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
Category: Historical Events
Historical Events for 18th February 2026
1563 – Huguenot Jean de Poltrot assassinates French General Duke François de Guise with a shot from his pistol
1804 – Ohio legislature approves establishment of Ohio University at Athens as the 1st university in Ohio; first classes are held in 1809
1814 – The Battle of Montereau; victory of French under Napoleon Bonaparte against Austrians and Württembergers under the King of Württemberg.
1919 – Cy Denneny of NHL Ottawa Senators scores record 52nd goal
1922 – WOC-AM in Davenport IA begins radio transmissions
1972 – Giulio Andreotti sworn in as premier of Italy for the 1st time
1980 – Soviet figure skater Irina Rodnina wins her 3rd consecutive Olympic pairs title at Lake Placid; gold medals with husband Alexander Zaitsev (1976, 80) and Alexei Ulanov (1972)
1984 – Revised Concordat between Italy and Vatican is signed
Historical Events for 17th February 2026
1902 – A general strike in Barcelona and nearby towns leads to government-troop reprisals that leave 40 dead
1904 – Giacomo Puccini’s opera “Madama Butterfly” premieres at La Scala in Milan, Italy
1927 – Toronto Maple Leafs, in the team’s first game since changing name from “St. Patricks”, beat the visiting New York Americans, 4-1 at the Mutual Street Arena
1939 – Katwijk soccer team forms in the Netherlands
1974 – 16th Daytona 500: Richard Petty first driver to win back-to-back titles at Daytona; his 5th Great American race
1985 – 3rd person to receive an artificial heart (Murray Haydon)
1997 – Weekly Standard shows evidence Larry Flint sexually abused his daughter
2014 – US Secretary of State John Kerry claims climate change requires urgent action and that only a small “window of time” remained open
Historical Events for 16th February 2026
1900 – Stanley Cup, Montreal Arena, Westmount, Quebec: Montreal Shamrocks beat Winnipeg Victorias, 5-4 to take challenge series, 3-1
1942 – Bangka Island massacre: Japanese soldiers machine-gun 22 Australian Army nurses and 60 Australian and British soldiers and crew members from two sunken ships. Only one nurse and two soldiers survive.
1966 – Australian cricket batsman Bob Cowper makes a patient 307 (727 mins, 20 x 4s) in drawn 5th Test v England in Melbourne
1969 – “Andrei Rublev”, Russian film directed by Andrei Tarkovsky, starring Anatoly Solonitsyn and Ivan Lapikov, premieres in Moscow after a limited release in 1966
1972 – American guitar legend Chuck Berry and former Beatle John Lennon perform together, with Yoko Ono, on ‘The Mike Douglas Show’ TV program
1985 – Largest NBA crowd to date, 43,816, sees Philadelphia at Detroit
1999 – O.J. Simpson’s 1968 Heisman Trophy is sold for $230,000 to help settle a $33.5 million civil judgement against Simpson for the deaths of his ex-wife and her friend
2021 – Athens and parts of Greece covered in unusual heavy snowfall
Historical Events for 15th February 2026
1898 – USS Maine sinks in Havana harbor, cause unknown, 258 sailors die
1933 – Social-democratic newspaper “Vorwarts” banned again in Berlin
1956 – Pirates and KC As cancel an exhibition game in Birmingham, Alabama, due to a local ordinance barring Black players from playing against White players
1959 – Antonio Segni forms Italian government
1985 – World chess championship match abandoned with Anatoly Karpov 25 leading Garry Kasparov 23
2000 – Indian Point II nuclear power plant in New York State vents a small amount of radioactive steam when a steam generator fails
2001 – First draft of the complete human genome is published in the journal “Nature”
2002 – At the Tri-State Crematory in La Fayette, Georgia, investigators find uncremated bodies disposed of in the woods and buildings on crematorium’s property. One of the worst incidents of abuse in the funeral service industry.
Historical Events for 14th February 2026
1896 – George Lohmann takes a hat-trick for England v South Africa, 8-7 for inning – their lowest ever
1952 – Giant slalom event for women debuts at the Winter Olympics at Oslo Games; American skier Andrea Mead-Lawrence wins gold ahead of Dagmar Rom of Austria and German Annemarie Buchner
1953 – “Trionfo di Afrodite (Triumph of Aphrodite)”, the final work of Carl Orff’s Trionfi trilogy premieres at La Scala Teatro in Milan, Italy
1979 – Revival of Walter Donaldson and Gus Kahn’s musical comedy “Whoopee!” opens at ANTA Theater, NYC; runs for 204 performances
2010 – America’s Cup: Team USA defeats Alinghi 2-0 to win in Spain
2016 – 69th British Academy Film Awards (BAFTAs): “The Revenant” Best Film, and Best Director – Alejandro González Iñárritu
2018 – South African President Jacob Zuma resigns from office
2024 – Indonesian presidential election: Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto appears to win by significant margin (full results 20 March)
Historical Events for 13th February 2026
1786 – Abraham Baldwin selected president of University of Georgia
1837 – Riot in New York due to a combination of poverty and increase in the cost of flour
1960 – “Beg, Borrow or Steal” opens at Martin Beck Theater NYC for 5 performances
1984 – Karin Enke of East Germany wins her 2nd gold medal of the Sarajevo Winter Games, winning the women’s 1,000m in Olympic record 1:21.61; also wins 1,500m gold
1995 – 3rd ESPY Awards: Steve Young, Bonnie Blair win
1996 – Death Row/Interscope Records releases rapper Tupac Shakur’s fourth studio album “All Eyez on Me,” his final release during his lifetime
2009 – Unix time passes 1,234,567,890 seconds at exactly 23:31:30 (UTC) on February 13, 2009
2015 – “If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late” 4th mixtape by Drake is released
Historical Events for 12th February 2026
1901 – Dutch Penitentiary children’s law proclaimed
1954 – The UK government establishes an organisation to control atomic energy in the country under The Atomic Energy Authority Bill
1955 – Soviets decides space center to be built in Baikonur, Kazakhstan
1964 – The Beatles first NYC concerts, two shows at Carnegie Hall
1985 – 37th NHL All-Star Game, Olympic Saddledome, Calgary: Wales Conference beats Campbell Conference, 6-4; MVP: Mario Lemieux, Pittsburgh Penguins, C
1994 – “The Scream” by Norwegian painter Edvard Munch (1893 pastel version) is stolen in Oslo
1995 – Susan Auch skates female world record 500m (38.94 sec)
2019 – Trial of 12 Catalonia independence leaders begins in Madrid
Historical Events for 11th February 2026
1908 – Heemskerk’s government begins in Holland
1948 – Billy Griffith scores cricket century on debut Eng v WI, out for 140
1985 – Kent Hrbek signs 5-year $6 million contract with Minnesota Twins
1986 – Australia beat India 2-0 to win cricket’s World Series Cup, David Boon scores the most runs in the series (418)
1992 – F-16 jet crashes at residential district of Hengelo, Netherlands (No deaths)
2007 – 60th British Academy Film Awards (BAFTAs): “The Queen” Best Film, Paul Greengrass Best Director
2013 – Pope Benedict XVI announces his resignation effective February 28, becoming the first pope to resign since 1415
2021 – World’s second oldest person, French nun Sister André, celebrates her 117th birthday after surviving COVID-19 in Toulon
Historical Events for 10th February 2026
1535 – Twelve nude Anabaptists run through the streets of Amsterdam
1713 – Netherlands and Britain sign accord concerning anti-French Barrier [OS=Jan 31]
1879 – 1st electric arc light used (California Theater)
1923 – Ink paste manufactured for 1st time by Standard Ink Company
1966 – “Valley of the Dolls” by Jacqueline Susann is published by Bernard Geis Associates in the US – sold over 31 million copies
1968 – “Spooky” by Classics IV hits #3
1992 – Mike Tyson convicted of raping Desiree Washington in Indiana
2013 – 66th British Academy Film Awards (BAFTAs): “Argo”, Ben Affleck (Director); Daniel Day-Lewis and Emmanuelle Riva win