On This Day 2026
Hello, … and welcome to day 40 of the year.

Monday, February 9th

Today is Chocolate Day, Rosa Parks Day, International Epilepsy Day and Childrens Mental Health Week. Your star sign is Aquarius and your birthstone is Amethyst.
1986 – Halley’s Comet was last seen from Earth. It only orbits the Earth once every 75 to 76 years. Halley’s Comet is expected to pass over Earth again on July 26, 2061.
Halley’s Comet was last seen from Earth. It only orbits the Earth once every 75 to 76 years. Halley’s Comet is expected to pass over Earth again on July 26, 2061.
Today’s birthdays
1940 – Brian Bennett (86), English drummer with the UK rock and roll group the Shadows (“Apache”, “Foot Tapper”), born in Palmers Green, North London.
1943 – Joe Pesci (83), American actor (Goodfellas, Home Alone, My Cousin Vinny), born in Newark, New Jersey, United States.

1945 – Mia Farrow (81), American actress (Rosemary’s Baby, The Great Gatsby, The Omen), born in Los Angeles, California, United States.

1957 – Gordon Strachan (69), Scottish former football coach and player (Leeds United, Coventry City, Scotland), born in Edinburgh, Scotland.
1960 – Holly Johnson (66), English musician and the lead vocalist of Frankie Goes to Hollywood (“Relax”, “Two Tribes”, “The Power of Love”), born in Liverpool.
1981 – Tom Hiddleston (45), English actor (Loki, War Horse, Kong: Skull Island, The Life of Chuck) born in Westminster, London.
Famous deaths
1981 – Bill Haley (b. 1925), American rock and roll musician (“Rock Around the Clock”, “See You Later, Alligator”, “Shake, Rattle and Roll”).
2002 – Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon (b. 1930), the younger daughter of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, and the only sibling of Queen Elizabeth II.
2006 – Freddie Laker (b. 1922), English airline entrepreneur, best known for founding Laker Airways in 1966, which went bankrupt in 1982.
The day today
1959 – The Soviet R-7 Semyorka, the world’s first Intercontinental ballistic missile, became operational.

1966 – The government announced that a £30M Prototype Fast Nuclear Reactor would be built at the Dounreay power station in a remote part of Scotland. Minister for Technology Frank Cousins said the new reactors were ‘the future’. Nuclear power generation at the site ended in 1994.

1972 – The British Government declared a ‘state of emergency’ three months into a National Miners’ Strike.
1974 – British miners begin a strike in reaction to a wage dispute, prompting Prime Minister Edward Heath to declare a state of emergency and call for a special election.
1986 – Halley’s Comet was last seen from Earth. It only orbits the Earth once every 75 to 76 years. Halley’s Comet is expected to pass over Earth again on July 26, 2061.
1989 – Five Pharaoh sculptures were discovered in the temple of Luxor. The excavation lasted until April 20, 1989, when the last piece was found at a depth of 4.5 meters. The sculptures date back to 1470 BC.
1995 – Dr. Michael Foale, originally from Lincolnshire, become the first British born American to walk in space. In April 1998 he was awarded the Order of Friendship by Russian President Boris Yeltsin for his subsequent four month mission (1997) to the Russian space station Mir.
1996 – The IRA detonated an enormous bomb in London’s Docklands, effectively bringing an end to the cease-fire and signalling the start of a new bombing campaign on mainland Britain.
1997 – The Simpsons aired its 167th episode, making it the longest-running animation in TV history. The episode was called “The Itchy & Scratchy & Poochie Show” and was episode eight of season fourteen.
2002 – The Queen’s sister, Princess Margaret, aged 71, died in her sleep after suffering a stroke and a heart attack. Her body was laid to rest at Kensington Palace in order for the Royal Family to pay their respects.

2005 – UK Prime Minister Tony Blair issued a formal apology to the Guildford Four and the Maguire Seven, acknowledging their wrongful imprisonment for 1974 IRA pub bombings. Blair stated he was “very sorry” for the “ordeal and injustice” they suffered, stating they deserved to be fully exonerated.

2006 – The death of Freddie Laker, British airline entrepreneur. Laker was one of the first airline owners to adopt the ‘no-frills’ airline business model that is now used worldwide with companies such as Ryanair and EasyJet.
2015 – Seven straw houses went on sale at Shirehampton – Bristol, clad in brick to fit in with the surroundings. Declared to be safe from ‘huffing and puffing’ the prefabricated timber walls, filled with straw bales were said to be 90% cheaper in terms of heating costs than traditional brick houses.
2018 – The XXIII Olympic Winter Games opened in PyeongChang, South Korea, marking the first Winter Olympics in South Korea. Centered on themes of peace and unity, the ceremony featured North and South Korean athletes marching together under a unified flag. Norway topped the medal table with 39 medals, and South Korea achieved its best-ever performance at a Winter Games with 17 medals.
2020 – Storm Ciara makes landfall in northern Scotland bringing widespread wind and flooding to northern Europe resulting in 18 deaths.
2021 – Donald Trump’s second impeachment trial began. The House of Representatives impeached the former US President on January 13 for inciting insurrection after he lost the presidential election. Despite the majority of the Senate voting to impeach Trump, the required two-thirds majority was not reached, and he was acquitted.
2022 – Nigeria’s Hisbah (religious police) destroyed nearly 4 million bottles of beer in Kano state to enforce a ban on alcohol under Sharia law. Officials used bulldozers to crush 3,873,163 bottles of alcohol in a major crackdown on intoxicating substances within the predominantly Muslim city.
Today in music
1961 – The Beatles appeared at The Cavern Club, Liverpool, for the very first time (as The Beatles), they would go on to make a total of 292 other appearances at the Club. They were paid £5 for this luchtime appearance and George Harrison was nearly denied admission to play because he was wearing jeans.
1981 – American singer and musician Bill Haley who became known as the first Rock ‘n’ Roll star, was found dead, fully clothed on his bed at his home in Harlingen, Texas from a heart attack, aged 55. He scored the 1955 UK & US No.1 single ‘Rock Around the Clock’ as well as ‘See You Later, Alligator’, ‘Shake, Rattle and Roll’, ‘Rocket 88’, ‘Skinny Minnie’, and ‘Razzle Dazzle’. Haley was blinded in his left eye as a child due to a botched operation and later adopted his distinctive spit-curl hairstyle to distract attention from his blind eye.
1985 – Madonna started a three-week run at No.1 on the US album chart with ‘Like A Virgin’, (a No.3 hit in the UK). It became her first No.1 in the Billboard Hot 100, and topped the charts in Australia and Canada.
1987 – Winners at this years Brit awards held in London included Peter Gabriel who won British Male Solo Artist, Kate Bush won British Female Solo Artist, Best British Group went to Five Star, British Album was Dire Straits ‘Brothers In Arms’, British Breakthrough Act was The Housemartins, International Solo Artist went to Paul Simon. The Bangles won Best International Group, Best British Video went to Peter Gabriel for ‘Sledgehammer’ and Best British Single was The Pet Shop Boys for ‘West End Girls’.
1993 – British broadcaster Bill Grundy died of a heart attack aged 69. He conducted the famous Sex Pistols interview on Thames Television on December 1, 1976; when Grundy provoked the band into using obscenities on live TV. The broadcast wrecked Grundy’s television career. He was also the first television presenter to present The Beatles on Granada Television on October 17, 1962.
1995 – Riverdance debuted as a seven-minute interval act during the Eurovision Song Contest on April 30, 1994, at The Point Theatre in Dublin, featuring lead dancers Michael Flatley and Jean Butler. Due to its massive success, it was expanded into a full-length stage show that officially opened in Dublin on February 9, 1995.
1997 – Scottish singer Brian Connolly with the Seventies Glam rock group Sweet died of kidney and liver failure aged 51. Connolly replaced Ian Gillan (later of Deep Purple and Black Sabbath) in Wainwright’s Gentlemen who became Sweetshop and then shortened to Sweet. The group scored 15 UK top 40 hits including the 1973 No.1 hit ‘Block Buster’.
1998 – Winners at this year’s Brit Awards included Finley Quaye who won Best British Male Solo Artist, Best British Female Solo Artist went to Shola Ama, The Verve won British Group and Best British Album for ‘Urban Hymns’, British Dance Act went to The Prodigy, British Breakthrough Act was Stereophonics, Best Selling British Album Act was The Spice Girls International Male, Jon Bon Jovi, International Female, Bjork, International Group, U2 and Outstanding Contribution went to Fleetwood Mac. During the show Chumbawamba singer Danbert Nobacon threw a plastic bucket full of cold water over UK Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott.
2005 – Winners at this year’s Brit Awards included The Streets who won Best British male solo artist, Joss Stone won British female solo artist, Best British Album went to Keane for ‘Hopes and Fears’, Franz Ferdinand won Best British Group and Best Rock Act, McFly won Best Pop Act, Scissor Sisters won Best International group and the Best Album award the Brits 25 best song award went to Robbie Williams for ‘Angels’ and Sir Bob Geldof won the Outstanding Contribution To Music award.
2009 – Ringo Starr became the 2,401st person to be added to the Hollywood Walk Of Fame during a ceremony that marked the 50th anniversary of the attraction. The Beatles as a group were given a star in 1998.
Today in history
1540 – The first recorded horse racing meeting in Britain; held at the Roodeye Field, Chester. Chester Racecourse is, according to official records the oldest racecourse still in use in England and it is also thought to be the smallest racecourse of significance in England at 1 mile 1 furlong long.
1555 – The Bishop of Gloucester John Hooper is burned at the stake for heresy. Martyrologist John Foxe records Bishop Hooper’s execution, a burning which took a long time to kill the poor man.
1649 – The funeral of the executed King Charles I. His personal dignity during his trial and execution had won him much sympathy and he was laid to rest at Windsor rather than Westminster Abbey to avoid the possibility of public disorder at his funeral.
1742 – Sir Robert Walpole often referred to as the first British Prime Minister was ennobled (given a noble rank or title) as the 1st Earl of Orford. Walpole served as the first Prime Minister of Great Britain and dominated the government from 1721 to 1742.
1846 – The birth, in Stafford, of Whitaker Wright, an exceptionally wealthy, but corrupt, English mining company owner. In1904 he was convicted of fraud and given a seven year prison sentence. He committed suicide immediately afterwards by swallowing cyanide in a court anteroom. The inquest also revealed that he had been carrying a revolver in his pocket, presumably as a backup.