1513 – Julius II, Italian Pope (1503-13) and patron of Michelangelo, Bramante and Raphael, dies at 69
1821 – Georg Friedrich von Martens, German diplomat and jurist, dies at 64
1938 – George Ellery Hale, American astronomer (discovery of magnetic fields in sunspot), dies at 69
1971 – Adolph Weiss, American bassoonist and composer, dies at 79
1980 – Chester Lauck, American actor (Dreaming Out Loud, 2 Weeks to Live), dies at 78
1986 – Helen Hooven Santmyer, American writer (“…And Ladies of the Club”), dies at 90
1992 – Franc Holden, British astronomer (Binary Stars), dies
1996 – Terence Edward Armstrong, British polar geographer, dies at 75
2015 – Clark Terry, American jazz trumpeter, dies at 94
2019 – Stanley Donen, American film director and producer (Singin’ in the Rain, Bedazzled, Damn Yankees), dies at 94
Author: gil7
Historical Events for 21st February 2026
1821 – Greek War of Independence against the Ottoman Empire begins
1861 – Steeple of Chichester Cathedral collapses despite the desperate efforts of 70 workmen
1921 – Constituent Assembly of the Democratic Republic of Georgia adopts the country’s first constitution
1931 – Alka Seltzer introduced
1957 – Dodgers (Fort Worth) and Cubs (LA) “trade” minor league franchises
1987 – Syrian army marches into Beirut
1991 – Neil Simon’s stage comic-drama “Lost in Yonkers”, starring Mercedes Ruehl and Kevin Spacey, opens at Richard Rodgers Theater, NYC; runs for 780 performances, winning 5 Tony Awards and a Pulitzer Prize
2022 – 60 people die in an explosion at an unregulated gold mine near Gaoua, Burkina Faso
Today in History for 21st February 2026
Historical Events
1173 – Pope Alexander III canonizes Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury
1782 – US Congress resolves establishment of a US mint
1916 – Battle of Verdun begins with a German offensive, leads to an estimated 1 million casualties, and becomes the longest battle of the entire war (9 months)
1988 – Televangelist Jimmy Swaggert confesses his sins to his congregation
1997 – “Empire Strikes Back, special edition” premieres
Famous Birthdays
1929 – Henry Kloss, American audio engineer (acoustic loudspeaker), born in Altoona, Pennsylvania (d. 2002)
1939 – Richard Beymer, American stage actor and singer (West Side Story; Diary of Anne Frank), born in Avoca, Iowa
1950 – Sahle-Work Zewde, Ethiopian diplomat, President of Ethiopia (2018-), born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
1961 – Christopher Atkins, American actor (Peter-Dallas, Blue Lagoon), born in Rye, New York
1969 – Tony Meola, American footballer, born in Belleville, New Jersey
Famous Deaths
1790 – Johann Friedrich Klöffler, German composer, dies at 64
1901 – George Francis FitzGerald, Irish mathematician (b. 1851)
2011 – Bernard Nathanson, American abortionist turned pro-life activist (b. 1926)
2015 – Aleksei Gubarev, Soviet-Russian cosmonaut (Soyuz 17, 28), dies at 83
2023 – Amancio Amaro, Spanish soccer outside right (42 caps; Deportivo de La Coruña, Real Madrid), dies at 83
Famous Deaths for 20th February 2026
702 – K’inich Kan B’alam II, king of the Maya state of Palenque (b. 635)
1810 – Johann Friedrich Kranz, German composer, dies at 57
1892 – Hermann Kopp, German chemist (Law of Kopp), dies at 74
1959 – Ray McDonald, American stage and screen tap dancer, dies choking on food at 38
1970 – Albert Louis Wolff, French conductor and composer, dies at 86
1984 – Giuseppe Colombo, Italian mathematician and engineer who studied Mercury, known as ‘the grandfather of the flyby’, dies at 63
1992 – Eugene R. Black, American President of World Bank (1953-62), dies at 93
2005 – Tom Willmore, English geometer, dies at 85
2008 – Emily Perry, English Actress (b. 1907)
2022 – Leo Bersani, American literary critic and scholar known for his writings on the AIDS crisis (Homos), dies at 90
Historical Events for 20th February 2026
1941 – Romania breaks relations with Netherlands
1952 – Britain’s Jeannette Altwegg wins the Olympic women’s figure skating gold medal at the Olso Winter Games ahead of American Tenley Albright, who goes on to win in Cortina d’Ampezzo (1956)
1972 – 14th Daytona 500: A. J. Foyt dominates the race, winning by almost 2 laps over his closest competitor Charlie Glotzbach
1978 – Bob Backland beats “Superstar” Billy Graham in NYC, to become WWF wrestling champion
1980 – Soviet cross-country skier Nikolay Zimyatov wins his 2nd gold medal of the Lake Placid Winter Olympics as part of the 4 x 10k relay; also wins 30k and 50k gold
1994 – Johann Olav Koss skates world record 10 km (13:30.55)
2011 – 53rd Daytona 500: 20-year-old Trevor Bayne, driving for Wood Brothers Racing, wins to become the youngest Daytona 500 winner
2021 – Bloodiest day of protests in Myanmar since its coup after security forces open fire, killing two people with 40 wounded in Mandalay
Today in History for 20th February 2026
Historical Events
1869 – Tennessee Governor W C Brownlow declares martial law in Ku Klux Klan crisis
1873 – British Naval Officer John Moresby is the first European to discover Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, claims it for the United Kingdom
1877 – 1st cantilever bridge in US completed, Harrodsburg, Kentucky
1944 – World War II: The “Big Week” began with American bomber raids on German aircraft manufacturing centers
1994 – Pope John Paul II demands juristic discrimination of homosexuals
Famous Birthdays
1809 – Henry Walton Wessells, American Brigadier General (Union Army), born in Lietchfield, Connecticut (d. 1889)
1883 – Shiga Naoya, Japanese novelist (Road Through Dark Night), born in Ishinomaki, Japan (d. 1971)
1934 – Bobby Unser, American auto racer (Indianapolis 500 1968, 1975, 1981; USAC C’ship 1968, 1974), born in Colorado Springs (d. 2021)
1985 – Julia Volkova, Russian pop singer (t.A.T.u. -single, “All the Things She Said”), born in Moscow
2003 – Olivia Rodrigo, American actress and singer-songwriter (“Driver’s License”), born in Temecula, California
Famous Deaths
1903 – Charles Doolittle, American general (Union volunteer), dies at 70
1995 – John Humphreys Whitfield, British scholar of Italian language and literature, dies at 88
2001 – Rosemary DeCamp, American radio, film, and television character actress (Love That Bob – “Margaret”, That Girl – “Mrs. Marie”; The Partridge Family – “Amanda Renfrew”), dies of pneumonia at 90
2005 – Hunter S. Thompson, American journalist and author (Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas), commits suicide via a self-inflicted gunshot wound at 67
2025 – David L. Boren, American politician (Governor of Oklahoma 1975-79; Sen-D-Oklahoma 1979-94), dies at 83
Famous Deaths for 19th February 2026
1716 – Dorthe Engelbrechtsdatter, Norway’s first recognised female poet, dies at 82
1963 – Bartolomé “Beny” Moré, Cuban guaracha and mambo singer, guitarist, songwriter, and bandleader, dies of liver cirrhosis at 43
1975 – Luigi Dallapiccola, Italian 12-tone composer (Il prigioniero; Ulisse), dies of Pulmonary edema at 71
1994 – Gordon Sparling, Canadian pioneering filmmaker (Canadian Cameo series – Canada’s first major films with sound), dies at 93
1994 – Fausto Bara, Mexican-American actor (The Renegades – “Gaucho”), dies of AIDS at 42
1994 – Renske Vellinga, Dutch speed-skater, dies in auto-accident at 19
1996 – Charles “Charlie O” Finley, American sports entrepreneur (MLB’s Kansas City/Oakland A’s: NHL’s California Golden Seals), dies at 77
2009 – Kelly Groucutt, British rock bass guitarist and vocalist (Electric Light Orchestra; ELO II; The Orchestra), dies of a heart attack at 63
2019 – Don Newcombe, American baseball pitcher (4 x MLB All Star; World Series 1955 Brooklyn Dodgers; NL MVP and Cy Young Award 1956), dies at 92
2022 – Nigel Butterley, Australian pianist, composer (The True Samaritan), educator, and radio broadcaster, dies at 86
Historical Events for 19th February 2026
842 – Medieval Iconoclastic Controversy ends as a council in Constantinople formally reinstates the veneration of icons in churches
1942 – Bill Longson beats Managoff and Sandor Szabo, to become wrestling champ
1949 – First Bollingen Prize for poetry awarded to Ezra Pound
1972 – The Asama-Sanso hostage standoff begins in Japan
1977 – Space Shuttle Enterprise makes its first test flight atop a 747 jetliner
1980 – Ulrich Wehling of East Germany wins his third consecutive Olympic gold medal in the Nordic combined event at Lake Placid; winner Sapporo (1972), Innsbruck (1976)
1980 – Washington beats Montreal, 3-1 to end the Canadiens’ 34 game unbeaten streak against Capitals; Caps 0-32-2 against Montreal since entering NHL in 1974
1987 – Musical revue “Stardust – The Mitchell Parish Musical”, featuring songs of the Lithuanian-American lyricist, opens at Biltmore Theater, NYC; runs for 101 performances
Today in History for 19th February 2026
Historical Events
1869 – US Assay Office in Boise, Idaho authorized
1953 – William Inge’s “Picnic” premieres in NYC
2018 – Syrian government forces bombard Gouta in deadliest day in 3 years, killing over 100 civilians
2018 – Nigeria says 110 girls missing, presumed kidnapped by Boko Haram after attack on school in Dapchi, Yobe state
2019 – Vatican confirms secret church guidelines for children of priests
Famous Birthdays
1473 – Nicolaus Copernicus, Polish mathematician and astronomer who theorized that planets revolve around the sun (Heliocentric theory), born in Toruń, Royal Prussia, Kingdom of Poland (d. 1543)
1906 – Grace Williams, Welsh composer (Penillion), and first British woman to score a feature film (Blue Scar), born in Barry, Wales (d. 1977)
1925 – Leslie Laing, Jamaican athlete (Olympic gold men’s 4x400m relay 1952 WR 3:03.9), born in Linstead, Saint Catherine, Jamaica (d. 2021)
1964 – Jennifer Doudna, American biochemist (2020 Nobel Prize for Chemistry for CRISPR Gene Editing), born in Washington D.C.
1971 – Glyn Milburn, American football running back/kick returner (First-team All-Pro 1999; Pro Bowl 1995, 99; Denver Broncos, Chicago Bears), born in Los Angeles, California
Famous Deaths
1941 – Hamilton Harty, Irish composer and conductor called “the prince of accompanists”, dies at 61
1943 – Lynne Overman, American actor (Reap the Wild Wind), dies from a heart attack at 55
1980 – (Ronald) “Bon” Scott, Australian rock musician, singer, and lyricist (AC/DC -“It’s a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock ‘n’ Roll)”), dies of acute alcohol poisoning at 33
2000 – Marin Goleminov, Bulgarian violinist, composer, and pedagogue, dies at 91
2008 – Yegor Letov, Russian rock poet, songwriter, and singer (Grazhdanskaya Oborona), dies of heart failure at 43
Famous Deaths for 18th February 2026
999 – Gregory V [Bruno], 1st German Pope, dies
1799 – Maurus Haberhauer, Czech composer, dies at 52
1829 – Jan Křtitel Kuchař, Czech organist, harpsichordist, mandolin player, composer, and opera conductor, dies at 77
1833 – Georg Johann Schinn, German composer, dies at 64
1899 – Marius Sophus Lie, Norwegian mathematician (continuous symmetry), dies at 56
1938 – Alida Tartaud-Klein, Dutch actress and performance artist (Rotterdam Stage), dies at 64
1964 – Joseph-Armand Bombardier, French Canadian businessman and inventor of the Bombardier snowmobile, dies of cancer at 56
1973 – Frank Costello, Italian-American gangster (The Prime Minister of the Underworld), dies of a heart attack at 82
2013 – Elspet Gray, Lady Rix, Scottish actress (4 Weddings and a Funeral, Solo, Tokyo), dies at 83
2023 – Petar Zhekov, Bulgarian soccer forward (44 caps; Beroe Stara Zagora, CSKA Sofia), dies at 78