| 342:
|
Death of St. Shahdost of Persia
|
| 1258:
|
Execution of the Caliph al-Musta'sim of Bagdad, by Hulagu Khan
|
| 1431:
|
Death of Pope Martin V
|
| 1431:
|
Trial of Joan of Arc
|
| 1437:
|
Assassination of James I, King of Scotland
|
| 1500:
|
Charles I, King of Spain born
|
| 1507:
|
Gentile Bellini, Italian artist born
|
| 1513:
|
Death of Pope Julius II
|
| 1521:
|
Juan Ponce de Leon sets out for Florida with 200 colonists
|
| 1546:
|
Coronation of Edward VI, King of England
|
| 1626:
|
Burial of John Dowland, lutenist and composer
|
| 1632:
|
Thomas Osborne, Duke of Leeds, Eng. chief minister, founder of Tories born
|
| 1648:
|
The House of Commons votes the House of Lords as "useless and dangerous"
|
| 1725:
|
The first known Indian scalping by white men was reported in the New Hampshire colony
|
| 1726:
|
American Revolutionary War hero William Prescott. born
|
| 1790:
|
Holy Roman Emperor Joseph the Second died
|
| 1791:
|
Carl Czerny was born. His studies are played to this day. born
|
| 1792:
|
President Washington signed an act creating the U.S. Postal Service. Letters delivered up to 30 miles cost six cents to mail. For letters up to 150 miles, postage was 12 cents
|
| 1809:
|
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled the power of the federal government was no greater than that of any individual state of the Union
|
| 1816:
|
"The Barber of Seville" , Rossini's opera, was premiered, however, at the time there was already a popular opera by another composer based on the same Beaumarchais comedy. Fans of that opera booed Rossini's, but his version quickly became an even bigger hit
|
| 1831:
|
Polish revolutionaries defeat the Russians in the Battle of Growchow
|
| 1838:
|
Ludwig Boltzmann, atomic physics engineer born
|
| 1839:
|
Congress prohibited dueling in the District of Columbia
|
| 1872:
|
Luther Crowell received a patent for a machine for manufacturing paper bags. Patent # 123811 allowed the bags to have two longitudinal inward folds
|
| 1872:
|
The Metropolitan Museum of Art opened in New York City
|
| 1872:
|
Silas Noble and J.P. Cooley of Granville, Massachusetts, patented the toothpick manufacturing machine
|
| 1873:
|
University of California gets its 1st Med School (UC/SF)
|
| 1895:
|
Frederick Douglass, an escaped slave who became one of America's most prominent abolitionists, died in Washington, D.C. (He was probably 78, although his exact date of birth is unknown.)
|
| 1898:
|
Enzo Ferrari, sports car manufacturer born
|
| 1900:
|
J. F. Pickering, a black inventor, received a patent for his airship invention
|
| 1902:
|
Photographer Ansel Adams born
|
| 1903:
|
Pope Leo XIII celebrates 25 years as the Pope
|
| 1904:
|
Soviet leader Alexei Kosygin born
|
| 1906:
|
Russian troops seize large portions of Mongolia
|
| 1910:
|
The founder of the Little League Baseball Organization, Carl E. Stotz, in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. In his honor, the regional winners from the U.S. compete in the Little League World Series in his hometown. born
|
| 1914:
|
"What's My Line" TV emcee John Daly born
|
| 1915:
|
President Wilson opens the Panama-Pacific Expo in San Francisco to celebrate the opening of the Panama Canal
|
| 1918:
|
The Soviet Red Army seizes Kiev, the capital of the Ukraine
|
| 1924:
|
Fashion designer Gloria Vanderbilt born
|
| 1925:
|
Movie director Robert Altman (M*A*S*H, Nashville, Brewster McCloud). born
|
| 1926:
|
Olympic pole vaulter Bob Richards born
|
| 1927:
|
Actor Sidney Poitier (Lilies of the Field, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, To Sir With Love, Sneakers) born
|
| 1929:
|
Actress (Beverly Neill) Amanda Blake (Gunsmoke's Miss Kitty) born
|
| 1933:
|
The House of Representatives completed congressional action on an amendment to repeal Prohibition
|
| 1934:
|
Race car driver Bobby Unser born
|
| 1936:
|
Actress Marj Dusay born
|
| 1936:
|
Switzerland bars all Nazis from entering the country
|
| 1937:
|
Jazz-soul singer Nancy Wilson (How Glad I Am, Face It Girl, It's Over, What Are You Doing New Years?) born
|
| 1938:
|
Anthony Eden resigned as Britain's foreign secretary to protest the "appeasement" policy of Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain toward Nazi Germany
|
| 1938:
|
Hitler demands self-determination for Germans in Austria and Czechoslovakia
|
| 1941:
|
Singer-songwriter Buffy Sainte-Marie (I'm Gonna Be a Country Girl Again, Mister Can't You See, Up Where We Belong) born
|
| 1941:
|
The Chicago Symphony under the direction of Frederick Stock premiered a piano concerto by Rudolph Ganz which the composer, who also soloed, based on themes drawn from the license plate numbers of his two cars
|
| 1942:
|
Hockey Hall-of-Famer Phil Esposito. born
|
| 1942:
|
Movie director Mike Leigh ("Secrets and Lies") born
|
| 1942:
|
Franklin D. Roosevelt authorizes the internment of Japanese Americans on the West Coast
|
| 1942:
|
Lt. Edward O'Hare downs five out of nine Japanese bombers that are attacking the carrier Lexington, which earns him the Congressional Medal of Honor
|
| 1944:
|
During World War Two, US bombers began raiding German aircraft manufacturing centers in a series of attacks that became known as "Big Week."
|
| 1946:
|
Actress Sandy Duncan (Peter Pan, Pinnochio, Roots) born
|
| 1946:
|
Jazz and soul guitarist J. Geils. born
|
| 1946:
|
Actress Brenda Blethyn ("Secrets and Lies") born
|
| 1947:
|
Actor Peter Strauss (Peter Gunn, Rich Man Poor Man, The Yearling) born
|
| 1947:
|
The British pledge to leave India by June 1948
|
| 1949:
|
Actress Jennifer O'Neill (The Summer of '42, Cover-Up, Rio Lobo) born
|
| 1949:
|
Author-socialite Ivana Trump born
|
| 1950:
|
Rock singer-musician-producer Walter Becker (Steely Dan) born
|
| 1951:
|
Actor Edward Albert (Mind Games, Butterflies Are Free, The Heist) born
|
| 1951:
|
Country singer Kathie Baillie. born
|
| 1952:
|
One of baseball's most popular figures, Emmett L. Ashford, became the first black umpire in organized baseball. Ashford was authorized to be a substitute in the Southwestern International League
|
| 1952:
|
A true American classic, "The African Queen", opened at the Capitol Theatre in New York City. The film starred Katharine Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart, under the direction of John Huston
|
| 1954:
|
Newspaper heiress Patricia Hearst. born
|
| 1954:
|
The Ford Foundation gives a $25 million grant to the Fund for Advancement of Education
|
| 1958:
|
Actor James Wilby born
|
| 1959:
|
Rock musician Sebastian Steinberg (Soul Coughing) born
|
| 1959:
|
The FCC applies the equal time rule to TV newscasts of political candidates
|
| 1962:
|
American astronaut John Glenn landed safely after three orbits of Earth in a Mercury space capsule "Friendship Seven."
|
| 1963:
|
Basketball player Charles Barkley. born
|
| 1963:
|
Rock musician Ian Brown (Stone Roses) born
|
| 1963:
|
Basketball player Charles Barkley born
|
| 1963:
|
Moscow offers to allow on-site inspection of nuclear testing
|
| 1963:
|
Baseball great, Willie (The Say Hey Kid) Mays, signed with the San Francisco Giants as baseball's highest paid player (to that time). He earned $100,000 a year
|
| 1964:
|
Actor French Stewart ("3rd Rock from the Sun") born
|
| 1965:
|
The "Ranger Eight" spacecraft crashed on the moon after sending back thousands of pictures of the lunar surface
|
| 1966:
|
Model Cindy Crawford. born
|
| 1967:
|
Actor Andrew Shue. born
|
| 1967:
|
Actress Lili Taylor born
|
| 1971:
|
The National Emergency Warning Center in Colorado erroneously ordered radio and TV stations across the US to go off the air; some stations heeded the alert, which was not lifted for about 40 minutes
|
| 1971:
|
Young people protest having to cut their long hair in Athens, Greece
|
| 1974:
|
After a decade of marriage, Cher filed for separation from husband Sonny Bono. Not long afterwards, she filed for divorce
|
| 1975:
|
Singer Brian Littrell (Backstreet Boys) born
|
| 1981:
|
Singer-musician Chris Thil born
|
| 1981:
|
Actress Majandra Delfino ("Traffic") born
|
| 1981:
|
The space shuttle Columbia cleared the final major hurdle to its maiden launch as the spacecraft fired its three engines in a 20-second test
|
| 1982:
|
Carnegie Hall in New York begins $20 million renovations
|
| 1983:
|
Israel's Cabinet, at the request of Prime Minister Menachem Begin, voted to retain former Defense Minister Ariel Sharon as a member of two key government bodies involving defense and Lebanon
|
| 1985:
|
Actor Jake Richardson born
|
| 1985:
|
British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher addressed a joint meeting of Congress in which she praised the U.S. administration's policies and endorsed President Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative
|
| 1985:
|
The sale of contraceptives was made legal in Ireland
|
| 1986:
|
President Reagan visited Grenada, scene of the 1983 U.S.-led invasion that toppled the Caribbean island's Marxist government
|
| 1986:
|
Los Angeles Dodger's pitching ace Orel Hershiser became the first player to receive a one million dollar salary by arbitration. He was a 19-game winner in 1985 at the age of 27
|
| 1987:
|
Soviet authorities released Jewish activist Josef Begun
|
| 1987:
|
After 11 years on ABC's "Good Morning America," David Hartman left the show. He introduced the new co-host, Charles Gibson
|
| 1987:
|
A bomb blamed on the Unabomber exploded behind a computer store in Salt Lake City, seriously injuring a store executive
|
| 1988:
|
U.S. figure skater Brian Boitano won a gold medal in the men's competition at the Winter Olympic Games in Calgary, Canada, with Brian Orser of Canada placing second
|
| 1989:
|
Members of the European Economic Community decided to withdraw their top diplomats from Iran to protest Ayatollah Khomeini's order for Muslims to kill author Salman Rushdie
|
| 1990:
|
President Bush welcomed Czechoslovak President Vaclav Havel to the White House, promising trade rewards for Prague's moves toward democracy
|
| 1991:
|
In the Persian Gulf War, Baghdad radio said President Saddam Hussein would be sending Foreign Minister Raeiq Aziz back to Moscow with a reply to a Soviet peace plan
|
| 1991:
|
Quincy Jones' "Back on the Block" was named album of the year at the 33rd Grammy Awards
|
| 1992:
|
Texas billionaire Ross Perot told CNN's "Larry King Live" he would run for president if his name were placed on the ballot in all 50 states
|
| 1992:
|
South African President F.W. de Klerk stunned his country by announcing a whites-only referendum on ending apartheid
|
| 1992:
|
Rightist Salvadoran leader Roberto D'Aubuisson died at age 48
|
| 1993:
|
The hijacking of a Russian jetliner finally ended in Stockholm, Sweden. The Azerbaijani who commandeered the plane after it departed from Siberia gave up his demand to go to the U.S. and surrendered
|
| 1993:
|
Police in Liverpool, England, charged two ten-year-old boys with the abduction and slaying of toddler James Bulger, a crime that shocked the country and terrified parents. (Jon Venables and Robert Thompson were later convicted.)
|
| 1994:
|
Bosnian Serbs, faced with the threat of air strikes, pulled back most of heir heavy guns from around Sarajevo as a NATO deadline approached
|
| 1995:
|
A U.S. Marine, Sgt. Justin A. Harris, died in a helicopter crash during the evacuation of United Nations forces from Somalia. ember
|
| 1996:
|
Patrick Buchanan won the New Hampshire Republican primary by a slim margin over Bob Dole
|
| 1996:
|
Gangsta rapper Snoop Doggy Dogg and his former bodyguard were acquitted of murder in the
|
| 1997:
|
The National Transporation Safety Board called for a speedup in the redesign of the rudder controls on Boeing 737's, citing potential problems suspected in a pair of deadly crashes
|
| 1998:
|
With the U-S military poised to attack Iraq, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan began a final campaign to end the crisis over UN weapons inspections without bloodshed
|
| 1998:
|
Tara Lipinski of the US won the ladies' figure skating title at Nagano, becoming at age 15 the youngest gold medalist in Winter Olympics history; Michelle Kwan won the silver
|
| 1998:
|
U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Bill Richardson was interrupted by demonstrators protesting the Clinton administration's stance on Iraq during a speech, and he responded that the demonstrators "are wrong." About 50 protesters drowned out Richardson with chants during his breakfast speech to a foreign policy forum at the Humphrey Institute at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis
|
| 1998:
|
Prosecutor Kenneth Starr defended his aggressiveness in probing the White House sex scandal, and suggested he was ready for a court fight with President Clinton over the limits of White House secrecy
|
| 1998:
|
The crew of Mir celebrated the 12th anniversary of the space station by flying their escape capsule around the aging, accident-prone ship
|
| 1999:
|
Movie reviewer Gene Siskel died at a hospital outside Chicago; he was 53. (I can't believe it has been a year already.)
|
| 1999:
|
The United States and five other nations agreed to extend by three days the deadline for a Kosovo peace agreement. (NATO had threatened airstrikes against the Serbs if they did not reach an agreement with Albanian insurgents.)
|
| 2000:
|
The Fox TV network canceled the scheduled rebroadcast of its highly rated special "Who Wants to Marry a Multimillionaire?" after learning that the groom, Rick Rockwell, was once accused of hitting and threatening to kill an ex-girlfriend, accusations Rockwell denied
|
| 2005:
|
China steps up anti-gambling campaign
|
| 2005:
|
Cricket: Australia defeats New Zealand in series opener
|
| 2005:
|
US and Japan offend Beijing over Taiwan
|
| 2005:
|
Spain to vote on EU constitution
|
| 2005:
|
David Beckham's new son, Cruz is born
|
| 2005:
|
Disturbances after football match in Liverpool
|
| 2005:
|
Starburst across galaxy impacts Earth's ionosphere
|
| 2005:
|
Plague kills scores in Democratic Republic of Congo
|
| 2006:
|
New Zealand medical student funding to be reviewed
|
| 2006:
|
Leader of 1992 pro-democracy uprising joins calls for Thaksin's resignation
|
| 2006:
|
Pittsburgh's Bettis to work as NBC studio analyst
|
| 2007:
|
Cuba to use open-source software
|
| 2007:
|
Canadian convoy attacked by Taliban, Afghans mistakenly gunned down
|
| 2007:
|
Italian Judges allow marriage "by phone"
|
| 2007:
|
Founder of the National Ballet of Canada dies at age 85
|
| 2007:
|
U.S. develops parks above highways
|
| 2008:
|
Taipei International Book Exhibition: Varied fiction books showed different authoring style
|
| 2008:
|
British actress Emily Perry dies at 100
|
| 2008:
|
National Hockey League news: February 20, 2008
|
| 2008:
|
Blu-ray prevails in high definition disc war
|
| 2008:
|
McCain, Obama win Wisconsin primary
|
| 2008:
|
Magnitude 7.5 earthquake strikes Aceh
|
| 2008:
|
Space Shuttle Atlantis completes mission STS-122
|
| 2008:
|
Joop den Uyl biography reveals Northrop bribe of Prince Bernhard
|
| 2008:
|
Dutch tennis player Raemon Sluiter ends his career in Rotterdam tournament
|
| 2008:
|
Dutch financial institution ING takes impairment charge
|
| 2008:
|
Sarkisian wins Armenian presidential elections
|
| 2008:
|
Malaysian general election update
|
| 2009:
|
European Court of Human Rights orders UK to compensate Islamist
|
| 2009:
|
Magnitude 5.4 earthquake shakes Pakistan
|
| 2009:
|
Sheffield pub is CAMRA's Pub of the Year
|
| 2009:
|
AIM activist, Leonard Peltier defender Robert Robideau dies
|
| 2009:
|
Jury acquits three in Politkovskaya murder trial
|
| 2009:
|
Dow Jones Industrial Average closes at lowest level in six years
|
| 2009:
|
Israel seizes West Bank land
|
| 2009:
|
New South Wales, Queensland to have electorates redrawn: Australian Electoral Commission
|
| 2010:
|
Former US Secretary of State Alexander Haig dies at age 85
|
| 2010:
|
Inventor Ronald Howes dies at age 83
|
| 2010:
|
At least one dead, eighteen injured after grenade attacks in Rwanda
|
| 2010:
|
Dutch government collapses over Afghanistan troops
|
| 2011:
|
Music duo The Bellamy Brothers accuse Britney Spears of plagiarism
|
| 2011:
|
Ten children killed in Estonian orphanage fire
|
| 2011:
|
Guatemalan football executive shot dead after team meeting
|
| 2012:
|
US call centre business to create 600 jobs in Wales
|
| 2012:
|
UK politician foresees nuclear Iran triggering new Middle Eastern cold war
|
| 2012:
|
Iraq police academy suicide bomb attack kills eighteen
|
History
Icons
Academy Award winning film director, Robert Altman born in Kansas City, Missouri
US Navy seaman, entrepreneur, and computer pioneer, DEC founder Ken Olsen born in Bridgeport, Connecticut
Academy, Golden Globe and Grammy Award winning actor, author and diplomat, Sidney Poitier born in Miami, Florida
Three-time Grammy Award winning singer Nancy Wilson born in Chillicothe, Ohio
Olympic skier, fashion model and author, Ivana Trump born Ivana Marie Zelníčková in Zlín, Czechoslovakia
High school valedictorian, actress and supermodel, Cindy Crawford born in DeKalb, Illinois