At this time is Wednesday, Feb. 11, the forty second day of 2026. There are 323 days left within the 12 months.
At this time in historical past:
On Feb. 11, 1975, Margaret Thatcher was elected chief of Britain’s opposition Conservative Social gathering, a prelude to her eventual rise to prime minister in 1979.
Additionally on this date:
In 1847, American inventor Thomas Alva Edison was born in Milan, Ohio.
In 1937, a six-week-old sit-down strike in opposition to Basic Motors ended, with the corporate agreeing to acknowledge and negotiate with the United Auto Staff union.
In 1945, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet chief Josef Stalin signed the Yalta Settlement, during which Stalin agreed to declare conflict in opposition to Imperial Japan following Nazi Germany’s capitulation.
In 1990, South African anti-apartheid activist Nelson Mandela was freed after 27 years in jail. (Mandela can be elected president of South Africa 4 years later.)
Additionally in 1990, in one of many greatest upsets in boxing historical past, underdog Buster Douglas knocked out the beforehand undefeated heavyweight champion Mike Tyson at Japan’s Tokyo Dome.
In 2011, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak resigned after days of pro-democracy protests, ending three many years of authoritarian rule.
In 2012, on the eve of the Grammy Awards, celebrity singer Whitney Houston was discovered useless after she drowned in a resort room bathtub in Beverly Hills, California; she was 48. The official coroner’s report listed coronary heart illness and cocaine as contributing components in her loss of life.
In 2013, throughout a routine morning assembly of Vatican cardinals, Pope Benedict XVI introduced he would resign as pope efficient Feb. 28; it was the primary papal resignation in almost 600 years.
In 2020, the World Well being Group gave the official title of COVID-19 to the illness brought on by the coronavirus that had emerged in China and was unleashing a worldwide pandemic.
At this time’s birthdays:
- Actor Tina Louise is 92.
- Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush is 73.
- Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin is 64.
- Musician Sheryl Crow is 64.
- Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is 62.
- Actor Jennifer Aniston is 57.
- Actor Damian Lewis is 55.
- Surfer Kelly Slater is 54.
- Singer-actor Brandy is 47.
- Singer Kelly Rowland is 45.
- Actor Natalie Dormer is 44.
- Actor Taylor Lautner is 34.
- Singer-songwriter Khalid is 28.