Simply press F3. It will say the version in the debug info.
Not sure if that's possible but i do know a free version of minecraft that get's updated 24/7, Minecraftforfree.com
You can play the demo version or Minecraft Classic on the Minecraft website.
All you need to do is make an account on minecraft then buy the full version. If you do download it and you don't get the latest version you just use your minecraft password to update. If you don't know the password then you need to make a new account. If you've already bought minecraft and you forgot your password then you can redeem you minecraft gift code to buy minecraft for free. But you can only do this when you've bought minecraft before.
As far as i know there is no version of 1.2.6, it goes straight to 1.3.
there are no rumors for minecraft pe version 4.1
Currently, Minecraft's newest version for PC is 1.4.7
minecraft's latest version as of June 2016 is 1.10 (The Frostburn Update).
No, it is not. Minecraft Beta is the newest version of minecraft. In order to get it, you must pay for it. You can play a free version called minecraft classic though.
There is only one version of Minecraft currently sold by Mojang. It costs $24.99 and give you access to the current version of Minecraft and future updates. You can find Minecraft Alpha codes on eBay for $10. These (should) give you the current version of Minecraft.
Minecraft commands were first seen in bukkit server. We do not know when the first commands were made for bukkit servers however
you just go to the Minecraft website and download minecraft again if 1.3.1 was your latest version. or you can download minecraft version changer.
The first EVER version of Minecraft was called "The Cave Game" Pre. The first official version of Minecraft was Creative. The first official version of Survival Minecraft was InDev, which is an abbreviation of In Development.