History of 2nd February

506 - King Alarik II of Visigoten delegates Lex Romania Visigothorum out
962 - Pope John XII crowns German King Otto I the Great Emperor
1032 - Koenraad II succeeds Rudolf III as king of Bourgundy
1032 - Conrad II, Holy Roman Emperor becomes King of Burgundy.
1119 - Guido di Borgogna elected Pope Callistus II
1141 - Battle at Lincoln: King Stephen captured
1461 - 2nd battle of St Alban's-Lancastrian defeat Yorkists
1509 - The Battle of Diu takes place near Diu, India, between Portugal and Turkey.
1536 - Pedro de Mendoza finds Argentine city of Buenos Aires
1542 - Portuguese under Christovão da Gama capture a Moslem-occupied hillfort in northern Ethiopia in the Battle of Baçente.
1550 - English Edward Seymour duke of Somerset, freed
1633 - M Rossi's opera "Erminia sul Giordano," premieres in Rome
1637 - Zorilla's "El más Impropio Verdugo Para Las," premieres in Madrid
1653 - New Amsterdam becomes a city (later NYC)
1653 - New Amsterdam (later renamed The City of New York) is incorporated.
1709 - British sailor Alexander Selkirk is rescued after being marooned on a desert island for 5 years, his story inspires "Robinson Crusoe"
1714 - Nicholas Rowe's "tragedy of Jane Shore," premieres in London
1731 - Georg F Handel's opera "Poro," premieres in London
1732 - King Frederik Willem I moves Lutherans towards East-Prussia
1742 - British Walpole govt resigns
1762 - Thomas Arnes opera "Artaxerxes," premieres in London
1787 - Arthur St. Clair is elected the 9th President of the President of the Continental Congress under the Articles of Confederation.
1795 - Joseph Haydns 102nd Symphony in B, premieres
1798 - Federal St Theater, Boston, becomes 1st in US destroyed by fire
1802 - 1st leopard exhibited in US, Boston (admission 25 cents)
1811 - Russian settlers establish Ft Ross trading post, north of SF
1823 - Rossini's opera "Semiramide" premieres in Venice
1829 - Madman Jonathan Martin sets York Cathedral afire, does £60,000 damage
1843 - US & British settlers in Oregon Country choose govt committee
1848 - 1st ship load of Chinese arrive in SF
1848 - Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ends Mexican War; US acquires Texas California, New Mexico & Arizona for $15 million
1852 - 1st British public men's toilet opens (Fleet St London)
1852 - Alexandre Dumas Jr's "Le Dame aux Camélias," premieres in Paris
1854 - Pope Pius IX encyclical "On persecution of Armenians"
1863 - Samuel Clemens becomes Mark Twain for 1st time
1864 - -Oct 7th) Cruise of CSS Florida
1869 - James Oliver invents removable tempered steel plow blade
1870 - Cardiff Giant (supposed petrified human) proved to be gypsum
1870 - Mark Twain, 34, marries Olivia Langdon in Elmira, NY
1876 - Baseball's National League forms with teams in Boston, Chicago, Cincinnati, Hartford, Louisville, New York, Philadelphia, St Louis
1878 - Greece declares war on Turkey
1880 - SS Strathleven arrives in London with 1st Australian frozen mutton
1882 - Knights of Columbus forms in New Haven, Conn
1887 - In Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania the first Groundhog Day is observed.
1892 - Bottle cap with cork seal patented by William Painter (Baltimore)
1892 - Johnny Briggs takes a hat-trick, England v Aust SCG
1892 - Longest boxing match under modern rules; 77 rounds in Nameoki, Illinois between Harry Sharpe & Frank Crosby
1893 - 1st movie close-up (of a sneeze), Edison studio, West Orange, NJ
1894 - US warship Kearsarge wrecked on Roncador Reef, near Solomon Island
1899 - The Australian Premiers' Conference held in Melbourne decides to locate Australia's capital (Canberra) between Sydney and Melbourne.
1900 - Gustave Charpentiers opera "Louise" premieres in Paris
1901 - Female Army Nurse Corps established as a permanent organization
1901 - Queen Victoria's funeral takes place.
1904 - US blues singer Gertrude Pridgett marries comic William Rainey
1906 - Pope encyclical against separation of church & state
1909 - Italian writer Marinetti publishes Futurist Manifest in Paris
1912 - Frederick R Law, parachutes from Statue of Liberty (stunt for Pathe)
1913 - NY football Giants sign Jim Thorpe
1913 - NYC's Grand Central Terminal opens
1914 - James Royce Shannon's musical "Shameen Dhu," premieres in NYC
1919 - Monarchist riot in Portugal
1920 - Estonia declares its Independence from Russia (Dorpat Peace)
1920 - France occupies (German) Memel territory
1920 - Tarto/Dorpat peace treaty: USSR recognizes Estonian independence
1922 - It was 2:22:22 on 2/2/22
1922 - James Joyce's "Ulysses" published in Paris (1,000 copies)
1923 - Ethyl gasoline 1st marketed, Dayton, Ohio
1923 - US signs friendship treaty with Central American countries
1924 - International Ski Federation (FIS) forms
1925 - Belgian episcopacy rejects liberalism, communism & socialism
1925 - Dogsleds reach Nome with emergency diphtheria serum after 1000-km
1925 - NL holds Golden Jubilee Year meeting at same hotel where NL began
1926 - 3 men dance Charleston for 22 hours
1927 - Harry Tierney/Joseph McCarthy's "Rio Rita," premieres in NYC
1927 - Ziegfeld Theater (Loew's Ziegfeld) opens at 6th Ave & 54th St NYC
1931 - 1st siyyum of Talmud celebrated by Daf Yomi students
1931 - 1st use of a rocket to deliver mail (Austria)
1932 - Al Capone sent to prison (Atlanta, Georgia)
1932 - Geneva disarmament conference begins with 60 countries
1932 - Grimmett takes 14 wickets v South Africa (7-116 & 7-83)
1932 - Reconstruction Finance Corp organized
1933 - 2 days after becoming chancellor, Adolf Hitler dissolves Parliament
1933 - Goering bans communist meetings/demonstrations in Germany
1933 - Ucicky's "Rotten Morning," premieres in Berlin
1934 - Dutch RC Bishops warn against fascism/nazism
1935 - Lie detector 1st used in court (Portage Wisc)
1935 - Leonarde Keeler tests the first polygraph machine.
1940 - Frank Sinatra's singing debut in Indianapolis (Tommy Dorsey Orch)
1942 - LA Times urges security measures against Japanese-Americans
1942 - US auto factories switch from commercial to war production
1943 - Battle of Stalingrad ends with final surrender of the German army
1943 - Cubs return to original uniform after experimenting with a vest
1943 - German 6th Army surrenders at Stalingrad, turning point of WW II
1944 - 4th US marine division conquerors Roi, Marshall Islands
1944 - Allied troops 1st set foot on Japanese territory
1944 - Baseball meets in NYC to discuss postwar action
1944 - Edward Chodorov's "Decision," premieres in NYC
1945 - Escape attempt at Mauthausen concentration camp
1946 - "Nellie Bly" closes at Adelphi Theater NYC after 16 performances
1946 - The Proclamation of Hungarian Republic is made.

1948 - President Truman urges congress to adopt a civil rights program
1949 - 1st 45 RPM record released
1949 - Golfing champ Ben Hogan seriously injured in an auto accident
1950 - "Arms & the Girl" opens at 46th St Theater NYC for 134 performances
1950 - 1st broadcast of "What's My Line," on CBS-TV
1951 - -35°F (-37°C), Greensburg, Indiana (state record until 1994)
1951 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1954 - Bevo Francis, Rio Grande College, scores 113 pts in basketball game
1954 - Pres Eisenhower reports detonation of 1st H-bomb (done in 1952)
1954 - Snow falls on Gibraltar
1955 - 1st presidential news conference on network TV-Eisenhower on ABC
1956 - Coasters sign with Atlantic Records
1957 - "Candide" closes at Martin Beck Theater NYC after 73 performances
1957 - Liz Taylor's 3rd marriage (Mike Todd)
1957 - UN adopts a resolution calling for Israeli troops to leave Egypt
1958 - Fay Crocker wins LPGA Havana Biltmore Golf Open
1958 - Syria joins Egypt in United Arab Republic
1958 - WRIK (now WLUZ) TV channel 7 in Ponce, PR (PTC) begins broadcasting
1959 - Buddy Holly's last performance
1959 - Vince Lombardi signs a 5 year contract to coach Green Bay Packers
1960 - Michale Eufemia sinks 625 balls in pool match without a miss
1961 - Prince Bernhard opens new RAI building in Amsterdam
1962 - 1st pole vault over 16' (4.88m) (John Uelses-16', Melrose Games)
1962 - 8 of 9 planets align for 1st time in 400 years
1962 - USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
1963 - Helen Shapiro begins tour (Beatles are part of undercard)
1964 - GI Joe, debuts as a popular American boy's toy
1964 - Sjoukje Dijkstra (Neth) wins Olympic gold for figure skating
1964 - Red Faber, Burleigh Grimes, Tim Keefe, Heinie Manush, John Montgomery Ward, & Miller Huggins are selected to Hall of Fame
1965 - Joe Ortons "Loot," premieres in Brighton
1966 - Pakistan suggests a six-point agenda with Kashmir dispute as number one item for the proposed Indo-Pak ministerial talks after 1965 war.
1967 - Bolivia adopts its constitution
1967 - Formation of American Basketball Association is announced
1968 - Springer Publishers in West Berlin, bombed
1969 - KMST TV channel 46 in Monterey-Salinas, CA (CBS) begins broadcasting
1969 - Stan Coveleski & Waite Hoyt are voted into baseball Hall of Fame
1970 - Pete Maravich becomes 1st to score 3,000 college basketball points
1971 - Idi Amin ousts Milton Obote to become dictator of Uganda
1972 - Lefty Gomez, Ross Youngs & William Harridge selected for Hall of Fame
1972 - Tom Stoppard's "Jumpers," premieres in London
1973 - "Midnight Special" rock music show debuts on NBC-TV
1973 - James R Schlesinger, becomes 9th director of CIA (until July)
1973 - Richath Helms, ends term as 8th director of CIA
1973 - Test Cricket debut of Richard John Hadlee, NZ v Pakistan, Wellington
1974 - Barbra Striesand's 1st #1 hit, "The Way We Were"
1974 - Pope Paul VI encyclical "To Honor Mary"
1974 - Smallest crowd at Cleveland Arena (Cavs vs Golden State-1,641)
1974 - The F-16 Fighting Falcon flies for the first time.
1975 - Army offensive against rebels in Eritrea Ethiopia
1975 - Donna Caponi Young wins LPGA Burdine's Golf Invitational
1975 - US female Figure Skating championship won by Dorothy Hamill
1975 - US male Figure Skating championship won by Gordon McKellen Jr
1976 - "Honeymooners Second Honeymoon" airs on TV
1976 - "Rich Little Show," debuts on NBC-TV
1976 - Roger Connor, Fred Lindstrom & ump Cal Hubbard elected to Hall of Fame
1977 - Burn up of Salyut 4 Space Station (USSR)
1977 - Radio Shack officially begins creating TRS-80 computer
1977 - Toronto's Ian Turnbull scores 5 goals, NHL REcord for a defenseman
1980 - FBI releases details of Abscam, a sting operation that targeted 31 elected & public officials for bribes for political favors
1982 - "Late Night with David Letterman" premieres on NBC
1982 - Govt troops & Moslem-fundamentalists battle in Hamah Syria
1982 - San Diego beats Miami 41-38 in OT after blowing a 24-0 lead
1982 - Hama Massacre: The government of Syria attacks the town of Hama and kills thousands of people.
1983 - Chicago Absp Joseph L Bernardin is among 18 new cardinals invested
1983 - Pope John Paul II names 18 new cardinals
1984 - 8th Soap Opera Digest Poll Awards
1984 - Lebanese army fight in Beirut
1985 - US male Figure Skating championship won by Brian Boitano
1986 - "Jerome Kern Goes to Hollywood" closes at Ritz NYC after 13 perfs
1986 - Ayako Okamoto wins LPGA Elizabeth Arden Golf Classic
1986 - Dalai Lama meets Pope John Paul II in India
1986 - NFL Pro Bowl: NFC beats AFC 28-24
1986 - Oscar Arias Sanchez elected president of Costa Rica
1987 - KC Royal pitcher Dennis Leonard (3X 20 game winner), retires
1987 - Philippines adopts constitution
1988 - David Boon's 6th Test Cricket century, 184* v England at Sydney
1989 - 0°F (-18°C) or below in 15 US states
1989 - FW de Klerk replaces Botha as South Africa's National Party leader
1989 - NL announces Yanks' broadcaster Bill White will be 1st black president
1990 - Marina Ogilvy (daughter of Engl princess Alexandra) weds Paul Mowatt
1990 - South Africa's Pres FW de Klerk promises to free Nelson Mandela & legalizes ANC & 60 other political orgs
1991 - Aravinda De Silva scores 267 v NZ at Wellington
1991 - NH snaps its 32-game losing streak at home beating Holy Cross, 72-56
1991 - US postage is raised from 25 cents to 29 cents
1991 - Sting scores his second UK No.1 album with 'The Soul Cages'
1992 - Colleen Walker wins Oldsmobile LPGA Golf Classic
1992 - Danny Everett runs world record 400m indoor (45.02 sec)
1992 - David Boon's 13 Test Cricket century, 107 v India at Perth
1992 - IRS & Willie Nelson settle on $9M tax bill (of $16.7M)
1992 - Kieren Perkins swims world record 1500m freestyle (14:32.40)
1992 - NFL Pro Bowl: NFC beats AFC 21-15
1993 - Frito Lay pays court ordered $2,500,000 to Tom Wait for using his song
1993 - Irina Privalova runs world record 50m indoor (6.05 sec)
1995 - "Moliere Comedies" opens at Criterion Theater NYC for 56 performances
1995 - Henry Olonga no-balled for throwing in Zimbabwe-Pakistan Test Cricket
1995 - US space shuttle Discovery launched
1996 - Ali Landry, 22, (Louisiana), crowned 45th Miss USA
1997 - "Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus" closes at Gershwin NYC
1997 - Mark O'Meara wins Pebble Beach National Golf Pro-am
1997 - NFL Pro Bowl: AFC beats NFC 26-23 (OT)

1997 - Royal Caribbean Senior Golf Classic
1998 - Daniel Baldwin hospitalized in NYC for cocaine overdose
1998 - Philippine DC-9 crashes apparently killing all 104 on board
2002 - The wedding of Crown Prince Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands to the Argentinean born Máxima Zorreguieta takes place.
2003 - Jennifer Lopez starts a three week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with 'All I Have'
2003 - Russian pop girl duo Tatu start a four-week run at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'All The Things She Said'

History of 1st February

772 - Adrian I begins his reign as Catholic Pope
1327 - Teenaged Edward III is crowned King of England, but the country is ruled by his mother Queen Isabella and her lover Roger Mortimer.
1539 - Emperor Karel & King Francois I sign anti-English treaty
1587 - English queen Elizabeth I signs Mary Stuarts death sentence
1662 - Dutch garrison on Formosa surrenders for Chinese pirates
1669 - French King Louis XIV limits freedom of religion
1709 - Alexander Selkirk [Robinson Crusoe] rescued from Juan Fernandez
1713 - The Kalabalik or Tumult in Bendery results from the Ottoman sultan's order that his unwelcome guest, King Charles XII of Sweden, be seized.
1717 - Henri d'Aguesseau's 1st appointment as chancellor of France
1720 - Sweden & Prussia sign peace treaty
1732 - Parliament of Ratisborn accept Pragmatic Sanctions
1742 - Sardinia & Austria sign alliance
1783 - William Herschel announces star Lambda Herculis as apex
1788 - 1st US steamboat patent issued, by Georgia to Briggs & Longstreet
1789 - Chinese troops driven out of Vietnam capital Thang Long
1790 - Supreme Court convenes for 1st time (NYC)
1793 - France declares war on England & Netherlands
1793 - Patent granted Ralph Hodgson, NY, for oiled silk & linen
1796 - The capital of Upper Canada is moved from Newark to York.
1809 - Dutch King Louis Napoleon accepts metric system
1810 - 1st insurance co managed by blacks (American Insurance Co of Phila)
1810 - Seville, Spain surrenders to French
1810 - US Population: 7,239,881, Black population: 1,377,808 (19%)
1814 - Lord Byron's "Corsair" sells 10,000 copies on day of publication
1814 - Volcano Mayon on Luzon Philippines erupts killing 1,200
1840 - Baltimore College of Dental Surgery, 1st in US, incorporated
1846 - Theophile Gautier publishes "Hashish Club" about his initiation
1856 - Auburn University is chartered as the East Alabama Male College.
1860 - 1st rabbi to open House of Representatives, Morris Raphall of NYC
1861 - Dike breaks in Gelderland Netherlands
1861 - Texas becomes 7th state to secede
1861 - American Civil War: Texas secedes from the United States.
1862 - Julia Howe publishes "Battle Hymn of Republic"
1864 - -Feb 8th] Battle of Yazoo River, MS
1864 - 2nd German-Danish war begins
1864 - Austrian/Prussian troops occupy Sleeswijk/Holstein
1865 - 13th amendment approved (National Freedom Day)
1865 - General Sherman's march through South Carolina begins
1865 - JS Rock, 1st black lawyer to practice in Supreme Ct, admitted to bar
1867 - Bricklayers start working 8-hour days
1871 - Jefferson Long of Georgia is 1st black to make an official speech in House of Reps (opposing leniency to former Confederates)
1880 - The first edition of theatrical newspaper The Stage is published.
1881 - US Assay Office in St Louis, Missouri authorized
1883 - French lt-col Gustave Borgnis-Desbordes reaches Bamako on the Niger
1884 - 1st volume of the Oxford English Dictionary, A-Ant, published
1887 - Harvey Wilcox of Ks subdivides 120 acres he owned in Southern Calif & starts selling it off as a real estate development (Hollywood)
1892 - Mrs William Astor invites 400 guests to a grand ball at her mansion thus beginning use of "400" to describe socially elite
1893 - Puccini's Opera "Manon Lescaut," premieres in Turin
1893 - Thomas Edison complete's worlds 1st movie studio (West Orange NJ)
1896 - Giacomo Puccini's Opera "La Boheme," premieres in Turin
1897 - Shinhan Bank, the oldest bank in South Korea, opens in Seoul.
1898 - 1st auto insurance policy in US issued, by Travelers Insurance Co
1902 - China's empress Tzu-hsi forbids binding woman's feet
1902 - Hermann Sudermanns "Es lebe das Leben," premieres in Berlin
1905 - Hague soccer team ADO froms
1905 - Hungarian premier Tisza resigns
1906 - 1st federal penitentiary building completed, Leavenworth, Kansas
1906 - English min of Frgn affairs Edward Grey's wife Dorothy fatally injured
1908 - King Carlos I of Portugal and his son, Prince Luis Filipe are killed in Terreiro do Paco, Lisbon.
1909 - US Assay Office in Salt Lake City, Utah opens
1910 - 1st British labour exchange opens
1910 - Dragoumis govt forms in Greece
1914 - NY Giants & Chic White Sox play an exhibition baseball game in Egypt
1914 - Pennsylvania State Board of [motion picture] censors appointed
1914 - Tanganyika Railway opens
1917 - Admiral Tirpitz announces unlimited submarine war
1918 - Franz Lehars opera "Wo die Lerche singt," premieres in Budapest
1918 - Kern, Bolton & Wodehouse's musical premieres in NYC
1918 - Russia adopts Gregorian calender (becomes Feb 14)
1919 - Dodgers trade Jake Daubert to Reds for Tommy Griffith Daubert
1920 - 1st commercial armored car introduced (St Paul Minn)
1920 - Soccer team Quick Boys forms
1920 - Royal Canadian Mounted Police forms as Royal Northwest Mounted Police merge with Dominion Police
1923 - Allied ultimatum on Lithuanian occupation of Memel
1923 - Fascists Voluntary Militia forms in Italy under Mussolini
1923 - Noel Coward's "Young Idea," premieres in London
1924 - Amsterdam's Netherlands Press Museum opens
1924 - New British MacDonald govt recognizes USSR
1924 - Soccer team VSV Tonido forms in Voorburg
1924 - Soviet Union formally recognized by Britain
1925 - 1st national conference of KPD's Rotfrontkämpferbund in Berlin
1926 - Kirghiz Autonomous Region in RSFSR becomes Kirghiz ASSR
1926 - Land at Broadway & Wall Street sold at a record $7 per sq inch
1929 - 1st clean & jerk of 400 lbs (182 kg), Charles Rigoulet, 402½ lbs
1930 - Arnold Schönbergs opera, Von heute auf Morgen premieres in Frankfurt
1932 - Bradman makes 299* vs S Africa, runs out partner going for 300th
1933 - Colonial govt arrests Anton de Kom in Paramaribo Suriname
1933 - Dutch bishops forbid membership in non-catholic unions
1933 - German Parliament disolves, Gen Ludendorf predicts catastrophe
1934 - Austrian Chancellor Dollfuss dissolves all political parties but his
1935 - 1st "March of Time" newsreel premieres at the Capitol
1935 - James T Farrell finishes his "Studs Lonigan" trilogy
1937 - Stapleton, Staten Island becomes a customs-free port
1940 - Russia begins new offensive against Finland
1941 - US female Figure Skating championship won by Jane Vaughn
1941 - US male Figure Skating championship won by Eugene Turner
1942 - 2nd Norwegian government of Quisling forms
1943 - German occupiers make Vidkun Quisling Norwegian premier
1943 - Mussert forms pro Nazi shadow cabinet (Neth)
1944 - Supreme Soviet enlarges soviet republics' autonomy

1944 - US 7th Infantry/25th Marine Division lands on Kwajalein/Roi/Namur
1945 - US Army arrives at Siegfriedlinie
1946 - Republic of Hungary proclaimed, Zolt n Tildy as communist president
1946 - Trygve Lie, a Norwegian socialist, becomes 1st Sec-Gen of UN
1947 - Aleide de Gasperi forms Italian govt of christian-dems & communists
1947 - Dmitri Shostakovitch named professor at conservatory of Leningrad
1947 - NV United Dutch Fokker's Aircraft established
1948 - Federation Malaysia forms from 9 sultanates
1948 - Palestine Post building in Jerusalem bombed
1949 - 200" (5.08-m) Hale telescope 1st used [See June 3, 1948]
1949 - RCA releases 1st single record ever (45 rpm)
1950 - USSR demands condemnation of Emperor Hirohito for war crimes
1950 - Urko Kekkonen elected president of Finland
1951 - -50°F (-46°C), Gavilan, New Mexico (state record)
1951 - 1st X-ray moving picture process demonstrated
1951 - 1st telecast of atomic explosion
1951 - Alfred Krupp & 28 other German war criminals freed
1951 - UN condemns People's Republic of China as aggressor in Korea
1951 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1952 - General strike against French colonial management in Tunisia
1952 - SN Behrman's "Jane," premieres in NYC
1953 - "General Electric Theater" premieres on CBS TV; Reagan later hosts
1953 - "You Are There" with Walter Cronkite premieres on CBS television
1953 - Dr A de Waal appointed as Neth 1st female asst sect of state
1953 - Flooding in Netherlands, kills 1,835
1953 - WEEK TV channel 25 in Peoria, IL (NBC) begins broadcasting
1954 - 1st TV soap opera "Secret Storm" premieres
1954 - Scapino Ballet Studio in Amsterdam destroyed by fire
1954 - Soccer team The County froms in Doetinchem
1955 - HC Hansen appointed premier of Denmark
1956 - Hague Daily Newspaper reveals war crimes of Hague mayor Schokking
1956 - WSAV TV channel 3 in Savannah, GA (NBC) begins broadcasting
1957 - 1st black pilot (PH Young) on a US scheduled passenger airline
1957 - Gijsbert of Hall appointed mayor of Amsterdam
1957 - Felix Wankel's first working prototype DKM 54 of the Wankel engine was running at the NSU research and development department Versuchsabteilung TX in Germany
1958 - 1st US satellite (Explorer I) launched
1958 - Egypt & Syria announce plans to merge into United Arab Republic
1958 - WFTV TV channel 9 in Orlando, FL (ABC) begins broadcasting
1959 - Swiss males vote against voting rights for women
1959 - Texas Instruments requests patent of IC (Integrated Circuit)
1959 - US female Figure Skating championship won by Carol Heiss
1959 - US male Figure Skating championship won by David Jenkins
1959 - WVUE TV channel 8 in New Orleans, LA (ABC) begins broadcasting
1959 - Wiffi Smith wins LPGA Havana Golf Tournament
1959 - Zack Wheat unanimously elected to baseball Hall of Fame
1960 - 34th Australian Womens Tennis: Margaret Smith beats J Lehane (75 62)
1960 - 4 students stage 1st civil rights sit-in, at Greensboro NC Woolworth
1960 - 48th Australian Mens Tennis: Rod Laver beats N Fraser (57 36 63 86 86)
1960 - Extreme right-wing rebels in Algiers surrender
1961 - 1st full-scale test of US Minuteman ICBM is successful
1961 - British minister Enoch Powell makes medical insurance more expensive
1961 - Mackay & Kline hang on for 100 mins for cricket draw vs West Indies
1962 - "New Faces of '62" opens at Alvin Theater NYC for 28 performances
1962 - NL releases its 1st 162-game schedule
1963 - Nyasaland (now Malawi) becomes self-governing under Hastings Banda
1964 - "Stop the World, I Want to..." closes at Shubert NYC after 556 perf
1964 - Beatles' "I Want to Hold Your Hand," 1st #1 hit, stays #1 for 7 weeks
1964 - Indiana Governor Mathew Walsh tries to ban "Louie Louie" for obscenity
1964 - Suriname River dammed
1965 - Dutch Queen Juliana opens Brienenoord Bridge in Rotterdam
1965 - Martin Luther King Jr & 700 demonstrators arrested in Selma Ala
1965 - Peter Jennings, 26, becomes anchor of ABC's nightly news
1965 - NL adopts emergency team replacement plan to restock any club struck by disaster
1967 - Severe brush fires in Tasmania destroy $11 million & 60 lives
1967 - WCLP TV channel 18 in Chatsworth, GA (PBS) begins broadcasting
1968 - Former VP Richard Nixon announces candidacy for president
1968 - Vince Lombardi resigns as coach of Green Bay Packers
1968 - World trade conference Unctad 2 opens in New Delhi
1968 - Famous photo: Saigon police chief Nguyen Ngoc Loan executes a Viet Cong officer with a pistol shot to head
1969 - Jim Morrison arrested for exposing himself in concert
1969 - US female Figure Skating championship won by Janet Lynn
1969 - US male Figure Skating championship won by Tim Wood
1969 - WPGH TV channel 53 in Pittsburgh, PA (IND) begins broadcasting
1970 - Ford Frick, Earle Combs & Jesse Haines elected to Hall of Fame
1970 - Stalled commuter train rammed by express in Argentina, 139 die
1970 - WMAA TV channel 29 in Jackson, MS (PBS) begins broadcasting
1970 - West-Germany & USSR sign gas contract
1972 - 1st scientific hand-held calculator (HP-35) introduced ($395)
1972 - Wings release "Give Ireland Back to the Irish" in UK
1972 - Kuala Lumpur becomes a city by a royal charter granted by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia.
1973 - Monte Irvin elected to baseball Hall of Fame
1974 - "Good Times" (spinoff from "Maude") premieres on CBS TV
1974 - Kuala Lumpur is declared a Federal Territory.
1975 - "Hoppy, Gene & Me" by Roy Rogers peaks at #65
1975 - "Men on the Moon" closes at Little Theater NYC after 5 performances
1975 - 1st successful Wash Cap penalty shot, Ken Lockett vs Vancouver Canucks
1975 - Lorne Henning scores on 3rd Islander penalty shot
1975 - Otis Francis Tabler is 1st open homosexual to get security clearance to work for the Defense Department
1976 - "Rich Man, Poor Man" mini-series premieres on ABC TV
1976 - Judy Rankin wins LPGA Burdine's Golf Invitational
1976 - Sonny & Cher resume TV show, despite real-life divorce
1976 - East Lansing police arrest Dodgers reliever Mike Marshall for taking batting practice at Mich State U after he is warned not to
1977 - Heavy blizzard in New England claims 100 lives
1977 - Hillsdale High School defeats Person High School 2-0 in basketball
1978 - Harriet Tubman is 1st black woman honored on a US postage stamp
1978 - Director Roman Polanski skips bail & fled to France after pleading guilty to charges of engaging in sex with a 13-year-old girl
1979 - Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini returns to Iran after 15 yrs in exile
1979 - Patricia Hearst is released from a SF prison for bank robbery
1979 - USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
1980 - Sears Radio Theater moves from CBS to Mutual Broadcasting System

1980 - Soap opera "Love of Life" ends a 28 year run
1981 - 11th AFC-NFC pro bowl, NFC wins 21-7
1981 - 31st NBA All-Star Game: East beats West 123-120 at Cleveland
1981 - Duke Ellington-musical "Sophisticated Ladies," premieres in NYC
1981 - Dutch Antilles census is 231,932
1981 - French govt accord sends 60 Mirage fighter jets to Iraq
1981 - NFL Pro Bowl: NFC beats AFC 21-7
1981 - Sandra Palmer wins LPGA Whirlpool Golf Championship of Deer Creek
1981 - Trevor Chappell bowls underarm to Brian McKechnie, WSC Final MCG
1982 - "Late Night With David Letterman," debuts on NBC-TV
1982 - Senegal & Gambia form loose confederation (Senegambia)
1983 - USSR performs underground nuclear test
1984 - China & Netherlands regain diplomatic relations
1984 - Daniel Stern becomes NBA commissioner
1984 - Ravindara Mhatrem, Indian diplomat, kidnapped in England (killed 0203)
1985 - -61°F (-52°C), Maybell, Colorado (state record)
1985 - -69°F (-56°C), Peter's Sink, Utah (state record)
1985 - Azharuddin scores 3rd Test century in 3rd Test Cricket (122 v Eng)
1985 - Cards trade D Green, Jose Uribe, Dave LaPoint to Giants for Jack Clark
1985 - US female Figure Skating championship won by Tiffany Chin
1986 - KHJ-AM in Los Angeles CA changes call letters to KRTH
1986 - Singer Diana Ross marries Norwegian businessman Arne Naess in Switz
1987 - 163 day strike against Deere & Co ends, workers accept wage freeze
1987 - 38,873 NBA crowd watch Chicago at Detroit
1987 - Kathy Postlewait wins LPGA Mazda Golf Classic
1987 - NFL Pro Bowl: AFC beats NFC 10-6
1989 - Comet Schwassmann-Wachmann 1 at perihelion
1989 - Princess Diane of England visits NYC
1989 - The Western Australian towns of Kalgoorlie and Boulder amalgamate to form the City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder.
1991 - Afghanistan/Pakistan hit by earthquake, 1,200 die
1991 - Craig McDermott takes 8-97 v England at the WACA
1991 - President F W de Klerk, says he would repeal all apartheid laws
1991 - US Air & Skywest Fairchild jet collide at LA Airport killing 32
1992 - "Crazy He Calls Me" closes at Walter Kerr Theater NYC after 7 perfs
1992 - Barry Bonds signs baseball's highest single year contract ($4.7 mil)
1992 - Denis Potvin's #5 becomes 1st number retired by NY Islanders
1993 - NY Judge Sol Wachtler indicted for harassing Joy Silverman
1993 - Soyuz TM-16 lands
1994 - Irina Privalova runs world record 50m indoor (6.03 sec)
1994 - Large meteorite falls near Kusaie, Pacific Ocean
1995 - Amtrak NY-Tampa run ends
1995 - Amy van Dikes swims woman's world record 50 m butterfly (26.73)
1995 - Andy & Grant Flower make 269 stand vs Pak, brotherly record
1995 - Belgium's TV channel VT4 goes on the air
1996 - The Communications Decency Act is passed by the U.S. Congress.
1998 - "Street Corner Symphony," closes at Brooks Atkinson NYC after 79 perf
1998 - 86th Australian Mens Tennis: Petr Korda beats Marcelo Rios (62 62 62)
1998 - Australian Mixed: J Gimelstob & V Williams beat Suk & Sukova (62 61)
1998 - NFL Pro Bowl Game, AFC beats NFC 29-24
1998 - Rear Admiral Lillian E. Fishburne became the first female African American to be promoted to rear admiral.
2003 - Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrates during reentry into the Earth's atmosphere, killing all seven astronauts aboard.
2004 - 251 people are trampled to death and 244 injured in a stampede at the Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia.
2004 - Janet Jackson's breast is exposed during the half-time show of Super Bowl XXXVIII, resulting in US broadcasters adopting a stronger adherence to FCC censorship guidelines.
2005 - Nepal King Gyanendra exercises Coup d'état to capture the democracy becoming Chairman of the Councils of ministers.
2005 - Canada introduces the Civil Marriage Act, making Canada the fourth country to sanction same-sex marriage.
2009 - Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir is elected as the first female Prime Minister of Iceland, becoming the first openly gay Head of State in the modern world.