On this day: the founding of a university

The University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Canada received its charter on the 28^th of February, 1877.

The university was officially opened on the 20^th of June the same year, and awarded its first degrees in 1880.

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On this day: a Prime Minister and a President

British leader Margaret Thatcher and US President Ronald Reagan watch the Changing of the Guard at the White House on the 26^th of February 1981.

1981 is considered to be the toughest of the prime ministership of Thatcher, the “Iron Lady”. In the weeks after this picture was taken race riots broke out across England, and a number of Irish demonstrators died in hunger strikes while imprisoned.

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On this day: the death of Martina von Trapp

Martina von Trapp, the inspiration for the character of Gretl in The Sound of Music, died giving birth to her first child on the 25^th of February, 1951. She was thirty at the time.

Martina was not particularly similar to her movie version, as she had dark hair and eyes, and was in her late teens when she left Austria, not five, as she is in the movie.

She was buried in Vermont, holding her stillborn daughter.

Bitter Harvest

While everybody knows about the Holocaust, there was another major genocide in Europe in the 20th century that is almost unknown.

The Holodomor, Stalin’s manufactured famine/genocide, is believed to have killed up to ten million people in Ukraine in the 1930s. Still denied by Moscow, this genocide has received little to no attention from the West, and none whatsoever from Hollywood.

A new film is due out now which tackles this topic, focusing on a Ukrainian Cossack couple. Keep an eye out for Bitter Harvest this month.

Scenes from Venice

Carnevale is in full swing in Venice, and you see more people like this around every corner.

On this day…

Margot Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev rehearsing Roland Petit’s ballet Paradise Lost at the Royal Opera House in London. 20th February, 1967.

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On this day: the bombing of Darwin

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The first of Japan’s Second World War attacks on Darwin, Australia occurred on the 19^th of February, 1942.

The same fleet that bombed Pearl Harbor bombed the Northern Territory, but considerably more bombs were dropped on Australia than in the US.

Darwin Post Office destroyed X

The attack came in two waves, and hundreds of people – including civilians – were killed. It was the beginning of many Japanese attacks on Australia (there were approximately 100 more attacks), who had been involved in the conflict since the beginning of the war.

On this day: the inauguration of a Confederate President

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This photograph, taken on the 18^th of February, 1861, shows people arriving for the inauguration of Jefferson Davis, the first and only president of the Confederate States of America.

The ceremony took place in Montgomery, Alabama, the first Confederate capital,

Davis served in as leader until he was captured in 1865 at the end of the Civil War.

On this day: a dictator and his pet

Italian Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini photographed with his pet lion cub, Ras on the 16^th of February, 1924. He would run Italy for another twenty-one years before being captured and executed alongside his mistress Clara Petacci. His wife was elsewhere at the time.

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On this day: the birth of Aleksandr Shaparenko

Ukrainian sprint canoeist Aleksandr Shaparenko was born in Stepanivka on the 16^th of February, 1946.

Competing for the Soviet Union, he won Olympic gold in 1968 and 1972, as well as a silver in the 1968 Games.

Shaparenko also won thirteen World Championship medals, including the gold seven times.