February 6th



~337 - Julius I was elected pope.

~891 – Died this day: St. Photius I the Great, Patriarch of Constantinople. (b. 820)

~1685 - Died this day: Charles II, King of England, Scotland, and Ireland.

~1685 – James II of England and VII of Scotland ascended the throne King upon the death of his brother Charles II. He was the last Catholic monarch to reign over the Kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland.

~1778 – In Paris the Treaty of Alliance and the Treaty of Amity and Commerce were signed by the United States and France signaling official recognition of the new republic.

~1788 – Massachusetts ratified the United States Constitution and was admitted as the 6th state of the Union.

~1806 - The Battle of San Domingo: This was the last fleet action of the Napoleonic Wars. French and British squadrons of ships of the line met off the southern coast of the French occupied Spanish Colony of Santo Domingo in the Caribbean. The French squadron, led by Vice-Admiral Corentin Urbain Leissègues was defeated by a British squadron commanded by Vice-Admiral Sir John Thomas Duckworth.

~1815 – The first railroad charter in the United States was issued to the New Jersey Railroad Company on behalf of John Stevens and others. Based on turnpike charters, it allowed the company to build between New Brunswick and Trenton, and became a model for railroad charters in the future. That company never did anything, but the idea evolved into the later New Jersey Rail Road and Transportation Company (NJRR), chartered in 1832.

~1819 – British official Stamford Raffles signed a treaty with Sultan Hussein Shah of Johor, establishing Singapore as a new trading post for the British East India Company.

~1840 – The signing of the Treaty of Waitangi established New Zealand as a British colony. The Treaty established a British governor in New Zealand, recognised Māori ownership of their lands and other properties, and gave Māori the rights of British subjects. (It didn't quite turn out like that, however...)

~1862 – The Battle of Fort Henry: Union General Ulysses S. Grant gave the United States its first significant victory of the Civil War, when his troops captured Fort Henry, Tennessee from the Confederates.

~1899 – The Spanish-American War: The Treaty of Paris (1 of at least 24 Treaties of Paris), a peace treaty between the United States and Spain, was ratified by the United States Senate by a 1 vote margin.

~1911 - Born this day: Ronald Wilson Reagan, 40th President of the United States. (d. 2004)

~1922 – The Washington Naval Treaty is signed in Washington, D.C., limiting the naval armaments of United States, Britain, Japan, France, and Italy. (What a bloody joke that was as it didn't cover aircraft carriers.)

~1922 - Pius XI was elected pope.

~1934 – The far right leagues rallied in front of the Palais Bourbon in an attempted coup against the French Third Republic, creating a political crisis in France. The event finished in a riot on Place de la Concorde near the seat of the National Assembly.

~1936 - The IV Olympic Winter Games opened in the market town of Garmisch-Partenkirchen in Bavaria, Germany.

~1951 – The Broker, a Pennsylvania Railroad passenger train derailed near Woodbridge Township, New Jersey. The accident killed 85 people and injured over 500 more. The wreck is one of the worst rail disasters in American history.

~1952 – Died this day: George VI, King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions.

~1952 - Elizabeth II ascended the British throne upon the death of her father George VI. At the exact moment of succession, she was in a treehouse at the Treetops Hotel in Kenya.

~1958 – British European Airways Flt. 609, an Airspeed AS-57 Ambassador, crashed on its 3rd attempt to take off from a slush covered runway at Munich Riem Airport in Munich, West Germany. 23 of the 44 onboard died and none of the survivors escaped without injuries.

~1959 – The first patent for an integrated circuit, U.S. Patent 3,138,743 for "Miniaturized Electronic Circuits", was filed by Jack Kilby of Texas Instruments.

~1959 – At Cape Canaveral, Florida, the first successful test launch of a Titan intercontinental ballistic missile took place.

~1968 - The X Olympic Winter Games opened in Grenoble, France.

~1978 – The Northeast Blizzard of '78: The second day of the storm produced the most snowfall (4" per hour) and the highest sustained winds (65 mph). New England and Metro New York came to a virtual standstill.

~1987 – Mary Gaudron was appointed the first woman Justice to the High Court of Australia. (Good on you, Mary G!)

~1989 – The Roundtable talks start in Poland, thus marking the beginning of overthrow of communism in Eastern Europe. The Polish Round Table Talks began in Warsaw, Poland. The government initiated the discussion with the banned trade union Solidarność and other opposition groups in an attempt to defuse growing social unrest. (It didn't work.)

~1998 – Washington National Airport was renamed Ronald Reagan National Airport. US President Bill Clinton signed legislation changing the airport's name to honor the former president on his 87th birthday.

~1998 – In Corsica, the prefect Claude Erignac was assassinated in Ajaccio.

~2004 - The Moscow Metro Bombing: A suicide bomb attack aboard a Moscow metro killed 41 commuters, and injured 129 more. The blast occurred near Avtozavodskaya subway station on the Zamoskvoretskaya Line.

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This post has been edited at member's request.Ron,

February 7th



~457 – Leo I became emperor of the Byzantine Empire. He was known as Magnus Thrax (the "Great Thracian") by his supporters, and Macellus ("the Butcher") by his enemies. Leo proved to be a capable head of state, ruling the Eastern Empire for nearly 20 years from 457 to 474. He oversaw many ambitious political and military plans, aimed mostly for the aid of the faltering Western Roman Empire and recovering its former territories.

~1074 – Pandulf IV of Benevento was killed while battling the invading Normans at the Battle of Montesarchio.

~1301 – Edward of Caernarvon (later King Edward II of England) becomes the first English Prince of Wales.

~1497 – The most famous Bonfire of the Vanities occurred when supporters of the Dominican priest Girolamo Savonarola collected and publicly burned thousands of objects of cosmetics, art, and books in Florence, Italy on the Mardi Gras festival.

~1550 - Julius III was elected Pope.

~1795 – The 11th Amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified. It deals with each state's sovereign immunity from being sued in federal court by someone of another state or country. This amendment was adopted in response to, and in order to overrule, the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Chisholm v. Georgia in 1793.

~1807 – The Battle of Eylau began. It was a bloody and inconclusive 2 day battle between Napoléon's Grande Armée and a mostly Russian army under General Bennigsen near the town of Preußisch Eylau in East Prussia. Eylau was the first serious check to the Grande Armée, which in the previous two campaigns had carried all battles before it demolishing the armies of the established great powers of Europe. This was particularly true at the battles of Ulm, Austerlitz, and Jena-Auerstedt.

~1812 – The strongest in a series of over 1,000 earthquakes in 1811 and 1812 struck New Madrid, Missouri. The magnitude 8.0 shaker the most powerful non-subduction zone earthquake ever recorded in the United States.

~1842 – Battle of Debre Tabor: The forces of Warlord Wube Haile Maryam of Semien engaged the troops of Ras Ali Alula, Regent of the Emperor of Ethiopia. This confused battle was won by the army of Ras Ali but at a steep price and this victory failed to cement his position as the most powerful warlord of his time.

~1856 – The Kingdom of Awadh was annexed by the British East India Company after a peaceful abdication of Wajid Ali Shah, the king of Awadh.

~1863 – HMS Orpheus, a Jason class Royal Navy corvette that served as the flagship of the Australian squadron, sank off the west coast of Auckland, New Zealand after stiking a sand bar. 189 crewmembers out of the ship's complement of 259 died in the disaster. To date this is still the worst maritime tragedy to occur in New Zealand waters.

~1882 – John L. Sullivan defeated Paddy Ryan in Mississippi City to become the American Heavyweight Boxing Champion.

~1894 – The 5 month long Cripple Creek miner's strike, led by the Western Federation of Miners, began in Cripple Creek, Colorado.

~1898 – Émile Zola was brought to trial for criminal libel for publishing J'Accuse. (The French government has always hated it whenever someone tells the truth about them...)

~1904 – The Great Baltimore Fire: 1,231 firefighters were required to bring the 30 hour long blaze under control. It destroyed a major part of central Baltimore, including over 1,500 buildings covering an area of some 140 acres.

~1907 – The Mud March: The first large procession organized by the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies (NUWSS) took place in London.

~1940 – The second film of the Walt Disney Animated Classics, Pinocchio, premiered.

~1943 - In the United States it was announced that shoe rationing would take effect on February 9th due to wartime shortages.

~1943 – Imperial Japanese naval forces completed the evacuation of the Imperial Japanese Army troops from Guadalcanal during Operation Ke, ending Japanese attempts to retake the island from Allied forces in the Guadalcanal Campaign.

~1944 – In Anzio, Italy, German forces renewed their counteroffensive during the Allies Operation Shingle.

~1962 – In response to the Cuban alignment with the Soviet Union during the Cold War US President John F. Kennedy extended, by Executive Order, the scope of existing US trade restrictions against Cuba.

~1964 - The Beatles arrived to much fanfare at John F Kennedy International Airport on their first visit to the United States.

~1967 – The Tasmanian Fires, an event which became known as the Black Tuesday bushfires, were the most deadly bushfires that Tasmania has ever experienced. The flames, which charred 2,642.7 square kilometres (653,025.4 acres), claimed 62 lives and injured 900 more while leaving over 7,000 homeless.

~1974 – Grenada was granted its independence from Great Britain.

~1977 - The Soviet Union launched Soyuz 24, a mission to the Salyut 5 space station, the 3rd and final mission to that station and the last purely military crew for the Soviets as well as the final mission to a military Salyut. Cosmonauts Viktor Gorbatko and Yuri Glazkov re-activated the station after toxic fumes had apparently terminated the mission of Soyuz 21, the previous crew.

~1979 – Pluto moved inside Neptune's orbit for the first time since either planet was discovered. (Yeah, I still call Pluto a planet...so shoot me!)

~1984 – Space Shuttle program: On mission STS-41-B, astronauts Bruce McCandless and Robert Stewart made the first untethered space walk using the Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU).

~1986 – 28 years of single family rule ended in Haiti when ousted President Jean-Claude Duvalier fled the Caribbean nation for France. (Who else would take the scumbag...?)

~1990 – The Central Committee of the Soviet Communist Party agreed to give up its monopoly on power.

~1991 – Haiti's first democratically elected president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, was sworn into office.

~1992 – The Maastricht Treaty was signed, leading to the creation of the European Union on November 1st, 1993.

~1995 – Ramzi Yousef, the mastermind of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, was arrested in Islamabad. He was captured because of a man Yousef had tried to recruit, who was paid $2 million for the information leading to Yousef's capture.

~1998 - The XVIII Olympic Winter Games opened in Nagano, Japan.

~1999 - Died this day: Hussein bin Talal, King of Jordan. Hussein guided his country in the context of the Cold War, and through 4 decades of Arab-Israeli conflict, balancing the pressures of Arab nationalism and the allure of Western style development against the stark reality of Jordan's geographic location. His commitment to democracy, civil liberties and human rights helped to make Jordan a model state for the Middle East and the kingdom is internationally recognized for having the most exemplary human rights record in that region.

~1999 – Crown Prince Abdullah ascended the throne of Jordan upon the death of his father, King Hussein.

~2003 – The last contact from NASA’s Pioneer 10 was replied to, it was unsuccessful.

~2009 – The Black Saturday Bushfires: A series of bushfires ignited (or were burning) across the Australian state of Victoria during extreme bushfire-weather conditions. This resulted in Australia's highest ever loss of life from bushfires. 173 people died as a result of the blazes and 414 more were injured. As many as 400 individual fires were recorded on this single day alone.

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This post has been edited at member's request.Ron,

February 8th


421 - Constantius III became co-Emperor of the Western Roman Empire.

1555 - Laurence Saunders was led barefoot to his execution and burned at the stake.

1587 - Mary, Queen of Scots was executed.

1601 - Robert Devereux, the 2nd Earl of Essex, rebelled against Elizabeth I of England – the revolt was quickly crushed.

1622 - King James I of England disbanded the English Parliament.

1692 - A doctor in Salem Village, Massachusetts Bay Colony declared that three teenaged girls were under domination of Satan, leading to the Salem witch trials. (Methinks I’ll find a physician other than this quack!)

1693 – “The College of William and Mary” in Williamsburg, Virginia was granted a charter.

1807 – “The Battle of Eylau”; Napoleon’s forces defeated the Russians under General Benigssen.

1837 - Richard Johnson became the first Vice President of the United States to be chosen by the United States Senate.

1855 – “The Devil's Footprints” mysteriously appeared in southern Devon.

1861 - American Civil War: The Confederate States of America were formed. Jefferson Davis was selected as first president.

1900 - British troops were defeated by the Boers at Ladysmith, South Africa.

1904 – “The Battle of Port Arthur”: A surprise torpedo attack by the Japanese at Port Arthur, China started the Russo-Japanese War.

1910 - “Boy Scouts of America” was incorporated by William D. Boyce.

1915 - The controversial film “The Birth of a Nation” by D.W. Griffith premiered in Los Angeles.

1918 – “The Stars and Stripes” newspaper published for the first time.

1922 - President Warren G. Harding introduced the first radio in the White House. (No doubt following a kickback from RCA.)

1924 - Death penalty: The first state execution using a gas chamber in the United States took place in Nevada.

1936 - Jay Berwanger became the first person to be selected by a National Football League draft, by the Philadelphia Eagles.

1943 - World War II: “The First Battle of Kursk” - the Russian army captured the city.

1943 - World War II: “The Battle of Guadalcanal” - U S forces defeated the invading Japanese troops.

1946 - The Loebel Club Fire in Berlin claimed 89 lives.

1949 - Cardinal Mindszenty of Hungary was sentenced for treason.

1963 - Travel, financial and commercial transactions by United States citizens to Cuba were made illegal by the Kennedy administration.

1968 - American civil rights movement: A civil rights protest staged at a white-only bowling alley in Orangeburg, South Carolina was broken-up by highway patrolmen. It led to the deaths of three college students and is now often referred to as “The Orangeburg Massacre.

1969 - The last weekly issue of the “Saturday Evening Post” hit magazine stands.

1971 - A new stock market index called “The Nasdaq” debuted.

1974 - After 84 days in space, the crew of the temporary American space station “Skylab” returned to Earth.

1974 – A military coup took place in Upper Volta.

1978 - Proceedings of the United States Senate were broadcast on radio for the first time.

1979 - Denis Sassou-Nguesso became the president of “The People’s Republic of the Congo” for the first time.

1984 – The Winter Olympics opened in Sarajevo.

1985 - After 6-1/2 years, the television series “The Dukes of Hazzard” went off the air. (Thank the Almighty!)

1989 - An Independent Air Boeing 707 crashed into Santa Maria mountain in the Azores Islands off the coast of Portugal killing 144.

1993 - General Motors sued NBC after “Dateline NBC” allegedly rigged two crashes showing that some GM pickups can easily catch fire if hit in certain places. NBC settled the lawsuit the next day.

1996 - The U.S. Congress passed “The Communications Decency Act”.

2001 – “Disney's California Adventure”, the Disneyland Resort's second park in its 46-year history, opened.

2002 – The opening ceremony of the Salt Lake City Winter Olympic Games took place.

This post has been edited at member's request.Ron,

February 9th


474 - Zeno was crowned as co-emperor of the Byzantine Empire.

1621 - Gregory XV became Pope, the last Pope elected by acclamation.

1775 - American Revolutionary War: English Parliament declared Massachusetts in rebellion. (Very observant there, old chaps! What was your first hint?)

1825 - After no presidential candidate received a majority of electoral votes, the United States House of Representatives elected John Quincy Adams President of the United States.

1861 – Prelude to the American Civil War: Jefferson Davis was elected the Provisional President of “The Confederate States of America” by the Confederate convention at Montgomery, Alabama.

1885 - The first Japanese arrived in Hawaii.

1889 - The “United States Department of Agriculture” (USDA) was established as a Cabinet-level agency.

1895 - William G. Morgan invented volleyball.

1900 – The “Davis Cup” competition was established.

1922 - Brazil became a member of the “Berne Convention” copyright treaty. (SOMEBODY must find this treaty overly important!)

1942 - World War II: Top United States military leaders held their first formal meeting to discuss American military strategy in the war.

1942 - Daylight-saving time went into effect in the United States.

1943 - World War II, “Battle of Guadalcanal”: After forcing the remaining Japanese to be evacuated the night before, American authorities declared Guadalcanal secure.

1950 - Red scare: Senator Joseph McCarthy accused the United States State Department of being awash with Communists.

1960 - Joanne Woodward received the first star on the “Hollywood Walk of Fame”.

1964 - The Beatles made their first appearance on “The Ed Sullivan Show”.

1965 - Vietnam War: The first United States combat troops were sent to South Vietnam.

1971 - The 6.4 on the Richter Scale “Sylmar Earthquake” hit the San Fernando Valley area of California.

1971 - Satchel Paige became the first Negro League player to be voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

1971 - Apollo program: “Apollo 14” returned to Earth after the third manned moon landing.

1975 - The “Soyuz 17” Soviet spacecraft returned to Earth.

1991 - Voters in Lithuania voted for independence.

1981 – Died this day: Bill Haley, pioneer rock and roll musician ("Bill Haley and the Comets"), aged 55.

1994 – Yet another in a long list of similar schemes, the so called “Vance-Owen Peace Plan” for Bosnia and Herzegovina is announced. It failed within days.

1996 - The Irish Republican Army declared the end of its 18 month ceasefire.

1997 - The Simpsons surpassed “The Flintstones” as the longest-running prime-time animated series.

2001 – The American submarine USS Greeneville accidentally struck and sank “Ehime-Maru” the Japanese training vessel operated by the Uwajima Fishery High School.

2004 - Mozilla Firefox: Browser was renamed from “Firebird” to “Firefox”.

February 10th



1258 - Mongols overrun Baghdad, burning it to the ground and killing 10,000 citizens.

1635 - The “Académie française” in Paris is expanded to become a national academy for the artistic elite.

1763 - French and Indian War: The “1763 Treaty of Paris” ends the war and France cedes Canada to Great Britain.

1814 – “Battle of Champaubert” occurs.

1840 - Queen Victoria of Great Britain marries Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha.

1846 - Many Mormons begin their migration west from Nauvoo, Illinois.

1863 - The world-famous dwarfs General Tom Thumb and Lavinia Warren get married in New York City.

1863 - Alanson Crane patents the fire extinguisher.

1870 - Anaheim, California is incorporated.

1870 - The YWCA is founded in New York City.

1920 - Jozef Haller de Hallenburg performs a symbolic “engagement of Poland with the sea”, celebrating restitution of Polish access to open sea.

1931 - New Delhi becomes the capital of India.

1933 - The New York City-based Postal Telegraph Company introduces the first “singing telegram”.

1933 - In round 13 of a boxing match at New York City's Madison Square Garden, Primo Carnera knocks out Ernie Schaaf, killing him.

1947 - Italy cedes most of Venezia Giulia to Yugoslavia.

1949 – “Death of a Salesman” opens at the Morocco Theatre in New York City.

1954 - President Dwight Eisenhower warns against United States intervention in Vietnam.

1962 - Captured American spy pilot Francis Gary Powers is exchanged for captured Soviet spy Rudolf Abel.

1967 - The 25th Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified.

1981 - A fire at the Las Vegas Hilton hotel-casino kills eight and injures 198.

1982 – “Das Boot” opens in United States theaters.

1989 - Ron Brown is elected chairman of the Democratic National Committee becoming the first black to lead a major American political party.

1990 - South African President F.W. de Klerk announces that Nelson Mandela would be released the next day.

1992 - In Indianapolis, Indiana boxer Mike Tyson is convicted of raping a Miss Black American contestant named Desiree Washington.

1996 – “Deep Blue” defeats Garry Kasparov for the first time.

1997 - The United States Army suspends Sgt. Major Gene McKinney, its top-ranking enlisted soldier, after hearing allegations of sexual misconduct.

1998 - A college dropout becomes the first person to be convicted of a hate crime committed in cyberspace.

1998 - Voters in Maine repeal a gay rights law passed in 1997 becoming the first U.S. state to abandon such a law.

1999 - Avalanches in the French Alps near Geneva kill at least 10.

February 11th



660 BC - Traditional founding date of Japan by Emperor Jimmu Tenno.

731 - Gregory II ends his reign as Pope.

824 - Paschal I ends his reign as Pope.

1531 - Henry VIII of England is recognized as supreme head of the Church of England.

1543 - Battle of Wayna Daga - Ethiopian/Portuguese troops defeat a Muslim army.

1752 - Pennsylvania Hospital, the first hospital in the United States, opens.

1790 - Society of Friends petitions U.S. Congress for abolition of slavery.

1794 – The first session of United States Senate open to the public.

1808 - Anthracite coal is first burned as fuel, experimentally.

1809 - Robert Fulton patents the steamboat

1810 - Napoléon marries Marie-Louise of Austria.

1812 - Massachusetts governor Elbridge Gerry gerrymanders for the first time.

1814 - Norway's independence is proclaimed, marking the ultimate end of the Kalmar Union

1826 - University College London is founded under the name “University of London”.

1837 - American Physiological Society organizes in Boston, Massachusetts.

1840 - Gaetano Donizetti's opera “La Fille du Régiment” receives its first performance in Paris.

1843 - Giuseppe Verdi's opera “I Lombardi” receives its first performance in Milan.

1858 - The Blessed Virgin Mary reputedly appears to Saint Bernadette Soubirous of Lourdes.

1861 – Prelude to the American Civil War: The United States House of Representatives unanimously passes a resolution guaranteeing noninterference with slavery in any state.

1873 - King Amadeus I of Spain abdicates.

1889 - Meiji constitution of Japan adopted; The first Diet of Japan convened in 1890

1902 - Police beat up universal suffrage demonstrators in Brussels.

1903 - Anton Bruckner's “9th Symphony” receives its first performance in Vienna.

1905 - Pope Pius X publishes the encyclical “Vehementer nos”.

1916 - Emma Goldman is arrested for lecturing on birth control.

1919 - Friedrich Ebert (SPD), is elected President of Germany.

1928 - The Winter Olympic Games open in St. Moritz, Switzerland

1929 - Italy and the Vatican sign the “Lateran Treaty”.

1937 - A sit-down strike ends when General Motors recognizes the United Automobile Workers Union.

1938 - BBC Television produces the world's first ever science fiction television program, an adaptation of a section of the Karel Capek play “R.U.R”. This play coined the term 'robot.'

1941 - First Gold record presented to Glenn Miller for "Chattanooga Choo Choo".

1943 - General Dwight Eisenhower is selected to command the allied armies in Europe.

1945 – The Yalta Conference ends.

1948 - John Costello succeeds Éamon de Valera as Taoiseach of Ireland.

1953 - President Dwight Eisenhower refuses clemency appeal for Ethel and Julius Rosenberg.

1953 - The Soviet Union breaks off diplomatic relations with Israel.

1961 – The trial of Adolf Eichmann begins in Jerusalem.

1963 - The Beatles tape 10 tracks for their first album, including "Please, Please Me".

1964 - At the Washington, DC Coliseum, The Beatles have their 1st live appearance in the United States.

1964 - Greeks and Turks begin fighting in Limassol, Cyprus.

1964 - The Republic of China (Taiwan) breaks off diplomatic relations with France.

1968 – The Israeli-Jordanian border clashes take place.

1968 - Madison Square Garden III closes and Madison Square Garden IV opens in New York City

1971 - US, Britain, USSR and others sign “The Seabed Treaty” outlawing nuclear weapons in international waters.

1973 - Vietnam War: The first release of American prisoners of war from Vietnam takes place.

1978 - Censorship: China lifts the ban on works by Aristotle, Shakespeare and Dickens.

1979 - Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini seizes power in Iran.

1981 - 100,000 gallons (380 m³) of radioactive coolant leak into the containment building of TVA Sequoyah 1 nuclear plant in Tennessee, contaminating 8 workers

1986 - Rights activist Anatoly Sharansky is released by the USSR, he leaves the country.

1987 – The Philippines constitution goes into effect.

1990 - James "Buster" Douglas KOs Mike Tyson to win the heavyweight boxing crown.

1990 – After 27 years Nelson Mandela is freed from Victor Verster prison outside Cape Town, South Africa.

1991 - UNPO, the “Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization”, forms in The Hague, Netherlands.

1999 - Pluto, a planet with an irregular orbit, changes from the eighth to ninth planet furthest from the sun. It had been the eighth furthest since 1979.

February 12th


1354 – The “Treaty of Stralsund” settled border disputes between the duchies of Mecklenburg and Pomerania.

1541 - Santiago, Chile is founded by Pedro de Valdivia.

1554 - A year after claiming the throne of England for nine days, Lady Jane Grey is beheaded for treason.

1689 - The “Convention Parliament” convened and declared that the flight to France in 1688 by James II, the last Catholic British monarch, had constituted an abdication.

1719 - The “Onderlinge van 1719 u.a”., the oldest still existing life insurance company is founded in the Netherlands.

1733 - Englishman James Oglethorpe founds the 13th and final American colony of Georgia, and its first city at Savannah.

1737 - The “San Carlo”, the oldest working opera house in Europe, is inaugurated.

1771 - Gustav III became the King of Sweden when his father Adolf Frederick "ate himself to death".

1817 – The Chilean patriotic army, after crossing the Andes, defeat Spanish troops at the “Battle of Chacabuco”.

1818 - Bernardo O'Higgins signs the Independence of Chile near Concepcion, Chile.

1825 - The Creek cede the last of their lands in Georgia to the United States government, and migrate west.

1832 - Ecuador annexes the Galapagos Islands.

1870 - Women gain the right to vote in Utah Territory.

1879 - At New York City's Madison Square Garden the first artificial ice rink in North America opens.

1892 - Former President Abraham Lincoln's birthday is declared a national holiday in the United States.

1909 - The “National Association for the Advancement of Colored People” (NAACP) is founded.

1912 - Xuantong Emperor of the “Manchu Qing dynasty”, the last Emperor of China, abdicated.

1912 - China adopts the Gregorian calendar.

1915 - In Washington, DC the first stone of the Lincoln Memorial is put into place.

1924 - Calvin Coolidge becomes the first President of the United States to deliver a political speech on radio.

1934 - The “Export-Import Bank” is incorporated.

1938 – “Anschluss”. German troops enter Austria.

1946 – “Operation Deadlight” ended after scuttling 121 of 154 captured U-boats.

1951 - Soraya Esfandiary Bakhtiari marries the Shah of Iran Reza Pahlavi at Golestan Palace in Teheran at age of 17.

1973 - Ohio becomes the first U.S. state to post distance in “SI” units on signs.

1973 - Vietnam War: The first American prisoners of war are released by the Viet Cong.

1994 - Winter Olympics open in Lillehammer, Norway.

1998 - The presidential “line-item veto” is declared unconstitutional by a United States federal judge.

1999 - President Bill Clinton is acquitted by the United States Senate in his impeachment trial.

2001 - NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft touchdown in the "saddle" region of 433 Eros becoming the first spacecraft to land on an asteroid.

2002 - The trial of former President of Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Slobodan Milosevic begins at the United Nations war crimes tribunal in The Hague.

2002 - Nuclear waste: US Secretary of Energy makes the decision that Yucca Mountain is suitable to be the United States' nuclear repository.

2002 - An Iran Air Tours (subsidiary of Iran Air) Tupolev Tu-154 crashes prior to landing in Khorramabad, Iran, killing 119

2004 - Mayor Gavin Newsom of San Francisco, California, on “National Freedom to Marry Day”, ordered his county clerk to revise marriage licenses to allow gay and lesbian couples to legally wed.

2004 - Mattel Inc. spokespeople announced the split of Barbara Millicent Roberts and Ken Carson after 43 years of dating.

February 13th



1130 - Innocent II is voted Pope.

1542 - Catherine Howard, the fifth wife of Henry VIII of England, is executed for adultery.

1633 - Galileo Galilei arrives in Rome for his trial before the Inquisition.

1668 - Spain recognizes Portugal as an independent nation.

1689 - William and Mary are proclaimed co-rulers of England.

1692 – “Massacre of Glencoe”: About 78 Macdonalds at Glen Coe, Scotland were killed early in the morning for not promptly pledging allegiance to the new king, William of Orange.

1866 - Jesse James robs his first bank.

1880 - Thomas Edison observed the “Edison effect”.

1881 - The feminist newspaper “La Citoyenne” was first published in Paris by activist Hubertine Auclert.

1894 - Auguste and Louis Lumière patent the “Cinematographe”, a combination movie camera and projector.

1914 - In New York City the ASCAP (for American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers) is established to protect the copyrighted musical compositions of its members.

1920 - The “Negro National League” is formed.

1934 - The Soviet steamship “Cheliuskin” sank in the Arctic Ocean.

1935 - A jury in Flemington, New Jersey finds Bruno Hauptmann guilty of the 1932 kidnapping and murder of the Lindbergh baby, the son of Charles Lindbergh.

1937 - In China, 658 people died in the Antoung Movie Theater Fire.

1945 - World War II: Soviet Union forces capture Budapest, Hungary from the Nazis.

1945 - World War II: The RAF and the USAAF begin bombing the city of Dresden, Germany. Three days later more than 60,000 German civilians were dead and the world’s largest city of Teutonic and medieval architecture lay in ruins.

1955 - Israel obtains 4 of the 7 “Dead Sea scrolls”.

1960 - Nuclear testing: France tests its first atomic bomb.

1971 - Vietnam War: Backed by American air and artillery support, South Vietnamese troops invade Laos.

1974 - Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, winner of the Nobel Prize in literature in 1970, was exiled from the Soviet Union because of his book “The Gulag Archipelago”.

1978 - Hilton bombing: A bomb exploded in a garbage truck outside the Hilton Hotel in Sydney, Australia, killing two garbagemen and a policeman.

1979 - The intense “February 13th Windstorm” strikes western Washington and sinks a 1/2-mile-long section of the Hood Canal Bridge

1984 - Konstantin Chernenko succeeds the late Yuri Andropov as general secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.

1988 - Winter Olympic Games open in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

1990 - German reunification: An agreement is reached for a two-stage plan to reunite Germany.

1991 - Gulf War: Two laser-guided "smart bombs" destroy an underground bunker in Baghdad killing hundreds of Iraqis civilians.

1996 - The “Nepalese People's War” began.

1997 - Tune-up and repair work on the Hubble Space Telescope is started by astronauts from the Space Shuttle “Discovery”.

2000 - The last original “Peanuts” comic strip appears in newspapers a day after Charles M. Schulz died.

2001 - An earthquake measuring 6.6 on the Richter Scale hits El Salvador, killing at least 400.

2002 - Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom gives former New York City mayor Rudolph Giuliani an honorary knighthood.

2004 - Travis Metcalfe from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics discovers the universe's largest known diamond, white dwarf star “BPM 37093”.

This post has been edited at member's request.Ron,

February 14th


1014 - Pope Boniface I recognizes Henry of Bavaria as King of Germany. (Hey! I know you!)

1076 - Pope Gregory VII excommunicates Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor.

1556 - Thomas Cranmer is declared a heretic.

1743 - Henry Pelham becomes British Prime Minister.

1779 - James Cook is killed by the natives of the Sandwich Islands. (The first tourist to be murdered in Hawaii.)

1797 - John Jervis, 1st Earl of St Vincent and Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson led the British Royal Navy to victory over a Spanish fleet in the Battle of Cape St. Vincent near Gibraltar.

1803 - Chief Justice John Marshall declares that any act of U.S. Congress which conflicts with the Constitution is void.

1804 - Karadjordje led the First Serbian Uprising against the Ottoman Empire.

1849 - In New York City, James Knox Polk becomes the first President of the United States to have his photograph taken.

1854 - Texas is linked by telegraph with the rest of the United States, when connections between New
Orleans and Marshall, Texas are completed.

1859 - Oregon is admitted as the 33rd U.S. state.

1876 - Alexander Graham Bell applied for a patent for the telephone. So did Elisha Gray.

1879 - The War of the Pacific broke out when Chilean armed forces occupied the Bolivian port city of Antofagasta.

1895 - First showing of Oscar Wilde's last play The Importance of Being Earnest (St James's Theatre in London).

1899 - Voting machines are approved by the U.S. Congress for use in federal elections.

1900 - Russia responds to international pressure to free Finland by tightening imperial control over the country.

1900 - Boer War: In South Africa, 20,000 British troops invade the Orange Free State.

1903 - The United States Department of Commerce and Labor is established. It is later split into Dept. of Commerce and Dept. of Labor.

1912 - Arizona is admitted as the 48th U.S. state.

1912 - In Groton, Connecticut, the first diesel-powered submarine is commissioned.

1918 - The movie Tarzan of the Apes is released.

1918 - The Soviet Union adopts the Gregorian calendar (1 February according to the Julian calendar).

1920 - The League of Women Voters is founded in Chicago, Illinois.

1924 - IBM corporation founded.

1929 - St. Valentine's Day Massacre: Seven rival gangsters of Al Capone are murdered in Chicago, Illinois.

1943 - World War II:Rostov, Russia is liberated.

1943 - World War II: The Battle of the Kasserine Pass - German General Erwin Rommel and his Afrika Korps launch an offensive against Allied defenses in Tunisia.

1944 - World War II: Anti-Japanese revolt on Java.

1945 - Bombing of Dresden in World War II: The British Royal Air Force and the United States Army Air Force continue to fire-bomb Dresden, the capital of the German state of Saxony for a second straight day.

1945 - Chile, Ecuador, Paraguay and Peru join the United Nations.

1945 - President Franklin Roosevelt meets with King Ibn Saud of Saudi Arabia aboard the USS Quincy, officially starting the US-Saudi diplomatic relationship.

1946 - The Bank of England is nationalized.

1946 - ENIAC (for "Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer"), the first general-purpose electronic computer, is unveiled at the University of Pennsylvania.

1949 - The Israeli Knesset first convenes.

1952 - Winter Olympic Games open in Oslo, Norway.

1961 - Discovery of the chemical elements: Element 103, Lawrencium, is first synthesized (Berkeley, California).

1962 - First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy takes television viewers on a tour of the White House.

1966 - Australian currency is decimalized.

1979 - In Kabul, Muslim extremists kidnap the American ambassador to Afghanistan, Adolph Dubs who is later killed during a gunfight between his kidnappers and police.

1980 - Winter Olympic Games open in Lake Placid, New York.

1980 - Walter Cronkite announces his retirement from CBS Evening News.

1985 - CNN reporter Jeremy Levin is freed from captivity in Lebanon.

1989 - Union Carbide agrees to pay USD $470 million to the Indian government for damages it caused in the 1984 Bhopal Disaster.

1989 - Iranian leader Ruhollah Khomeini issues a fatwa encouraging Muslims to kill the author of The Satanic Verses, Salman Rushdie.

1989 - The first of 24 satellites of the Global Positioning System is placed into orbit.

1998 - Authorities in the United States announce that Eric Robert Rudolph is a suspect in an Alabama abortion clinic bombing.

2000 - The spacecraft NEAR Shoemaker entered orbit around asteroid 433 Eros, the first spacecraft to orbit an asteroid.

2004 - In a suburb of Moscow, Russia, the roof of the Transvaal water park collapses, killing more than 25 people, and wounding more than 100 others.

This post has been edited at member's request.Ron,

February 15th



1637 - Ferdinand III becomes Holy Roman Emperor.

1764 - The American city of St. Louis is established.

1805 – The Harmony Society is officially formed.

1852 - Great Ormond St. Hospital for Sick Children, London, admits its first patient.

1862 - American Civil War: Union forces under General Ulysses S. Grant attack Fort Donelson, Tennessee.

1879 - Women's rights: American President Rutherford B. Hayes signs a bill allowing female attorneys to argue cases before the Supreme Court of the United States.

1898 - Spanish-American War: The USS Maine explodes and sinks in Havana Harbor, Cuba for then unknown reasons killing more than 260. This event led the United States to declare war on Spain.

1903 - Morris Michtom and his wife Rose introduce the first teddy bear in America.

1906 - The British Labour Party is organized.

1933 - In Miami, Florida, Giuseppe Zangara attempts to assassinate President-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt, but instead shoots Chicago, Illinois Mayor Anton J. Cermak, who dies of his wounds on March 6, 1933.

1942 - World War II: Singapore surrendered to Japanese forces. About 130,000 Indian, Australian and British troops became prisoners of war. The fall of Singapore was the largest surrender of British military personnel in history.

1944 - World War II: Assault on Monte Cassino, Italy begins.

1950 - The Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China sign a mutual defense treaty.

1953 - 17-year-old Tenley Albright becomes the first American to win the world figure skating championship.

1961 - A Boeing 707 crashes in Belgium killing 73, including the entire United States figure skating team and several coaches.

1965 - A new red and white maple leaf design is adopted as the flag of Canada replacing the old Canadian Red Ensign banner.

1970 - A Dominican DC-9 crashes into the sea during takeoff from Santo Domingo killing 102

1971 - Decimalization of British coinage is completed on Decimal Day.

1980 - Television One and Television Two (formerly South Pacific Television) under the newly formed Television New Zealand goes to air for the first time.

1982 - The drilling rig Ocean Ranger sinks during a storm off the coast of Newfoundland, killing 84 rig workers.

1989 - Soviet Union invasion of Afghanistan: The Soviet Union officially announces that all of its troops had left Afghanistan.

1991 - The Visegrád Agreement, establishing cooperation to move toward free-market systems, is signed by the leaders of Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Poland.

1995 - Hacking: Kevin Mitnick is arrested by the FBI and charged with breaking into some of the United States' most "secure" computer systems.

1999 - Abdullah Öcalan, leader of the terrorist organization Kurdistan Workers Party, was arrested in Kenya by Turkish agents.

2000 - Indian Point II nuclear power plant in New York vents a small amount of radioactive steam when a steam generator failed.

2002 - At the Tri-State Crematory in La Fayette, Georgia, investigators find that bodies that were supposed to have been cremated were in fact disposed of in the woods and buildings on the crematorium's property. The discovery reveals one of the worst incidents of abuse in the funeral service industry.

2003 - Global protests against war on Iraq occur in over 600 cities worldwide. Estimates from 10,000,000-15,000,000 make this the largest day of protest in history.

2004 - John Daly the PGA golfer, won his first PGA TOUR event in 9 years by winning the Buick Invitational golf tournament on the first hole of a playoff in San Diego, California.

February 16th



1249 - Andrew of Longjumeau was dispatched by Louis IX of France as his ambassador to meet with the Khan of the Mongols.

1279 - Afonso III of Portugal dies. His son Denis succeeds the Portuguese throne.

1742 - Spencer Compton, Earl of Wilmington, becomes British Prime Minister.

1804 - First Barbary War: Stephen Decatur leads a raid to burn the pirate-held frigate Philadelphia.

1838 - Weenen Massacre: Hundreds of Voortrekkers along the Blaukraans River, Natal were killed by Zulus.

1852 - Studebaker Brothers wagon company, precursor of the automobile manufacturer, is established.

1857 - The National Deaf Mute College (later renamed Gallaudet University) is established. in Washington, DC becoming the first school for the advanced education of the deaf.

1862 - American Civil War: General Ulysses S. Grant captures Fort Donelson, Tennessee.

1866 - Spencer Compton Cavendish, Marquess of Hartington becomes the British Secretary of State for War

1868 - In New York City the Jolly Gorks organization is renamed the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks (BPOE).

1883 - Ladies Home Journal is published for the first time.

1899 - President Félix Faure of France dies in office.

1918 - Lithuania declares its independence from both Russia and Germany.

1923 - Howard Carter unseals the burial chamber of Pharaoh Tutankhamun.

1936 - Elections bring the Popular Front to power in Spain.

1937 - Wallace H. Carothers receives a patent for nylon.

1940 - Altmark Incident: The German tanker Altmark, with 299 British prisoners, was boarded in neutral Norwegian waters by sailors from the British destroyer HMS Cossack and the prisoners set free, a breach of Norwegian neutrality at the beginning of World War II.

1943 - World War II: Russia reconquers Kharkov.

1945 - World War II: American forces land on Corregidor island in the Philippines.

1959 - Fidel Castro becomes Premier of Cuba after President Fulgencio Batista was overthrown on January 1.

1961 – NASA’s Explorer 9 is launched.

1968 - In Haleyville, Alabama the first 9-1-1 emergency telephone system goes into service.

1970 - Joe Frazier starts a heavyweight world boxing champion winning streak with the knock out of Jimmy Ellis in five rounds.

1972 - NBA basketball player Wilt Chamberlain scores 30,000th point.

1978 - The first computer bulletin board system is created (CBBS in Chicago, Illinois).

1983 - The Ash Wednesday bushfires in Victoria and South Australia claim the lives of 71 people in Australia's worst ever fires.

1986 - The Soviet liner Mikhail Lermontov runs aground in the Marlborough Sounds, New Zealand.

1987 - The trial of John Demjanjuk, who was accused of being a Nazi guard dubbed "Ivan the Terrible" in Treblinka extermination camp, starts in Jerusalem.

1989 - Pan Am flight 103: Investigators announce that the cause of the crash was a bomb hidden inside a radio-cassette player.

1991 - Gulf War: American and British warplanes bomb the suburbs of Baghdad, injuring at least 11 civilians and killing three others.

1998 - A China Airlines Airbus A300-622R crashes on approach to airport, Taipei, Taiwan killing 203 including 6 on the ground

1999 - In Uzbekistan a bomb explodes and gunfire is heard at the government headquarters in an apparent assassination attempt against President Islam Karimov.

1999 - Across Europe, Kurdish rebels take over embassies and hold hostages after Turkey arrested one of their rebel leaders, Abdullah Öcalan.

1999 - In Jasper, Texas, the trial begins of John William King who is accused of dragging a black man, James Byrd Jr., to death in an apparent hate crime.

February 17th



197 - Battle of Lugdunum, Roman Emperor Septimius Severus defeats his rival Clodius Albinus, securing full control over the Roman Empire.

1500 - Battle of Hemmingstedt takes place.

1621 - Miles Standish is appointed as the first commander of Plymouth colony.

1753 - February 17 is followed by March 1 as Sweden moves to the Gregorian from the Julian calendar.

1801 - An electoral tie between Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr is resolved when Jefferson is elected President of the United States and Burr Vice President by the United States House of Representatives.

1814 - Battle of Mormans took place.

1819 - The United States House of Representatives passes the Missouri Compromise.

1854 - The British recognize the independence of the Orange Free State.

1865 - American Civil War: Columbia, South Carolina burns as Confederate forces flee from advancing Union troops.

1867 - The first ship passes through the Suez Canal.

1895 – “Swan Lake”, one of the most famous and critically-acclaimed ballets, with music by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, was first performed at full length in Saint Petersburg, Russia.

1913 - The Armory Show opens in New York City. It displays works of artists who are to become some of the most influential painters of the early 20th century.

1924 - In Miami, Florida, Johnny Weissmuller sets a new world record in the 100-yard freestyle swimming competition with a time of 52-2/5 seconds.

1933 - The magazine Newsweek is published for the first time.

1933 - The Blaine Act ends Prohibition in the United States.

1944 - World War II: Battle of Eniwetok Atoll begins. The battle ended in an American victory on February 22.

1947 - Propaganda: The Voice of America begins to transmit radio broadcasts into the Soviet Union.

1955 - Christian Pineau becomes Prime Minister of France

1958 - Pope Pius XII declares Saint Clare of Assisi (1193~1253) the patron saint of television. (Isn’t that a damnation of sorts?)

1959 - The first weather satellite, Vanguard 2, was launched to measure cloud-cover distribution.

1964 - In Wesberry v. Sanders the Supreme Court of the United States rules that congressional districts have to be approximately equal in population.

1968 - In Springfield, Massachusetts the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame opens.

1972 - Sales of the Volkswagen Beetle model exceed those of Ford’s Model-T (15 million).

1974 - Robert Preston, a disgruntled U.S. Army private, buzzes the White House with a stolen helicopter.

1979 - The Sino-Vietnamese War began.

1995 - Colin Ferguson is convicted of six counts of murder for the December 1993 Long Island Rail Road shootings and later receives a 200+ year sentence. (Finally, some justice.)

1995 - The Cenepa War between Peru and Ecuador ended on a cease-fire brokered by the UN.

1996 - In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, world champion Garry Kasparov beats IBM’s “Deep Blue” supercomputer in a chess match.

I will try for the 4th and last time to post this without computer generated hyroglyphics...


February 18th



3102 BC - Epoch (origin) of the Kali Yuga.

1478 - George, Duke of Clarence, convicted of treason against his older brother Edward IV of England, is privately executed in the Tower of London.

1685 - Fort St. Louis is established by a Frenchman at Matagorda Bay thus forming the basis for France's claim to Texas.

1814 - Battle of Montereau takes place.

1841 - The first ongoing filibuster in the United States Senate begins and lasts until March 11.

1856 - The American Party (Know-Nothings) convene in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to nominate their first Presidential candidate, former President (Millard Fillmore).

1861 - In Montgomery, Alabama Jefferson Davis is inaugurated as the first and only President of the Confederate States of America.

1861 - With the Italian unification almost complete King Victor Emmanuel II of Piedmont, Savoy and Sardinia assumes the title of King of Italy.

1865 - In the U.S., Delaware voters reject the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and vote to continue the practice of slavery. (Delaware finally ratified the amendment on February 12, 1901.)

1878 - William Bonny, aka Billy the Kid, blazes onto the pages of history as the “Lincoln County Range War” begins in Lincoln County, New Mexico.

1885 - Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is published for the first time.

1911 - The first official flight with air mail took place in Allahabad, British India, when Henri Pequet, a 23-year-old pilot, delivered 6,500 letters to Naini, about 10 km away.

1913 - Raymond Poincare becomes President of France.

1929 - The first Academy Awards are announced.

1930 - While studying photographs taken in January, Clyde Tombaugh discovers Pluto.

1930 - Elm Farm Ollie becomes the first cow to fly in an airplane and also the first cow to be milked in an airplane. (Slow news day…)

1932 - The Empire of Japan declares Manzhouguo (obsolete Chinese name for Manchuria) independent from China.

1943 - The Nazis arrest the members of the White Rose movement.

1943 - Joseph Goebbels delivered the “Sportpalast” speech

1948 - Eamon de Valera resigns as Taoiseach of Ireland.

1953 - The first 3D film, “Bwana Devil” opens.

1953 - Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz sign an $8,000,000 contract to continue the “I Love Lucy” television series through 1955.

1965 - The Gambia becomes independent from Great Britain.

1970 - The Chicago Eight are found not guilty of conspiring to incite riots at the 1968 Democratic Party national convention.

1972 - The California Supreme Court invalidates the state's death penalty and commutes the sentences of all death row inmates to life in prison.

1974 - The game show Tattletales debuts in the slot vacated by the long-running soap opera The Secret Storm.

1977 - The Space Shuttle Enterprise test vehicle goes on its maiden "flight" while sitting on top of a Boeing 747.

1977 - 694 people died due to a cinema fire that occurred in Xinjiang, China.

1983 - 13 people lose their lives and one is seriously injured in the Wah Mee Massacre in Seattle, Washington, said to be the largest robbery-motivated mass-murder in American history. (Jesse James would’ve been proud!)

1985 - The legendary "mirror globe" ident, first used in 1969, is seen for the last time in regular rotation on BBC1.

1998 - Two white separatists were arrested in Nevada and accused of plotting a biological attack on New York City subways. (Well there ya’ go, once you get past their white sheets and burning crosses they really are just nice, misunderstood people.)

2003 - Nearly 200 people die in the Daegu subway fire in South Korea.

2004 - Up to 295 people, including nearly 200 rescue workers, die near Neyshabur in Iran when a run-away freight train carrying sulfur, petrol and fertilizer catches fire and explodes.

This post has been edited at member's request.Ron,

February 19th


1800 - Napoleon Bonaparte established himself as first consul in France.

1803 - US Congress accepted Ohio's constitution, the statehood was not ratified till 1953.

1831 - The first practical US coal-burning locomotive made its first trial run, in Pennsylvania.

1846 - The Texas state government was formally installed in Austin.

1847 - Rescuers finally reach the ill-fated Donnor Party in the Sierras.

1856 - A tin-type camera was patented by Hamilton Smith, of Gambier, Ohio.

1864 - Died this day, William Edwin Baldwin, US Confederate Brigadier-General.

1878 - Thomas A. Edison received a patent for his talking machine (phonograph) device.

1881 - Kansas became the first state to prohibit all alcoholic beverages. Go figure!

1884 - Tornadoes in Mississippi, Alabama, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky and Indiana killed 800 people.

1902 - The smallpox vaccination became obligatory in France.

1906 - William K. Kellogg and Charles D. Bolin formed the Battle Creek Toasted Corn Flake Company in Battle Creek, Michigan, to make the breakfast cereal he created as a health food for US mental patients.

1910 - At a New York dinner party, 'Diamond Jim' Brady amazed his guests by eating five helpings of roast beef, gallons of stewed fruit, 84 oysters and three gallons of orange juice to wash it all down.

1915 - British and French warships began their attacks on the Turkish forts at the mouth of the Dardenelles, in an abortive expedition to force the straits of Gallipoli.

1917 - American troops were recalled from the Mexican border.

1925 - President Calvin Coolidge proposed the phasing out of inheritance tax.

1928 - The second Winter Olympic games closed in St Moritz, Switzerland.

1932 - William Faulkner completed his novel Light in August.

1934 - Bob and Dolores Hope were married.

1940 - Born this day, William 'Smokey' Robinson, in Detroit, Michigan, singer, songwriter, producer, The Miracles, 1970 UK and US No.1 single The Tears Of A Clown, solo, 1981 UK No.1 and US No.2 single Being With You, vice President of Motown Records in 1972.

1942 - The New York Yankees announced that 5,000 uniformed soldiers would be admitted free at each of their upcoming home games.

1943 - German tanks under Brigadier General Buelowius attacked the Kasserine Pass, Tunisia.

1944 - The US Eighth Air Force and Royal Air Force began 'Big Week', a series of heavy bomber attacks against German aircraft production facilities. The US 93rd Bomb Group saw action over Western Europe, North Africa, Italy and Rumania.

1944 - 823 British bombers attacked Berlin.

1945 - 900 Japanese soldiers were reportedly killed by crocodiles in 2 days.

1953 - Ted Williams safely crash-landed his damaged Panther jet.

1955 - Born this day, Jeff Daniels, in Chelsea, Michigan, actor (Something Wild, Dumb & Dumber, Speed).

1960 - Bil Keane's Family Circus cartoon strip debuted.

1962 - The US performed a nuclear test at the Nevada Test Site.

1963 - The USSR informed President John Kennedy, that it was withdrawing several thousand troops from Cuba.

1969 - A Boeing 747 jumbo jet took off for its first test flight.

1977 - The Shuttle Enterprise made a first test flight on top of a 747 jetliner.

1977 - Manfred Mann's Earth Band scored a No.1 single in the US with their version of the Bruce Springsteen song Blinded By The Light.

1985 - Canned and bottled Cherry Coke was introduced by Coca-Cola.

1987 - President Reagan lifted a trade boycott against Poland.

1994 - Fire bombs damaged six London stores, the IRA claimed responsibility.

1995 - Motley Crue drummer Tommy Lee married Baywatch's Pamela Anderson on a Cancun beach, the bride wore a white bikini.

1996 - The Howard Stern Radio Show premiered in York, Pennsylvania on WQXA 105.7 FM.

2002 - Around 300 people were killed when a train caught fire in Egypt.

February 20th


1673 - The first recorded wine auction took place in London.

1725 - The first known Indian scalping by white men was reported in the New Hampshire colony.

1792 - U.S. President George Washington signed the Postal Service Act thereby creating the U.S. Post Office.

1809 - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled the power of the federal government was greater than that of any individual state.

1839 - The U.S. Congress prohibited dueling in the District of Columbia.

1872 - Luther Crowell received a patent for a machine that manufactured paper bags.

1872 - The Metropolitan Museum of Art opened in New York City.

1872 - Silas Noble and J.P. Cooley patented the toothpick manufacturing machine.

1873 - The University of California got its first Medical School.

1901 - The first territorial legislature of Hawaii convened.

1921 - The motion picture "The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse" was released starring Rudolph Valentino.

1931 - The U.S. Congress allowed California to build the Oakland Bay Bridge.

1933 - The U.S. House of Representatives completed congressional action on the amendment to repeal Prohibition.

1944 - "Big Week" began as U.S. bombers began raiding German aircraft manufacturing centers during World War II.

1952 - Emmett L. Ashford became the first black umpire in organized baseball. He was authorized to be a substitute in the Southwestern International League.

1952 - "The African Queen" opened at the Capitol Theatre in New York City.

1958 - Racing jockey Eddie Arcaro got win number 4,000, as he rode the winner at Santa Anita race track in Southern California.

1962 - John Glenn made space history when he orbited the world three times in 4 hours, 55 minutes. He was the first American to orbit the Earth. He was aboard the Friendship 7 Mercury capsule.

1965 - Ranger 8 crashed on the moon after sending back thousands of pictures of its surface.

1987 - After 11 years, David Hartman left ABC’s "Good Morning America."

1987 - A bomb exploded in a computer store in Salt Lake City, UT. The blast was blamed on the Unabomber.

1993 - Two ten-year-old boys were charged by police in Liverpool, England, in the abduction and death of a toddler. The two boys were later convicted.

1998 - American Tara Lipinski, at age 15, became the youngest gold medalist in winter Olympics history when she won the ladies' figure skating title at Nagano, Japan.

2001 - FBI Agent Robert Phillip Hanssen was arrested and charged with spying for the Russians for 15 years.

2002 - In Reqa Al-Gharbiya, Egypt, a fire raced through a train killing at least 370 people and injuring at least 65.

February 21st


1804 - The first self-propelled locomotive on rails was demonstrated in Wales.

1842 - John J. Greenough patented the sewing machine.

1858 - The first electric burglar alame was installed in Boston, MA.

1866 - Lucy B. Hobbs became the first woman to graduate from a dental school. The school was the Ohio College of Dental Surgery in Cincinnati.

1874 - The Oakland Daily Tribune began publication.

1878 - The first telephone directories issued in the U.S. were distributed to residents in New Haven, CT.

1904 - The National Ski Association was formed in Ishpeming, MI.

1916 - During World War I, the Battle of Verdun began in France.

1925 - The first issue of "The New Yorker" was published.

1932 - William N. Goodwin patented the camera exposure meter.

1943 - "Free World Theatre" debuted on the Blue network (now ABC radio).

1945 - "The Lion and the Mouse" was first broadcast on "Brownstone Theatre."

1947 - Edwin Land demonstrated the Polaroid Land Camera to the Optical Society of America in New York City. It was the first camera to take, develop and print a picture on photo paper all in about 60 seconds. The photos were black and white. The camera went on sale the following year.

1950 - The first International Pancake Race was held in Liberal, Kansas.

1965 - Malcolm X was assassinated in New York City at the age of 39 by assassins identified as Black Muslims.

1968 - An agreement between baseball players and club owners increased the minimum salary for major league players to $10,000 a year.

1973 - Israeli fighter planes shot down a Libyan Airlines jet over the Sinai Desert. More than 100 people were killed.

1975 - Former U.S. Attorney General John N. Mitchell and former White House aides H.R. Haldeman and John D. Ehrlichman were sentenced to 2 1/2 to 8 years in prison for their roles in the Watergate cover-up.

1988 - In Baton Rouge, LA, TV evangelist Jimmy Swaggart confessed to his congregation that he was guilty of an unspecified sin. He announced that he was leaving the pulpit temporarily. Swaggart had been linked to an admitted prostitute.

1989 - U.S. President Bush called Ayatollah Khomeini's death warrant against "Satanic Verses" author Salman Rushdie "deeply offensive to the norms of civilized behavior."

1995 - Chicago stockbroker Steve Fossett became the first person to fly solo across the Pacific Ocean in a balloon. He landed in Leader, Saskatchewan, Canada.

1999 - India's Prime Minister Atal Bihair Vajpayee concluded two days of meeting with Pakistan's Prime Minister Mohammad Nowaz Sharif.

2000 - David Letterman returned to his Late Night show about five weeks after having an emergency quintuple heart bypass operation.

2003 - David Hasselhoff and his wife Pamela were injured in a motorcycle accident. The accident was caused by a strong gust of wind. Hasselhoff fractured his lower back and broke several ribs. His wife fractured her left ankle and right wrist.

February 22nd


1630 - Quadequine introduced popcorn to English colonists at their first Thanksgiving dinner.

1784 - "Empress of China", a U.S. merchant ship, left New York City for the Far East.

1819 - Spain ceded Florida to the United States.

1855 - The U.S. Congress voted to appropriate $200,000 for continuance of the work on the Washington Monument. The next morning the resolution was tabled and it would be 21 years before the Congress would vote on funds again. Work was continued by the Know-Nothing Party in charge of the project.

1859 - U.S. President Buchanan approved the Act of February 22, 1859, which incorporated the Washington National Monument Society "for the purpose of completing the erection now in progress of a great National Monument to the memory of Washington at the seat of the Federal Government."

1860 - Organized baseball’s first game was played in San Francisco, CA.

1865 - In the U.S., Tennessee adopted a new constitution that abolished slavery.

1879 - In Utica, NY, Frank W. Woolworth opened his first 5 and 10-cent store.

1885 - The Washington Monument was officially dedicated in Washington, DC. It opened to the public in 1889.

1889 - North and South Dakota, Montana and Washington were admitted to the Union with U.S. President Cleveland signed a bill.

1892 - "Lady Windermere's Fan", by Oscar Wilde, was first performed.

1920 - The first dog race track to use an imitation rabbit opened in Emeryville, CA.

1923 - The first successful chinchilla farm opened in Los Angeles, CA. It was the first farm of its kind in the U.S.

1924 - U.S. President Calvin Coolidge delivered the first presidential radio broadcast from the White House.

1954 - ABC radio’s popular "Breakfast Club" program was simulcast on TV for the first time.

1969 - Barbara Jo Rubin became the first woman to win a U.S. thoroughbred horse race.

1973 - The U.S. and Communist China agreed to establish liaison offices.

1984 - The U.S. Census Bureau statistics showed that the state of Alaska was the fastest growing state of the decade with an increase in population of 19.2 percent.

1994 - The U.S. Justice Department charged Aldrich Ames and his wife with selling national secrets to the Soviet Union. Ames was later convicted to life in prison. Ames' wife received a 5-year prison term.

1997 - Scottish scientist Ian Wilmut and colleagues announced that an adult sheep had been successfully cloned. Dolly, the first cloned sheep to be born was born in July 1996.

2002 - In the Philippines, An MH-47E Chinook helicopter crashed into the ocean. All 10 men aboard were killed.

February 23rd

1574 - France began the 5th holy war against the Huguenots.

1660 - Charles XI became the king of Sweden.

1792 - The Humane Society of Massachusetts was incorporated.

1813 - The first U.S. raw cotton-to-cloth mill was founded in Waltham, MA.

1820 - The Cato Street conspiracy was uncovered.

1821 - The Philadelphia College of Apothecaries established the first pharmacy college.

1822 - Boston was incorporated as a city.

1836 - In San Antonio, TX, the siege of the Alamo began.

1839 - In Boston, MA, William F. Harnden organized the first express service between Boston and New York City. It was the first express service in the U.S.

1847 - Santa Anna was defeated at the Battle of Buena Vista in Mexico by U.S. troops under Gen. Zachary.

1861 - U.S. President-elect Lincoln arrived secretly in Washington to take his office after an assassination attempt in Baltimore.

1861 - Texas became the 7th state to secede from the Union.

1870 - The state of Mississippi was readmitted to the Union.

1874 - Walter Winfield patented a game called "sphairistike." More widely known as lawn tennis.

1875 - J. Palisa discovered asteroid #143 (aka Adria).

1883 - Alabama became the first U.S. state to enact an antitrust law.

1886 - Charles M. Hall completed his invention of aluminum.

1887 - The French/Italian Riviera was hit by an earthquake that killed about 2,000.

1896 - The Tootsie Roll was introduced by Leo Hirshfield.

1898 - In France, Emile Zola was imprisoned for his letter, "J'accuse," which accused the government of anti-Semitism and wrongly jailing Alfred Dreyfus.

1900 - The Battle of Hart's Hill took place in South Africa between the Boers and the British army.

1904 - The U.S. acquired control of the Panama Canal Zone for $10 million.

1905 - The Rotary Club was founded in Chicago, IL, by Attorney Paul Harris and three others.

1910 - In Philadelphia, PA, the first radio contest was held.

1915 - Nevada began enforcing convenient divorce law.

1916 - The U.S. Congress authorizes the McKinley Memorial $1 gold coin.

1919 - The Fascist Party was formed in Italy by Benito Mussolini.

1927 - The Federal Radio Commission began assigning frequencies, hours of operation and power allocations for radio broadcasters. On July 1, 1934 the name was changed to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

1940 - Russian troops conquered Lasi Island.

1940 - Walt Disney's animated movie "Pinocchio" was released.

1945 - The 28th Regiment of the Fifth Marine Division of the U.S. Marines reached the top of Mount Surabachi. A photograph of these Marines raising the American flag was taken.

1954 - The first mass vaccination of children against polio began in Pittsburgh, PA.

1955 - The French government was formed by Edgar Faure.

1957 - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the NFL operations did fall within coverage of antitrust laws.

1958 - Juan Fangio, 5-time world diving champion, was kidnapped by Cuban rebels.

1963 - The 24th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified. It prohibited poll taxes in federal elections.

1966 - The Bitar government in Syria was ended with a military coup.

1967 - Jim Ryun set a record in the half-mile run when ran it in 1:48.3.

1968 - Wilt Chamberlain (Philadelphia 76ers) became the first player to score 25,000 career points in the NBA.

1970 - Guyana became a republic.

1974 - The Symbionese Liberation Army demanded $4 million more for the release of Patty Hearst. Hearst had been kidnapped on February 4th.

1980 - Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini declared that Iran's new parliament would have to decide the fate of the hostages taken on November 4, 1979, at the U.S. embassy in Tehran.

1985 - The TV show "Gimme a Break" was broadcast live before a studio audience. It was the first TV sitcom to be seen live since the 1950s.

1991 - During the Persian Gulf War, ground forces crossed the border of Saudi Arabia into the country of Iraq. Less than four days later the war was over due to the surrender or withdraw of Iraqi forces.

1993 - Gary Coleman won a $1,280,000 lawsuit against his parents.

1995 - The Dow Jones Industrial closed about 4,000 for the first time at 4,003.33.

1997 - It was announced by scientists in Scotland that they had succeeded in cloning an adult mammal. The animal was a lamb named "Dolly."

1997 - NBC-TV aired "Schindler's List." It was completely uncensored.

1997 - Ali Hassan Abu Kamal, a Palestinian teacher, opened fire on the 86th-floor observation deck of New York City's Empire State Building. He killed one person and wounded six more before killing himself.

1998 - In central Florida, tornadoes killed 42 people and damaged and/or destroyed about 2,600 homes and businesses.

1999 - In Ankara, Turkey, Abdullah Ocalan was charged with treason. The prosecutors were seeking the death penalty for the Kurdish rebel leader.

1999 - White supremacict John William King was found guilty of kidnapping and murdering James Byrd Jr. Byrd was dragged behind a truck for two miles on a country road in Texas.

2000 - Robby Knieval made a successful motorcycle jump of 200 feet over an oncoming train.

2005 - The New York, NY, city medical examiner's office annouced that it had exhausted all efforts to identify the remains of the people killed at the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, due to the limits of DNA technology. About 1,600 people had been identified leaving more than 1,100 unidentified.

February 24th

1803 - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled itself to be the final interpreter of all constitutional issues.

1821 - Mexico declared independence from Spain.

1835 - "Siwinowe Kesibwi" (The Shawnee Sun) was issued as the first Indian language monthly publication in the U.S.

1839 - Mr. William S. Otis received a patent for the steam shovel.

1848 - The Communist Manifesto was published.

1857 - The Los Angeles Vinyard Society was organized.

1857 - The first shipment of perforated postage stamps was received by the U.S. Government.

1863 - Arizona was organized as a territory.

1866 - In Washington, DC, an American flag made entirely of American bunting was displayed for the first time.

1868 - The first parade to use floats occurred in New Orleans at Mardi Gras.

1868 - The U.S. House of Representatives impeached President Andrew Johnson due to his attempt to dismiss Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton. The U.S. Senate later acquitted Johnson.

1886 - Thomas Edison and Mina Miller were married.

1900 - New York City Mayor Van Wyck signed the contract to begin work on New York's first rapid transit tunnel. The tunnel would link Manhattan and Brooklyn. The ground breaking ceremony was on March 24, 1900.

1903 - In Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, an area was leased to the U.S. for a naval base.

1924 - Johnny ‘Tarzan’ Weissmuller broke the world’s record in the 100-meter swimming event. He did it in 57 2/5 seconds.

1925 - A thermit was used for the first time. It was used to break up a 250,000-ton ice jam that had clogged the St. Lawrence River near Waddington, NY.

1938 - The first nylon bristle toothbrush was made. It was the first time that nylon yarn had been used commercially.

1942 - The U.S. Government stopped shipments of all 12-gauge shotguns for sporting use for the wartime effort.

1942 - The Voice of America (VOA) aired for the first time.

1945 - During World War II, the Philippine capital of Manilla, was liberated by U.S. soldiers.

1946 - Juan Peron was elected president of Argentina.

1956 - The city of Cleveland invoked a 1931 law that barred people under the age of 18 from dancing in public without an adult guardian.

1959- My older sister was born. Happy B-day Kimmy!

1980 - NBC premiered the TV movie "Harper Valley P.T.A."

1981 - Buckingham Palace announced the engagement of Britain's Prince Charles to Lady Diana Spencer.

1983 - The Dow Jones industrial average closed above the 1100 mark for the first time.

1983 - A U.S.congressional commission released a report that condemned the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II.

1987 - Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, of the Los Angeles Lakers, got his first three-point shot in the NBA.

1987 - An exploding supernova was discovered in the Large Magellanic Cloud galaxy.

1988 - The U.S. Supreme Court overturned a $200,000 award to Rev. Jerry Falwell that had been won against "Hustler" magazine. The ruling expanded legal protections for parody and satire.

1989 - Iran’s Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini sentenced Salman Rushdie to death for his novel "The Satanic Verses". A bounty of one to three-million-dollars was also put on Rushidie's head.

1989 - A United Airlines 747 jet rips open in flight killing 9 people. The flight was from Honolulu to New Zealand.

1992 - "Wayne's World" opened in U.S. theaters.

1992 - Tracy Gold began working on the set of "Growing Pains" again. She had left the show due to anorexia.

1994 - In Los Angeles, Garrett Morris was shot during a robbery attempt. He eventually recovered from his injury.

1997 - The U.S. The Food and Drug Administration named six brands of birth control as safe and effective "morning-after" pills for preventing pregnancy.

1997 - Dick Enberg received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

1999 - In southeast China, a domestic airliner crashed killing all 64 passengers.

February 25th

1570 - England's Queen Elizabeth I was excommunicated by Pope Pius V.

1751 - Edward Willet displayed the first trained monkey act in the U.S.

1793 - The department heads of the U.S. government met with U.S. President Washington for the first Cabinet meeting on U.S. record.

1836 - Samuel Colt received a patent for the Colt 45.

1901 - The United States Steel Corp. was incorporated by J.P. Morgan.

1913 - The 16th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified. It authorized a graduated income tax.

1919 - The state of Oregon became the first state to place a tax on gasoline. The tax was 1 cent per gallon.

1928 - The Federal Radio Commission issued the first U.S. television license to Charles Jenkins Laboratories in Washington, DC.

1930 - The bank check photographing device was patented.

1933 - The first aircraft carrier, Ranger, was launched.

1940 - The New York Rangers and the Montreal Canadiens played in the first hockey game to be televised in the U.S. The game was aired on W2WBS in New York with one camera in a fixed position. The Rangers beat the Canadiens 6-2.

1948 - Communists seized power in Czechoslovakia.

1950 - "Your Show of Shows" debuted on NBC.

1956 - Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev criticized the late Josef Stalin in a speech before a Communist Party congress in Moscow.

1972 - Germany gave a $5 million ransom to Arab terrorist who had hijacked a jumbo jet.

1986 - Phillippino President Ferdinand E. Marcos fled the Philippines after 20 years of rule after a tainted election.

1991 - During the Persian Gulf War, 28 Americans were killed when an Iraqi Scud missile hit a U.S. barracks in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia.

1999 - William King was sentenced to death for the racial murder of James Byrd Jr in Jasper, TX. Two other men charged were later convicted for thier involvement.

1999 - In Moscow, China's Prime Minister Zhu Rongji and Russia's President Boris Yeltsin discussed trade and other issues.

2000 - In Albany, NY, a jury acquitted four New York City police officers of second-degree murder and lesser charges in the February 1999 shooting death of Amadou Diallo.