February 26th

National Day

• For Pete’s Sake Day
• Levi Strauss Day

Birthdays

• 1947 – Sandie Shaw, retired English pop singer (“Always Something There to Remind Me”, “Long Live Love” and “Puppet on a String”), born in Dagenham, East London.
• 1953 – Michael Bolton, American singer and songwriter (“How Am I Supposed to Live Without You”), born in New Haven, Connecticut, United States.
• 1973 – Ole Gunnar Solksjaer, Norwegian professional football manager (Manchester United, Beşiktaş) and former player (Manchester United), born in Kristiansund, Norway.
• 1977 – Shane Williams, Welsh rugby scrum half (87 caps Wales, 4 British & Irish Lions; Neath,
• Ospreys), born in Morriston, Swansea, Wales.
• 1979 – Corinne Bailey Rae, English singer and songwriter (“Put Your Records On”), born in Leeds,
• West Yorkshire.

On This Day

• 1935 – Robert Watson-Watt first demonstrated RADAR (radio detection and ranging) at Daventry,
• Northamptonshire. This significantly contributed to winning the Battle of Britain and changed the outcome of World War Two.
• 1962 – The start of filming of Dr. No, the first film involving English agent 007 – James Bond.
• 2002 – London Mayor Ken Livingstone confirmed that motorists would be charged £5 per day to drive into London on weekdays.
• 2014 – Michael Adebolajo (aged 29) was given a whole-life term and Michael Adebowale (aged 22) was jailed for a minimum of 45 years for murdering 25 year old Fusilier Lee Rigby. They had driven into Fusilier Rigby with a car, before hacking him to death in Woolwich, south-east London, on 22nd May 2013. The two men claimed that they were ‘soldiers of Allah’ and that the killing was a legitimate act because Britain was at war with Muslim people.

Music

• Hist1983 – Michael Jackson’s Thriller went to No.1 on the US album chart. Thriller broke racial barriers in pop music, enabling Jackson’s appearances on MTV and meeting with President Ronald Reagan at the White House. The album was one of the first to use music videos as successful promotional tools, and the videos for the songs ‘Thriller’, ‘Billie Jean’, and ‘Beat It’ all received regular rotation on MTV. Thriller became the most successful album of all time with sales over 65 million copies.
• 2011 – It was announced that Queen’s We Will Rock You was still the most-played song at US sporting events, according to a new survey from BMI, the royalty-distribution service. According to its data, based off of MLB, NFL and NHL games in 2009-2010, We Will Rock You was the No.1 song overall, as well as for the NFL specifically.ory

History

• 1564 – The birth of Christopher Marlowe, English dramatist and poet of the Elizabethan era. He was the foremost Elizabethan writer next to William Shakespeare.
• 1797 – The Bank of England issued the first ever one pound note. Printed on watermark paper with a vignette of Britannia on the top left hand corner, the hand-signed white £1 notes were withdrawn in the 1820s.
• 1839 – The first Grand National Steeplechase was run at Aintree near Liverpool. The winner was ‘Lottery’ ridden by Jem Mason.
• 1852 – The British troopship, Birkenhead, sank off Simon’s Bay, near Cape Town, South Africa, with the loss of 485 lives.