Just before a planned protest march in Moscow, Putin opponent and Russian politician Boris Nemtsov has been shot to death in Red Square, while walking with a Ukrainian woman.
The police immediately washed all the evidence away with high pressure hoses, and no crime scene was created – we just watched them do it live on Russian TV!
Nemtsov in Odesa, Ukraine last year.
Boris Nemtsov had recently admitted he knew he would be killed for his anti-Putin views.
On the 25th of February, 1831, Polish people near Warsaw fought against the Russians in the Battle of Olszynka Grochowska. The result of the battle is listed as inconclusive.
This painting depicting the battle is by Wojciech Kossak.
The third theatre on London’s Drury Lane burnt to the ground on the 24th of February, 1809, after only standing for fifteen years.
The painting, circa 1809, depicts the sky on fire from Westminster Bridge as the building collapsed.
The theatre’s owner, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, was famously seen drinking a glass of wine as the building burnt. He is said to have responded to baffled onlookers: “A man may surely be allowed to take a glass of wine by his own fireside.”
The present day Theatre Royal, Drury Lane opened in 1812 and is today one of London’s most important theatres.
Armed workers and soldiers escorting captured policemen.
Part of the Russian Revolution, the February Revolution began in Petrograd, modern day Saint Petersburg on the 23rd of February, 1917. This was the day the first protests were held, though depending on which calendar you follow, it could be said the revolution began on the 8th of March.
A demonstration of workers from the Putilov plant.
The revolution led to the abdication of the Tsar and the end of the Russian Empire.
On the 20th of February 1900, a freight train overran the buffer stops at Harcourt Street, Dublin.
Jan Melvin and Joan Boler in the Dance of the Hours in Borovansky Ballet’s Coppélia. Though the company may have folded, it gave way to today’s Australian Ballet.
I would love to know what these costumes looked like in colour. I know the dance as the Waltz of the Hours, but no matter what you call it, it’s my favourite part of the entire ballet (which has three acts).
Pope Gregory XIII, portrait by Lavinia Fontana.
The 17th of February 1753 was Sweden’s last day of following the Julian calendar. The country moved to the Gregorian calendar, named for Pope Gregory XIII, the following day. The Gregorian calendar is the one used in Western society today.
Because of the change, the 17th of February was followed by the 1st of March.
Suffolk Regiment troops held at gunpoint by Japanese infantry.
The Battle of Singapore ended on the 15th of February 1942, when Singapore fell to the Japanese.
Japanese soldiers shooting Sikh prisoners
Japanese air raid on the 8th of February 1942.
Fighting in Singapore, at the time a major base for British soldiers, began on the 8th of February.
Hawker Hurricane of No. 232 Squadron RAF shot down on 8 February.
The fall of Singapore was the largest fall of British-led troops in history, with some 80 000 British, Australian and Indian troops becoming prisoners of war.
Lieutenant-General Arthur Percival walks under a flag of truce to negotiate the capitulation of Allied forces
Many Australian and British soldiers died in captivity in the infamous Changi Prison.
Elizabeth Barker in her coming-out dress. Photographed by her father, Dr Barker, in Christchurch, New Zealand. 15th February 1868.
In Times Gone By... 
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