22nd February 1943: First three members of the White Rose resistance group put on trial and executed by guillotine in Nazi Germany
Centred around Hans Scholl and his sister Sophie, the small group of university friends who formed the White Rose printed and distributed anti-Nazi leaflets but were spotted by university janitor and ...
22 Feb 0s
21st February 1848: The Communist Manifesto anonymously published in London by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels
Officially called The Manifesto of the Communist Party, the original pamphlet was just 23 pages long but went on to become a highly influential political document alongside Marx’s more substantial Das...
21 Feb 0s
20th February 1962: Astronaut John Glenn becomes the first American to orbit the Earth aboard the spacecraft Friendship 7
During the nearly five-hour mission, Glenn conducted observations of Earth and performed manual control tests of Friendship ...
20 Feb 0s
19th February 1985: EastEnders, the BBC’s flagship soap opera, broadcast for the first time
EastEnders was first broadcast on 19 February 1985 as part of new BBC One controller Michael Grade’s ‘relaunch’ of the channel. The first episode secured an audience of 17 ...
19 Feb 0s
18th February 1930: Nellie Jay, better known as Elm Farm Ollie, becomes the first cow to fly and be milked in an aeroplane
Elm Farm Ollie gave a total of 24 quarts (23 litres) of milk which was then packed into paper cartons and dropped by parachute to the crowds at the St Louis International Air ...
18 Feb 0s
17th February 1913: The Armory Show, officially called the International Exhibition of Modern Art, opens in New York City
Public reaction to the exhibition was mixed and often hostile, but encouraged American artists to experiment with new forms and techniques and helped establish modern art as a legitimate field of arti...
17 Feb 0s
16th February 1923: Howard Carter unseals the burial chamber of the Pharaoh Tutankhamun in the Valley of the Kings
Having secured permission from the Department of Antiquities of Egypt to open the sealed door, Carter came face-to-face with the enormous gilt shrine containing Tutankhamun ...
16 Feb 0s
15th February 1971: Decimal Day in the United Kingdom and Ireland as they abandon their old currency of pounds, shillings and pence
The early introduction of three of the six new coins, together with an extensive publicity campaign, contributed greatly to the smoothness of Decimal Day when it finally came about in ...
15 Feb 0s
