Historical Events
- Feb 1 At least 73 people are killed in the Egyptian football riots in Port Said
- Feb 2 Cold snap across Europe kills more than 100 people (over 400 people by 08-02)
- Feb 2 MV Rabaul Queen sinks off the coast of Papua New Guinea with 246 people saved and 126 missing (100 of these estimated to be trapped inside)
- Feb 2 NHL player Sam Gagner becomes the first player to scores eight points in one game for the Edmonton Oilers against the Chicago Blackhawks since 1989
- Feb 4 Tens of thousands of people are stranded by floods in the Australian states of New South Wales and Queensland
Flavor Flav, Elton John Ad
Feb 5 Flavor Flav and Elton John appear in a Pepsi Co. ad during Super Bowl XLVI
Super Bowl XLVI
Feb 5 Super Bowl XLVI, Lucas Oil Stadium, Indianapolis, IN: New York Giants beat New England Patriots, 21-17; MVP: Eli Manning, New York, QB
- Feb 6 6.9 magnitude quake hits near the central Philippines with 43 confirmed deaths
Gordon Lightfoot Honored
Feb 6 Canadian singer Gordon Lightfoot is presented with the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal by the Lieutenant Governor of Ontario
Laureus World Sports Awards
Feb 6 Laureus World Sports Awards, Central Hall Westminster, London, England: Sportsman: Novak Đoković; Sportswoman: Vivian Cheruiyot; Team: FC Barcelona
Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee
Feb 6 Queen Elizabeth II marks the 60th anniversary of becoming British monarch, becoming only the second to do so
Grammy Awards
Feb 12 54th Grammy Awards: "Rolling In The Deep" by Adele;, Bon Iver win
- Feb 12 65th British Academy Film Awards (BAFTAs): "The Artist" Best Film, Michel Hazanavicius Best Director
- Feb 12 Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow is re-elected President of Turkmenistan with 97% of the vote
- Feb 12 Zambia defeat Ivory Coast 8-7 on penalties in the Africa Cup of Nations
Sports History
Feb 13 Marco van Basten is announced as the manager of Heerenveen for the 2012-13 season
- Feb 15 Fire at Comayagua prison, Honduras, kills 358
- Feb 15 United Kingdom unemployment rate reaches 17 year high of 8.4%
- Feb 17 43rd NAACP Image Awards: "The Help" wins Outstanding Motion Picture
- Feb 17 Approximately 70 ancient Olympic artifacts are stolen from the Archaeological Museum of Greece
- Feb 17 Friso, Prince of Orange-Nassau (31), buried under an avalanche while skiing in Lech, Austria; suffers oxygen deprivation and lapses into a terminal coma
- Feb 17 The President of Germany, Christian Wulff, resigns over a corruption scandal
Sports History
Feb 17 Thierry Henry returns to Red Bulls from his loan at Arsenal
- Feb 19 44 people killed in prison brawl in Apocada, Mexico, between two rival drug cartels
- Feb 20 Scientists successfully regenerate the flowering plant, Silene stenophylla from a 31,800 year old piece of fruit, greatly surpassing the previous record of 2,000 years
- Feb 20 South Korea angers North Korea as it proceeds with live fire drills in disputed Korean sea borders
- Feb 21 Yemeni voters go to the polls for a presidential election where the only candidate on the ballot paper is vice-president Abd Rabbuh Mansur al-Hadi
- Feb 22 Train crash in Buenos Aires, Argentina, kills 50 and injures hundreds
- Feb 23 A series of bomb attacks across 12 Iraqi cities kills 60 and injures 200
- Feb 25 Al Qaeda suicide bombing kills at least 26 people in Mukalla, Yemen
- Feb 25 Syrian Army kills 100 civilians in artillery shelling of Homs and Hama
- Feb 26 17-year old black teenager Trayvon Martin shot and killed by George Zimmerman in Sanford, Florida, highlighted issue of racial profiling in the US
NBA All-Star Game
Feb 26 61st NBA All-Star Game, Amway Centre, Orlando, FL: West beats East, 152-149; MVP: Kevin Durant, OKC Thunder, F
Academy Awards
Feb 26 84th Academy Awards: "The Artist" wins five Oscars and becomes the first silent film to win since 1927, Jean Dujardin & Meryl Streep also win
- Feb 26 Bus plunges off a cliff in Shanxi, China causing 15 deaths
- Feb 26 Train derailment kills 3 and injures 45 in Burlington, Ontario
- Feb 28 54th Daytona 500: Rain affected race stopped for 2 hours because of fuel on track; Matt Kenseth leads for final 34 laps to win
- Feb 28 Discovery of the largest prehistoric penguin, Kairuku grebneffi, at nearly 5ft tall
Music History
Feb 28 Jason Mraz releases the live EP, "Live Is A Four Letter Word"
- Feb 28 Occupy London protesters evicted from St Paul's Cathedral
Famous Weddings
- Feb 18 Activist and contributor for ABC News Elizabeth Smart (24) weds Matthew Gilmour (22) in Hawaii
Dick Van Dyke
Feb 29 American actor Dick Van Dyke (86) weds second wife, American make-up artist Arlene Silver (40) in Malibu, California
Famous Divorces
- Feb 9 Actress Parminder Nagra files for divorce from photographer James Stenson due to irreconcilable differences after 3 years of marriage
Famous Deaths
- Feb 1 Angelo Dundee, American boxing trainer & cornerman (Muhammad Ali 1960–81 & 15 other world boxing champions), dies at 90
- Feb 1 Charlie Spoonhour, American basketball coach (Southwest Missouri State, Saint Louis, UNLV), dies at 72
- Feb 1 Don Cornelius, American television host, commits suicide by gunshot at 75
- Feb 1 Gerlando Alberti, Sicilian Mafioso, dies from cancer at 88
- Feb 1 Ton de Kruyf, Dutch composer, dies at 74
- Feb 1 Wislawa Szymborska, Polish poet and Nobel Laureate, dies at 88
- Feb 2 Dorothy Gilman, American mystery writer, dies from Alzheimer's disease at 88
- Feb 3 Ben Gazzara, American actor, dies from pancreatic cancer at 81
- Feb 3 Christopher Samuel Youd, British sci-fi writer (Tripods Trilogy), dies at 89
Griselda Blanco (1943-2012)
Feb 3 Colombian drug lord, assassinated at 69
- Feb 3 Norton Zinder, American biologist (genetic transduction), dies from pneumonia at 83
- Feb 3 Zalman King, American actor and director, dies from cancer at 69
- Feb 4 Florence Green, last surviving veteran of World War One, dies at 110
- Feb 4 Istvan Csurka, Hungarian writer and politician, dies at 77
- Feb 4 Robert Daniel, five term American congressman for Virginia, dies at 75
- Feb 4 Robert Glaser, American educational psychologist, dies from Alzheimer's disease at 91
- Feb 5 Al De Lory, American session pianist, arranger, and record producer (Glen Campbell), dies 82
- Feb 5 Sam Coppola, American actor (Saturday Night Fever), dies at 79
- Feb 6 Antoni Tapies, Spanish painter, sculptor and theorist (Dau al Set), dies at 88
- Feb 6 Billy Bean, American jazz guitarist (John Lewis; Herbie Mann; Bud Shank), dies at 79
- Feb 6 Janice Voss, American astronaut (shuttle radar topography mission), dies from breast cancer at 55
- Feb 6 Noel Kelehan, Irish pianist, conductor (RTÉ Concert Orchestra), and arranger (Eurovision; U2), dies at 77
- Feb 6 Norma Merrick Sklarek, 1st African-American woman architect in NY & California, dies at 85
- Feb 6 Peter Breck, American actor (Black Saddle, Big Valley, Benji), dies at 82
- Feb 7 Patricia Stephens Due, African-American civil rights activist (FAMU jail-in), dies from Alzheimer's disease at 72
- Feb 7 Phil Bruns, American actor and writer (Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman - "George Shumway"), dies of natural causes at 80
- Feb 8 Gunther Plaut, German-Canadian rabbi, dies at 99
- Feb 8 Luis Alberto Spinetta, Argentinian rock musician, dies from lung cancer at 62
- Feb 10 Adolfo Schwelm Cruz, Argentine racing driver, dies at 88
- Feb 10 Geoffrey Cornish, Canadian golf course architect, dies at 97
- Feb 10 Jeffrey Zaslow, American author and columnist, dies in a car accident at 53
Whitney Houston (1963-2012)
Feb 11 American singer ("I Will Always Love You"; "I Wanna Dance With Somebody"), actress (The Bodyguard), and film producer (The Princess Diaries), dies from an accidental bathtub drowning at 48
- Feb 12 David Kelly, Irish actor (Grandpa Joe-Charlie and the Chocolate Factory; Fawlty Towers), dies of pneumonia and lung cancer at 82
- Feb 12 John Severin, American comic book artist, dies at 90
- Feb 12 Marty Allen, American comedian (Allen & Rossi "Hello Dere"), dies at 95
- Feb 12 Zina Bethune, American actress, dies from hit and run at 66
- Feb 13 Freddie Solomon, American football wide receiver, dies from colon and liver cancer at 59
- Feb 13 Lillian Bassman, American photographer and painter (Harper's Bazaar), dies at 94
- Feb 13 Mohamed Lamari, Chief of Staff of the Algerian Army, dies from a heart attack at 72
- Feb 13 Russell Arms, American actor and vocalist (Your Hit Parade; "Cinco Robles"), dies at 92
- Feb 14 Dory Previn, American singer-songwriter, dies at 86
- Feb 15 Charles Anthony [Caruso], American tenor, dies from kidney failure at 82
- Feb 15 Lina Romay, Spanish actress (Conan the Barbarian), dies at 57
- Feb 16 Anthony Shadid, New York Times foreign correspondent and two time Pulitzer winner, dies from asthma at 43
- Feb 16 Baddeley Devesi, first Governor-General of the Solomon Islands, dies at 70
- Feb 16 Elyse Knox, American actress and model (Hit the Ice, Black Gold), dies at 94
Gary Carter (1954-2012)
Feb 16 American Baseball Hall of Fame catcher (11 × MLB All-Star; World Series 1986; Gold Glove Award 1980–82; Montreal Expos, NY Mets), dies from brain tumor at 57
- Feb 16 Harry McPherson, presidential counsel (Lyndon Johnson) and lobbyist, dies from cancer at 82
- Feb 17 Michael Davis, American bass guitarist, and songwriter (MC5 -"Kick Out The Jams"), dies of liver failure at 68
- Feb 17 Ulric Neisser, American psychologist, dies at 83
- Feb 19 John Hogan, American research chemist, dies at 92
- Feb 19 Steve Kordek, American pinball machine designer, dies at 100
- Feb 20 Renato Dulbecco, Italian-born American virologist (1975 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for oncoviruses work), dies at 97
- Feb 21 Barney Rosset, American publisher and free speech advocate, dies at 89
- Feb 21 Baron Hooson [Hugh Emlyn], British politician and peer, dies at 86
- Feb 21 Colin Ireland, British 'Gay Slayer' serial killer, dies at 57
- Feb 21 Eiko Ishioka, Japanese Costume designer, dies from pancreatic cancer at 74
- Feb 21 John Michuki, Kenyan politician, dies from heart attack at 79
- Feb 21 Pierre Juneau, Canadian film and broadcast executive, dies at 89
- Feb 22 Billy Strange, American singer-songwriter, dies at 81
- Feb 22 Mike Melvoin, American jazz and studio pianist, composer, and arranger, dies of cancer at 74
- Feb 23 Bruce Surtees, American cinematographer (Dirty Harry, Lenny), dies at 74
- Feb 24 Benedict Freedman, American novelist and mathematician, dies at 92
- Feb 24 István Anhalt, Hungarian-Canadian classical and electronic music composer (La Tourangelle; Winthrop), educator (McGill; Queens (Ontario) Universities), and writer (Alternative Voices), dies at 92
- Feb 24 Jan Berenstain [Janice Marian Grant], American author (The Berenstain Bears), dies from a stroke at 88
- Feb 24 Kenneth Price, American ceramic artist and print maker, dies from cancer at 77
- Feb 24 Theodore Mann, American theatre producer and director (co-founded Circle in the Square Theatre), dies at 87 [1]
- Feb 25 Erland Josephson, Swedish actor, dramatist and author (The Sacrifice, Utflykt), dies of Parkinson's disease at 88
- Feb 25 Louisiana Red [Iverson Minter], American blues guitarist, and singer-songwriter ("Sweet Blood Call"), dies of a stroke at 79
- Feb 25 Lynn Compton, American jurist and commissioned officer, dies from heart attack at 90
- Feb 25 Maurice André, French classical trumpeter and baroque revivalist, dies at 78
- Feb 25 Red Holloway [James], American jazz tenor saxophonist, dies from stroke and kidney failure at 84
- Feb 26 Rolf "Hazy" Osterwald, Swiss jazz bandleader, trumpeter, and vibraphonist, dies at 90
- Feb 27 Tina Strobos, Dutch physician and resistor to Nazi occupation, dies from cancer at 91
Davy Jones (1945-2012)
Feb 29 British singer and actor (The Monkees - "Daydream Believer"), dies from heart attack at 66
