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'