Today in History

1817
Baltimore, Maryland becomes 1st U.S. city to be lit by gas street lamps
1940
Walt Disney's 2nd feature animated film,'Pinocchio' is released directed by Ben Sharpsteen. The story of a wooden puppet who yearns to become a real boy. Oscar winning song' When You Wish Upon a Star'
1964
The Beatles land at JFK airport in NYC to begin their 1st U.S. tour
2018
DNA analysis of' Cheddar Man', UK's oldest complete skeleton shows he had dark skin &blue eyes
 

Feb 7th Birthdays:
1804
John Deere- U.S. blacksmith/manufacteur/founder of Deere&Company
1867
Laura Ingalls Wilder- author' Little House on the Prairie' , TV show based on her book ran on NBC from 1974-1983
1887
Eubie Blake ragtime composer/pianist 'Memories of You,I'm Just Wild About Harry'
1908
Buster Crabbe- Olympic Gold Medal swimmer' 32/actor- Tarzan the Fearless, Flash Gordon
1945
Pete Postlewaite- British actor' In The Name of the Father, Inception
1978
Ashton Kutcher- actor best known TV roles'Mike Kelso' on Fox sitcom' That 70's Show', 'Walden Schmidt' on CBS sitcom' Two &Half Men{ he replaced Charlie Sheen who was fired}
Deaths:
1871
Henry Steinway- German born,U.S. piano manufacturer "Steinway&Sons' 73
1985
Matt Monro- British singer' Softly As I Leave You' 54
2000
Doug Henning- Canadian magician 52
2019
Albert Finney -British actor' Tom Jones, Murder on the Orient Express, Two for The Road, Annie, Erin Brockovich 82
 
On This Day In History, February 8th

1971 The NASDAQ holds its first trading day
The National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations was the world's first electronic stock exchange.

1960 The first 8 stars are added to the Hollywood Walk of Fame
More than 2400 five-pointed stars have since been embedded in the sidewalks of Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Street to honor stars of the entertainment industry.

1950 The Stasi, East Germany's notorious secret police, is established
The “Staatssicherheit”, which was dissolved in 1990, is considered one of the most repressive intelligence agencies in the world.

1910 The Boy Scouts of America is founded
3 years earlier, British General Robert Baden-Powell had founded the Scout movement in England.

1879 Sandford Fleming proposes the use of time zones
The later introduction of Universal Standard Time, which is based on time zones, revolutionized timekeeping.
 

Births On This Day, February 8th 🎂

1941 Nick Nolte
American actor

1932 John Williams
American pianist, composer, conductor

1931 James Dean
American actor

1925 Jack Lemmon
American actor, singer, director

1828 Jules Verne
French author

Deaths On This Day, February 8th 🪦

2007 Ian Stevenson
American biochemist

2007 Anna Nicole Smith
American model, actress

1998 Enoch Powell
British politician

1957 John von Neumann
Hungarian/American mathematician

1587 Mary, Queen of Scots
 
1802
Simon Willard patents the banjo clock
1898
John Ames Sheridan from Massachusetts patents the 1st envelope folding&gumming machine
1936
The 1st NFL draft, Philadelphia Eagles select their 1st pick,Jay Berwanger from Univ of Chicago
1992
single' I'm Too Sexy' featuring bare chested Fairbass brothers hits #1 on Music charts stays there for 3 weeks
2018
Twitter reports its 1st quarterly profit as a public company
 
Feb 8th Birthdays:
1828
Jules Verne- French author' Around the World in 80 Days'
1894
King Vidor- film director 'War&Peace, Stella Dallas
1925
Jack Lemmon- actor' Days of Wine & Roses, Mr Roberts, The Fortune Cookie, Some like it Hot, Save the Tiger, The China Syndrome, Grumpy Old Men won 2 Oscars Best actor 'Tiger, supp actor 'Roberts'
1932
John Williams- film composer Jaws, ET, Saving Pvt Ryan, Indian Jones movies, Schindler's List,Jurrasic Park ,Harry Potter movies
1955
John Grisham- author legal dramas -A Time to Kill, The Client, The Firm,Pelican Brief
1968
Gary Coleman- actor best known TV role' Arnold' on NBC sitcom' Different Strokes' '78-'86
Deaths:
1990
Del Shannon- singer/ songwriter 'Runaway' 55
2020
Robert Conrad- actor best nown TV roles' James T. West' in CBS western' Wild, Wild West' '65-'70,
Pappy Boyingotn' in NBC war drama' Baa, Baa Black Sheep' 84
2021
Marty Schottenheimer- NFL head coach w Cleveland Browns, Kansas City Chiefs, 77 {Alzheimer's}
 
On This Day In History, February 9th

1996 The Irish paramilitary organization IRA ends an 18-month ceasefire by exploding a large bomb in London
The explosion in London's Canary Wharf left 2 people dead and 39 injured.

1969 The Boeing 747 flies for the first time
The “Jumbo Jet” was the world's largest passenger aircraft at the time.

1964 The Beatles embark on their first tour in the United States
Their appearance in the Ed Sullivan Show marked the beginning of the “British Invasion”

1959 The world's first intercontinental ballistic missile becomes operational in the USSR
The Soviet R-7 Semyorka missile had a range of 8800 km (5500 mi).

1950 U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy launches his anti-communist campaign
On this day, McCarthy accused the U.S. State Department of being infiltrated by communists.
 
Births On This Day, February 9th 🎂

1987 Magdalena Neuner
German biathlete

1942 Carole King
American singer-songwriter, pianist

1932 Gerhard Richter
German painter

1846 Wilhelm Maybach
German businessman founded Maybach

1737 Thomas Paine
English/American theorist, author

Deaths On This Day, February 9th 🪦

1981 Bill Haley
American singer-songwriter, musician

1957 Miklós Horthy
Hungarian Admiral, regent

1881 Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Russian author

1857 Dionysios Solomos
Greek poet

967 Sayf al-Dawla
Emir of Aleppo
 
1775
British Parliment declared Massachusetts a colony in rebellion
1900
Harvard college tennis student, Dwight Davis challenged British students to come across the Atlantic play against his Harvard team,the winners would receive silver trophy known today as Davis Cup. This international tennis tournament is played every year
1942
Daylight Savings Time starts in the U.S.
1964
The Beatles 1st appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show live from NYC,draws 73.7 millon TV viewers
1971
pitcher, Satchel Paige becomes the 1st African-American to be elected into Baseball Hall of Fame
2020
British Airways plane makes the fastest time from London- NYC in 4hrs, 56 min speed 825mph due to Storm Ciara which hit Northern Europe with winds/flooding
 
Feb 9th Birthdays:
1942
Carole King- singer/ songwriter' Up On The Roof, One Fine Day, You Make Me Feel Like a Natural Woman, You've Got a Friend, So Far Away
1945
Mia Farrow- actress Rosemary's Baby, Hannah&Her Sisters
1960
Peggy Whitson- retired U.S. astronaut who became the 1st woman to command the International Space Station
1987
Rose Leslie- Scottish actress best known TV roles' Gwen Dawson' in 1st yr of TV show' Downton Abbey', 'Ygritte' in HBO series' Games of Thrones
Deaths:
1881
Fydor Dostoyevsky- Russian author 'Crime&Punishment' 59
1973
Max Yasgur- U.S. farmer who owned land in Bethel,NY site of 1969 Woodstock Music Festival 53{ heart attack}
1981
Bill Haley- 50's rock singer known as 'father of Rock n Roll' 'Rock Around the Clock 55
2018
JOhn Galvin- actor Pyscho,Imitation of Life/U.S. ambassador to Mexico 1981-1986 86
 
On This Day In History, February 10th

2009 Two satellites collide in space
Both the U.S. satellite “Iridium 33” and the Russian “Kosmos 2251” were destroyed in the accident.

1996 Deep Blue becomes the first computer to win a chess game against a reigning world champion
Despite his defeat in the first game, Russian world champion Garry Kasparov proceeded to win the match by 4-2 games.

1964 Bob Dylan's album “The Times They Are A-Changin'” is released
The title track is one of Dylan's best-known songs.

1964 An aircraft carrier collides with a destroyer in Australia, killing 82
Destroyer HMAS Voyager sailed under aircraft carrier HMAS Melbourn's bow, was cut in half, and sank.

1962 Francis Gary Powers, a U.S. spy captured by the Soviet Union, is released
Powers were exchanged for captured Soviet spy, Rudolf Ivanovich Abel.
 


Births On This Day, February 10th 🎂

1929 Jerry Goldsmith
American composer, conductor

1898 Bertolt Brecht
German author

1894 Harold Macmillan
English politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

1890 Boris Pasternak
Russian author, poet, and Nobel Prize laureate

1744 William Cornwallis
English Admiral

Deaths On This Day, February 10th 🪦

2005 Arthur Miller
American playwright

1932 Edgar Wallace
English journalist, author, playwright

1923 Wilhelm Röntgen
German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate

1837 Alexander Pushkin
Russian author, poet

1755 Montesquieu
French philosopher
 
10th February

1306 In front of the high altar of Greyfriars Church in Dumfries, Robert the Bruce murdered John Comyn, his leading political rival, sparking revolution in the Scottish Wars of Independence.

1355 The St. Scholastica's Day Riots began in Oxford when University students clashed with townspeople in a three-day street battle, following a dispute about beer in The Swindlestock Tavern. 64 students were killed and 30 locals. The dispute was settled in favour of the university with a special charter. Annually thereafter, on 10th February, the town mayor and councillors had to march bareheaded through the streets and pay to the university a fine of one penny for every scholar killed. The penance ended in 1825 when the mayor refused to take part.

1774 Andrew Baker demonstrated his practical diving suit in the River Thames.

1840 Queen Victoria and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, both aged 20, were married in St James' Palace, London.

1906 Britain's first modern & largest battleship, HMS Dreadnought, was launched. It established the pattern of the turbine-powered, “all-big-gun” warship, a type that dominated the world's navies for the next 35 years.
 
1870
Young Women's Christian Association{YWCA} forms in NYC
1897
New York Times begins using slogan' All The News That's Fit to Print'
1940
Glenn Miller's single' In The Mood' hits #1 on music charts stays there for 8 weeks
1971
A&M records releases singer/ songwriter Carole Kings' 2nd album' Tapestry' with hit singles' I Feel The Earth Move, Where You Lead, You Make Me Feel Like a Natural Woman,You've Got a Friend,Its Too Late. The album won 4 Grammys stayed on Billboard charts for 300 weeks
1996
IBM's 'Deep Blue' becomes the 1st computer to win a chess match against reigning human chess champion, Garry Kasparov
 
Feb 10th Birthdays:
1893
Jimmy Durante- vaudeville radio/comedian/singer 'Inka Dink a Doo, Make Someone Happy
1927
Leontyne Price- African American opera soprano with Metropolitan Opera 1961- 1985
1937
Roberta Flack- singer' 1st Time Ever I Saw Your Face, Killing Me Softly with His Song'
1950
Mark Spitz- retired U.S. Olympic swimmer, won 7 Gold medals at '72 Summer Olympic Games
1967
Laura Dern- actress Jurassic Park, Mask, Blue Velvet, Wild, Marriage Story- won best supp actress Oscar
both parents are actors Bruce Dern,Diane Ladd
Deaths:
1992
Alex Haley- author' Roots' 70
2005
Arthur Miller- playwright' Death of a Salesman, The Crucible' 89
2008
Roy Schneider- actor, Jaws, The French Connection, All That Jazz 75
2014
Shirley Temple- 30's child actress 'Bright Eyes,Heidi 85
 
On This Day In History, February 11th

1990 Nelson Mandela is freed after 27 years as a political prisoner
The anti-apartheid campaigner's release was a high point in South Africa's transition from apartheid to democracy.

1979 Ayatollah Khomeini seizes power in Iran
A few days after Khomeini's triumphant return from French exile, the Iranian army steps aside, making way for the creation of an Islamic theocracy.

1975 Margaret Thatcher becomes the first female leader of the British Conservative Party
Thatcher won the general elections in 1979 and became Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

1938 The BBC broadcasts Karel Čapek's “R.U.R.”, the world's first science fiction TV program
The Czech play whose abbreviated title stands for “Rossum's Universal Robots” introduced the word “robot” to the English language.

1858 Bernadette Soubirous sees a vision of the Virgin Mary near Lourdes
The small town in southern France became one of the most important Christian places of pilgrimage.
 
Births On This Day, February 11th 🎂

1969 Jennifer Aniston
American actress, director, producer

1964 Sarah Palin
American politician, 9th Governor of Alaska

1934 Manuel Noriega
Panamanian general, politician, and Military Leader of Panama

1926 Leslie Nielsen
Canadian/American actor

1847 Thomas Edison
American businessmen invented the light bulb and phonograph.

Deaths On This Day,11th 🪦

February 11
2012 Whitney Houston
American singer, actress, producer, model

2010 Alexander McQueen
English fashion designer, founded

1978 James Bryant Conant
American chemist, academic, diplomat, 1st United States Ambassador to West Germany

1963 Sylvia Plath
American poet

1650 René Descartes
French philosopher, mathematician
 
1809
Robert Fulton patents steamboat
1929
Vatican City, the world's smallest country is made an enclave in Rome, Italy
1963
one of the 1st U.S. cooking shows debuted on Boston,Mass WGBH featuring U.S. chef Julia Child 'The French Chef'
1989
Barbara Harris becomes 1st U.S, Bishop of a U.S. Episcopal Church in Massachusetts
2015
Francesco Schettino, Capt of cruise ship, Costa Concorde that ran aground in 2012 killing 32 passengers is sentenced to 16 yrs in prison
 
Feb 11th Birthdays:
1847
Thomas Edison- U.S. inventor lightbulb, motion picture camera,phonograph
1919
Eva Gabor- Hungarian born actress/ singer/ comedienne best known TV role' Lisa Douglas' in CBS sitcom' Green Acres' '65-'71 co starred with Eddie Albert
1926
Leslie Neilsen- Canadian actor Forbidden PLanet, comedy spoof movies Naked Gun,Spy Hard
1936
Burt Reynolds- actor Deliverance, Smokey&The Bandit, Cannonball, famously posed nude as centerfold in Cosmo magazine
1962
Sheryl Crow- Grammy winning singer/ songwriter 'All I Want to Do,If It Makes You Happy'
1969
Jennifer Aniston- actress best known TV role' Rachel' on NBC sitcom' Friends'
Deaths:
1650
Rene Descartes- French philosopher "I Think Therefore I Am' 53
1932
Sylvia Path- U.S. poet/ author' The Bell Jar' 30 {suicide}
1986
Frank Hubert- sci fi author' Dune' 65
1994
Sorrell Booke actor best known TV role' Boss Hogg' in CBS show' Dukes of Hazzard 64
2006
Peter Benchly- author, Jaws, The Deep 65
 
On This Day In History, February 12th

2002 The trial of Slobodan Milošević begins at The Hague
The former presidents of Yugoslavia and Serbia died 4 years later, before the trial's conclusion.

1994 Edvard Munch's “The Scream” is stolen
The iconic painting, one of a series of four, was recovered several months later.

1924 George Gershwin's “Rhapsody in Blue” premieres
The piece is among Gershwin's best-known compositions and one of the most popular pieces of the symphonic jazz genre.

1912 The last Emperor of China abdicates at the age of 6
Puyi was expelled from the Forbidden City after a military coup in 1924. He died on October 17, 1967, aged 61.

1909 The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People is founded in the U.S.
The NAACP is one of the oldest and most influential civil rights organizations in the United States.
 
Births On This Day, February 12th 🎂

1877 Louis Renault
French businessman co-founded Renault

1876 13th Dalai Lama
1870 Marie Lloyd
English actress, singer

1809 Abraham Lincoln
American lawyer, politician, 16th President of the United States

1809 Charles Darwin
English scientist, theorist

Deaths On This Day, February 12th 🪦

2000 Charles M. Schulz
American cartoonist

2000 Screamin' Jay Hawkins
American singer-songwriter, producer, actor

1979 Jean Renoir
French director

1804 Immanuel Kant
Russian/German philosopher
 
1851
Edward Hargrave&3 other men discover gold in Ophri, New South Wales, the start of Australia's 1st gold rush
1909
NAACP{ National Assn for the Advancement of Colored People} was founded in NYC,its the oldest/ largest civil rights organization
1914
George Gershwin's'Rhapsody in Blues' debuts at a concert'Experiment in Modern Music' held by Paul Whitman&Orchestra in NYC
1955
McGuire Sisters single' Sincerely' goes to #1 on music charts, stays there for 10 wks
2016
Pope Francis &Patriarch Kirill meet in Havana,Cuba, 1st meeting between Catholic &Russian Orothodox church heads in over 1,000years
 
Feb 12th BIrthdays:
1809
Charles Darwin- English naturalist
1893
Omar Bradley- U.S. WWII General, 1st Chairman of U.S Joint Chiefs of Staff 1949-1953
1934
Bill Russell- Baskeball Hall of Fame center with NBA Boston Celtics
1952
Michael McDonald- singer/ songwriter/ keyboardist with Doobie Brothers '75-'82 wrote hit singles' Minute By Minute,What A Fool Believes, Takin It to The Streets ,has successful solo career
1968
Chynna Phillips- pop singer with trio'Wilson Phillips' 'Hold On' other 2 in group Carny&Wendy Wilson{ daughters of Beach Boy Brian Wilson} Chynna parents Michelle &John Phillips of 60's group 'Mamas&Papas'
Deaths:
1789
Ethan Allan- American Revoluntary war patriot 51
1971
James Cash Penney- founder of U. S. dept store JC Penney 95
1985
Nicholas Colasanto- actor best known TV role' Coach' on NBC sitcom' Cheers' 61{heart attack}
2000
Charles Schultz- U.S. cartoonist, creator of comic strip 'Peanuts' 70 {cancer}
2022
Ivan Reitman- Canadian film director Stripes, Ghostbusters, Dave 75
 
On This Day In History, February 13th

2008 Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd apologizes to Indigenous Australians for the “stolen generations”
Between 10 and 30 percent of Aboriginal and Torres Islander children were removed from their families until the 1960s.

2004 The universe's largest known diamond is discovered
BPM 37093 is a white dwarf star about 50 light-years from Earth and was nicknamed “Lucy” after The Beatles' song “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds”.

2000 The last “Peanuts” comic strip is published
The 17,897th-and-last installment was published in newspapers around the world on the day following the death of its creator, Charles M. Schulz.

1991 Two “smart bombs” kill at least 408 civilians in Baghdad
The Amiriyah shelter bombing was one of the worst cases of civilian killings during “Operation Desert Storm”.

1945 The German city of Dresden is destroyed by a bombing raid
According to estimates, up to 25,000 people were killed in the raids that lasted 3 days.
 

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