Today in History

1910 First football match (soccer to those of you in the US) at Old Trafford between Manchester United and Liverpool

1924 Actor Lee Marvin is born

1945 Invasion of Iwo Jima by US troops begins

1960 Prince Andrew is born

1976 President Ford rescinds Executive Order 9066
 

19th February

1674 England and the Netherlands signed the Treaty of Westminster, ending the third Anglo-Dutch war. A provision of the agreement transferred the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam to England and it was renamed New York.

1959 The United Kingdom granted Cyprus Indepedence, which was then formally proclaimed on 16th August 1960.

1976 Iceland broke off diplomatic relations with Britian after the two countries failed to agree on limits in the 'cod war' fishing dispute.

2001 A five-mile exclusion zone was placed around an abbatoir in Essex after a suspected case of foot and mouth disease was detected. By the end of March the disease was at its peak, with up to fifty new cases a day. The final case was reported on Whygill Head Farm near Appleby in Cumbria on 30th September.
 
Feb 19th
1913 The 1st prize inserted into a Cracker Jack box was baseball cards from both major league teams
1945
US 5th Fleet launches invasion of Iwo Jima against Japanese with 30,000 Marines
1960
Bil Keane's 'Family Circus' cartoon strip debuts in newspapers
2004
Nazi hunter,Simon Wiesenthal was given an honorary knighthood in recognition of lifetime of service to humanity
 

Today in History Februrary 20th

1931 - San Francisco Bay Bridge
President Hoover signed a bill that authorizes the state of California to build the San Francisco Bay bridge across San Francisco Bay

1933 - Repeal of the 18th Amendment
A majority of the house had voted for the repeal of the 18th Amendment, which had prohibited the sale and distribution of all alcohol.

1965 - Ranger 8
The Ranger 8 spacecraft crashed on the moon after sending back thousands of pictures of the lunar surface

1942: Lt. Edward O’Hare downed five Japanese bombers that were attacking the carrier Lexington, in April he was presented the Congressional Medal of Honor by President Roosevelt

1947 - Lord Louis Mountbatten
Lord Louis Mountbatten is appointed viceroy of India to oversee the granting of independence to the Partitioned India and Pakistan following the Partition and Independence. He then served for 12 months as the first Governor General.
 
20th February

1472 Orkney and Shetland were pawned by Norway to Scotland in lieu of a dowry for Princess Margaret, daughter of Christian I, the King of Norway and Denmark. As the wife of King James III of Scotland she was the Queen Consort and the mother of the future King James IV of Scotland.

1839 The birth in Settle, Yorkshire Dales of Benjamin Waugh, social reformer and campaigner who was a co-founder of the London Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. It evolved to become the NSPCC some five years later with Waugh as its first direcor and Queen Victoria as its first patron.

1952 Jeannette Altwegg won Britian's first Olympic Gold Medal for figure skating at the Winter Olmpics in Oslo.

1982 Entrepreneur John de Lorean's luxury sport car project went into receivership.
 
1865
Massachusetts Institute of Technology forms which is the 1st U.S architectural school
1872
The hydraulic electric elevator patent by Cyrus Baldwin
1986
France&Britain announced plans of a tunnel between the 2 countries will become a realityThe 1st plans to do this date back to 1883
The 'Chunnel' began construction in Dec '87,was completed in 1994
1962
John Glenn becomes the 1st U.S. astronaut to orbit the Earth aboard Friendship 7
 
21st February

1741 The death of Jethro Tull, English agricultural innovator. He perfected a horse-drawn seed drill that economically sowed the seeds in neat rows, an invention that helped form the basis of modern British agriculture.

1917 The loss of SS Mendi, a British passenger steampship that was chartered as a troopship in the First World War. She was hit (south of the Isle of Wight) in thick fog, by the cargo steamship Darro. The Darro did not stay to assist. SS Mendi sank, killing 646 people, most of whom were black South African troops. The sinking was a major loss of life for the South African military and one of the 20th century's worst maritime disasters in UK waters.

1958 The Peace symbol, commissioned by the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament was designed and completed by Gerald Holton. The log owas not copyrighted and later became known in the wider world as a general purpose peace symbol.
 
1808 – Without a previous declaration of war, Russian troops cross the border to Sweden at Abborfors in eastern Finland, thus beginning the Finnish War, in which Sweden will lose the eastern half of the country (e.g. Finland) to Russia. Damn!

1952 - The British government, under Winston Churchill, abolishes identity cards in the UK to "set the people free".

1910 - Sir Douglas Bader, Royal Air Force Group Captain and WW2 ace pilot (d. 1982) was born. He became a double leg amputee after a flying accident but was able to rejoin the RAF and flew during the war with prosthetic legs
 
22nd February

1797 Over 1,000 French troops attempted to invade Britain and landed at Fishguard, Wales, but were soon captured by the brave ladies of the town. No other foreign force has managed to invade Britain since.

1903 The Cunard liner Erturia arrived in New York with a copy of the first newspaper ever published in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. It featured news reports transmitted from Britain by wireless while the ship was at sea. Marconi, the inventor of wireless telegraphy, was one of the ship's passengers.
 
Feb 22nd
On a personal note,2 yrs ago I started this thread,thanks to all who have posted here
Lets keep it going
1903
Niagara Falls on the U.S. side runs out of water due to a drought
1923
transcontinental airmail service begins
1980
one of the biggest hockey upsets in Olympic history happen at the Winter Olympics at Lake Placid,NY The U.S. men's hockey team made up of college kids,upset the heavily favored Russians 4-3.ABC announcer,Al Michaels memorable line'Do You Believe in Miracles"? This event is forever known as 'The Miracle On Ice'
 
23rd February

1739 Unmasked by his own handwriting, the prisoner John Palmer is identified at York Castle by his former schoolteacher as the outlaw Dick Turpin.

1820 British police uncovered 'The Cato Street Conspiracy', planned by Arthur Thistlewood, to assassinate Cabinet ministers. Five of the eighteen conspirators were publicy hanged outside Newgate prison, six were transported to Australia for life and the rest either rewarded or released due to their status as spies, agent provocateurs or men who had turned King's Evidence.

1874 Major Walter Clopton Wingfield patented an outdoor game he called 'Sphairistike' (approximate ancient Greek for the art of playing ball), later known as lawn tennis. Eventually it was adopted by the All England Croquet Club which sponsored the first Wimbledon championships in 1877.

1965 The death of Stan Laurel, film comedian, born in Ulverston (which was then in Lancashire, now in Cumbria) in 1890.
 
1455
Johannes Gutenberg prints his 1st Bible
1896
Leo Hirshfield introduces the'Tootsie Roll'
1960
Brooklyn{NY} Ebbet's Field home of the former Brooklyn Dodgers was demolished after 45 yrs of playing there The stadium was named after former ticket holder, Charles Ebbets who started purchasing land in 1908 in hopes of collecting enough to construct a new ballpark.The Dodgers moved to Los Angeles after 1957 season
1991
Pres. George H.W.Bush gives Iraq 24 hr deadline to withdraw from Kuwait or face a ground war
 
This day in History February 24th

1942- U.S.A. Unidentified Flying Objects
Los Angeles sightings on this day called by the contemporary press "Battle of Los Angeles", a Plane / Blimp / Weather Balloon / UFO is fired on with a massive anti-aircraft artillery barrage but is not hit, Air raid sirens were sounded throughout Los Angeles County at 2:25 a.m. and a total blackout was ordered.

1924 :-Johnny Weissmuller wins his first gold medal in 100-meters freestyle in the 1924 Paris Olympics.

1942 - The Voice of America goes on the air for the first time under the Office of War Information with news programs aimed at Japan, the south Pacific, and to areas of Europe and North Africa under the occupation of Nazi Germany.

1903 - Cuba Guantanamo Bay
The United States signed a leasing agreement between the US and Cuba , acquiring Guantanamo Bay a naval station at the southeastern end in Cuba.

1922 - Powder Magazine Explosion
An explosion of the powder magazine in a stone quarry in McCook in southern Illinois shook the city of Chicago shattering many windows in the south of the city and the blast was so strong that a train passing near by was blown completely off the tracks.
 
24th February

616 The death of Aethelberht, King of Kent from about 589 until his death. He was the first English king to convert to Christianity.

1909 Suffragettes attempted to break into the Houses of Parliament. The police made 29 arrests.

1920 American-born Nancy Astor makes her maiden speech in the House of Commons on the topic of the perils of drinking. She is the first woman MP to take her seat in Parliament.

1962 The Beatles played a concert at the Birkenhead YMCA for a fee of £30. The audience didn't enjoy the show and the Beatles were booed off stage. They left early for a second gig at Liverpool's Cavern Club, and the rest, as they say, is history. 🎸
 
1839
steam shovel was patented by William Otis of Philadelphia
1989
150 million yr old fossil egg with a fossilized dinosaur embryo inside was found in Utah.It was the oldest dinosaur egg found in Northern Hemisphere
1991
U.S. led forces begin'Operation Desert Sabre',ground invasion of S.Iraq and Iraqi- occupied Kuwait
2008
After 50 yrs as President of Cuba,Fidel Castro retires because of ill health.His brother,Raoul takes his place
 
This day in History February 25th

1920 - Australia League of Nations
Sir Joseph Cook, the Minister of the Australian Navy, defended Australia’s right to cast one vote in the League of Nations. A decision had not been made at this time one way or another. However, it was noted in the speech made by Cook that this country had lost more lives during the war than the Americans did.

1930 - U.S.A. Prohibition Laws
With the continuing debate in congress between wets and drys over the prohibition laws, the enforcement in each state also continues to be dependent on the position of the politicians in that state. In states where the wets are in control, the boats used to enforce prohibition could not catch a cold let alone a fast rum runners boat, and speakeasies are very rarely raided by law enforcement. In other states where the dry's are in control fast patrol boats and many raids occur.

1972 - Great Britain Miners Strike
Miners accept a pay settlement after a seven-week strike. The strike had caused many companies to institute a three-day week when lack of coal to British power stations caused disruption to electricity supplies.

25 Feb 1984 - Brazil Gas Line Explosion
A huge explosion caused by a Gas Pipeline close to the Shanty Town destroys the shanty town in Brazil, killing at least 500 people, mostly young children.

1991 - Saudi Arabia Iraqi Scud Missile
An Iraqi Scud missile hit a U.S. barracks in Dhahran killing 28 Americans during the Persian Gulf War.
 
1570 Queen Elizabeth I was excommunicated by Pope Pius V. He declared her a usurper for her severe persecution of Roman Catholics in England. It was the last such judgement made against a reigning monarch by any pope.

1913 English sufragette Emmeline Pankhurst went on trial for a bomb attack on the home of David Lloyd George, Chancellor of the Exchequer.

1955 Britain's largest ever aircraft carrier, the Ark Royal, was completed. She was the fourth ship of the name to have served the Crown.

1982 The European Court of Human Rights ruled that corporal punishment in schools (if it was against the parent's wishes) was a violation of the Human Rights Convention.
 
Feb 25th
1863
U.S. Congress creates National Banking System comptroller of currency
1910
Dalai Lama flees Tibet for British India to escape Chinese troops
1963
Beatles release 1st single in the U.S. 'Please,Please Me'
1986
Corazon Aquino becomes President of Phillipines after Marcos flees the country
1974
Veronica&Collin Scargell of England begin tandem bicycle ride a record of 18,020 miles around the world.They completed it on Aug 27th,1975
 
This day in History February 26th

1993 - U.S.A. Car Bomb World Trade Center
A car bomb which exploded in an underground garage at the World Trade Center shook the 110 story towers causing the collapse of several floors in the underground garage and tearing a hole in the ceiling of an adjoining subway leaving six people dead and injuring a further 100. It is thought Islamic extremists are responsible. In May 1994, four men - Mohammed Salameh, Nidal Ayyad, Mahmud Abouhalima and Ahmad Ajaj - were sentenced to life for bombing the World Trade Center, which killed six people and injured 100.

2001 - Netherlands War Crimes
A U.N. tribunal in The Hague in the Netherlands convicts Bosnian Croat political leader Dario Kordic of war crimes for ordering the systematic murder and persecution of Muslim civilians during the Bosnian war.

1935 - Germany Luftwaffe Established
Nazi leader Adolf Hitler signs a secret decree authorizing the founding of the Reich Luftwaffe as a third German military service to join the Reich army and navy.

1952 - Great Britain Atomic Bomb
Prime Minister Winston Churchill announces Great Britain has developed its own atomic bomb.

1968 - United Kingdom Hospital Fire
A hospital fire in the Shelton Mental Hospital near Shrewsbury in Shropshire, England has killed 21 patients.
 
26th February

1797 The Bank of Englad issued the first ever one pound note. Printed on watermark paper with a vignette of Britannia on the top left hand corner, the hand-signed white £1 notes were withdrawn in the 1820s.

1852 The British troopship, Birkenhead, sand of Simon's Bary, near Cape Town, South Africa, with the loss of 485 lives.

1914 The launch of HMHS (Her Majesty's Hospital Ship) Britannic, sister to the RMS Titanic, at Harland &Wolff shipyard in Belfast. She was the third and largest Olympic class ocean liner of the White Star Line and was intended to enter service as a transatlantic passenger line. However, she was launched just before the start of the First World War and was laid up at her builders for many months before being put to use as a hospital ship in 1915.

1935 Robert Watson-Watt first demonstrated RADAR (radio detecting and ranging) at Daventry, Northamptonshire.
 

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