Kindle Reset Instructions

I am going to set this message up to go out periodically for each of my blogs: if you’ve seen it before and know what I’m talking about, or if you’re just plain ‘ole tired of seeing it don’t worry – I’ll be back with a new post soon.

Don’t have a Kindle? Well, you should get one! They range in price from $69 – $499 depending upon the number of bells and whistles you get. You can click here to give the kind of Kindle I primarily use a look.

There seems to be a Kindle problem for a lot of folks who own an e-Ink Kindle – that is, what do you need to do if (a) this or any other blog or newspaper all of a sudden stops updating each day on the Kindle, and (b) you can see the blog or newspaper post in the to be downloaded list of the “Manage Your Kindle” section of the Amazon website and for some unexplained reason it doesn’t show up on your Kindle..

You will need to write this down, or try to memorize it, because if it happens to you I’m willing to bet you won’t remember unless you’ve reset your Kindle a few times!

If you would like to print this out, click here to read my post on the Kindle Books Plus a Few Other Tips blog to how to capture screen shots on your e-Ink Kindle.

If this happens to you, you will need to reboot your Kindle. Here is how you do it:

1. Click the “Home” button to get back to your home screen.
2. Click the “Menu” button, and select “Settings.”
3. You will see several options, but “reboot” is not one of those options. Press the “Menu” button again.
4. You will have several options, but choose and click the “Restart” button.

Once you do that, it will take about 1-2 minutes to reboot. Make sure your wireless is on, and the Kindle will go look in the Amazon store to see what is pending to be downloaded and viola! You should be back in business. If you ever need to restart your Kindle, I hope this helps!

Want to have this blog sent wirelessly to your e-Ink Kindle vs. reading it on your computer? Try out the free two-week subscription!  Click here for the Amazon page for Kindle Books Plus a Few Other Tips or type in http://smarturl.it/fkblog into your computer’s web browser.

 

On This Day in History February 28

February 28 – Events:

• 202 BC – coronation ceremony of Liu Bang as Emperor Gaozu of Han takes place, initiating four centuries of the Han Dynasty’s rule over China.
• 364 – Valentinian I becomes Roman Emperor.
• 870 – The Fourth Council of Constantinople closes.
• 1066 – Westminster Abbey opens.
• 1638 – Scottish Presbyterians sign National Convenant, Greyfriars, Edinburgh.
• 1700 – Today is followed by March 1 in Sweden, thus creating the Swedish calendar.
• 1704 – Elias Neau, a Frenchman, opens a school for blacks in NYC.
• 1704 – Indians attack Deerfield, Massachusetts, kill 40, kidnap 100.
• 1708 – Slave revolt, Newton, Long IslandNY, 11 die.
• 1710 – In the Battle of Helsingborg, 14,000 Danish invaders under Jørgen Rantzau are decisively defeated by an equally sized Swedish force under Magnus Stenbock.
• 1784 – John Wesley charters the MethodistChurch.
• 1787 – The charter establishing the institution now known as the University of Pittsburgh is granted.
• 1827 – The Baltimore & Ohio Railroad is incorporated, becoming the first railroad in America offering commercial transportation of both people and freight.
• 1838 – Robert Nelson, leader of the Patriotes, proclaims the independence of Lower Canada (today Québec).
• 1844 – A gun on USS Princeton explodes while the boat is on a Potomac River cruise, killing two United States Cabinet members and several others.
• 1849 – Regular steamboat service from the west to the east coast of the United States begins with the arrival of the SS California in San FranciscoBay, 4 months 21 days after leaving New YorkHarbor.
• 1850 – The University of Utah opens in Salt Lake City, Utah.
• 1854 – The Republican Party of the United States is organized in Ripon, Wisconsin.
• 1861 – Colorado is organized as a United States territory.
• 1870 – The Bulgarian Exarchate is established by decree of Sultan Abd-ul-Aziz of the Ottoman Empire.
• 1883 – The first vaudeville theater opens in Boston, Massachusetts.
• 1885 – The American Telephone and Telegraph Company is incorporated in New YorkState as the subsidiary of American Bell Telephone.
• 1897 – Queen Ranavalona III, the last monarch of Madagascar, is deposed by a French military force.
• 1900 – The Second Boer War: The 118-day “Siege of Ladysmith” is lifted.
• 1922 – The United Kingdom accepts the independence of Egypt.
• 1933 – Gleichschaltung: The Reichstag Fire Decree is passed in Germany a day after the Reichstag fire.
• 1935 – Nylon is invented by Wallace Carothers.
• 1939 – The first issue of Serbian weekly magazine Politikin zabavnik is published.
• 1939 – The erroneous word “Dord” is discovered in the Webster’s New International Dictionary, Second Edition, prompting an investigation.
• 1940 – Basketball is televised for the first time (Fordham University vs. the University of Pittsburgh in MadisonSquareGarden).
• 1942 – The heavy cruiser USS Houston (CA-30) is sunk in the Battle of Sunda Strait with 693 crew members killed.
• 1943 – “Porgy & Bess” opens on Broadway with Anne Brown & Todd Duncan.
• 1947 – 228 Incident: In Taiwan, civil disorder is put down with the loss of 30,000 civilian lives.
• 1953 – James D. Watson and Francis Crick announce to friends that they have determined the chemical structure of DNA; the formal announcement takes place on April 25 following publication in April Nature (published April 2).
• 1958 – A school bus in Floyd County, Kentucky hits a wrecker truck and plunges down an embankment into the rain-swollen LevisaForkRiver. The driver and 26 children die in what remains the worst school bus accident in U.S. history.
• 1971 – Jack Nicklaus completes his second golf grand slam.
• 1972 – Sino-American relations: The United States and People’s Republic of China sign the Shanghai Communiqué.
• 1974 – After seven years, the United States and Egypt re-establish diplomatic relations.
• 1975 – A major tube train crash at Moorgate station, London kills 43 people.
• 1983 – The final episode of M*A*S*H is broadcast in the USA, becoming the most watched television episode in history, with 106–125 million viewers in the U.S. (estimate varies by source).
• 1985 – The Provisional Irish Republican Army carries out a mortar attack on the Royal Ulster Constabulary police station at Newry, killing nine officers in the highest loss of life for the RUC on a single day.
• 1986 – Olof Palme, Prime Minister of Sweden, is assassinated in Stockholm.
• 1991 – The first Gulf War ends.
• 1993 – Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents raid the Branch Davidian church in Waco, Texas with a warrant to arrest the group’s leader David Koresh. Four BATF agents and five Davidians die in the initial raid, starting a 51-day standoff.
• 1997 – The North Hollywood shootout takes place.
• 1998 – First flight of RQ-4 Global Hawk, the first unmanned aerial vehicle certified to file its own flight plans and fly regularly in U.S. civilian airspace.
• 1998 – Kosovo War: Serbian police begin the offensive against the Kosovo Liberation Army in Kosovo.
• 2001 – The Nisqually Earthquake measuring 6.8 on the Richter Scale hits the NisquallyValley and the Seattle, Tacoma, and Olympia area of the U.S. state of Washington.
• 2001 – Six passengers and four railway staff are killed and a further 82 people suffer serious injuries in the Selby rail crash.
• 2004 – Over 1 million Taiwanese participating in the 228 Hand-in-Hand Rally form a 500- kilometre (300-mile) long human chain to commemorate the 228 Incident in 1947.
• 2005 – Lebanon’s pro-Syrian prime minister, Omar Karami, resigns amid large anti-Syria street demonstrations in Beirut.
• 2007 – Jupiter flyby of the New Horizons Pluto-observer spacecraft.

February 28 – Birthdays:

• 1155 – Henry the Young King, son of Henry II of England (d. 1183)
• 1261 – Margaret of Scotland, queen of Norway (d. 1283)
• 1409 – Elisabeth II of Bohemia (d. 1442)
• 1533 – Michel de Montaigne, French writer (d. 1592)
• 1552 – Joost Bürgi, Swiss clockmaker (d. 1632)
• 1612 – John Pearson, English theologian (d. 1686)
• 1670 – Benjamin Wadsworth, American President of HarvardUniversity (d. 1737)
• 1675 – Guillaume Delisle, French cartographer (d. 1726)
• 1683 – René Antoine Ferchault de Réaumur, French scientist (d. 1757)
• 1704 – Louis Godin, French astronomer (d. 1760)
• 1712 – Louis-Joseph de Montcalm, French military commander (d. 1759)
• 1724 – George Townshend, 1st Marquess Townshend, British field marshal (d. 1807)
• 1812 – Berthold Auerbach, German poet and author (d. 1882)
• 1820 – John Tenniel, English illustrator (d. 1914)
• 1823 – Ernest Renan, French philosopher (d. 1892)
• 1824 – Blondin, French tightrope walker (d. 1897)
• 1833 – Alfred von Schlieffen, German field marshal (d. 1913)
• 1838 – Maurice Lévy, French engineer (d. 1910)
• 1840 – Henri Duveyrier, French explorer (d. 1892)
• 1841 – Adrien Albert Marie de Mun, French politician (d. 1914)
• 1851 – Samuel W. McCall, 47 Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1923)
• 1865 – Wilfred Grenfell, medical missionary (d. 1940)
• 1878 – Pierre Fatou, French mathematician (d. 1929)
• 1878 – Artur Kapp, Estonian composer (d. 1952)
• 1882 – Geraldine Farrar, American soprano (d. 1967)
• 1882 – José Vasconcelos, Mexican writer (d. 1959)
• 1882 – Pádraic Ó Conaire, Irish writer (d. 1928)
• 1894 – Ben Hecht, American playwright (d. 1964)
• 1895 – Marcel Pagnol, French novelist, playwright and film director (d. 1974)
• 1896 – Philip Showalter Hench, American physician, Nobel laureate (d. 1965)
• 1900 – Wolfram Hirth, German pilot (d. 1959)
• 1901 – Linus Pauling, American chemist and activist, Nobel laureate (d. 1994)
• 1903 – Vincente Minnelli, American film director (d. 1986)
• 1906 – Bugsy Siegel, American gangster (d. 1947)
• 1907 – Milton Caniff, American cartoonist (Terry and the Pirates, SteveCanyon) (d. 1988)
• 1908 – Billie Bird, American actress (d. 2002)
• 1908 – Alexander Golitzen, American art director (d. 2005)
• 1909 – Stephen Spender, English poet (d. 1995)
• 1912 – Clara Petacci, Italian mistress of Benito Mussolini (d. 1945)
• 1915 – Ketti Frings, American Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright and screenwriter, (d. 1981)
• 1915 – Peter Medawar, Brazilian-born scientist, Nobel laureate (d. 1987)
• 1915 – Zero Mostel, American actor (d. 1977)
• 1921 – Pierre Clostermann, French World War II pilot (d. 2006)
• 1923 – Charles Durning, American actor
• 1926 – Svetlana Alliluyeva, Soviet defector, daughter of Joseph Stalin
• 1925 – Harry H Corbett, English actor (d. 1982)
• 1929 – Hayden Fry, American football coach
• 1929 – Frank Gehry, Canadian-American architect
• 1929 – John Montague, Irish poet
• 1929 – Joseph Rouleau, French Canadian bass opera singer
• 1930 – Leon Neil Cooper, American physicist, Nobel laureate
• 1930 – Gavin MacLeod, American actor
• 1931 – Dean Smith, American basketball coach
• 1932 – Don Francks, Canadian actor
• 1933 – Rein Taagepera, Estonian politician
• 1939 – Daniel C. Tsui, Chinese-born physicist, Nobel laureate
• 1939 – Tommy Tune, American dancer
• 1940 – Mario Andretti, Italian-American race car driver and one-time F1 world champion
• 1940 – Joe South, American singer
• 1942 – Frank Bonner, American actor
• 1942 – Brian Jones, English musician (The Rolling Stones) (d. 1969)
• 1942 – Dino Zoff, Italian footballer
• 1943 – Barbara Acklin, American soul singer (d. 1998)
• 1943 – Charles Bernstein, American composer
• 1944 – Win Aung, Burmese politician
• 1944 – Kelly Bishop, American actress
• 1944 – Sepp Maier, German footballer
• 1945 – Bubba Smith, American football player and actor
• 1946 – Robin Cook, British politician (d. 2005)
• 1947 – Stephanie Beacham, English actress
• 1948 – Steven Chu, American physicist, Nobel laureate
• 1948 – Mike Figgis, English director
• 1948 – Bernadette Peters, American actress and singer
• 1948 – Mercedes Ruehl, American actress
• 1951 – Bill Cratty, American modern dancer and choreographer (d. 1998)
• 1952 – William Finn, American composer
• 1953 – Ingo Hoffmann, Brazilian racing driver
• 1953 – Paul Krugman, American economist
• 1954 – Brian Billick, American football coach
• 1955 – Gilbert Gottfried, American comedian
• 1956 – Adrian Dantley, American basketball player
• 1956 – Jimmy Nicholl, Canadian-born Northern Irish footballer
• 1956 – Mike Tenay, American wrestling commentator
• 1957 – Paul Delph, American musician and producer (d. 1996)
• 1957 – Ainsley Harriott, British celebrity chef
• 1957 – John Turturro, American actor
• 1957 – Cindy Wilson, American singer (The B-52’s)
• 1958 – Jeanne Mas, French singer and actress
• 1960 – Dorothy Stratten, Canadian actress (d. 1980)
• 1961 – Rae Dawn Chong, Canadian actress
• 1961 – Mark Latham, Australian politician
• 1961 – René Simard, French Canadian singer and TV host
• 1961 – Eric Bachelart, Belgian racing driver
• 1963 – Claudio Chiappucci, Italian cyclist
• 1964 – Djamolidine Abdoujaparov, Uzbekistan cyclist
• 1966 – Paulo Futre, Portuguese footballer
• 1967 – Colin Cooper, English footballer
• 1968 – Stéphan Lebeau, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1969 – Butch Leitzinger, American race car driver
• 1969 – Robert Sean Leonard, American actor
• 1969 – Tor Øivind Ødegaard, Norwegian track runner
• 1969 – Patrick Monahan, American singer (Train)
• 1970 – Daniel Handler, American writer, better known as Lemony Snicket
• 1970 – Noureddine Morceli, Algerian athlete
• 1971 – Tristan Louis, American writer
• 1971 – Junya Nakano, Japanese composer
• 1971 – Peter Stebbings, Canadian actor
• 1972 – Rory Cochrane, American actor
• 1973 – Eric Lindros, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1973 – Nicolas Minassian, French racing driver
• 1974 – Lee Carsley, Irish footballer
• 1974 – Moana Mackey, New Zealand politician
• 1975 – Mike Rucker, American football player
• 1976 – Ali Larter, American actress and model
• 1976 – Adam Pine, Australian swimmer
• 1976 – Guillaume Lemay-Thivierge, Canadian actor
• 1977 – Jason Aldean, American country singer
• 1978 – Benjamin Raich, Austrian Olympic skier
• 1978 – Jamaal Tinsley, American basketball player
• 1978 – Mariano Zabaleta, Argentine tennis player
• 1979 – Sébastien Bourdais, French racing driver
• 1979 – Michael Bisping, English mixed martial artist
• 1979 – Ivo Karlovic, Croatian tennis player
• 1979 – Primož Peterka, Slovenian ski jumper
• 1980 – Pascal Bosschaart, Dutch footballer
• 1980 – Lucian Bute, Romanian-born Quebec boxer
• 1980 – Piotr Giza, Polish footballer
• 1980 – Tayshaun Prince, American basketball player
• 1981 – Brian Bannister, American baseball player
• 1981 – Florent Serra, French tennis player
• 1982 – Natalia Vodianova, Russian supermodel
• 1984 – Ben Fagan, American musician and reality show contestant
• 1984 – Karolína Kurková, Czech supermodel
• 1985 – Fefe Dobson, Canadian singer
• 1985 – Jelena Jankovic, Serbian tennis player
• 1987 – Kerrea Gilbert, English footballer
• 1988 – Markéta Irglová, Czech songwriter and actress
• 1989 – Zhang Liyin, Chinese R&B singer
• 1991 – Sarah Bolger, Irish actress
• 2007 – Princess Lalla Khadija of Morocco

February 28 – Deaths:

• 1261 – Henry III, Duke of Brabant (b. c. 1230)
• 1326 – Duke Leopold I of Austria (b. 1290)
• 1453 – Isabella, Duchess of Lorraine (b. 1400)
• 1485 – Niclas, Graf von Abensberg, German soldier (b. 1441)
• 1510 – Juan de la Cosa, Spanish cartographer and explorer
• 1525 – Cuauhtémoc, Aztec ruler
• 1572 – Aegidius Tschudi, Swiss historian (b. 1505)
• 1621 – Cosimo II de’ Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (b. 1590)
• 1648 – King Christian IV of Denmark and Norway (b. 1577)
• 1746 – Hermann von der Hardt, German historian (b. 1660)
• 1786 – John Gwynn, English architect and engineer (b. 1713)
• 1788 – Thomas Cushing, American Continental Congressman (b. 1725)
• 1857 – André Dumont, Belgian geologist (b. 1809)
• 1869 – Alphonse de Lamartine, French writer and poet (b. 1790)
• 1916 – Henry James, American writer (b. 1843)
• 1925 – Friedrich Ebert, Chancellor of Germany (b. 1871)
• 1929 – Clemens von Pirquet, Austrian physician (b. 1874)
• 1932 – Guillaume Bigourdan, French astronomer (b. 1851)
• 1935 – Chiquinha Gonzaga, Brazilian composer (b. 1847).
• 1936 – Charles Nicolle, French bacteriologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or  Medicine (b. 1866)
• 1941 – King Alfonso XIII of Spain (b. 1886)
• 1942 – Karel Doorman, Dutch admiral (b. 1889)
• 1956 – Emile Buisson, French murderer executed (b. 1902)
• 1959 – Maxwell Anderson, American playwright and film writer (b. 1888)
• 1963 – Rajendra Prasad, First President of India (b. 1884)
• 1966 – Jonathan Hale, Canadian-born actor (b. 1891)
• 1967 – Henry Luce, American publisher (b. 1898)
• 1974 – Bobby Bloom, American singer/songwriter (b. 1946)
• 1977 – Eddie ‘Rochester’ Anderson, American actor (b. 1905)
• 1978 – Philip Ahn, American actor (b. 1905)
• 1978 – Zara Cully, American actress (b. 1892)
• 1978 – Eric Frank Russell, English author (b. 1905)
• 1979 – Paul Alverdes, German writer (b. 1897)
• 1985 – David Byron, English singer (Uriah Heep) (b. 1947)
• 1985 – Ray Ellington, English singer (b. 1916)
• 1986 – Olof Palme, Prime Minister of Sweden (b. 1927)
• 1986 – Laura Z. Hobson, American novelist (b. 1900)
• 1991 – Reinhard Bendix, German sociologist (b. 1916)
• 1991 – Wassily Hoeffding, American statistician (b. 1914)
• 1993 – Ishiro Honda, Japanese film director (b. 1911)
• 1993 – Ruby Keeler, Canadian actress and dancer (b. 1910)
• 1998 – Dermot Morgan, Irish actor and comedian (b. 1952)
• 1998 – Arkady Shevchenko, Soviet diplomat (b. 1930)
• 1999 – Christine Glanville, British Puppeteer (. 1924)
• 2002 – Mary Stuart, American actress (b. 1926)
• 2002 – Helmut Zacharias, German violinist (b. 1920)
• 2003 – Chris Brasher, English athlete (b. 1928)
• 2003 – Fidel Sánchez Hernández, President of El Salvador (b. 1917)
• 2003 – Roger Michael Needham, British cryptographer (b. 1935)
• 2003 – Rudolf Kingslake, Lens designer, and Engineer (b. 1903)
• 2004 – Daniel J. Boorstin, American historian, writer, and Librarian of Congress (b. 1914)
• 2004 – Carmen Laforet, famed Spanish novelist
• 2004 – Andres Nuiamäe, Estonian soldier (b. 1982)
• 2006 – Owen Chamberlain, American physicist, Nobel laureate (b. 1920)
• 2007 – Baron Charles Forte, Italian-born hotelier (b. 1908)
• 2007 – Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. American historian and political commentator (b.1917)
• 2007 – Billy Thorpe, Australian musician (Billy Thorpe & the Aztecs) (b. 1946)
• 2008 – Mike Smith, English musician (The Dave Clark Five) (b. 1943)

February 28 – Holidays:

• Bahá’í Faith – Day 3 of Ayyám-i-Há (Intercalary Days) – days in the Bahá’í calendar devoted to service and gift giving.
• Kalevala Day, The Day of Finnish Culture – Finland
• Peace Memorial Day, the day of commemorating the 228 Incident – Taiwan
• Liturgical observances:
  • Mar Abba
  • Abercius (martyr)
  • Saint Hilarius (died 468)
  • Saint Romanus (died 463)
  • Saint Oswald (d. 992)
  • Saint Rufinus

On This Day in History February 27

February 27 – Events:

• 837 – 15th recorded perihelion passage of Halley’s Comet.
• 1526 – Saxony & Hesse form League of Gotha (league of Protestant princes).
• 1560 – The Treaty of Berwick, which would expel the French from Scotland, is signed by England and the Congregation of Scotland.
• 1594 – Henry IV is crowned King of France.
• 1617 – Sweden and Russia sign the Treaty of Stolbovo, ending the Ingrian War and shutting Russia out of the Baltic Sea.
• 1626 – Yuan Chonghuan is appointed Governor of Liaodong, after he led the Chinese into a great victory against the Manchurians under Nurhaci.
• 1700 – The island of New Britain is discovered.
• 1801 – Washington, DC is placed under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Congress.
• 1803 – Great fire in Bombay, India.
• 1812 – Poet Lord Byron gives his first address as a member of the House of Lords, in defense of Luddite violence against Industrialism in his home county of Nottinghamshire.
• 1813 – First federal vaccination legislation enacted.
• 1813 – Congress authorizes use of steamboats to transport mail.
• 1814 – Beethoven’s 8th symphony premiers.
• 1827 – First Mardi Gras celebration in New Orleans.
• 1844 – The Dominican Republic gains independence from Haiti.
• 1860 – Abraham Lincoln makes a speech at Cooper Union in the city of New York that is largely responsible for his election to the Presidency.
• 1861 – A crowd in Warsaw protesting against Russian rule over Poland is fired upon by Russian troops, killing five protesters.
• 1864 – American Civil War: The first Northern prisoners arrive at the Confederate prison at Andersonville, Georgia.
• 1874 – Baseball first played in England, at Lord’s Cricket Grounds.
• 1883 – Oscar Hammerstein patents first cigar-rolling machine.
• 1890 – D. Needham & P. Kerrigan box 100 rounds (6 hours, 39 minutes), San Francisco; match is a draw
• 1900 – Second Boer War: In South Africa, British military leaders receive an unconditional notice of surrender from Boer General Piet Cronje at the Battle of Paardeberg.
• 1900 – The British Labour Party is founded.
• 1906 – France & Britain agree to joint control of New Hebrides.
• 1919 – American Association for the Hard of Hearing formed, New York.
• 1921 – The International Working Union of Socialist Parties is founded in Vienna.
• 1922 – A challenge to the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, allowing women the right to vote, is rebuffed by the Supreme Court of the United States in Leser v. Garnett.
• 1933 – Reichstag fire: Germany’s parliament building in Berlin, the Reichstag, is set on fire.
• 1938 – Britain & France recognize Franco government in Spain.
• 1939 – American Civil Rights Movement: Sit-down strikes are outlawed by the Supreme Court of the United States.
• 1940 – Martin Kamen and Sam Ruben discover carbon-14
• 1942 – World War II: During the Battle of the JavaSea, an allied (ABDA) strike force is defeated by a Japanese task force in the JavaSea in the Dutch East Indies.
• 1943 – The Smith Mine #3 in Bearcreek, Montana, explodes, killing 74 men.
• 1943 – The Rosenstrasse protest starts in Berlin.
• 1949 – Chaim Weizmann becomes first Israeli president.
• 1951 – The Twenty-second Amendment to the United States Constitution, limiting Presidents to two terms, is ratified.
• 1961 – The first congress of the Spanish Trade Union Organisation is inaugurated.
• 1963 – The Dominican Republic receives its first democratically elected president, Juan Bosch, since the end of the dictatorship led by Rafael Trujillo.
• 1964 – The government of Italy asks for help to keep the Leaning Tower of Pisa from toppling over.
• 1967 – Dominica gains independence from the United Kingdom.
• 1973 – The American Indian Movement occupies Wounded Knee, South Dakota.
• 1974 – People magazine is published for the first time.
• 1976 – The formerly Spanish territory of Western Sahara, under the auspices of the Polisario Front declares independence as the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic.
• 1981 – Greatest passenger load on a commercial airliner-610 on Boeing 747.
• 1982 – Earl Anthony becomes first pro bowler to win more than $1 million.
• 1982 – Wayne Williams found guilty of murdering 2 of 28 blacks in Atlanta.
• 1983 – Eamonn Coghlan set mile record of 3:49.78.
• 1986 – The United States Senate allows its debates to be televised on a trial basis.
• 1989 – Venezuela is rocked by the riots of Caracazo. 
• 1991 – Singer James Brown is released from prison.
• 1999 – Olusegun Obasanjo becomes Nigeria’s first elected president since mid-1983. 
• 2002 – Godhra train burning, a Muslim mob kills 59 Hindu pilgrims returning from Ayodhya.
• 2003 – Rowan Williams is enthroned as the 104th Archbishop of Canterbury in the Anglican church.
• 2004 – A bombing of a Superferry by Abu Sayyaf in the Philippines worst terrorist attack kills 116.  
• 2007 – The Chinese Correction: the Shanghai Stock Exchange falls 9%, the largest drop in 10 years.

February 27 – Birthdays:

• 272 – Constantine I, Roman emperor (d. 337)
• 1691 – EdwardCave, English editor and publisher (d. 1754)
• 1711 – Constantine Mavrocordatos, Prince of Wallachia and Prince of Moldavia (d. 1769)
• 1779 – Thomas Hazlehurst, English soap and alkali manufacturer (d. 1842)
• 1807 – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, American poet (d. 1882)
• 1831 – Hiram Bond Everest, American cofounder of The Vacuum Oil Company (d. 1913)
• 1862 – Anastasios Metaxas, Greek architect and shooter (d. 1937)
• 1878 – Alvan T. Fuller, Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1958)
• 1886 – Hugo Black, U.S. Supreme Court Justice (d. 1971)
• 1888 – Roberto Assagioli, Italian psychiatrist (d. 1974)
• 1888 – Earl Caddock, American professional wrestler (d. 1950)
• 1888 – Lotte Lehmann, German singer (d. 1976)
• 1890 – Freddie Keppard, American jazz musician (d. 1933)
• 1891 – David Sarnoff, Russian-born broadcast pioneer (d. 1971)
• 1891 – Anne Samson, oldest-ever nun documented (d. 2004)
• 1892 – William Demarest, American actor (d. 1983)
• 1897 – Marian Anderson, American contralto (d. 1993)
• 1899 – Charles Best, Canadian medical scientist (d. 1978)
• 1902 – Gene Sarazen, American golfer (d. 1999)
• 1902 – John Steinbeck, American writer, Nobel laureate (d. 1968)
• 1903 – Grethe Weiser, German actress (d. 1970)
• 1904 – James T. Farrell, American writer (d. 1979)
• 1904 – Yulii Borisovich Khariton, Russian physicist (d. 1996)
• 1904 – André Leducq, French cyclist (d. 1980)
• 1904 – Chick Fullis, American baseball player (d. 1946)
• 1905 – Franchot Tone, American actor (d. 1968)
• 1907 – Mildred Bailey, American singer (d. 1951)
• 1910 – Joan Bennett, American actress (d. 1990)
• 1910 – Peter De Vries, American writer (d. 1993)
• 1910 – Ted Horn, American race car driver (d. 1948)
• 1910 – Clarence “Kelly” Johnson, American aircraft engineer (Lockheed Skunk Works; d. 1990)
• 1912 – Lawrence Durrell, British writer (d. 1990)
• 1912 – Kusumagraj, Indian writer (d. 1999)
• 1913 – Irwin Shaw, American writer (d. 1984)
• 1913 – Kazimierz Sabbat, Polish president (d. 1989)
• 1917 – John Connally, Governor of Texas (d. 1993)
• 1922 – Hans Rookmaaker, Dutch professor and art historian (d. 1977)
• 1923 – Dexter Gordon, American jazz saxophonist (d. 1990)
• 1925 – Samuel Dash, American Congressional counsel (d. 2004)
• 1926 – David H. Hubel, Canadian neuroscientist, Nobel Prize laureate
• 1927 – Lynn Cartwright, American actress (d. 2004)
• 1927 – Guy Mitchell, American singer (d. 1999)
• 1928 – Ariel Sharon, former Prime Minister of Israel
• 1929 – Djalma Santos, Brazilian footballer
• 1930 – Paul von Ragué Schleyer, American chemist
• 1930 – Peter Stone, American writer (d. 2003)
• 1930 – Joanne Woodward, American actress
• 1932 – Elizabeth Taylor, British-American actress
• 1933 – Raymond Berry, American football player
• 1934 – Vincent Fourcade, French interior designer (d. 1992)
• 1934 – N. Scott Momaday, American writer
• 1934 – Ralph Nader, American consumer activist
• 1934 – Van Williams, American actor
• 1935 – Mirella Freni, Italian soprano
• 1936 – Ron Barassi, Australian rules footballer
• 1936 – Roger Mahony, fourth Archbishop of Los Angeles
• 1937 – David Ackles, American singer songwriter (d. 1999)
• 1937 – Barbara Babcock, American actress
• 1939 – Peter Revson, American racecar driver (d. 1974)
• 1940 – Howard Hesseman, American actor
• 1940 – Bill Hunter, Australian actor
• 1941 – Paddy Ashdown, British politician
• 1942 – Robert H. Grubbs, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
• 1942 – Charlayne Hunter-Gault, American journalist
• 1942 – Michel Forget, French Canadian actor
• 1943 – Mary Frann, American actress (d. 1998)
• 1943 – Morten Lauridsen, American composer
• 1944 – Ken Grimwood, American writer (d. 2003)
• 1945 – Carl Anderson, American singer and actor (d. 2004)
• 1947 – Gidon Kremer, Latvian violinist
• 1951 – Steve Harley, British rock musician (Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel)
• 1952 – Stathis Psaltis, Greek actor
• 1953 – Gabriela Svobodová, Czech cross country skier
• 1954 – Neal Schon, American musician (Journey)
• 1955 – Peter Christopherson, English musician, video director and designer
• 1957 – Viktor Markin, Russian athlete
• 1957 – Timothy Spall, English actor
• 1957 – Danny Antonucci, Canadian animator
• 1957 – Adrian Smith, English musician (Iron Maiden)
• 1958 – Naas Botha, South African rugby union footballer
• 1958 – Nancy Spungen, girlfriend of Sid Vicious (d. 1978)
• 1959 – Johnny Van Zant, American singer (Lynyrd Skynyrd)
• 1960 – Andrés Gómez, Ecuadorian tennis player
• 1962 – Adam Baldwin, American actor
• 1962 – Grant Show, American actor
• 1963 – Pär Nuder, Swedish politician
• 1964 – Todd Bodine, American race car driver
• 1965 – Noah Emmerich, American actor
• 1965 – Frank Peter Zimmermann, German violinist
• 1965 – Joakim Sundström, Swedish sound editor, sound designer and musician
• 1966 – Donal Logue, Canadian actor
• 1968 – Matt Stairs, Canadian baseball player
• 1969 – Brad Vander Ark, American musician
• 1970 – Michael A. Burstein, American writer
• 1970 – Patricia Petibon, French opera singer
• 1971 – Derren Brown, British psychological illusionist
• 1971 – Rozonda “Chilli” Thomas, American singer (TLC)
• 1973 – Ali Tabatabaee, American Iranian rapper (Zebrahead)
• 1973 – Mark Taylor, Welsh rugby union footballer
• 1973 – Peter André, Australian singer – Husband to Katie Price, Glamour model
• 1975 – Prodromos Korkizoglou, Greek decathlete
• 1975 – Shelby Walker, American mixed martial artist (d. 2006)
• 1976 – Tony Gonzalez, American football player
• 1977 – Lance Hoyt, American professional wrestler
• 1977 – Ji Sung, South Korean actor
• 1977 – James Wan, Australian film director
• 1978 – James Beattie, English footballer
• 1980 – Bobby Valentino, American singer
• 1980 – Chelsea Clinton, daughter of Bill and Hillary Clinton
• 1981 – Josh Groban, American singer
• 1983 – Kate Mara, American actress
• 1983 – Hayley Angel Wardle, English actress
• 1984 – David Noel, American basketball player
• 1984 – Antti Tuisku, Finnish singer
• 1984 – Lotta Schelin, Swedish female footballer
• 1985 – Juliana Imai, Brazilian model
• 1989 – Kelly Breeding, American singer from B5
• 1991 – Azeem Rafiq, Yorkshire CCC & English U15 captain

February 27 – Deaths:

• 1659 – Henry Dunster, first President of Harvard College (b. 1609)
• 1699 – Charles Paulet, 1st Duke of Bolton, English politician (b. c. 1625)
• 1706 – John Evelyn, English diarist (b. 1620)
• 1720 – Samuel Parris, English-born Puritan minister (b. 1653)
• 1735 – John Arbuthnot, English physician and writer (b. 1667)
• 1844 – Nicholas Biddle, President of the Second Bank of the United States (b. 1786)
• 1887 – Alexander Borodin, Russian composer and chemist (b. 1833)
• 1892 – Louis Vuitton, French luggage maker (b. 1821)
• 1902 – Harry ‘Breaker’ Morant, Anglo-Australian Soldier executed in the Second Boer War under controversial circumstances (b. 1864)
• 1902 – Peter Handcock, Australian Soldier executed in the Second Boer War under controversial circumstances
• 1921 – Schofield Haigh, English cricketer (b. 1871)
• 1932 – William Southam, Canadian newspaper publisher (b. 1843)
• 1936 – Ivan Pavlov, Russian physiologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1849)
• 1936 – Joshua W. Alexander, U.S. Secretary of Commerce under Woodrow Wilson (b. 1852)
• 1941 – William D. Byron, U.S. Congressman (b. 1895)
• 1943 – Kostis Palamas, Greek poet, twice nominated for the Nobel prize (b. 1859)
• 1964 – Orry-Kelly, Australian costume designer (b. 1897)
• 1968 – Frankie Lymon, American singer (b. 1942)
• 1969 – Marius Barbeau, French Canadian folklorist (b. 1883)
• 1970 – Marie Dionne, one of the French Canadian Dionne quintuplets (b. 1934)
• 1972 – Pat Brady, American actor and singer (b. 1914)
• 1977 – John Dickson Carr, American author (b. 1905)
• 1978 – Vadim Salmanov, Russian composer (b. 1912)
• 1980 – George Tobias, American actor (b. 1901)
• 1981 – Jacob H. Gilbert, American politician (b. 1920)
• 1985 – Henry Cabot Lodge, American politician (b. 1902)
• 1986 – Jacques Plante, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1929)
• 1987 – Joan Greenwood, English actress and director (b. 1921)
• 1989 – Paul Oswald Ahnert, German astronomer (b. 1897)
• 1989 – Konrad Lorenz, Austrian zoologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1903)
• 1990 – Nahum Norbert Glatzer, Jewish-American scholar (b. 1903)
• 1992 – S. I. Hayakawa, Canadian-American linguist and politician (b. 1906)
• 1993 – Lillian Gish, American actress (b. 1893)
• 1998 – George H. Hitchings, American scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1905)
• 1998 – J. T. Walsh, American actor (b. 1943)
• 2002 – Spike Milligan, Irish comedian (b. 1918)
• 2003 – John Lanchbery, English composer (b. 1923)
• 2003 – Fred Rogers, American children’s television actor (b. 1928)
• 2004 – Paul Sweezy, American economist and editor (b. 1910)
• 2004 – Yoshihiko Amino, Japanese historians (b. 1928)
• 2006 – Otis Chandler, American newspaper publisher (b. 1927)
• 2006 – Robert Lee Scott, Jr., U.S. General, Flying Tiger, and author (b. 1908)
• 2006 – Linda Smith, British comedian (b. 1958)
• 2007 – Bobby Rosengarden, American jazz drummer (b. 1924)
• 2007 – Bernd von Freytag-Loringhoven, German soldier (b. 1914)
• 2008 – Myron Cope, American sports broadcaster (b. 1929)
• 2008 – William F. Buckley, Jr., American conservative author and commentator (b. 1925)
• 2008 – Boyd Coddington, American automobile designer (b. 1944)
• 2011 – Frank Woodruff Buckles, last American veteran of World War I (b. 1901)

February 27 – Holidays:

• Roman Empire – Equirria; horse races in honor of the war god Mars were held.
• Bahá’í Faith – Day 2 of Ayyám-i-Há (Intercalary Days) – days in the Bahá’í calendar devoted to service and gift giving.
• Dominican Republic – National Day.
• First day of Maslenitsa in Russia (2006)
• Saint Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows
• Saint Leander
• Saint Honorine

On This Day in History February 26

February 26 – Events:

• 747 BC – Epoch (origin) of Ptolemy’s Nabonassar Era.
• 364 – Valentinian I is proclaimed Roman Emperor.
• 1266 – Battle of Benevento: An army led by Charles, Count of Anjou, defeats a combined German and Sicilian force led by King Manfred of Sicily. Manfred is killed in the battle and Pope Clement IV invests Charles as king of Sicily and Naples.
• 1531 – Earthquake in LisbonPortugal, kills 20,000.
• 1616 – Inquisition delivers injunction to Galileo.
• 1658 – Treaty of Roskilde: After a devastating defeat in the Northern Wars (1655-1661), the King of Denmark-Norway is forced to give up nearly half his territory to Sweden to save the rest.
• 1794 – ChristiansborgCastle, Copenhagen burns down.
• 1797 – The Bank of England issues the first one-pound and two-pound notes.
• 1815 – Napoleon Bonaparte escapes from Elba.
• 1848 – The second FrenchRepublic is proclaimed.
• 1863 – U.S. President Abraham Lincoln signs the National Banking Act into law.
• 1870 – In New York City, the first pneumatic-subway opens.
• 1885 – The Berlin Act, which resulted from the Berlin Conference regulating European colonization and trade in Africa, is signed
• 1887 – At the SCG, George Lohmann becomes the first bowler to take eight wickets in a Test innings.
• 1917 – The Original Dixieland Jass Band records the first ever jazz record for the Victor Talking Machine Company in New York.
• 1919 – An act of the U.S. Congress establishes most of the Grand Canyon as a United StatesNational Park (see Grand CanyonNational Park).
• 1929 – The Grand TetonNational Park is created. .
• 1933 – Golden GateBridge ground-breaking ceremony held at Crissy Field.
• 1935 – The Luftwaffe is re-formed.
• 1935 – The Daventry Experiment, Robert Watson-Watt carries out a demonstration near Daventry which leads directly to the development of RADAR in the United Kingdom.
• 1935 – New York Yankees release Babe Ruth.
• 1936 – In the February 26 Incident, young Japanese military officers attempt to stage a coup against the government.
• 1952 – United Kingdom Prime Minister Winston Churchill announces that his nation has an atomic bomb.
• 1966 – Apollo Program: Launch of AS-201, the first flight of the Saturn IB rocket.
• 1970 – National Public Radio incorporates as a non-profit corporation.
• 1971 – Secretary-General U Thant signs United Nations proclamation of the vernal equinox as Earth Day.
• 1972 – The Buffalo Creek Flood caused by a burst dam kills 125 in West Virginia.
• 1984 – US troops withdraw from Beirut. President Ronald Reagan had sent the troops as a peacekeeping force in August 1982.
• 1986 – People Power Revolution in the Philippines.
• 1987 – Iran-Contra affair: The Tower Commission rebukes American President Ronald Reagan for not controlling his national security staff.
• 1990 – The Sandinistas are defeated in Nicaraguan elections.
• 1991 – Gulf War: On Baghdad Radio Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein announces the withdrawal of Iraqi troops from Kuwait.
• 1993 – WorldTradeCenter bombing: In New York City, a truck bomb parked below the NorthTower of the WorldTradeCenter explodes, killing 6 and injuring over a thousand.
• 1995 – The United Kingdom’s oldest investment banking firm, Barings Bank collapses after a securities broker, Nick Leeson, loses $1.4 billion by speculating on the Singapore International Monetary Exchange using futures contracts.
• 2001 – The Taliban destroy two giant Buddha statues in Bamyan, Afghanistan.
• 2004 – The United States lifts a ban on travel to Libya, ending travel restrictions to the nation that had lasted for 23 years.
• 2004 – Macedonian President Boris Trajkovski is killed in a plane crash near Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
• 2005 – Hosni Mubarak the president of Egypt orders the constitution changed to allow multi-candidate presidential elections before September 2005 by asking Egyptian parliament to amend Article 76 of the constitution.

February 26 – Birthdays:

• 1361 – Wenceslaus, Holy Roman Emperor, King of Bohemia (d. 1419)
• 1564 – Christopher Marlowe, English dramatist (d. 1593)
• 1587 – Stefano Landi, Italian composer (d. 1639)
• 1671 – Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 3rd Earl of Shaftesbury, English politician and philosopher (d. 1713)
• 1672 – Antoine Augustine Calmet, French theologian (d. 1757)
• 1714 – James Hervey, English clergyman and writer (d. 1758)
• 1715 – Claude Adrien Helvétius, French philosopher (d. 1771)
• 1720 – Gian Francesco Albani, Italian Catholic cardinal (d. 1803)
• 1746 – Archduchess Marie Amalie of Austria, duchess of Piacenza (d. 1806)
• 1749 – Jeremy Bentham, English jurist (d. 1832)
• 1786 – François Arago, French mathematician (d. 1853)
• 1799 – Émile Clapeyron, French engineer and physicist (d. 1864)
• 1802 – Victor Hugo, French writer (d. 1885)
• 1808 – Honoré Daumier, French painter, illustrator, and sculptor (d. 1879)
• 1808 – Nathan Kelley,American architect, active mainly in Ohio, (d.1871)
• 1814 – Charles Joseph Sainte-Claire Deville, French geologist (d. 1876)
• 1829 – Levi Strauss, German-born clothing designer (d. 1902)
• 1846 – William F. “Buffalo Bill” Cody, American frontiersman (d. 1917)
• 1852 – John Harvey Kellogg, American surgeon, advocate of dietary reform (d. 1943 )
• 1857 – Émile Coué, French psychologist (d. 1926)
• 1858 – Vladimir Serbsky, Russian psychiatrist (d. 1917)
• 1861 – King Ferdinand of Bulgaria (d. 1948)
• 1861 – Nadezhda Konstantinovna Krupskaya, Russian revolutionary, Lenin’s wife (d. 1939)
• 1866 – Herbert Henry Dow, American chemical industrialist (d. 1930)
• 1879 – FrankBridge, English composer (d. 1941)
• 1882 – Husband E. Kimmel, American admiral (d. 1968)
• 1885 – Aleksandras Stulginskis, President of Lithuania (d. 1969)
• 1887 – Grover Cleveland Alexander, American baseball player (d. 1950)
• 1887 – William Frawley, American actor (d. 1966)
• 1893 – I. A. Richards, English literary critic (d. 1979)
• 1899 – Max Petitpierre, member of the Swiss Federal Council (d. 1994)
• 1902 – Jean Bruller, alias Vercors, French writer and illustrator (d. 1991)
• 1903 – Giulio Natta, Italian chemist, Nobel laureate (d. 1979)
• 1906 – Madeleine Carroll, English actress (d. 1987)
• 1907 – Dub Taylor, American actor (d. 1994)
• 1908 – Tex Avery, American cartoonist (d. 1980)
• 1908 – Leela Majumdar, Bengali writer (d. 2007)
• 1908 – Jean-Pierre Wimille, French race car driver (d. 1949)
• 1909 – King Talal of Jordan (d. 1972)
• 1909 – Fanny Cradock, English food writer and broadcaster (d. 1994)
• 1911 – Taro Okamoto, Japanese avant-garde artist (d. 1996)
• 1912 – Dane Clark, American actor (d. 1998)
• 1913 – George Barker, English poet (d. 1991)
• 1914 – Robert Alda, American actor (d. 1986)
• 1916 – Jackie Gleason, American actor, writer, composer, and comedian (d. 1987)
• 1918 – Otis Ray Bowen, American politician (Indiana Governor) and physician
• 1918 – Theodore Sturgeon, American writer (d. 1985)
• 1919 – Mason Adams, American actor (d. 2005)
• 1919 – Rie Mastenbroek, Dutch swimmer (d. 2003)
• 1920 – Danny Gardella, American baseball player (d. 2005)
• 1920 – Tony Randall, American actor (d. 2004)
• 1920 – Lucjan Wolanowski, Polish journalist, writer and traveller (d. 2006)
• 1921 – Betty Hutton, American actress and singer (d. 2007)
• 1922 – Margaret Leighton, British actress (d. 1976)
• 1926 – Miroslava Stern, Mexican actress (d. 1955)
• 1927 – Tom Kennedy, American game show host
• 1928 – Fats Domino, American musician
• 1928 – Anatoli Filipchenko, Soviet cosmonaut
• 1928 – Monique Leyrac, French Canadian singer and actress
• 1930 – Lazar Berman, Russian pianist (d. 2005)
• 1931 – Ally MacLeod, Scottish footballer and manager (d. 2004)
• 1932 – Johnny Cash, American singer (d. 2003)
• 1934 – Robert Novak, American political columnist
• 1937 – Hagood Hardy, Canadian musician and composer (d. 1997)
• 1938 – Evagoras Pallikarides, Cypriot freedom fighter (d. 1957)
• 1939 – Josephine Tewson, English actress
• 1941 – Tony Ray-Jones, British photographer (d. 1972)
• 1943 – Bill Duke, American actor and director
• 1943 – Dante Ferretti, Italian art director and costume designer
• 1945 – Peter Brock, Australian motorsports champion (d. 2006)
• 1945 – Bob Hite, American singer and harmonicist (Canned Heat) (d. 1981)
• 1945 – Giannis Ioannidis, Greek basketball coach and politician
• 1945 – Marta Kristen, Norwegian actress
• 1945 – Mitch Ryder, American musician (The Detroit Wheels)
• 1946 – Ahmed H. Zewail, Egyptian chemist, Nobel laureate
• 1947 – Sandie Shaw, English singer
• 1949 – Elizabeth George, American novelist
• 1949 – Emma Kirkby, British early music singer
• 1950 – Helen Clark, Prime Minister of New Zealand
• 1950 – Jonathan Cain, American musician (Journey, Bad English, The Babys)
• 1951 – Lee Atwater, American political operative (d. 1991)
• 1953 – Michael Bolton, American singer
• 1954 – Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Prime Minister of Turkey
• 1956 – Keisuke Kuwata, Japanese singer
• 1957 – David Muldrow Beasley, American politician
• 1957 – Joe Mullen, American ice hockey player
• 1958 – Michel Houellebecq, French novelist
• 1958 – Greg Germann, American actor
• 1959 – Rolando Blackman, American basketball player
• 1960 – Jaz Coleman, British musician
• 1962 – Kelly Gruber, former Major League Baseball player
• 1964 – Mark Dacascos, American actor and martial artist
• 1966 – Najwa Karam, Lebanese singer
• 1967 – Currie Graham, Canadian actor
• 1968 – Ed Quinn, American Actor
• 1968 – J.T. Snow, American baseball player
• 1969 – Hitoshi Sakimoto, Japanese composer
• 1971 – Erykah Badu, American singer
• 1971 – Max Martin, Swedish composer and producer
• 1971 – Hélène Ségara, French singer
• 1973 – Marshall Faulk, American football player
• 1973 – Ole Gunnar Solskjær, Norwegian footballer
• 1973 – Jenny Thompson, American swimmer
• 1974 – Sébastien Loeb, French rally driver
• 1976 – Nikolaos Siranidis, Greek diver
• 1976 – Chad Urmston, American musician
• 1977 – Marty Reasoner, American ice hockey player
• 1977 – Greg Rikaart, American actor
• 1977 – JoshTowers, Major League Baseball player
• 1977 – Shane Williams, Welsh International Rugby Player
• 1978 – Abdoulaye Diagne-Faye, Senegalese footballer
• 1978 – Marc Hynes, British racing driver
• 1978 – John Tartaglia, Broadway performer and “Muppeteer”
• 1979 – Corinne Bailey Rae, English singer
• 1979 – Mariano Bainotti, Argentine racing driver
• 1979 – Pedro Mendes, Portuguese footballer
• 1979 – Shalim Ortiz, Puerto Rican singer/actor
• 1980 – Alex Fong, Hong Kong singer
• 1980 – Gary Majewski, Major League Baseball player
• 1981 – Kertus Davis, American NASCAR driver
• 1981 – Johnathan Wendel, American professional video gamer
• 1982 – Song Hye Kyo, South Korean model and actress
• 1983 – Kara Monaco, American model
• 1983 – Varick Pyr, Hip-Hop artist
• 1984 – Emmanuel Adebayor, Togolese footballer
• 1984 – Natalia Lafourcade, Mexican singer
• 1985 – Alexandria Hilfiger, American actress, daughter of Tommy Hilfiger
• 1986 – Crystal Kay, Japanese singer
• 1986 – Teresa Palmer, Australian model and actress
• 1987 – Julia Bond, American porn star
• 1993 – Taylor Dooley, American actress

February 26 – Deaths:

• 1154 – King Roger II of Sicily (b. 1093)
• 1200 – Symeon, former Serbian ruler and saint
• 1266 – King Manfred of Sicily
• 1360 – Roger Mortimer, 2nd Earl of March, English military leader (b. 1328)
• 1552 – Heinrich Faber, German composer
• 1561 – Jorge de Montemayor, Spanish writer
• 1577 – King Eric XIV of Sweden (b. 1533)
• 1608 – John Still, English bishop
• 1630 – William Brade, English composer (b. 1560)
• 1638 – Claude Gaspard Bachet de Méziriac, French mathematician (b. 1681)
• 1723 – Thomas d’Urfey, English writer (b. 1653)
• 1726 – Maximilian II Emanuel, Elector of Bavaria (b. 1662)
• 1770 – Giuseppe Tartini, Italian composer (b. 1692)
• 1802 – Esek Hopkins, American Revolutionary War admiral (b. 1718)
• 1813 – Robert Livingston, American signer of the Declaration of Independence (b. 1746)
• 1815 – Prince Josias of Coburg, Austrian general (b. 1737)
• 1821 – Joseph de Maistre, Savoyard diplomat and writer (b. 1753)
• 1864 – Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine, French Canadian politician (b. 1807)
• 1883 – Alexandros Koumoundouros, Greek politician, Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1817)
• 1889 – Karl Davydov, Russian cellist (b. 1838)
• 1903 – Richard Jordan Gatling, American inventor (b. 1818)
• 1913 – Felix Draeseke, German composer (b. 1835)
• 1921 – Carl Menger, Austrian economist (b. 1840)
• 1931 – Otto Wallach, German chemist, Nobel laureate (b. 1847)
• 1933 – Princess Thyra, daughter of Christian IX of Denmark (b. 1853)
• 1943 – Theodor Eicke, Nazi official (b. 1892)
• 1947 – Heinrich Häberlin, Swiss politician, member of the Federal Council (b. 1868)
• 1950 – Sir Harry Lauder, ScottishMusic Hall Entertainer, Knighted for WWI War Work (b. 1870)
• 1961 – King Mohammed V of Morocco (b. 1909)
• 1966 – Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, Indian freedom fighter and writer (b. 1883)
• 1969 – Levi Eshkol, Prime Minister of Israel (b. 1895)
• 1969 – Karl Jaspers, German psychiatrist (b. 1883)
• 1971 – Fernandel, French actor (b. 1903)
• 1981 – Howard Hanson, American composer (b. 1896)
• 1981 – Robert Aickman, English writer and conservationist (b. 1914)
• 1985 – Tjalling Koopmans, Dutch economist, Nobel laureate (b. 1910)
• 1989 – Roy Eldridge, American musician (b. 1911)
• 1990 – Cornell Gunter, American singer (The Coasters) (b. 1938)
• 1993 – Constance Ford, American actress (b. 1923)
• 1994 – Bill Hicks, American comedian (b. 1961)
• 1995 – Jack Clayton, British film director (b. 1921)
• 1997 – David Doyle, American actor (b. 1929)
• 1998 – Theodore Schultz, American economist, Nobel laureate (b. 1902)
• 2000 – George L. Street III American Navy Submariner and Medal of Honor winner.(b. 1913)
• 2001 – Arturo Uslar Pietri, Venezuelan writer (b. 1906)
• 2002 – Lawrence Tierney, American actor (b. 1919)
• 2003 – Christian Goethals, Belgian racing driver (b. 1928)
• 2004 – Shankarrao Chavan, Indian politician (b. 1920)
• 2004 – Adolf Ehrnrooth, Finnish general (b. 1905)
• 2004 – Boris Trajkovski, President of the Republic of Macedonia (b. 1956)
• 2005 – Jef Raskin, American computer scientist (b. 1943)
• 2008 – Buddy Miles, American drummer (Band of Gypsies; b. 1947)
• 2008 – Dick Fletcher, Meteorologist (b.1942)
• 2008 – Glory Mukwati, Zimbabwean politician

February 26 – Holidays:

• Bahá’í Faith – February 26, Day 1 of Ayyám-i-Há (Intercalary Days) – days in the Bahá’í calendar devoted to service and gift giving. 
• Liberation Day in Kuwait (1991).
• Liturgical feasts:
  • Saint Nestor (died 251)
  • Saint Alexander of Alexandria
  • Saint Isabel of France

On This Day in History February 25

February 25 – Events:

• 138 – The Emperor Hadrian adopts Antoninus Pius, effectively making him his successor.
• 1570 – Pope Pius V excommunicates Queen Elizabeth I of England.
• 1793 – George Washington holds the first Cabinet meeting as President of the United States.
• 1797 – Colonel William Tate and his force of 1000-1500 soldiers surrender after the Last Invasion of Britain.
• 1836 – Samuel Colt receives an American patent for the Colt revolver.
• 1837 – The first practical electric motor in the US is patented by Thomas Davenport.
• 1859 – First use of “insanity plea” to prove innocence.
• 1862 – Congress establishes the US Bureau of Engraving & Printing.
• 1863 – Congress creates national banking system, comptroller of currency.
• 1868 – Andrew Johnson impeached for violation of the Tenure of Office act.
• 1870 – Hiram Rhodes Revels, a Republican from Mississippi, is sworn into the United States Senate, becoming the first black member to sit in the U.S. Congress.
• 1901 – J.P. Morgan incorporates the United States Steel Corporation.
• 1912 – Marie-Adélaïde, the eldest of six daughters of Guillaume IV, becomes the first reigning Grand Duchess of Luxembourg.
• 1919 – Oregon places a 1 cent per U.S. gallon tax on gasoline, becoming the first U.S. state to levy a gasoline tax.
• 1921 – Tbilisi, capital of the Democratic Republic of Georgia, occupied by Bolshevist Russia.
• 1925 – Glacier BayNational Monument (now Glacier BayNational Park and Preserve) is established in Alaska.
• 1925 – The diplomatic relations between Japan and the Soviet Union were established.
• 1928 – Charles Jenkins Laboratories of Washington, DC becomes the first holder of a television license from the Federal Radio Commission.
• 1932 – Adolf Hitler obtains German citizenship by naturalization, which allows him to run in the 1932 election for Reichspräsident.
• 1933 – The USS Ranger is launched, becoming the first custom-built aircraft carrier.
• 1941 – February strike: First general & physical protest against Nazi anti-Jewish behaviour & laws (Amsterdam)
• 1945 – World War II: Turkey declares war on Germany.
• 1948 – The Communist Party of Czechoslovakia takes control of government in Czechoslovakia and the period of the ThirdRepublic ends.
• 1951 – The first Pan American Games are held in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
• 1954 – Gamal Abdul Nasser is made premier of Egypt.
• 1956 – In his speech On the Personality Cult and its Consequences Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev denounces the cult of personality of Joseph Stalin.
• 1957 – Buddy Holly & the Crickets record “That’ll Be the Day.”
• 1962 – Mike O’Hara completes a record 97th marathon.
• 1964 – Cassius Clay stops champion Sonny Liston in the 7th round to win the world heavyweight title
• 1969 – Germany gives $5 million to an Arab terrorist as ransom for the passengers and crew of a hijacked jumbo jet.
• 1971 – The first unit of the Pickering Nuclear Generating Station, first commercial nuclear power station in Canada, goes online.
• 1980 – The Suriname government overthrown by a military coup.
• 1986 – President Ferdinand Marcos of the Philippines flees the nation after 20 years of rule; Corazon Aquino becomes the first Filipino woman president. 
• 1989 – Dallas Cowboys’ new owner Jerry Jones fires coach Tom Landry.
• 1990 – Nicaraguans vote out Sandinistas.
• 1992 – Khojaly massacre: about 613 civilians killed by Armenian armed forces during the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan 
• 2000 – The Swedish political party New Democracy is declared financially bankrupt.
• 2008 – The state of Kosovo declares independence from Serbia.

February 25 – Birthdays:

• 1398 – Xuande, Emperor of China (d. 1435)
• 1591 – Friedrich von Spee, German writer (d. 1635)
• 1643 – Ahmed II, Ottoman Sultan (d. 1695)
• 1663 – Pierre Antoine Motteux, French-born English dramatist (d. 1718)
• 1682 – Giovanni Battista Morgagni, Italian anatomist (d. 1771)
• 1692 – Karl Ludwig, Freiherr von Pöllnitz, German adventurer and writer (d. 1775)
• 1707 – Carlo Goldoni, Italian writer (d. 1793)
• 1714 – René Nicolas Charles Augustin de Maupeou, Chancellor of France (d. 1792)
• 1714 – Sir Hyde Parker, 5th Baronet, British admiral (d. 1782)
• 1725 – Karl Wilhelm Ramler, German poet (d. 1798)
• 1752 – John Graves Simcoe, first Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada (d. 1806)
• 1778 – José de San Martín, Argentine general and liberator of South America (d. 1850)
• 1841 – Pierre-Auguste Renoir, French painter, graphic artist and sculptor (d. 1919)
• 1842 – Karl May, German writer (d. 1912)
• 1845 – George Reid, fourth Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1918)
• 1855 – George Bonnor, Australian cricketer (d. 1912)
• 1855 – Cesário Verde, Portuguese poet (d. 1886)
• 1860 – Sir William Ashley, economic historian (d. 1927)
• 1866 – Benedetto Croce, Italian philosopher (d. 1952)
• 1873 – Enrico Caruso, Italian tenor (d. 1921)
• 1877 – Erich von Hornbostel, Austrian musicologist (d. 1935)
• 1883 – Princess Alice of Albany, Countess of Athlone (d. 1981)
• 1885 – Sylvia Brett, Lady Brooke, Ranee of Sarawak (d. 1971)
• 1888 – John Foster Dulles, U.S. Secretary of State (d. 1959)
• 1889 – Homer S. Ferguson, United States Senator (d. 1982)
• 1890 – Dame Myra Hess, English pianist (d. 1965)
• 1890 – Vyacheslav Molotov, Soviet politician (d. 1986)
• 1894 – Meher Baba, Indian spiritual leader (d. 1969)
• 1895 – Lew Andreas, American basketball coach (d. 1984)
• 1901 – Zeppo Marx, American actor (d. 1979)
• 1903 – King Clancy, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1986)
• 1908 – Frank G. Slaughter, American novelist (d. 2001)
• 1910 – Millicent Fenwick, American fashion editor and politician (d. 1992)
• 1912 – Brenda Joyce, American actress
• 1913 – Jim Backus, American actor (d. 1989)
• 1913 – Gert Fröbe, German actor (d. 1988)
• 1914 – John Arlott, English cricket journalist (d. 1991)
• 1916 – Reinhard Bendix, German sociologist (d. 1991)
• 1917 – Anthony Burgess, English author (d. 1993)
• 1918 – Barney Ewell, American athlete (d. 1996)
• 1918 – Bobby Riggs, American tennis player (d. 1995)
• 1918 – Rena Kyriakou, Greek pianist (d. 1994)
• 1919 – Karl H. Pribram, Austrian neuroscientist
• 1920 – Gérard Bessette, Canadian author (d. 2005)
• 1921 – Pierre Laporte, Canadian statesman (d. 1970)
• 1927 – Ralph Stanley, American musician
• 1928 – Larry Gelbart, American comedy writer
• 1929 – Christopher George, American actor (d. 1983)
• 1929 – Tommy Newsom, American bandleader (d. 2007)
• 1932 – Tony Brooks, English race car driver
• 1932 – Faron Young, American singer (d. 1996)
• 1934 – Bernard Bresslaw, English actor (d. 1993)
• 1934 – Tony Lema, American golfer (d. 1966)
• 1935 – Sally Jessy Raphaël, American talk show host
• 1937 – Tom Courtenay, English actor
• 1937 – Bob Schieffer, American broadcast journalist
• 1937 – Barbara Piasecka Johnson, widow of John Seward Johnson I
• 1938 – Diane Baker, American actress
• 1938 – Herb Elliott, Australian runner
• 1940 – Billy Packer, American sports broadcaster
• 1940 – Danny Cater, American baseball player
• 1940 – Ron Santo, American baseball player
• 1942 – Karen Grassle, American actress
• 1943 – George Harrison, English musician (The Beatles) (d. 2001)
• 1943 – Wilson da Silva Piazza, Brazilian footballer
• 1945 – Herbert Léonard, French singer
• 1945 – Elkie Brooks, English singer
• 1946 – Franz Xaver Kroetz, German dramatist
• 1946 – Jean Todt, French executive director of Scuderia Ferrari
• 1947 – Lee Evans, American athlete
• 1947 – Doug Yule, American bass guitarist (The Velvet Underground)
• 1948 – Danny Denzongpa, Indian actor
• 1948 – Aldo Busi, Italian writer
• 1949 – Ric Flair, American professional wrestler
• 1950 – Neil Jordan, Irish director
• 1950 – Néstor Kirchner, President of Argentina
• 1950 – Francisco Fernández Ochoa, Spanish alpine skier (d. 2006)
• 1951 – Don Quarrie, Jamaican runner
• 1951 – James Brown, American sportscaster
• 1951 – César Cedeño, Dominican baseball player
• 1952 – Joey Dunlop, Irish motorcycle racer (d. 2000)
• 1952 – Inger Segelström, Swedish politician
• 1953 – José María Aznar, former Prime Minister of Spain
• 1953 – Kim Yeong-cheol, South Korean actor
• 1954 – John Doe, American musician
• 1958 – Kurt Rambis, American basketball player
• 1959 – Carl Marotte, Canadian actor
• 1959 – Mike Peters, Welsh musician (The Alarm)
• 1960 – Tony Grimaud, Maltese-born singer and songwriter
• 1960 – Stefan Blöcher, German field hockey player
• 1961 – Davey Allison, American race car driver (d. 1993)
• 1961 – Todd Blackledge, American football player
• 1962 – Birgit Fischer, German kayaker
• 1963 – Paul O’Neill, American baseball player
• 1964 – Lee Evans, English comedian
• 1964 – Don Majkowski, American football player
• 1965 – Carrot Top, American comedian
• 1966 – Alexis Denisof, American actor
• 1966 – Samson Kitur, Kenyan athlete (d. 2003)
• 1966 – Téa Leoni, American actress
• 1966 – Nancy O’Dell, American reporter and television personality
• 1966 – Samantha Phillips, American actress
• 1968 – Sandrine Kiberlain, French actress
• 1968 – Evridiki, Greek Cypriot singer
• 1969 – Paul Trimboli, Australian soccer player
• 1970 – Julie Hesmondhalgh, English actress
• 1971 – Sean Astin, American actor
• 1971 – Dave Harris, American disc jockey
• 1971 – Daniel Powter, Canadian musician
• 1973 – Justin Jeffre, American singer (98 Degrees)
• 1973 – Anson Mount, American actor
• 1973 – Julio José Iglesias, Spanish singer
• 1973 – Normann Stadler, German triathlete
• 1975 – Chelsea Handler, American comedian and actress
• 1976 – Rashida Jones, American actress, writer, model, and musician
• 1976 – Chris Pitman, American keyboardist and member of Guns N’ Roses
• 1977 – Sarah Jezebel Deva, English singer
• 1977 – Josh Wolff, American footballer
• 1979 – Jennifer Ferrin, American actress
• 1980 – Antonio Burks, American basketball player
• 1981 – Jamie Lynn, American model
• 1981 – Shahid Kapoor, Indian actor
• 1981 – Park Ji-Sung, South Korean footballer
• 1981 – Misty Giles, American beauty queen and Survivor contestant
• 1982 – Chris Baird, Irish footballer
• 1982 – Anton Volchenkov, Russian ice hockey player
• 1982 – Bert McCracken, American singer (The Used)
• 1982 – Maria Kanellis, American model and professional wrestler
• 1982 – Tara Wilson, Canadian actress
• 1983 – Eduardo da Silva, Brazilian-born Croatian footballer
• 1984 – Logan Leistikow, American director and actor
• 1984 – Lovefoxxx, Brazilian singer (CSS)
• 1985 – Joakim Noah, American basketball player
• 1985 – Benji Marshall, New Zealand rugby player
• 1986 – Justin Berfield, American actor
• 1986 – James and Oliver Phelps, English actors
• 1986 – Danny Saucedo, Swedish singer
• 1987 – Eva Avila, Canadian singer
• 1998 – Brendon Baerg, American actor

February 25 – Deaths:

• 1246 – Dafydd ap Llywelyn, King of Gwynedd
• 1522 – William Lilye, English classical scholar
• 1536 – Berthold Haller, German-born reformer (b. 1492)
• 1553 – Hirate Masahide, Japanese diplomat and tutor of Oda Nobunaga (suicide) (b. 1492)
• 1558 – Eleanor of Austria, Queen of Portugal and France (b. 1498)
• 1601 – Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, English politician (b. 1566)
• 1634 – Albrecht von Wallenstein, Austrian general (b. 1583)
• 1643 – Marco da Gagliano, Italian composer (b. 1582)
• 1655 – Daniel Heinsius, Flemish scholar (b. 1580)
• 1682 – Alessandro Stradella, Italian composer (b. 1639)
• 1713 – King Frederick I of Prussia (b. 1657)
• 1715 – Pu Songling, Chinese writer (b. 1640)
• 1723 – Sir Christopher Wren, English architect (b. 1632)
• 1756 – Eliza Haywood, English actress and writer (b. 1693)
• 1798 – Louis-Jules Mancini-Mazarini, Duc de Nivernais, French diplomat and writer (b. 1716)
• 1805 – Thomas Pownall, British colonial statesman (b. 1722)
• 1831 – Friedrich Maximilian Klinger, German writer (b. 1752)
• 1850 – Daoguang, Emperor of China (b. 1782)
• 1852 – Thomas Moore, Irish poet (b. 1779)
• 1860 – Chauncey Allen Goodrich, American clergyman, educator, and lexicographer (b. 1790)
• 1899 – Paul Julius Reuter, German-born journalist (b. 1816)
• 1912 – Guillaume IV, Grand Duke of Luxembourg (b. 1852)
• 1919 – Josef Christiaens, Belgian racing driver (b. 1879)
• 1922 – Henri Désiré Landru, French serial killer (b. 1869)
• 1934 – John McGraw, American baseball player and manager (b. 1873)
• 1945 – Mário de Andrade, Brazilian writer and photographer (b. 1893)
• 1950 – George Minot, American physician, Nobel laureate (b. 1885)
• 1953 – Sergei Winogradsky, Russian scientist (b. 1856)
• 1957 – George “Bugs” Moran, American gangster (b. 1893)
• 1964 – Grace Metalious, American writer (b. 1924)
• 1966 – James D. Norris, American sports businessman (b. 1906)
• 1970 – Mark Rothko, American painter (b. 1903)
• 1971 – Theodor Svedberg, Swedish chemist, Nobel laureate (b. 1884)
• 1975 – Elijah Muhammad, American Black Muslim leader (b. 1897)
• 1978 – Daniel “Chappie” James Jr., American general (b. 1920)
• 1983 – Tennessee Williams, American playwright (b. 1911)
• 1987 – James Coco, American actor (b. 1930)
• 1993 – Eddie Constantine, American-born actor and singer (b. 1917)
• 1994 – Baruch Goldstein, American-born mass killer (b. 1956)
• 1994 – Jersey Joe Walcott, American boxer (b. 1914)
• 1996 – Haing S. Ngor, Cambodian-born actor (b. 1940)
• 1999 – Glenn T. Seaborg, American chemist, Nobel laureate (b. 1912)
• 2001 – Sir Donald Bradman, Australian cricketer (b. 1908)
• 2003 – Tom O’Higgins, Irish Chief Justice (b. 1916)
• 2003 – Alberto Sordi, Italian actor (b. 1920)
• 2004 – Donald Hings, Canadian inventor (b. 1907)
• 2005 – Peter Benenson, English founder of Amnesty International (b. 1921)
• 2006 – Darren McGavin, American actor (b. 1922)
• 2006 – Charlie Wayman, English footballer (b. 1922)
• 2007 – William R. Anderson, CO USS Nautilus submarine, US Congressman (b. 1921)
• 2007 – Mark Spoelstra, American singer/songwriter (b. 1940)
• 2008 – Ashley Cooper, Australian race car driver (b. 1980)
• 2008 – Hans Raj Khanna, Judge of the Supreme Court of India (b. 1912)
• 2008 – Static Major, American singer (b. 1974)

February 25 – Holidays:

• Kuwait’s national day.
• People Power Day, special holiday in the Philippines.

On This Day in History February 24

February 24 – Events:

• 303 – Galerius, Roman Emperor, publishes his edict that begins the persecution of Christians in his portion of the Empire.
• 1387 – King Charles III of Naples and Hungary is assassinated at Buda.
• 1530 – First imperial coronation by a Pope-Charles V crowned by Clement V.
• 1538 – Treaty of Nagyvarad between Ferdinand I and John Zápolya.
• 1582 – Pope Gregory XIII announces the Gregorian calendar.
• 1607 – L’Orfeo by Claudio Monteverdi, one of the first works recognized as an opera, premieres.
• 1711 – The London premiere of Rinaldo by George Friderich Handel, the first Italian opera written for the London stage.
• 1739 – Battle of Karnal: The army of Iranian ruler Nadir Shah defeats the forces of the Mughal emperor of India, Muhammad Shah.
• 1803 – The Supreme Court of the United States, in Marbury v. Madison, establishes the principle of judicial review.
• 1804 – London’s DruryLaneTheatre burns to the ground, leaving owner Richard Brinsley Sheridan destitute.
• 1826 – The signing of the Treaty of Yandaboo marks the end of the First Burmese War.
• 1831 – The Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek, the first removal treaty in accordance with the Indian Removal Act, is proclaimed. The Choctaws in Mississippi cede land east of the river in exchange for payment and land in the West.
• 1839 – William Otis receives a patent for the steam shovel.
• 1848 – King Louis-Philippe of France abdicates the throne.
• 1863 – Arizona is organized as a United States territory.
• 1868 – The first parade to have floats is staged at Mardi Gras in New Orleans, Louisiana.
• 1868 – Andrew Johnson becomes the first President of the United States to be impeached by the United States House of Representatives. He is later acquitted in the Senate.
• 1875 – The SS Gothenburg hits the Great Barrier Reef and sinks off the Australian east coast with the loss of approximately 102 lives.
• 1881 – China and Russia sign the Sino-Russian Ili Treaty.
• 1893 – The AmericanUniversity is chartered by an act of the Congress of the United States of America.
• 1894 – Nicaragua captures Tegucigalpa, Honduras.
• 1895 – Revolution breaks out in Baire, a town near Santiago de Cuba, beginning the second war for Cuban independence, which ended with the Spanish-American War in 1898.
• 1899 – Western Washington University is established.
• 1909 – The Hudson Motor Car Company is founded.
• 1917 – World War I: The U.S. ambassador to the United Kingdom is given the Zimmermann Telegram, in which Germany pledges to ensure the return of New Mexico, Texas, and Arizona to Mexico if that country declares war on the United States.
• 1918 – Estonian Declaration of Independence.
• 1920 – The Nazi Party is founded.
• 1925 – A thermite (magnesium) bomb is used for the first time to break up a 250,000-ton ice jam clogging the St. Lawrence River near Waddington, New York.
• 1937 – First US group hospital-medical cooperative authorized, Washington, DC.
• 1938 – DuPont begins commercial production of nylon toothbrush bristles.
• 1942 – Voice of America begins broadcasting (in German).
• 1945 – Egyptian Premier Ahmed Maher Pasha is killed in Parliament after reading a decree.
• 1968 – Vietnam War: The Tet Offensive is halted; South Vietnam recaptures Hué.
• 1970 – National Public Radio is founded in the United States.
• 1971 – The All India Forward Bloc holds an emergency central committee meeting after its chairman, Hemantha Kumar Bose, was killed 3 days earlier. P.K. Mookiah Thevar appointed as the new chairman. 
• 1981 – BuckinghamPalace announces the engagement of The Prince of Wales and Lady Diana Spencer.
• 1981 – An earthquake registering 6.7 on the Richter scale hits Athens, killing 16 people and destroying buildings in several towns west of the city.
• 1983 – A special commission of the U.S. Congress releases a report that condemns the practice of Japanese internment during World War II.
• 1989 – Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini offers a USD $3 million bounty for the death of The Satanic Verses author Salman Rushdie.
• 1989 – United Airlines Flight 811, bound for New Zealand from Honolulu, Hawaii, rips open during flight, sucking 9 passengers out of the business-class section.
• 1995 – The Corona reconnaissance satellite program, in existence from 1959 to 1972, is declassified.
• 1996 – The last occurrence of February 24 as a leap day in the European Union and for the Roman Catholic Church.
• 1999 – The State of Arizona executes Karl LaGrand, a German national involved in an armed robbery, in spite of Germany’s legal action to attempt to save him.
• 1999 – A China Southern Airlines Tupolev TU-154 airliner crashes on approach to Wenzhou airport in eastern the People’s Republic of China, killing 61.
• 2006 – Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo declares Proclamation 1017 placing the country in a state of emergency in attempt to subdue a possible military coup.
• 2008 – Fidel Castro retires as the President of Cuba after nearly fifty years.

February 24 – Birthdays:

• 1103 – Emperor Toba of Japan (d. 1156)
• 1304 – Ibn Battuta, Arabian explorer (d. 1368)
• 1463 – Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, Italian humanist (d. 1494)
• 1500 – Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1558)
• 1545 – Don John of Austria, Spanish military leader (d. 1578)
• 1557 – Matthias, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1619)
• 1597 – Vincent Voiture, French poet (d. 1648)
• 1619 – Charles Le Brun, French artist (d. 1690)
• 1622 – Johannes Clauberg, German theologian and philosopher (d. 1665)
• 1684 – Matthias Braun, Czech sculptor (d. 1738)
• 1693 – James Quin, English actor (d. 1766)
• 1709 – Jacques de Vaucanson, French inventor (d. 1782)
• 1723 – John Burgoyne, British general (d. 1792)
• 1774 – Prince Adolphus, 1st Duke of Cambridge (d. 1850)
• 1786 – Martin W. Bates. U.S. Senator from Delaware (d. 1869)
• 1786 – Wilhelm Grimm, German philologist and folklorist (d. 1859)
• 1831 – Leo von Caprivi, Chancellor of Germany (d. 1899)
• 1836 – Winslow Homer, American artist (d. 1910)
• 1842 – Arrigo Boito, Italian composer (d. 1918)
• 1846 – Luigi Denza, Italian composer (d. 1922)
• 1848 – Andrew Inglis Clark, Tasmanian politician (d. 1907)
• 1852 – George Moore, Irish writer (d. 1933)
• 1866 – Pyotr Nikolaevich Lebedev, Russian physicist (d. 1912)
• 1874 – Honus Wagner, American baseball player (d. 1955)
• 1877 – Ettie Rout, New Zealand activist (d. 1936)
• 1885 – Chester Nimitz, U.S. admiral (d. 1966)
• 1885 – Stanislaw Ignacy Witkiewicz, Polish writer and painter (d. 1939)
• 1890 – Marjorie Main, American actress (d. 1975)
• 1898 – Kurt Tank, German aeronautical engineer and test pilot (d. 1983)
• 1909 – August Derleth, American writer (d. 1971)
• 1914 – Zachary Scott, American actor (d. 1965)
• 1914 – Ralph Erskine, British architect (Byker Wall) (d. 2005)
• 1919 – Árpád Bogsch, Hungarian turned American international civil servant (d. 2004)
• 1919 – Betty Marsden, English comedy actress (d. 1998)
• 1921 – Abe Vigoda, American actor
• 1921 – Douglass Watson, American actor (d. 1989)
• 1922 – Richard Hamilton, English painter
• 1922 – Steven Hill, American actor
• 1923 – David Soyer, American cellist
• 1926 – Jean Alexander, English actress
• 1926 – John Gunther Dean, American diplomat
• 1927 – Emmanuelle Riva, French actress
• 1928 – Barbara Lawrence, American actress
• 1931 – Dominic Chianese, American actor
• 1932 – Michel Legrand, French composer
• 1932 – John Vernon, Canadian actor (d. 2005)
• 1933 – Judah Folkman, American cancer researcher
• 1934 – Bettino Craxi, Prime Minister of Italy (d. 2000)
• 1934 – Renata Scotto, Italian soprano
• 1934 – Linda Cristal, Argentina-born actress
• 1938 – James Farentino, American actor
• 1938 – Phil Knight, American sportswear manufacturer
• 1938 – Kathleen Margaret Richardson, Baroness Richardson of Calow, British Baroness and Methodist reverend
• 1940 – Pete Duel, American actor (d. 1971)
• 1940 – Denis Law, Scottish footballer
• 1941 – Joanie Sommers, American singer and actress
• 1942 – Joe Lieberman, American politician
• 1942 – Paul Jones, English singer (Manfred Mann)
• 1942 – Colin Bond, Australian racing driver
• 1943 – Hristo Prodanov, Bulgarian mountaineer
• 1943 – Terry Semel, American business executive
• 1943 – Pablo Milanés, Cuban musician
• 1944 – Nicky Hopkins, British musician (d. 1994)
• 1945 – Barry Bostwick, American actor
• 1946 – Grigory Margulis, Russian mathematician
• 1946 – John Stapleton, English television presenter
• 1947 – Rupert Holmes, English musician
• 1947 – Edward James Olmos, American actor
• 1948 – J. Jayalalithaa, Indian politician
• 1948 – Walter Smith, Scottish football manager
• 1948 – Tim Staffell, English singer
• 1948 – Dennis Waterman, British actor
• 1950 – George Thorogood, American Singer and Guitarist
• 1951 – Tony Holiday, German singer (d. 1990)
• 1951 – Debra Jo Rupp, American actress
• 1951 – Helen Shaver, Canadian actress
• 1955 – Steve Jobs, American computer pioneer
• 1955 – Alain Prost, French race car driver and four-time F1 world champion
• 1956 – Paula Zahn, American journalist
• 1956 – Eddie Murray, American baseball player
• 1958 – Sammy Kershaw, American musician
• 1958 – Plastic Bertrand, Belgian singer
• 1959 – Beth Broderick, American actress
• 1962 – Michelle Shocked, American musician
• 1962 – Teri Weigel, American pornography actress
• 1962 – Outi Mäenpää, Finnish actress
• 1963 – Mike Vernon, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1964 – Andy Crane, British children’s television presenter
• 1964 – Todd Field, American actor and film director
• 1964 – Bill Bailey, British comedian
• 1964 – Russell Ingall, Australian racing driver
• 1965 – Lloyd McGrath, former English footballer
• 1965 – Jane Swift, former acting Governor of Massachusetts
• 1966 – Billy Zane, American actor
• 1966 – René Arocha, Cuban baseball player
• 1968 – Mitch Hedberg, American comedian (d. 2005)
• 1970 – Jeff Garcia, American football player
• 1970 – Jonathan Ward, American television and movie actor
• 1970 – Kienast quintuplets, American quintuplets
• 1971 – Pedro de la Rosa, Spanish Formula One driver
• 1971 – Brian Savage, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1972 – Manon Rhéaume, Canadian female ice hockey player
• 1973 – Chris Fehn, American percussionist (Slipknot)
• 1973 – Jordan Jovtchev, Bulgarian gymnast
• 1973 – Alexei Kovalev, Russian ice hockey player
• 1973 – Richard Clapp, Canadian baseball player
• 1974 – Chad Hugo, American musician and producer (The Neptunes)
• 1974 – Karim Bagheri, Iranian footballer
• 1974 – Mike Lowell, Puerto Rican baseball player
• 1974 – Bonnie Somerville, American actress and singer
• 1975 – Ashley MacIsaac, Canadian fiddler
• 1975 – Maurizio Giuliano, writer and traveler
• 1976 – Matt Skiba, American musician (Alkaline Trio,Heavens)
• 1976 – Eric Griffin, American rock guitarist
• 1976 – Bradley McGee, Australian cyclist
• 1976 – Crista Flanagan, American television comedian
• 1976 – Zach Johnson, professional golfer
• 1976 – Marco Campos, Brazilian racing driver (d. 1995)
• 1977 – Floyd Mayweather Jr, American boxer
• 1977 – Jason Akermanis, Australian rules footballer
• 1977 – Bronson Arroyo, American baseball player
• 1978 – Shinya, Japanese musician (Dir en grey)
• 1978 – John Nolan, American musician (Straylight Run)
• 1980 – Anton Gustafsson, Swedish rock music fan (d. 2003)
• 1980 – Shinsuke Nakamura, Japanese professional wrestler
• 1980 – Roman Sloudnov, Russian swimmer
• 1981 – Lleyton Hewitt, Australian tennis player
• 1981 – Mohammad Sami, Pakistani cricketer
• 1982 – Nick Blackburn, American baseball player
• 1982 – Emanuel Villa, Argentine footballer
• 1982 – Klára Zakopalová, Czech tennis player
• 1984 – Clivio Piccione, Monegasque racing driver
• 1984 – Sterling James Keenan, American professional wrestler
• 1986 – Wojtek Wolski, Polish Ice hockey player
• 1987 – Daniel Reilly, British entrepreneur
• 1987 – Mayuko Iwasa, Japanese entertainer and model
• 1987 – Chieko Kawabe, Japanese singer, model and actress
• 1989 – Kosta Koufos, American-Greek basketball player

February 24 – Deaths:

• 616 – King Ethelbert of Kent
• 1525 – Guillaume Gouffier, seigneur de Bonnivet, French soldier
• 1563 – Francis, Duke of Guise, French soldier and politician (b. 1519)
• 1588 – Johann Weyer, Dutch physician and occultist
• 1666 – Nicholas Lanier, English composer (b. 1588)
• 1674 – Matthias Weckmann, German composer (b. 1616)
• 1685 – Charles Howard, 1st Earl of Carlisle, English politician and military leader (b. 1629)
• 1704 – Marc-Antoine Charpentier, French composer (b. 1643)
• 1714 – Edmund Andros, English governor in North America (b. 1637)
• 1721 – John Sheffield, 1st Duke of Buckingham and Normanby, English statesman and poet (b. 1648)
• 1732 – Colonel Francis Charteris, known as “The Rape-Master General”. (b. 1675)
• 1777 – King Joseph I of Portugal (b. 1714)
• 1779 – Paul Daniel Longolius, German encylopedist (b. 1704)
• 1781 – Edward Capell, English critic (b. 1713)
• 1799 – Georg Christoph Lichtenberg, German physicist (b. 1742)
• 1810 – Henry Cavendish, English scientist (b. 1756)
• 1812 – Etienne-Louis Malus, French physicist and mathematician (b. 1775)
• 1815 – Robert Fulton, American inventor (b. 1765)
• 1825 – Thomas Bowdler, English physician and editor (b. 1754)
• 1856 – Nikolai Ivanovich Lobachevsky, Russian mathematician (b. 1792)
• 1876 – Joseph Jenkins Roberts, first President of Liberia (b. 1809)
• 1914 – Joshua Chamberlain, Civil War hero for the Union on Little Round Top at the Battle of Gettysburg
• 1925 – Hjalmar Branting, Prime Minister of Sweden, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1860)
• 1929 – André Messager, French composer and conductor (b. 1853)
• 1953 – Gerd von Rundstedt, German field marshal (b. 1875)
• 1970 – Conrad Nagel, American actor (b. 1897)
• 1975 – Nikolai Bulganin, Premier of the Soviet Union (b. 1895)
• 1982 – Virginia Bruce, America actress and singer (b. 1910)
• 1984 – Helmut Schelsky, German sociologist (b. 1912)
• 1986 – Tommy Douglas, Canadian politician (b. 1904)
• 1989 – Sparky Adams, American baseball player (b. 1894)
• 1990 – Tony Conigliaro, American baseball player (b. 1945)
• 1990 – Malcolm Forbes, American publisher (b. 1917)
• 1990 – Sandro Pertini, Italian politician (b. 1896)
• 1990 – Johnnie Ray, American singer (b. 1927)
• 1991 – John Daly, South African game show host (b. 1914)
• 1991 – George Gobel, American comedian (b. 1919)
• 1991 – Webb Pierce, American music singer (b. 1921)
• 1993 – Danny Gallivan, Canadian radio and television sportscaster (b. 1917)
• 1993 – Bobby Moore, English footballer (b. 1941)
• 1994 – Jean Sablon, French singer (b. 1906)
• 1994 – DinahShore, American actress and singer (b. 1916)
• 1998 – Antonio Prohias, Cuban-born cartoonist (b. 1921)
• 1998 – Henny Youngman, English-born comedian (b. 1906)
• 1999 – Andre Dubus, American writer (b. 1936)
• 2001 – Claude E. Shannon, American information theorist (b. 1916)
• 2002 – Arthur Lyman, American jazz vibraphone and marimba player (b. 1932)
• 2002 – Leo Ornstein, Russian-born composer and pianist (b. 1912)
• 2003 – John Edward Christopher Hill, English historian (b. 1912)
• 2003 – Bernard Loiseau, French chef (b. 1951)
• 2004 – John Randolph, American actor (b. 1915)
• 2006 – Octavia Butler, American author and MacArthur Foundation Fellow (b. 1947)
• 2006 – Don Knotts, American actor (b. 1924)
• 2006 – John Martin, Canadian broadcaster (b. 1947)
• 2006 – Denis Twitchett, Cambridge scholar, and Chinese historian (b. 1925)
• 2006 – Dennis Weaver, American actor (b. 1924)
• 2007 – Bruce Bennett, American actor (b. 1906)
• 2007 – Leroy Jenkins, American composer and violinist (b. 1932)
• 2007 – Lamar Lundy, American football player (b. 1935)
• 2007 – Damien Nash, American football player (b. 1982)
• 2008 – Larry Norman, American musician, singer, songwriter and producer (b. 1947)

February 24 – Holidays:

• Regifugium, in the Roman calendar.
• Independence Day in Estonia (1918; the Soviet period is considered illegal annexation).
• Flag Day in México.
• Dragobete in Romania.
• National Artist Day in Thailand.
• St. Matthias
• St. Modest
• St. Sergius

On This Day in History February 23

February 23 – Events:

• 303 – Emperor Diocletian orders general persecution of Christians.
• 1455 – Traditional date for the publication of the Gutenberg Bible, the first Western book printed from movable type.
• 1660 – Charles XI becomes King of Sweden.
• 1778 – American Revolution: Baron von Steuben arrives at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania to help to train the Continental Army.
• 1820 – Cato Street Conspiracy: A plot to murder all the British cabinet ministers is exposed.
• 1821 – College of Apothecaries organized in Philadelphia; first US pharmacy college.
• 1822 – Boston is incorporated as a city.
• 1836 – The Battle of the Alamo begins in San Antonio, Texas.
• 1847 – Mexican-American War: Battle of Buena Vista – In Mexico, American troops under General Zachary Taylor defeat Mexican General Antonio López de Santa Anna.
• 1852 – HMS Birkenhead sinks off South Africa killing 420 troops
• 1854 – The official independence of the Orange Free State is declared.
• 1861 – President-elect Abraham Lincoln arrives secretly in Washington, D.C., after an assassination attempt in Baltimore, Maryland.
• 1870 – Military control of Mississippi ends and it is readmitted to the Union.
• 1883 – Alabama becomes the first U.S. state to enact an antitrust law.
• 1887 – The French Riviera is hit by a large earthquake, killing around 2,000.
• 1898 – Émile Zola is imprisoned in France after writing “J’accuse,” a letter accusing the French government of anti-Semitism and wrongfully placing Captain Alfred Dreyfus in jail.
• 1900 – In South Africa, the Boers and British troops fight in the Battle of Hart’s Hill.
• 1903 – Cuba leases GuantanamoBay to the United States “in perpetuity.”
• 1904 – The United States gains control of the Panama Canal Zone for $10 million.
• 1905 – Chicago attorney Paul Harris and three other businessmen meet for lunch to form the Rotary Club, the world’s first service club.
• 1909 – The AEA Silver Dart makes the first powered flight in Canada and the British Empire.
• 1917 – First demonstrations in Saint Petersburg, Russia. The beginning of the February Revolution.
• 1918 – First victory of Red Army over the Kaiser’s German troops near Narva and Pskov. Since 1923 this date become the Day of Red Army in honor of this victory.
• 1919 – Benito Mussolini forms the Fascist Party in Italy.
• 1927 – The Federal Radio Commission (later renamed the Federal Communications Commission) begins to regulate the use of radio frequencies.
• 1934 – Léopold III becomes King of Belgium.
• 1934 – Casey Stengel becomes manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers.
• 1941 – Plutonium was first produced and isolated by Dr. Glenn T. Seaborg.
• 1944 – Forced deportation of the Chechen and Ingush people to Central Asia.
• 1945 – World War II: During the Battle of Iwo Jima, a group of United States Marines and a commonly forgotten U.S. Navy Corpsman, reach the top of Mount Suribachi on the island and are photographed raising the American flag. The photo would later win a Pulitzer Prize.
• 1945 – World War II: The capital of the Philippines, Manila, is liberated by American forces.
• 1945 – World War II: Capitulation of German garrison in Poznan, the city is liberated by Soviet and Polish forces.
• 1945 – World War II: The German town of Pforzheim is completely destroyed by a raid of 379 British bombers.
• 1945 – World War II: The Verona Philharmonic Theatre is bombed by Allied forces. It would later be re-opened in 1975.
• 1947 – The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) is founded.
• 1954 – The first mass inoculation of children against polio with the Salk vaccine began in Pittsburgh.
• 1955 – First meeting of the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO).
• 1957 – The founding congress of the Senegalese Popular Bloc is opened in Dakar.
• 1958 – Cuban rebels kidnap 5-time world driving champion Juan Manuel Fangio.
• 1960 – Demolition begins on Brooklyn’s Ebbets Field.
• 1966 – A military coup in Syria replaces the previous government.
• 1973 – Gold goes up $10 overnight to record $95 an ounce in London.
• 1974 – The Symbionese Liberation Army demands $4 million more to release kidnap victim Patty Hearst.
• 1975 – In response to the energy crisis, daylight saving time commences nearly two months early in the United States.
• 1979 – Frank Peterson, Jr., named first black general in Marine Corps.
• 1980 – Eric Heiden wins all 5 speed skating gold medals at Lake Placid Olympics.
• 1980 – Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini states that Iran’s parliament would decide the fate of the American embassy hostages.
• 1981 – Antonio Tejero attempts a coup d’état by capturing the Spanish Congress of Deputies. 
• 1983 – The Spanish Socialist government of Felipe González and Miguel Boyer nationalizes Rumasa, a holding of José María Ruiz Mateos.
• 1983 – The United States Environmental Protection Agency announces its intent to buy out and evacuate the dioxin-contaminated community of Times Beach, Missouri.
• 1987 – Supernova 1987a: A supernova is seen in the Large Magellanic Cloud.
• 1991 – Gulf War: Ground troops cross the Saudi Arabia border and enter Iraq, thus starting the ground-phase of the war.
• 1991 – In Thailand, General Sunthorn Kongsompong leads a bloodless coup d’état, deposing Prime Minister Chatichai Choonhavan.
• 1992 – The Socialist Labour Party is founded in Georgia.
• 1995 – The Dow Jones Industrial Average gains 30.28 to close at 4,003.33, closing above  4,000 for the first time.
• 1997 – A large fire occurs in the Russian Space station, Mir.
• 1998 – Kissimmee Tornado Outbreak: Tornadoes in central Florida destroy or damage 2,600 structures and kill 42.
• 1998 – Osama bin Laden publishes a fatwa declaring jihad against all Jews and Crusaders.
• 1999 – Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Öcalan is charged with treason in Ankara, Turkey.
• 1999 – An avalanche destroys the Austrian village of Galtür, killing 31.
• 2005 – Slovakia Summit 2005 begins, marking the first occasion when a sitting American President visits Slovakia; George W. Bush and Vladimir Putin are in attendance.
• 2005 – Vote of the controversial French law on colonialism, repealed start of 2006.
• 2006 – Dubai Ports World agrees to postpone its plans to take over management of six U.S. ports after the proposal ignited harsh bipartisan criticism on Capitol Hill.
• 2007 – Japan launches its fourth spy satellite, stepping up its ability to monitor potential threats such as North Korea.

February 23 – Birthdays:

• 1417 – Pope Paul II (d. 1471)
• 1583 – Jean-Baptiste Morin, French scientist (d. 1656)
• 1633 – Samuel Pepys, English naval administrator and man of letters, posthumously famous as a diarist (d. 1703)
• 1646 – Tokugawa Tsunayoshi, Japanese shogun (d. 1709)
• 1648 – Arabella Churchill, English mistress of James II of England (d. 1730)
• 1680 – Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville, French colonizer and Governor of Louisiana (d. 1767)
• 1685 – Georg Friedrich Handel, German/British Baroque composer (d. 1759)
• 1723 – Richard Price, Welsh philosopher (d. 1791)
• 1729 – Josiah Hornblower, American statesman (d. 1809)
• 1743 – Mayer Amschel Rothschild, German-born banker (d. 1812)
• 1809 – William Sprague, American minister and politician from Michigan (d. 1868)
• 1842 – Karl Robert Eduard von Hartmann, German philosopher (d. 1906)
• 1850 – César Ritz, Swiss hotelier (d. 1918)
• 1868 – W.E.B. DuBois, American civil rights leader (d. 1963)
• 1873 – Liang Qichao, Chinese scholar (d. 1929)
• 1874 – Konstantin Päts, Estonian president (d. 1956)
• 1878 – Kazimir Malevich, Ukrainian painter and art theorist (d. 1935)
• 1883 – Karl Jaspers, German philosopher (d. 1969)
• 1889 – Victor Fleming, American director (d. 1949)
• 1889 – Musidora, French actress and director (d. 1957)
• 1891 – Harold Horder, Australian Rugby League player (d. 1978)
• 1899 – Erich Kästner, German writer (d. 1974)
• 1899 – Norman Taurog, American film director (d. 1981)
• 1901 – Edgar Ende, German painter (d. 1965)
• 1904 – Terence Fisher, English film director (d. 1980)
• 1904 – William L. Shirer, American historian (d. 1993)
• 1904 – Leopold Trepper, Soviet spy (d. 1982)
• 1908 – William McMahon, twentieth Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1988)
• 1914 – Theofiel Middelkamp, Dutch cyclist (d. 2005)
• 1915 – Jon Hall, American actor (d. 1979)
• 1915 – Paul Tibbets, US Air Force retired Brigadier General and Pilot of B-29 “Enola Gay” over Hiroshima (d. 2007)
• 1918 – Richard G. Butler, American fascist (d. 2004)
• 1920 – Paul Gérin-Lajoie, French Canadian politician
• 1923 – Rafael Addiego Bruno, Uruguayan politician
• 1924 – Allan McLeod Cormack, South-African born physicist, Nobel laureate (d. 1998)
• 1924 – Claude Sautet, French film director (d. 2000)
• 1927 – Régine Crespin, French operatic soprano (d. 2007)
• 1928 – Hans Herrmann, German race car driver
• 1928 – Vasili Lazarev, cosmonaut (d. 1990)
• 1931 – Tom Wesselmann, American collage artist (d. 2004)
• 1932 – Majel Barrett, American actress
• 1937 – Tom Osborne, American football coach and politician
• 1938 – Diane Varsi, American actress (d. 1992)
• 1940 – Peter Fonda, American actor
• 1941 – Ron Hunt, baseball player
• 1943 – Fred Biletnikoff, American football player and coach
• 1944 – Bernard Cornwell, English historical novelist
• 1944 – John Sandford, American novelist
• 1944 – Johnny Winter, American musician
• 1945 – Allan Boesak, South African activist
• 1946 – Rusty Young, American country-rock guitarist (Poco)
• 1947 – John McWethy, American journalist (d. 2008)
• 1947 – Pia Kjærsgaard, Danish politician
• 1948 – Doug Moench, American comic book writer
• 1949 – Marc Garneau, French Canadian astronaut
• 1950 – Maxi, Irish singer and radio personality
• 1951 – Ed “Too Tall” Jones, American football player
• 1951 – Patricia Richardson, American actress
• 1952 – Brad Whitford, American musician (Aerosmith)
• 1953 – Satoru Nakajima, Japanese racing driver
• 1954 – Viktor Yushchenko, President of Ukraine
• 1955 – Tom Bodett, American voice actor, radio personality, and writer
• 1955 – Howard Jones, British pop singer
• 1958 – Tony Barrell, English writer and journalist
• 1958 – David Sylvian, English musician (Japan, Nine Horses)
• 1959 – Richard Dodds, British field hockey player
• 1960 – Alan Griffin, Australian politician
• 1960 – Naruhito, Crown Prince of Japan
• 1961 – Kelly Hansen, American drummer (Summer Lights)
• 1962 – Michael Wilton, American musician (Queensrÿche)
• 1963 – Bobby Bonilla, former baseball player
• 1963 – Radoslaw Sikorski, Polish politician
• 1964 – John Norum, Norwegian guitarist (Europe)
• 1965 – Kristin Davis, American actress
• 1965 – Michael Dell, American computer manufacturer
• 1965 – Helena Suková, former Czech tennis player
• 1965 – Veronica Webb, American supermodel and actress
• 1967 – Tamsin Greig, English actress
• 1968 – Justin Bell, British racing driver
• 1969 – Marc Wauters, Belgian cyclist
• 1970 – Marie-Josée Croze, French Canadian actress
• 1970 – Niecy Nash, American actress
• 1971 – Jeong Chan, South Korean actor
• 1971 – Don Maxwell, Canadian cricketer
• 1971 – Melinda Messenger, English television presenter
• 1971 – Joe-Max Moore, American soccer player
• 1972 – Steve Holy, American country singer
• 1972 – Rondell White, American baseball player
• 1973 – Jack Case, American artist
• 1973 – Lars-Olof Johansson, Swedish musician (The Cardigans)
• 1974 – Leko, American DJ
• 1974 – Jaime Villarreal, Mexican musician
• 1974 – Herschelle Gibbs, South African cricketer
• 1975 – Michael Cornacchia, American actor
• 1975 – Robert Lopez, American composer
• 1975 – Natalia Verbeke, Argentine actress
• 1976 – Kelly Macdonald, British actress
• 1977 – Kristina Šmigun, Estonian cross-country skier
• 1978 – René Pérez, Puerto Rican musician (Calle 13)
• 1978 – Dan Snyder, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2003)
• 1979 – D-Roc, American rapper (Ying Yang Twins)
• 1980 – Karan Singh Grover, an Indian television actor
• 1981 – Gareth Barry, English footballer
• 1981 – Charles Tillman, American football player
• 1982 – Adam Hann-Byrd, American actor
• 1983 – Mirco Bergamasco, Italian rugby player
• 1983 – Mido, Egyptian footballer
• 1983 – Emily Blunt, British actress
• 1983 – Aziz Ansari, Indian American Comedian
• 1986 – Holly Brook, American musician
• 1986 – Kazuya Kamenashi, Japanese pop star (KAT-TUN)
• 1989 – Evan Bates, American ice dancer
• 1994 – Dakota Fanning, American actress

February 23 – Deaths:

• 943 – Herbert II, Count of Vermandois, (b. 884)
• 1011 – Willigis, Archbishop of Mainz
• 1100 – Emperor Zhezong of China (b. 1076)
• 1270 – Saint Isabel of France, daughter of Louis VIII of France (b. 1225)
• 1447 – Pope Eugene IV (b. 1383)
• 1447 – Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester (b. 1390)
• 1464 – Zhengtong, Emperor of China (b. 1427)
• 1526 – Diego Colón, Spanish Viceroy of the Indies
• 1554 – Henry Grey, 1st Duke of Suffolk, English politician (executed) (bc. 1515)
• 1572 – Pierre Certon, French composer
• 1603 – Andrea Cesalpino, Italian philosopher, physician, and botanist (b. 1519)
• 1669 – Leo Aitzema, Dutch historian and statesman (b. 1600)
• 1704 – Georg Muffat, French composer (b. 1653)
• 1730 – Pope Benedict XIII (b. 1649)
• 1766 – Stanislaw Leszczynski, King of Poland (b. 1677)
• 1781 – George Taylor, American signer of the Declaration of Independence (bc. 1716)
• 1792 – Joshua Reynolds, English painter (b. 1723)
• 1800 – Joseph Warton, English literary critic (b. 1722)
• 1819 – John Keats, English poet (b. 1795)
• 1848 – John Quincy Adams, 6th President of the United States (b. 1767)
• 1855 – Carl Friedrich Gauss, German mathematician, astronomer, and physicist (b. 1777)
• 1859 – Zygmunt Krasinski, Polish Romantic poet (b. 1812)
• 1879 – Albrecht Graf von Roon, Prime Minister of Prussia (b. 1803)
• 1897 – Woldemar Bargiel, German composer (b. 1828)
• 1908 – Johannes Friedrich August von Esmarch, German surgeon (b. 1823)
• 1922 – Albert Victor Bäcklund, Swedish physicist (b. 1845)
• 1930 – Horst Wessel, Nazi ideologue and composer (b. 1907)
• 1931 – Nellie Melba, Australian opera soprano (b. 1861)
• 1934 – Edward Elgar, English composer (b. 1857)
• 1944 – Leo Hendrik Baekeland, Flemish-American chemist and inventor of the first synthetic plastic, Bakelite (b. 1863)
• 1946 – Tomoyuki Yamashita, Japanese general (hanged) (b. 1885)
• 1948 – John Robert Gregg, Irish-born publisher and inventor (b. 1866)
• 1955 – Paul Claudel, French poet and playwright (b. 1868)
• 1957 – Marika Ninou, Greek singer (b. 1918)
• 1960 – Arthur Legat, Belgian racing driver (b. 1898)
• 1965 – Stan Laurel, British born actor and comedian (b. 1890)
• 1969 – King Saud of Saudi Arabia (b. 1902)
• 1973 – Dickinson W. Richards, American physician, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1895)
• 1974 – Harry Ruby, American composer and writer (b. 1895)
• 1976 – LS Lowry, English artist (b. 1887)
• 1979 – W.A.C. Bennett, Canadian politician (b. 1900)
• 1983 – Herbert Howells, English composer (b. 1892)
• 1990 – José Napoleón Duarte, President of El Salvador (b. 1925)
• 1992 – Markos Vafiadis, Greek politician (b. 1906)
• 1995 – Melvin Franklin, American singer (The Temptations) (b. 1942)
• 1995 – James Herriot, English writer (b. 1916)
• 1997 – Tony Williams, American jazz drummer (b. 1945)
• 2000 – Ofra Haza, Israeli singer (b. 1957)
• 2000 – Stanley Matthews, English footballer (b. 1915)
• 2001 – Robert Enrico, French film director and screenwriter (b. 1931)
• 2003 – Robert K. Merton, American sociologist (b. 1910)
• 2003 – Howie Epstein, American bass guitarist (Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers) (b. 1955)
• 2004 – Vijay Anand, Indian film director (b. 1934)
• 2004 – Carl Anderson, American singer (b. 1945)
• 2004 – Sikander Bakht, Governor of Kerala (b. 1918)
• 2004 – Don Cornell, American singer (b. 1919)
• 2004 – Carl Liscombe, Canadian hockey player (b. 1915)
• 2006 – Benno Besson, Swiss actor and film director (b. 1922)
• 2006 – Telmo Zarraonaindía, Spanish footballer (b. 1921)
• 2007 – Donnie Brooks, American singer (b. 1936)
• 2007 – John Ritchie, British footballer (b. 1941)
• 2008 – Janez Drnovšek, Slovenian prime minister and president (b. 1950)
• 2008 – Paul Frère, Belgian race car driver and motorsport journalist (b. 1917)
• 2008 – Douglas Fraser, Scottish pilot, first to land at NewfoundlandAirport on January 11, 1938 (b. 1916)

February 23 – Holidays:

• Roman Empire – Terminalia held in honor of Terminus.
• Guyana – Mashramani-Republic Day.
• Russia – Defender of the Fatherland Day (formerly Red Army Day or Day of Soviet Army and Navy).
• Brunei – National Day.
• Catholicism – Feast day of Saint Polycarp of Smyrna (died 155).

On This Day in History February 22

February 22 – Events:

• 1495 – King Charles VIII of France enters Naples to claim the city’s throne.
• 1632 – Galileo’s Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems is published.
• 1744 – War of the Austrian Succession: The Battle of Toulon begins.
• 1819 – By the Adams-Onís Treaty, Spain sells Florida to the United States for five million U.S. dollars.
• 1847 – Mexican-American War: The Battle of Buena Vista – 5,000 American troops drive off 15,000 Mexicans.
• 1856 – The Republican Party opens its first national meeting in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
• 1862 – Jefferson Davis is officially inaugurated for a six-year term as the President of the Confederate States of America in Richmond, Virginia. He was previously inaugurated as a provisional president on February 18, 1861.
• 1879 – In Utica, New York, Frank Woolworth opens the first of many of 5 and 10-cent Woolworth stores.
• 1882 – The Serbian kingdom is refounded.
• 1889 – President Grover Cleveland signs a bill admitting North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana and Washington as U.S. states.
• 1904 – The United Kingdom sells a meteorological station on the South Orkney Islands to Argentina, the islands are subsequently claimed by the United Kingdom in 1908.
• 1915 – World War I: Germany institutes unrestricted submarine warfare.
• 1920 – In Emeryville, New York, the first dog race track to employ an imitation rabbit opens.
• 1923 – First successful chinchilla farm in US, Los Angeles.
• 1923 – The United States begins the first transcontinental air mail route.
• 1924 – Calvin Coolidge becomes the first President of the United States to deliver a radio broadcast from the White House.
• 1942 – World War II: President Franklin D. Roosevelt orders General Douglas MacArthur out of the Philippines as American defenses collapses.
• 1943 – Members of White Rose are executed in Nazi Germany.
• 1944 – American aircraft bombard the Dutch towns of Nijmegen, Arnhem, Enschede and Deventer by mistake, resulting in 800 dead in Nijmegen alone.
• 1948 – Communist coup in Czechoslovakia.
• 1956 – Elvis Presley’s first hit in Billboard’s Top 10 (Heartbreak Hotel).
• 1957 – Jockey Ted Atkinson, 3,500th win.
• 1958 – Egypt and Syria join to form the United Arab Republic.
• 1959 – Lee Petty wins the first Daytona 500.
• 1973 – Cold War: Following United States President Richard Nixon’s visit to the People’s Republic of China, the two countries agree to establish liaison offices.
• 1974 – Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) summit conference starts in Lahore, Pakistan. Thirty-seven countries are attending. Twenty-two heads of state and government participate.
• 1974 – Samuel Byck tries and fails to assassinate U.S. President Richard Nixon.
• 1979 – Independence of Saint Lucia from the United Kingdom.
• 1980 – Miracle on Ice: In Lake Placid, New York, the United States hockey team defeats the Soviet Union hockey team 4-3, in what is considered to be one of the greatest upsets in sports history.
• 1986 – Start of the People Power Revolution in the Philippines.
• 1989 – “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” wins Grammy as song of the year.
• 1994 – Aldrich Ames and his wife are charged by the United States Department of Justice with spying for the Soviet Union.
• 1997 – In Roslin, Scotland, scientists announce that an adult sheep named Dolly had been successfully cloned.
• 2002 – Angolan political and rebel leader Jonas Savimbi is killed in a military ambush.
• 2006 – At least six men stage Britain’s biggest robbery ever, stealing £53m (about $92.5 million or 78€ million) from a Securitas depot in Tonbridge, Kent.

February 22 – Birthdays:

• 1040 – Rashi, French rabbi and commentator (d. 1105)
• 1403 – Charles VII of France (d. 1461)
• 1440 – Ladislaus Posthumus of Bohemia and Hungary (d. 1457)
• 1500 – Cardinal Rodolfo Pio da Carpi, Italian humanist (d. 1564)
• 1612 – George Digby, 2nd Earl of Bristol, English statesman (d. 1677)
• 1705 – Peter Artedi, Swedish naturalist (d. 1735)
• 1714 – Louis-Georges de Bréquigny, French historian (d. 1795)
• 1732 – George Washington, First President of the United States (d. 1799)
• 1756 – Georg Friedrich von Martens, German diplomat (d. 1821)
• 1778 – Rembrandt Peale, American artist (d. 1860)
• 1788 – Arthur Schopenhauer, German philosopher (d. 1860)
• 1796 – Alexis Bachelot, French missionary (d. 1837)
• 1796 – Lambert Adolphe Jacques Quetelet, Belgian mathematician (d. 1874)
• 1806 – Józef Kremer, Polish messianistic philosopher (d. 1875)
• 1817 – Carl Wilhelm Borchardt, German mathematician (d. 1880)
• 1819 – James Russell Lowell, American poet and essayist (d. 1891)
• 1824 – Pierre Janssen, a French astronomer (d. 1907)
• 1825 – Jean Baptiste Salpointe, second Archbishop of Santa Fe (d. 1898)
• 1839 – Francis Pharcellus Church, American editor and publisher (d. 1906)
• 1840 – August Bebel, German politician (d. 1913)
• 1849 – Nikolay Yakovlevich Sonin, Russian mathematician (d. 1915)
• 1857 – Robert Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell, English founder of the Boy Scouts (d. 1941)
• 1857 – Heinrich Hertz, German physicist (d. 1894)
• 1864 – Jules Renard, French author (d. 1910)
• 1874 – Bill Klem, Major League Baseball Hall of Fame umpire (d. 1951)
• 1878 – Walter Ritz, Swiss physicist (d. 1909)
• 1879 – Johannes Nicolaus Brønsted, Danish physical chemist (d. 1947)
• 1880 – Frigyes Riesz, Hungarian mathematician (d. 1956)
• 1881 – Joseph B. Ely, 52 Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1956)
• 1882 – Eric Gill, British sculptor (d. 1940)
• 1883 – Marguerite Clark, American silent film actress (d. 1940)
• 1886 – Hugo Ball, German author and poet (d. 1927)
• 1887 – Ksawery Tartakower, Polish chess player (d. 1956)
• 1888 – Owen Brewster, U.S. Senator from Maine (d. 1961)
• 1889 – Olave Baden-Powell, English Chief Girl Guide (d. 1977)
• 1891 – Vlas Chubar, Soviet politician (d. 1939)
• 1892 – Edna St. Vincent Millay, American writer (d. 1950)
• 1895 – Victor Raúl Haya de la Torre, Peruvian politician, founder of APRA party (d. 1979)
• 1897 – Karol Swierczewski, Polish general (d. 1947)
• 1899 – Dwight Frye, American actor (d. 1943)
• 1899 – George O’Hara, American actor (d. 1966)
• 1899 – Dechko Uzunov, Bulgarian painter (d. 1986)
• 1900 – Luis Buñuel, Spanish-born film director (d. 1983)
• 1900 – Seán Ó Faoláin, Irish author (d. 1991)
• 1902 – Fritz Strassmann, German physicist (d. 1980)
• 1903 – Morley Callaghan, Canadian writer (d. 1990)
• 1903 – Ain-Ervin Mere, Estonian Nazi (d. 1969)
• 1903 – Robert Weede, American baritone (d. 1972)
• 1907 – Sheldon Leonard, American actor (d. 1997)
• 1907 – Robert Young, American actor (d. 1998)
• 1908 – Sir John Mills, English actor (d. 2005)
• 1911 – Bill Baker, baseball player (d. 2006)
• 1913 – Buddy Tate, American jazz saxophonist and clarinetist (d. 2001)
• 1914 – Renato Dulbecco, Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine laureate
• 1917 – Jane Bowles, American writer and playwright (d. 1973)
• 1918 – Sid Abel, Canadian hockey player (d. 2000)
• 1918 – Charlie Finley, American sports entrepreneur (d. 1996)
• 1918 – Don Pardo, American radio and television announcer
• 1918 – Robert Wadlow, tallest person in history (d. 1940)
• 1921 – Jean-Bédel Bokassa, ruler of the Central African Republic (d. 1996)
• 1921 – Wayne Booth, American literary critic (d. 2005)
• 1921 – David Greene, British television director (d. 2003)
• 1921 – Giulietta Masina, Italian actress (d. 1994)
• 1922 – Jesús Iglesias, Argentine racing driver (d. 2005)
• 1925 – Edward Gorey, American illustrator (d. 2000)
• 1926 – Kenneth Williams, English actor (d. 1988)
• 1926 – Bud Yorkin, American film director
• 1928 – Paul Dooley, American actor
• 1928 – Bruce Forsyth, British entertainer
• 1929 – James Hong, Chinese American actor
• 1929 – Rebecca Schull, American actress
• 1930 – Marni Nixon, American singer
• 1930 – James McGarrell, American painter
• 1932 – Ted Kennedy, U.S. senator from Massachusetts (d. 2009)
• 1933 – Katharine, Duchess of Kent
• 1933 – Bobby Smith, English footballer
• 1934 – Sparky Anderson, American baseball manager
• 1936 – J. Michael Bishop, Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine laureate
• 1936 – Ernie K-Doe, American singer (d. 2001)
• 1938 – Steve Barber, American baseball player (d. 2007)
• 1938 – Ishmael Reed, American writer
• 1938 – Pierre Vallières, founding member of the Front de libération du Québec (d. 1995)
• 1940 – Johnson Mlambo, South African politician
• 1940 – Billy Name, American photographer and Andy Warhol archivist
• 1941 – Hipólito Mejía, President of the Dominican Republic
• 1942 – Christine Keeler, English model and showgirl
• 1943 – Terry Eagleton, British theorist
• 1943 – Horst Köhler, President of Germany
• 1944 – Jonathan Demme, American director
• 1944 – Robert Kardashian, American lawyer (d. 2003)
• 1944 – Tom Okker, Dutch tennis player
• 1945 – Leslie Charleson, American actress
• 1945 – Oliver, American singer (d. 2000)
• 1947 – Carol Burns, Australian actress
• 1948 – John Ashton, American actor
• 1949 – Niki Lauda, Austrian race car driver, three-time F1 world champion and airline entrepreneur
• 1949 – Olga Morozova, Russian tennis player
• 1950 – Julius Erving, American basketball player
• 1950 – Ellen Greene, American actress
• 1950 – Lenny Kuhr, Dutch singer
• 1950 – Miou-Miou, French actress
• 1950 – Genesis P-Orridge, English performer, musician and artist
• 1950 – Julie Walters, English actress
• 1952 – Bill Frist, U.S. senator from Tennessee
• 1953 – Graham Lewis, English musician (Wire)
• 1953 – Nigel Planer, British actor
• 1955 – Tim Young, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1959 – Jirí Cunek, Czech politician
• 1959 – Kyle MacLachlan, American actor
• 1961 – Akira Takasaki, Japanese guitarist
• 1962 – Steve Irwin, Australian herpetologist (d. 2006)
• 1962 – Lenda Murray, American bodybuilder
• 1962 – Les Wallace, Scottish darts player
• 1963 – Vijay Singh, Fijian golfer
• 1964 – Gigi Fernandez, Puerto Rican tennis player
• 1965 – Pat Lafontaine, American ice hockey player
• 1965 – Chris Dudley, American basketball player
• 1966 – Rachel Dratch, American actress and comedienne
• 1966 – Brian Greig, Australian politician
• 1966 – Aiden Shaw, English pornographic actor
• 1967 – Alf Poier, Austrian comedian
• 1968 – Shawn Graham, Canadian politician
• 1968 – Bradley Nowell, American musician (d. 1996)
• 1968 – Jeri Ryan, American actress
• 1969 – Joaquín Cortés, Spanish dancer
• 1969 – Hans Klok, Dutch illusionist
• 1969 – Brian Laudrup, Danish footballer
• 1969 – Byron Stroud, American bassist
• 1970 – Dominic Roussel, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1971 – Lea Salonga, Filipina actress and singer
• 1972 – Michael Chang, American tennis player
• 1972 – Claudia Pechstein, German speed skater
• 1973 – Juninho Paulista, Brazilian footballer
• 1973 – Claus Lundekvam, Norwegian footballer
• 1973 – Einar Kristian Tveitå, Norwegian athlete
• 1974 – James Blunt, English musician
• 1974 – Chris Moyles, English DJ
• 1975 – Drew Barrymore, American actress
• 1976 – Faan Rautenbach, South African rugby player
• 1977 – Hakan Yakin, Swiss Footballer
• 1979 – Brett Emerton, Australian footballer
• 1979 – Lee Na-young, South Korean actress
• 1981 – Fredson Camara, Brazilian footballer
• 1982 – Jenna Haze, American pornographic actress
• 1982 – Robert Weiner, Jr., American water polo player
• 1985 – Hameur Bouazza, Algerian footballer
• 1985 – Sean Garballey, American politician
• 1986 – Miko Hughes, American actor
• 1986 – Rajon Rondo, American basketball player
• 1988 – Przemyslaw Kazimierczak, Polish footballer
• 1995 – Trent Kowalik, American actor

February 22 – Deaths:

• 965 – Odo, Duke of Burgundy (b. 944)
• 1071 – Arnulf III, Count of Flanders (killed in battle) (b. c.1055)
• 1111 – Roger Borsa, King of Sicily
• 1371 – King David II of Scotland (b. 1324)
• 1512 – Amerigo Vespucci, Italian merchant and explorer (b. 1454)
• 1627 – Olivier van Noort, Dutch navigator (b. 1558)
• 1674 – Jean Chapelain, French writer (b. 1595)
• 1680 – Catherine Monvoisin, French sorceress (b. c.1640)
• 1690 – Charles Le Brun, French artist (b. 1619)
• 1727 – Francesco Gasparini, Italian composer (b. 1661)
• 1731 – Frederik Ruysch, Dutch physician and anatomist (b. 1638)
• 1732 – Francis Atterbury, English bishop and man of letters (b. 1663)
• 1742 – Charles Rivington, English publisher (b. 1688)
• 1797 – Karl Friedrich Hieronymus Freiherr von Münchhausen, German officer and adventurer (b. 1720)
• 1799 – Heshen, infamous Qing Dynasty Chinese official at court (b. 1750)
• 1816 – Adam Ferguson, Scottish philosopher and historian (b. 1723)
• 1875 – Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot, French painter (b. 1796)
• 1875 – Sir Charles Lyell, Scottish geologist (b. 1797)
• 1890 – John Jacob Astor III, American businessman (b. 1822)
• 1890 – Carl Heinrich Bloch, Danish painter (b. 1834)
• 1892 – Herman Koeckemann, German Catholic prelate (b. 1828)
• 1903 – Hugo Wolf, Austrian composer (b. 1860)
• 1904 – Leslie Stephen, English writer and critic (b. 1832)
• 1913 – Ferdinand de Saussure, Swiss linguist (b. 1857)
• 1921 – Salim Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah, Emir of Kuwait (b. 1864)
• 1923 – Théophile Delcassé, French statesman (b. 1852)
• 1934 – Willem Kes, Dutch conductor (b. 1856)
• 1939 – Antonio Machado, Spanish poet (b. 1875)
• 1942 – Stefan Zweig, Austrian writer (b. 1881)
• 1943 – Hans Scholl, German resistance fighter (b. 1918)
• 1943 – Christoph Probst, German resistance fighter (b. 1919)
• 1943 – Sophie Scholl, German resistance fighter (b. 1921)
• 1944 – Kasturba Gandhi, wife of Mohandas Gandhi (b. 1869)
• 1945 – Osip Brik, Russian writer (b. 1888)
• 1960 – Paul-Émile Borduas, Quebec painter (b. 1905)
• 1961 – Nick LaRocca, American jazz musician (b. 1889)
• 1965 – Felix Frankfurter, Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (b. 1882)
• 1968 – Peter Arno, American cartoonist (b. 1904)
• 1973 – Jean-Jacques Bertrand, Quebec politician, Premier of Quebec (b. 1916)
• 1973 – Katina Paxinou, Greek actress (b. 1900)
• 1974 – Samuel Byck, American attempted assassin of Richard Nixon (b. 1930)
• 1976 – Angela Baddeley, English actress (b. 1904)
• 1976 – Florence Ballard, American singer (The Supremes) (b. 1943)
• 1980 – Oskar Kokoschka, Austrian artist (b. 1886)
• 1982 – Josh Malihabadi, Urdu poet of India and Pakistan (b. 1898)
• 1983 – Sir Adrian Boult, English conductor (b. 1889)
• 1983 – Romain Maes, Belgian cyclist (b. 1913)
• 1984 – Jessamyn West, American writer (b. 1902)
• 1985 – Salvador Espriu, Spanish poet (b. 1913)
• 1985 – Alexander Scourby, American actor (b. 1913)
• 1985 – Efrem Zimbalist, Russian violinist (b. 1889)
• 1987 – Andy Warhol, American artist, director, and writer (b. 1928)
• 1989 – Moisés da Costa Amaral, East Timorese leader, UDT President in the exterior (b. 1938)
• 1994 – Papa John Creach, American musician (b. 1917)
• 1995 – Ed Flanders, American actor (b. 1934)
• 1997 – Joseph Aiuppa, American gangster (b. 1907)
• 1998 – Abraham Ribicoff, American politician (b. 1910)
• 1999 – Menno Oosting, Dutch tennis player (b. 1964)
• 2000 – Fernando Buesa, Spanish politician (b. 1946)
• 2002 – Chuck Jones, American animator (b. 1912)
• 2002 – Jonas Savimbi, Angolan rebel leader (b. 1934)
• 2002 – Roden Cutler, Australian diplomat and war hero (b. 1916)
• 2002 – Daniel Pearl, American journalist (b. 1963)
• 2003 – Daniel Taradash, American screenwriter (b. 1913)
• 2004 – Roque Máspoli, Uruguayan footballer (b. 1917)
• 2004 – Andy Seminick, American baseball player (b. 1920)
• 2005 – Zdzislaw Beksinski, Polish artist (b. 1929)
• 2005 – Simone Simon, French actress (b. 1910)
• 2005 – Lee Eun Ju, Korean actress (b. 1980)
• 2006 – Anthony Burger, American musician and singer (b. 1961)
• 2007 – Dennis Johnson, American basketball player (b. 1954)
• 2007 – Howard Verne Ramsey, oldest U.S. veteran of WWI (b. 1898)
• 2007 – Samuel Hinga Norman, Sierra Leonean alleged war criminal (b. 1940)
• 2007 – George Jellicoe, Lord Privy Seal and Leader of the House of Lords & Special Boat Service veteran (b. 1918)

February 22 – Holidays:

• United States — Washington’s Birthday.
• Saint Lucia — independence (1979).
• The Scouting movement and the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts celebrate this day as “World Thinking Day”, “B.-P. day”, or “Founder’s Day”, as it is the shared birthday of the Scouts’ founder Sir Robert Baden-Powell and his wife, Lady Olave Baden-Powell, the World Chief Guide.
• Roman Catholic Church — Feast of the Chair of Saint Peter.
• Blessed Saint Isabel of France (died 1270)

On This Day in History February 21

February 21 – Events:

• 362 – Athanasius returns to Alexandria.
• 1245 – Thomas, the first known Bishop of Finland, is granted resignation after having confessed to torture and forgery.
• 1440 – The Prussian Confederation is formed.
• 1543 – Battle of Wayna Daga – A combined army of Ethiopian and Portuguese troops defeats a Muslim army led by Ahmed Gragn.
• 1613 – Mikhail I is elected unanimously as Tsar by a national assembly, beginning the Romanov dynasty of Imperial Russia.
• 1743 – The premiere of George Frideric Handel’s oratorio, “Samson” takes place in London.
• 1804 – The first self-propelling steam locomotive makes its outing at the Pen-y-Darren ironworks in Wales.
• 1842 – John Greenough is granted the first U.S. patent for the sewing machine.
• 1848 – Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels publish the Communist Manifesto.
• 1874 – The Oakland Daily Tribune publishes its first newspaper.
• 1878 – The first telephone book is issued in New Haven, Connecticut.
• 1885 – The newly completed Washington Monument is dedicated.
• 1893 – Thomas Edison receives two U.S. patents for a “Cut Out for Incandescent Electric Lamps” and for a “Stop Device.”
• 1912 – Ioannina is incorporated into the Greek state after the Balkan Wars.
• 1916 – World War I: In France, the Battle of Verdun begins.
• 1918 – The last Carolina parakeet dies in captivity at the Cincinnati Zoo.
• 1919 – Kurt Eisner, German socialist, is assassinated. His death results in the establishment of the Bavarian Soviet Republic and parliament and government fleeing Munich, Germany.
• 1925 – The New Yorker publishes its first issue.
• 1937 – Initial flight of the first successful flying car, Waldo Waterman’s Arrowbile.
• 1937 – The League of Nations bans foreign national “volunteers” in the Spanish Civil War.
• 1945 – World War II: Japanese Kamikaze planes sink the escort carrier Bismarck Sea and damage the Saratoga.
• 1947 – In New York City, Edwin Land demonstrates the first “instant camera,” the Polaroid Land Camera, to a meeting of the Optical Society of America.
• 1948 – NASCAR is incorporated.
• 1952 – The British government, under Winston Churchill, abolishes identity cards in the UK to “set the people free.”
• 1952 – In Dhaka, East Pakistan (present Bangladesh) police open fire on a procession of students that was demanding the establishment of Bengali as the official language, killing four people and starting a country-wide protest which led to the recognition of Bengali as one of the national languages of Pakistan. The day was later declared as “International Mother Language Day” by UNESCO.
• 1953 – Francis Crick and James D. Watson discover the structure of the DNA molecule.
• 1958 – The Peace symbol is designed and completed by Gerald Holtom, commissioned by Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, in protest against the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment.
• 1960 – Cuban leader Fidel Castro nationalizes all businesses in Cuba.
• 1965 – Malcolm X is assassinated at the Audubon Ballroom in New York City by members of the Nation of Islam.
• 1970 – Swissair Flight 330: A mid-air bomb explosion and subsequent crash kills 38 passengers and nine crew members near Zürich, Switzerland.
• 1971 – The Convention on Psychotropic Substances is signed at Vienna.
• 1972 – President Richard Nixon visits the People’s Republic of China to normalize Sino-American relations.
• 1972 – The Soviet unmanned spaceship Luna 20 lands on the Moon.
• 1973 – Over the Sinai Desert, Israeli fighter aircraft shoot down a Libyan Airlines jet killing 108.
• 1974 – The last Israeli soldiers leave the west bank of the Suez Canal pursuant to a truce with Egypt.
• 1975 – Watergate scandal: Former United States Attorney General John N. Mitchell and former White House aides H. R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman are sentenced to prison.
• 1988 – Televangelist Jimmy Swaggert confesses his sins to his congregation.
• 1995 – Steve Fossett lands in Leader, Saskatchewan, Canada becoming the first person to make a solo flight across the Pacific Ocean in a balloon.
• 2004 – The first European political party organization, the European Greens, is established in Rome.
• 2007 – Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi resigns from office. His resignation is rejected by the President of Italy, Giorgio Napolitano.

February 21 – Birthdays:

• 1484 – Elector Joachim I of Brandenburg (d. 1535)
• 1556 – Sethus Calvisius, German calendar reformer (d. 1615)
• 1675 – Franz Xaver Josef von Unertl, Bavarian politician (d. 1750)
• 1705 – Edward Hawke, 1st Baron Hawke, British naval officer (d. 1781)
• 1721 – John McKinly, American physician (d. 1796)
• 1723 – Louis-Pierre Anquetil, French historian (d. 1808)
• 1728 – Tsar Peter III of Russia, husband of Catherine the Great (d. 1762)
• 1783 – Princess Catharina of Württemberg, Queen consort of Westphalia (d. 1835)
• 1791 – Carl Czerny, Austrian composer (d. 1857)
• 1794 – Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, Mexican president (d. 1876)
• 1801 – John Henry Newman, English Catholic cardinal (d. 1890)
• 1817 – Jose Zorrilla y Moral, Spanish dramatist (d. 1893)
• 1821 – Charles Scribner, American publisher (d. 1871)
• 1836 – Léo Delibes, French composer (d. 1891)
• 1844 – Charles-Marie Widor, French composer (d. 1937)
• 1860 – Karel Matej Capek-Chod, Czech journalist (d. 1927)
• 1860 – Goscombe John, Welsh sculptor
• 1865 – John Haden Badley, English school founder (d. 1967)
• 1867 – Otto Hermann Kahn, German millionaire (d. 1934)
• 1875 – Jeanne Calment, French supercentenarian and longest-lived human on record (d. 1997)
• 1876 – Pyotr Konchalovsky, Russian painter (d. 1956)
• 1878 – The Mother, Indian spiritual leader (d. 1973)
• 1880 – Waldemar Bonsels, German writer (d. 1952)
• 1885 – Sacha Guitry, Russian dramatist (d. 1957)
• 1888 – Clemence Dane, British novelist and playwright (d. 1965)
• 1893 – Celia Lovsky, Russian-born actress (d. 1979)
• 1893 – Andrés Segovia, Spanish guitarist (d. 1987)
• 1895 – Carl Peter Henrik Dam Danish biochemist, Nobel laureate (d. 1976)
• 1900 – Madeleine Renaud, French theater actress (d. 1994)
• 1903 – Fairfax M. Cone, American advertising executive (d. 1977)
• 1903 – Anaïs Nin, French writer (d. 1977)
• 1903 – Raymond Queneau, French poet and novelist (d. 1976)
• 1907 – W. H. Auden, English poet (d. 1973)
• 1910 – Douglas Bader, British pilot (d. 1982)
• 1910 – Carmine Galante, Italian-born gangster (d. 1979)
• 1910 – Eddie Waring, British sports commentator (d. 1986)
• 1913 – Roger Laurent, Belgian racing driver (d. 1997)
• 1915 – Ann Sheridan, American actress (d. 1967)
• 1917 – Lucille Bremer, American actress (d. 1996)
• 1924 – Robert Mugabe first President of Zimbabwe
• 1925 – Sam Peckinpah, American director (d. 1984)
• 1927 – Erma Bombeck, American humorist (d. 1996)
• 1927 – Hubert de Givenchy, French fashion designer
• 1927 – Pierre Mercure, French-Canadian musician and composer (d. 1966)
• 1929 – Roberto “Chespirito” Carlos Bolaños, Mexican actor
• 1929 – James Beck, English actor (d. 1973)
• 1933 – Nina Simone, American singer (d. 2003)
• 1934 – Rue McClanahan, American actress
• 1935 – Mark McManus, Scottish actor (d. 1994)
• 1935 – Jean Pelletier, French Canadian political operative
• 1936 – Barbara Jordan, American politician (d. 1996)
• 1937 – King Harald V of Norway
• 1937 – Gary Lockwood, American actor
• 1940 – John Lewis, American politician
• 1940 – Peter Gethin, British racing driver
• 1941 – James Wong, Hong Kong composer (d. 2004)
• 1942 – Margarethe von Trotta, German actress and film director
• 1943 – David Geffen, American record producer
• 1945 – Paul Newton, British musician
• 1945 – D’Anna Fortunato, American mezzo-soprano
• 1946 – Tyne Daly, American actress
• 1946 – Anthony Daniels, British actor
• 1946 – Alan Rickman, English actor
• 1946 – Bob Ryan, Boston sports columnist
• 1946 – Vito Rizzuto, Sicilian-born alleged mafia boss
• 1947 – Johnny Echols, American musician
• 1947 – Olympia Snowe, American politician
• 1947 – Victor Sokolov, Russian journalist (d. 2006)
• 1949 – Jerry Harrison, American musician
• 1949 – Ronnie Hellström, Swedish footballer
• 1951 – Vince Welnick, American musician (The Grateful Dead) (d. 2006)
• 1952 – Jean Jacques Burnel, British musician
• 1953 – Christine Ebersole, American actress
• 1953 – William Petersen, American actor
• 1954 – Mike Pickering, English disc jockey and musician
• 1954 – Ivo Van Damme, Belgian athlete (d. 1976)
• 1955 – Sir Steven Fayburgh, British diplomat
• 1955 – Kelsey Grammer, American actor
• 1958 – Jake Burns, Irish singer
• 1958 – Mary Chapin Carpenter, American singer
• 1958 – Jack Coleman, American actor
• 1958 – Alan Trammell, baseball player and manager
• 1959 – José María Cano, Spanish musician
• 1959 – Emmett McAuliffe, American radio show host and lawyer
• 1960 – Steve Wynn, American singer
• 1961 – Davey Allison, American race car driver (d. 1993)
• 1961 – Christopher Atkins, American actor
• 1961 – Martha Hackett, American actress
• 1961 – Bertha Faye, American wrestler (d. 2001)
• 1962 – Vanessa Feltz, British television presenter
• 1962 – Chuck Palahniuk, American writer
• 1962 – David Foster Wallace, American writer
• 1963 – William Baldwin, American actor
• 1964 – Mark E. Kelly and Scott J. Kelly, American astronauts
• 1964 – Jane Tomlinson, British cancer campaigner (d. 2007)
• 1967 – Leroy Burrell, American runner
• 1969 – James Dean Bradfield, Welsh musician
• 1969 – Tony Meola, American footballer
• 1969 – Eric Wilson, American musician
• 1970 – Michael Slater, Australian cricketer
• 1972 – Seo Taiji, Korean musician
• 1973 – Heri Joensen, Faroese musician
• 1973 – Bowie Tsang, Taiwanese singer and TV host
• 1974 – Iván Campo, Spanish footballer
• 1974 – Roberto Heras, Spanish cyclist
• 1975 – Chris (CP) Powell, American columnist
• 1976 – Ryan Smyth, Canadian hockey player
• 1977 – Steve Francis, American basketball player
• 1977 – Chad Hutchinson, baseball and football player
• 1977 – Kevin Rose, American television host and Internet entrepreneur
• 1978 – Park Eun-hye, South Korean actress
• 1978 – Kim Ha Neul, South Korean actress
• 1978 – Nicole Parker, American actress
• 1979 – Pascal Chimbonda, French footballer
• 1979 – Carly “Carlito” Colón, Puerto Rican professional wrestler
• 1979 – Lonnie Ford, American football player
• 1979 – Jennifer Love Hewitt, American actress
• 1980 – Brad Fast, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1980 – Jim Vandermeer, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1980 – Parthiva Sureshwaren, Indian racing driver
• 1980 – Tiziano Ferro, Italian singer
• 1982 – Bernhard Auinger, Austrian racing driver
• 1983 – Braylon Edwards, American football player
• 1983 – Franklin Gutiérrez, Venezuelan baseball player
• 1984 – Andrew Ellis, New Zealand rugby union player
• 1984 – David Odonkor, German footballer
• 1984 – Karina, Japanese model and actress
• 1985 – Bob Burton, American speedcuber
• 1985 – Georgios Samaras, Greek footballer
• 1986 – Charlotte Church, Welsh singer
• 1986 – Prince Amedeo of Belgium, Archduke of Austria-Este
• 1987 – Ellen Page, Canadian actress
• 1987 – Anthony Walker, British murder victim (d. 2005)
• 1989 – Corbin Bleu, American actor and singer
• 1989 – Kristin Herrera, American actress
• 1989 – Scout Taylor-Compton, American actress
• 1989 – Josh Walker, English footballer

February 21 – Deaths:

• 1437 – King James I of Scotland (b. 1394)
• 1471 – John of Rokycan, Czech Catholic archbishop
• 1513 – Pope Julius II (b. 1443)
• 1543 – Ahmed Gragn, Sultan of Adal
• 1554 – Hieronymus Bock, German botanist (b. 1498)
• 1595 – Robert Southwell, English Jesuit priest and poet (executed)
• 1668 – John Thurloe, English Puritan spy (b. 1616)
• 1677 – Baruch Spinoza, Dutch philosopher (b. 1632)
• 1715 – Charles Calvert, 3rd Baron Baltimore, Governor of the Province of Maryland (b. 1637)
• 1730 – Pope Benedict XIII (b. 1649)
• 1788 – Johann Georg Palitzsch, German astronomer (b. 1723)
• 1821 – Georg Friedrich von Martens, German diplomat (b. 1756)
• 1824 – Eugène de Beauharnais, son of Napoleon’s wife, Josephine (b. 1781)
• 1846 – Emperor Ninko of Japan (b. 1800)
• 1862 – Justinus Kerner, German poet (b. 1786)
• 1901 – George Francis FitzGerald, Irish mathematician (b. 1851)
• 1919 – Kurt Eisner, German socialist (assassinated), leader of socialist revolution of 1918 in Bavaria (b. 1867)
• 1920 – Jacinta Marto, witness of the Blessed Virgin Mary at Fatima (b. 1910)
• 1926 – Heike Kamerlingh Onnes, Dutch physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1853)
• 1934 – Augusto Nicolás Calderón Sandino, Nicaraguan patriot (assassinated) (b. 1895)
• 1938 – George Ellery Hale, American astronomer (b. 1868)
• 1941 – Frederick Banting, Canadian physician, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1891)
• 1944 – Ferenc Szisz, Hungarian-born race car driver (b. 1873)
• 1945 – Eric Liddell, Scottish runner (b. 1902)
• 1946 – José Streel, Belgian World War II collaborator (b. 1911)
• 1949 – Tan Malaka, Indonesian nationalist activist and communist leader (b. 1894)
• 1958 – Duncan Edwards, English footballer (b. 1936)
• 1960 – Jacques Becker, French film director and screenwriter (b. 1906)
• 1965 – Malcolm X, American black activist (b. 1925)
• 1966 – Paul Comtois, French Canadian politician (b. 1895) 
• 1967 – Charles Beaumont, American writer (b. 1929)
• 1968 – Howard Walter Florey, Australian-born pharmocologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1898)
• 1972 – Bronislava Nijinska, Polish-Russian ballet dancer (b. 1891)
• 1972 – Eugène Tisserant, French Catholic candinal (b. 1884)
• 1974 – Tim Horton, Canadian hockey player (b. 1930)
• 1978 – Mieczyslaw Zywczynski, Polish historian and priest (b. 1901)
• 1980 – Alfred Andersch, German writer
• 1982 – Murray the K, American impresario and disc jockey (b. 1922)
• 1984 – Michail Aleksandrovich Sholokhov, Russian writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1905)
• 1985 – Louis Hayward, British actor (b. 1909)
• 1986 – Helen Hooven Santmyer, American writer (b. 1895)
• 1986 – Shigechiyo Izumi, Japanese sugarcane farmer, also the world’s oldest man ever (b. 1865)
• 1989 – Alex Thépot, French footballer (b. 1906)
• 1991 – Dame Margot Fonteyn, English ballet dancer (b. 1919)
• 1994 – Johannes Steinhoff, German fighter pilot & NATO commander (b.1913)
• 1996 – Morton Gould, American composer (b. 1913)
• 1999 – Gertrude B. Elion, American scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1918)
• 1999 – Wilmer David Mizell, baseball player (b. 1930)
• 2000 – Antonio Díaz-Miguel, Spanish basketball coach (b. 1933)
• 2002 – Harold Furth, Austrian-born physicist (b. 1939)
• 2002 – John Thaw, English actor (b. 1942)
• 2003 – Eddie Thomson, Scottish football player and coach (b. 1947)
• 2004 – John Charles, Welsh footballer (b. 1931)
• 2004 – Guido Molinari, Canadian artist (b. 1933)
• 2005 – Ara Berberian, American opera singer (b. 1930)
• 2005 – Gérard Bessette, Quebec novelist and poet (b. 1920)
• 2005 – Guillermo Cabrera Infante, Cuban novelist (b. 1929)
• 2005 – Eugene Scott, American religious broadcaster (b. 1929)
• 2008 – Sunny Lowry, First British woman to swim the English Channel (b. 1911)

February 21 – Holidays:

• Language Martyrs’ Day – A day celebrated by Bengali speaking people for gaining right of mother tongue.
• International Mother Language Day (UNESCO).
• In the Roman Catholic Church:
  • Saint Peter Damiani
  • Saint Pepin of Landen
  • Saint Randoald

On This Day in History February 20

February 20 – Events:

• 1472 – Orkney and Shetland are left by Norway to Scotland, due to a dowry payment.
• 1547 – Edward VI of England is crowned King of England at Westminster Abbey.
• 1792 – The Postal Service Act, establishing the United States Post Office Department, is signed by President George Washington.
• 1798 – Louis Alexandre Berthier removes Pope Pius VI from power.
• 1810 – Andreas Hofer, Tyrolean patriot and leader of rebellion against Napoleon’s forces, was executed.
• 1816 – Gioachino Rossini’s The Barber of Seville debuts at Teatro Argentina, with a fiasco.
• 1835 – Concepción, Chile is destroyed by an earthquake.
• 1864 – American Civil War: Battle of Olustee occurs – the largest battle fought in Florida during the war.
• 1872 – In New York City the Metropolitan Museum of Art opens.
• 1873 – The University of California opens its first medical school in San Francisco, California.
• 1901 – The legislature of Hawaii Territory convenes for the first time.
• 1909 – Publication of the Futurist Manifesto in the French journal Le Figaro.
• 1913 – King O’Malley drives in the first survey peg to mark commencement of work on the construction of Canberra.
• 1931 – California gets the go-ahead by the U.S. Congress to build the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge.
• 1933 – The Congress of the United States proposes the Twenty-first Amendment to the United States Constitution, which would end Prohibition in the United States.
• 1935 – Caroline Mikkelsen becomes the first woman to set foot in Antarctica.
• 1942 – Lieutenant Edward O’Hare becomes America’s first World War II flying ace.
• 1943 – American movie studio executives agree to allow the Office of War Information to censor movies.
• 1943 – The Parícutin volcano begins to form in Parícutin, Mexico.
• 1944 – World War II: The “Big Week” ended with American bomber raids on German aircraft manufacturing centers.
• 1944 – World War II: The United States takes Eniwetok Island.
• 1944 – Batman & Robin comic strip premiers in newspapers.
• 1947 – State of Prussia ceases to exist.
• 1952 – Emmett Ashford becomes the first African-American umpire in organized baseball by being authorized to be a substitute umpire in the Southwestern International League.
• 1959 – The Avro Arrow program to design and manufacture supersonic jet fighters in Canada is cancelled by the Diefenbaker government amid much political debate.
• 1962 – Mercury program: While aboard Friendship 7, John Glenn orbits the earth three times in 4 hours, 55 minutes, becoming the first American to orbit the earth.
• 1965 – Ranger 8 crashes into the moon after a successful mission of photographing possible landing sites for the Apollo program astronauts.
• 1976 – The Southeast Asia Treaty Organization disbands.
• 1986 – Soviets launch Mir.
• 1987 – Unabomber: In Salt Lake City, Utah, a bomb explodes in a computer store.
• 1989 – Total eclipse of the Moon.
• 1991 – A gigantic statue of Albania’s long-time dictator, Enver Hoxha, is brought down in the Albanian capital, Tirana, by mobs of angry protesters.
• 1992 – The FA Premier League is founded.
• 1998 – American figure skater Tara Lipinski becomes the youngest gold medalist at the Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan.
• 2002 – In Reqa Al-Gharbiya, Egypt, a fire on a train injures over 65 and kills at least 370.
• 2005 – Spain becomes the first country to vote in a referendum on ratification of the proposed Constitution of the European Union, passing it by a substantial margin, but on a low turnout.

February 20 – Birthdays:

• 1631 – Thomas Osborne, 1st Duke of Leeds, English statesman (d. 1712)
• 1745 – Henry James Pye, English poet (d. 1813)
• 1751 – Johann Heinrich Voß, German poet (d. 1826)
• 1753 – Louis Alexandre Berthier, French marshal (d. 1815)
• 1757 – John ‘Mad Jack’ Fuller, English philanthropist (d. 1834)
• 1794 – William Carleton, Irish novelist (d. 1869)
• 1802 – Charles de Bériot, Belgian violinist (d. 1870)
• 1819 – Alfred Escher, Swiss politician, railroad entrepreneur (d. 1882)
• 1839 – Benjamin Waugh, American minister; founder of the NSPCC (d. 1908)
• 1844 – Ludwig Boltzmann, Austrian physicist (d. 1906)
• 1844 – Joshua Slocum, Canadian seaman and adventurer (d. 1909)
• 1848 – Edward Henry Harriman, American railroad executive (d. 1909)
• 1850 – Nérée Beauchemin, Canadian physician and poet (d. 1931)
• 1866 – Carl Westman, Swedish architect and designer (d. 1936)
• 1867 – Louise, Princess Royal and Duchess of Fife (d. 1931)
• 1918 – Leonore Annenberg American Billionaire
• 1880 – Jacques d’Adelswärd-Fersen, French aristocrat and novelist (d. 1923)
• 1887 – Vincent Massey, Governor-General of Canada (d. 1967)
• 1888 – Georges Bernanos, French writer (d. 1948)
• 1893 – Russel Crouse, American playwright (d. 1966)
• 1898 – Enzo Ferrari, Italian automobile manufacturer, designer and racing car driver (d. 1988)
• 1898 – Jimmy Yancey, American pianist (d. 1951)
• 1899 – Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney, American businessman (d. 1992)
• 1901 – Cecil Harmsworth King, English newspaper owner (d. 1987)
• 1901 – Muhammad Naguib, President of Egypt (d. 1984)
• 1902 – Ansel Adams, American photographer (d. 1984)
• 1904 – Alexei Kosygin, Premier of the Soviet Union (d. 1980)
• 1906 – Gale Gordon, American television and radio actor (d. 1995)
• 1907 – Malcolm Atterbury, American actor (d. 1992)
• 1912 – Pierre Boulle, French author (d. 1994)
• 1914 – John Daly, South African-born broadcaster (d. 2001)
• 1920 – Evgeny Dragunov, Russian weapons designer (d. 1991)
• 1923 – Forbes Burnham, President of Guyana (d. 1985)
• 1924 – Gloria Vanderbilt, American socialite and clothing designer
• 1925 – Robert Altman, American film director (d. 2006)
• 1925 – Heinz Kluncker, German trade union leader
• 1926 – Richard Matheson, American author
• 1927 – Roy Cohn, American lawyer (d. 1986)
• 1927 – Ibrahim Ferrer, Cuban musician (Buena Vista Social Club) (d. 2005)
• 1927 – Sidney Poitier, American actor
• 1929 – Amanda Blake, American actress (d. 1989)
• 1930 – Willie Cunningham, Northern Irish footballer
• 1934 – Bobby Unser, American racing driver
• 1936 – Marj Dusay, American actress
• 1936 – Larry Hovis, American actor (d. 2003)
• 1936 – Shigeo Nagashima, Japanese baseball player and coach
• 1937 – Robert Huber, German chemist, Nobel laureate
• 1937 – Roger Penske, American racing driver, race team owner and entrepreneur
• 1937 – Nancy Wilson, American singer
• 1938 – Richard Beymer, American actor
• 1939 – Frank Arundel, English footballer
• 1940 – Jimmy Greaves, English footballer
• 1941 – Buffy Sainte-Marie, Canadian singer
• 1942 – Phil Esposito, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1942 – Charlie Gillett, British radio DJ
• 1942 – Mitch McConnell, American politician
• 1942 – Claude Miller, French film director and screenwriter
• 1943 – Antonio Inoki, Japanese professional wrestler
• 1943 – Mike Leigh, British film director
• 1944 – Robert de Cotret, French Canadian politician (d. 1999)
• 1944 – Willem van Hanegem, Dutch footballer and coach
• 1945 – Andrew Bergman, American screenwriter and film director
• 1945 – Brion James, American actor (d. 1999)
• 1945 – Annu Kapoor, Indian actor
• 1946 – Brenda Blethyn, English actress
• 1946 – Richard Cocciante, French-Italian singer and songwriter
• 1946 – Sandy Duncan, American singer and actress
• 1946 – J. Geils, American guitarist (The J. Geils Band)
• 1947 – André van Duin, Dutch comedian
• 1947 – Eggert Magnusson, Icelandic football executive
• 1947 – Peter Osgood, English footballer (d. 2006)
• 1947 – Peter Strauss, American actor
• 1948 – Pierre Bouchard, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1948 – Jennifer O’Neill, Brazilian-born actress
• 1949 – Ivana Trump, Czech-born American socialite
• 1950 – Walter Becker, American guitarist (Steely Dan)
• 1950 – Ken Shimura, Japanese performer and actor
• 1950 – Tony Wilson, British journalist and impresario (d. 2007)
• 1951 – Edward Albert, American actor (d. 2006)
• 1951 – Gordon Brown, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
• 1951 – Randy California, American guitarist (Spirit) (d. 1997)
• 1951 – Phil Neal, English footballer
• 1953 – Riccardo Chailly, Italian conductor
• 1953 – Poison Ivy, American musician (The Cramps)
• 1954 – Jon Brant, American musician (Cheap Trick)
• 1954 – Anthony Stewart Head, English actor
• 1954 – Patty Hearst, American socialite
• 1956 – Rick Green, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1957 – Glen Hanlon, Canadian ice hockey coach
• 1957 – Charlie Adler, American voice actor
• 1959 – Bill Gullickson, American baseball player
• 1960 – Joel Hodgson, American comedian (Mystery Science Theater 3000)
• 1960 – Kee Marcello, Swedish guitarist
• 1962 – Kenn Nesbitt, American children’s author
• 1963 – Charles Barkley, American basketball player
• 1963 – Ian Brown, English singer (The Stone Roses)
• 1963 – Jon Lynn Christensen, former Nebraska Congressman
• 1963 – Marilisa Xenogiannakopoulou, Greek politician
• 1964 – French Stewart, American actor
• 1964 – Rodney Rowland, American actor
• 1966 – Cindy Crawford, American model
• 1967 – Kurt Cobain, American musician (Nirvana) (d. 1994)
• 1967 – Katherine Soucie, American voice actress
• 1967 – Andrew Shue, American television actor
• 1967 – Lili Taylor, American actress
• 1968 – Ted Hankey, English darts player
• 1969 – Vaginal Davis, American drag queen and performance artist
• 1969 – Gedo, Japanese professional wrestler
• 1969 – Danis Tanovic, Bosnian film director and screenwriter
• 1969 – Tommy Vardell, National Football League fullback
• 1971 – Jari Litmanen, Finnish footballer
• 1971 – Shawn McKenzie, American programmer
• 1972 – Brent Gretzky, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1972 – K-OS, Canadian musician/rapper
• 1974 – Ophelie Winter, French actress
• 1975 – Liván Hernández, Cuban baseball player
• 1975 – Brian Littrell, American singer (Backstreet Boys)
• 1976 – Rohan Gavaskar, Left-handed batsman, India ODI 2004 (son of Sunil Gavaskar)
• 1976 – Ed Graham, English drummer (The Darkness)
• 1976 – Gail Kim, Canadian professional wrestler
• 1977 – Bartosz Kizierowski, Polish swimmer
• 1977 – Stephon Marbury, American basketball player
• 1977 – T.J. Slaughter, American football player
• 1978 – Lauren Ambrose, American actress
• 1978 – Jakki Degg, English glamour model/actress
• 1978 – Jay Hernandez, American actor
• 1978 – Julia Jentsch, German actress
• 1980 – Artur Boruc, Polish footballer
• 1980 – Massimo Donati, Italian footballer
• 1980 – Imanol Harinordoquy, French rugby union footballer
• 1981 – Tony Hibbert, English footballer
• 1981 – Chris Thile, American musician
• 1982 – Jason Hirsh, American baseball player
• 1983 – Jose Morales, Puerto Rican baseball player
• 1983 – Justin Verlander, American baseball player
• 1985 – Ryan Sweeney, American baseball player
• 1985 – Yulia Volkova, Russian singer (t.A.T.u.)
• 1986 – Dilaver Güçlü, Turkish footballer
• 1988 – Rihanna, Barbadian singer
• 1989 – Melanie Leishman, Canadian actress

February 20 – Deaths:

• 702 – K’inich Kan B’alam II, king of the Maya state of Palenque (b. 635)
• 1154 – Saint Wulfric of Haselbury Plucknett
• 1171 – Conan IV, Duke of Brittany (b. 1138)
• 1194 – King Tancred of Sicily
• 1258 – Al-Musta’sim, last Abbasid Caliph of Baghdad
• 1408 – Henry Percy, 1st Earl of Northumberland, English statesman (b. 1342)
• 1431 – Pope Martin V (b. 1368)
• 1524 – Tecún Umán, last leader of the Quiché-Maya
• 1579 – Nicholas Bacon, English politician (b. 1509)
• 1618 – Philip William, Prince of Orange (b. 1554)
• 1626 – John Dowland, English composer and lutenist (b. 1563)
• 1762 – Tobias Mayer, German astronomer (b. 1723)
• 1771 – Jean Jacques d’Ortous de Mairan, French geophysicist (b. 1678)
• 1773 – King Charles Emmanuel III of Sardinia (b. 1701)
• 1778 – Laura Bassi, Italian scholar (b. 1711)
• 1790 – Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1741)
• 1803 – Marie Dumesnil, French actress (b. 1713)
• 1806 – Lachlan McIntosh, Scottish-born American military and political leader (b. 1725)
• 1810 – Andreas Hofer, Tyrolean national hero (executed) (b. 1767)
• 1871 – Paul Kane, Irish-born painter (b. 1810)
• 1893 – P.G.T. Beauregard, American Confederate general (b. 1818)
• 1895 – Frederick Douglass, American abolitionist writer (b. 1818)
• 1905 – Jeremiah W. Farnham, American merchant captain
• 1907 – Henri Moissan, French chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1852)
• 1916 – Klas Pontus Arnoldson, Swedish writer and pacifist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1844)
• 1920 – Robert Peary, American explorer (b. 1856)
• 1941 – La Bolduc, French Canadian singer and songwriter (b. 1894)
• 1961 – Percy Grainger, Australian composer (b. 1882)
• 1963 – Ferenc Fricsay, Hungarian conductor (b. 1914)
• 1963 – Jacob Gade, Danish Composer(b. 1879)
• 1966 – Chester Nimitz, American admiral (b. 1885)
• 1968 – Anthony Asquith, British film director and writer (b. 1902)
• 1969 – Ernest Ansermet, Swiss conductor (b. 1883)
• 1970 – Sophie Treadwell, American playwright and journalist (b. 1885)
• 1972 – Maria Goeppert-Mayer, German physicist, Nobel laureate (b. 1906)
• 1972 – Walter Winchell, American journalist (b. 1897)
• 1976 – René Cassin, French judge, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1887)
• 1976 – Kathryn Kuhlman, American evangelist (b. 1907)
• 1981 – Baron Nicolas de Gunzburg, magazine editor, socialite (b. 1904)
• 1983 – Fritz Köberle, Austrian-Brazilian physician (b. 1910)
• 1985 – Clarence “Ducky” Nash, American voice actor (b. 1904)
• 1992 – Roberto D’Aubuisson, Salvadoran politician (b. 1944)
• 1992 – Dick York, American actor (b. 1928)
• 1993 – Ferruccio Lamborghini, Italian automobile manufacturer (b. 1916)
• 1996 – Solomon Asch, American psychologist (b. 1907)
• 1996 – Toru Takemitsu, Japanese composer (b. 1930)
• 1997 – Zachary Breaux, American jazz guitarist (b. 1960)
• 1999 – Sarah Kane, English playwright (b. 1971)
• 1999 – Gene Siskel, American film critic (b. 1946)
• 2000 – Anatoly Sobchak, Russian politician (b. 1937)
• 2001 – Rosemary DeCamp, American actress (b. 1910)
• 2003 – Maurice Blanchot, French author (b. 1907)
• 2003 – Orville Freeman, American politician (b. 1918)
• 2003 – Harry Jacunski, American football player
• 2003 – Ty Longley, American guitarist (Great White) (b. 1971)
• 2003 – Mushaf Ali Mir, Pakistani Chief of the Air Staff (b. 1947)
• 2005 – Pam Bricker, American jazz singer and Thievery Corporation vocalist (b. 1954)
• 2005 – Sandra Dee, American actress (b. 1944)
• 2005 – John Raitt, American actor (b. 1917)
• 2005 – Hunter S. Thompson, American journalist and author (b. 1937)
• 2005 – Tom Willmore, English geometer (b. 1919)
• 2006 – Curt Gowdy, American sportscaster (b. 1919)
• 2006 – Lucjan Wolanowski, Polish journalist, writer and traveller (b. 1920)
• 2007 – F. Albert Cotton, American chemist (b. 1930)
• 2008 – Emily Perry, English Actress (b. 1907)