 7th, Michael Jackson, Billie Jean, 8th, The Verve, Bittersweet Symphony, 9th, Madonna Vogue and 10th Nirvana, Smells Like Teen Spirit.
2023 – David Bowie’s handwritten lyrics for ‘The Jean Genie’ sold for £57,000 at auction. The song, taken from the Aladdin Sane album, was released as a single in 1972 and reached No.2 in the UK charts. The lyric sheet for ‘The Jean Genie’ comprised of 18 lines on a piece of A4 lined paper, which was titled, signed and dated by Bowie.
Today in history
1301 – Edward of Caernarfon (born at Caernarfon Castle and would later become King Edward II) became the first Prince of Wales, a title traditionally given to the English royal heir.
1478 – The birth of Sir Thomas More, English statesman and Lord Chancellor. He was executed by Henry VIII for refusing to deny Papal authority. He was canonized by Pope Pius XI in 1935.
1812 – Charles Dickens, English journalist and novelist was born. He is considered the greatest novelist of the Victorian period. He created characters such as Oliver Twist, Nicholas Nickleby and David Copperfield and amongst his other works were The Old Curiosity Shop, A Christmas Carol, Great Expectations, Bleak House and many, many more.

1863 – 185 British sailors were killed when HMS Orpheus was wrecked off the coast of New Zealand. The disaster was primarily caused by the ship’s crew using outdated navigational charts (from 1853) that failed to account for the fact that the sandbar had shifted significantly. Despite signals from the shore warning them to change course, the Orpheus hit the bar and was subsequently destroyed by heavy breaking waves.

1873 – The birth, in County Down, of Thomas Andrews. Andrews was the naval architect in charge of the plans for the ocean liner RMS Titanic. He was travelling on board the Titanic during its maiden voyage when it hit an iceberg on 14th April 1912 and was one of the 1,517 people who perished in the disaster.

1886 – While building a cottage for a prospector in the Transvaal, South Africa, an Englishman, George Walker, found a clear streak of gold. It became the richest gold reef in the world.