On This Day
https://www.onthisday.com/events/february/26
Historical Events on
February 26
- 1266 Battle of Benevento fought in Southern Italy between Manfred of Sicily and army of Charles of Anjou
- 1401 English Catholic priest William Sawtrey convicted of heresy and later becomes 1st Lollard martyr to be publicly burnt at the stake
- 1534 Pope Paul II affirms George van Egmond as bishop of Utrecht
- 1548 Ottoman fleet under Piri Reis retakes the port of Aden (modern Yemen) from the Portuguese
- 1590 Mauritius of Nassaus sails to Breda
- 1606 First known European landing in Australia by Dutch navigator Willem Janszoon at the Pennefather River, Cape York, northern Australia
- 1732 1st mass celebrated in 1st American Catholic church, St Joseph's, Philadelphia
- 1773 Construction of Walnut Street Jail is approved by the state of Pennsylvania; it will become the first experiment with the practice of solitary confinement in the United States
- 1794 Christiansborg Castle, Copenhagen burns down
- 1797 Bank of England issues first £1 note
- 1832 Polish constitution abolished and replaced by Tsar Nicholas I
- 1834 1st US interstate crime compact (NY-NJ) ratified
- 1839 1st Grand National steeplechase, Aintree Racecourse, Liverpool: Jem Mason wins aboard 5/1 favourite Lottery
- 1848 2nd French Republic proclaimed
- 1851 13th Grand National: Terry Abbott wins aboard Irish stallion Abd-El-Kader at 7/1; first dual winner and first to win back-to-back
- 1852 British troopship Birkenhead sinks off South Africa, 458 die, 193 survive
- 1862 Battle of Woodburn, Kentucky
- 1866 New York Legislature forms NYC Metropolitan Board of Health
- 1869 US 15th Amendment guaranteeing right to vote sent to states to ratify
- 1870 Beach Pneumatic Transit - 1st attempt to demonstrate a subway in New York opens (pneumatic powered)
- 1881 -27] Natal: British troops under Major General Colley occupy Majuba Hill
- 1881 P&O's SS Ceylon begins world's 1st round-the-world pleasure cruise from Liverpool
- 1884 British & Portuguese treaty signed in Congo by Leopold II
- 1885 Berlin Conference gives Congo to Belgium and Nigeria to Great Britain
- 1891 1st buffalo purchased for Golden Gate Park
- 1907 Royal Oil & Shell merge to form British Petroleum (BP)
- 1907 US Congress raise their own salaries to $7,500
- 1909 Austria and Turkey conclude an agreement in which Turkey recognizes Austria's 1908 annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and is to receive compensation
- 1912 Coal miners strike in Britain (settle on 1st March)
- 1914 HMHS Britannic, sister to the Titanic, is launched at Harland & Wolff, Belfast
- 1914 New York Museum of Science & Industry incorporated
- 1915 Malancourt, Argonnen 1st (German) flame-thrower
- 1916 Germans sink French transport ship Provence II, killing 930
- 1916 Russian troops conquer Kermansjah, Persia
- 1917 1st Annual fair at Utrecht Harbor (Netherlands)
- 1917 1st jazz records recorded - "Dixie Jazz Band One Step" and "Livery Stable Blues" by Original Dixieland Jass Band for the Victor Talking Machine Company
- 1918 Stands at Hong Kong Jockey Club collapse & burn, killing 604
- 1919 Acadia National Park forms (as Lafayette N P), Maine
- 1919 US Congress establishes Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona
- 1920 German silent horror film classic "The Cabinet of Dr Caligari" starring Werner Krauss is released
- 1921 The USSR signs treaties respecting the integrity of Persia and of Afghanistan
- 1923 Italian nationalist & fascists merge (blue-shirts & black-shirts)
Beer Hall Putsch
1924 Trial against Adolf Hitler for treason in "Beer Hall Putsch" begins in Munich, Germany
- 1930 1st red & green traffic lights installed in Manhattan, NYC
- 1930 Play "Green Pastures" opens at Mansfield Theater
- 1930 West Indies make 1st Test Cricket win, by 289 runs over England
- 1933 Golden Gate Bridge groundbreaking ceremony held at Crissy Field
- 1936 Adolf Hitler introduces Ferdinand Porsche's "Volkswagen"
- 1936 Military coup in Japan
- 1937 Christopher Isherwood and W. H. Auden's "Ascent of F6" premieres in London
- 1938 1st passenger ship equipped with radar
- 1938 Rie Van Veen swims world record 200m free style (2:24.6)
- 1938 US female Figure Skating championship won by Joan Tozzer
- 1938 US male Figure Skating championship won by Robin Lee
- 1940 US Air Defense Command forms at Mitchel Field, LI, NY
- 1941 2 fighters unable to continued slugfest, referee declares double KO
- 1941 Cowboys' Amateur Association of America organized (California)
- 1941 Utrecht & Zaandam strike against raid on Jews
- 1941 Vichy-France makes religious education in school mandatory
- 1942 German battle cruiser Gneisenau deactivated by bomb
- 1942 Radio Orange calls for March 1 day of prayer in Dutch Indies
- 1949 USAF plane began 1st nonstop around-the-world flight
- 1960 David Jenkins wins the men's figure skating gold medal at the Squaw Valley Winter Olympics; US takes the singles double after Carol Heiss wins women's event
- 1960 USA's David Jenkins wins Olympic Gold for men's figure skating
- 1960 Verne Gagne beats Doctor X in Omaha, to become NWA wrestling champ
- 1961 3rd Daytona 500: Marvin Panch wins in a 1960 Pontiac owned by Smokey Yunick when race leader Fireball Roberts' car suffered a blown engine with 13 laps remaining
- 1967 USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
- 1967 Verne Gagne beats Mad Dog Vachon in St Paul, to become NWA champion
- 1968 Clandestine Radio Voice of Iraqi People (Communist) final transmission
- 1970 Carole Bayer (Sager) and George Fischoff's musical "Georgy" opens at Winter Garden Theater, NYC; runs for 4 performances
- 1970 The Beatles release "Hey Jude" compilation album in US (originally to be titled "Beatles Again")
- 1971 Two Royal Ulster Constabulary officers shot and killed by the Irish Republican Army while on mobile patrol in the Ardoyne area of Belfast, North Ireland
- 1972 Ireland-Wales Five Nations Rugby match scheduled for Lansdowne Road, Dublin is cancelled because of escalating political situation; Championship not completed for first time since World War II
- 1972 Slag heap dam collapses above Buffalo Creek, West Virginia, kills 125
- 1974 Gold hits record $188 an ounce in Paris
- 1975 "Night... Made America Famous" opens at Barrymore, NYC; runs for 75 performances
- 1975 1st televised kidney transplant (Today Show)
- 1976 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
- 1977 1st flight of Space Shuttle (atop a Boeing 747)
- 1978 Ira Levin's "Deathtrap" premieres in NYC
- 1979 CBS' premiere of NYC sitcom "Flatbush", which received many derision phone calls about it from Brooklynites to CBS
- 1979 Last total eclipse of Sun in 20th century for continental US
- 1980 Egypt & Israel exchange ambassadors for 1st time
- 1980 Military coup under Desi Bouterse in Suriname
- 1981 3 Anglican missionaries detained in Iran since Aug 1980 are released
- 1981 84 penalties (406 mins) assessed for a brawl between NHL Minn & Bost
- 1981 French Train Grande Vitesse averages 380 kph on trial run
- 1983 Shortwave pirate Radio USA (Wellsville, NY) begins transmission
- 1984 Last US marines in multinational peacekeeping force in Lebanon left Beirut
- 1984 Pulitzer Prize winner Robert Penn Warren is named the 1st US poet laureate
- 1984 Reverend Jesse Jackson acknowledges that he called NYC "Hymietown"
- 1985 27th Grammy Awards: "What's Love Got to Do With It?", and Cyndi Lauper win
- 1986 Evert van Benthem wins 14th Frisian 11-Cities skating race (6:55:16)
- 1986 People Power Revolution in the Philippines.
- 1987 1st release of Beatles on compact disc: "Please Please Me"; "With The Beatles"; "A Hard Day's Night"; and "Beatles For Sale" [1]
- 1987 NASA launches GEOS-H
- 1987 Tower Commission probes Iran-Contra affair
- 1987 USSR resumes nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
- 1987 Wash blocks 20 Indiana shots tying NBA regulation game record
- 1988 Christa Rotherburger (GDR) skates ladies world record 1000m (1:17.65)
- 1989 Lowest barometric pressure in Netherlands (95.5 hPa)
Highway of Death
1991 Coalition planes bomb Iraqi forces retreating from Kuwait during the Gulf War, killing hundreds and creating the so-called 'Highway of Death'
- 1991 Kuwaiti resistance leaders declare they have control of their capital
- 1991 NY-NJ Knights (WLAF) players 1st come together
- 1991 Signs of Iran crude now an option for US refiners, but no imports from Iran likely in near future
- 1992 "Search & Destroy" opens at Circle in Square Theater, NYC; runs for 46 performances
- 1992 200+ Azerbaijanis, mostly civilians are killed by local Armenian forces and the 366th CIS regiment in the Khojaly massacre in Nagorno-Karabakh
- 1992 Irish Supreme Court rules 14 year old rape victim may get an abortion
- 1993 "World Trade Center bombing of 1993": truck bomb explodes in parking garage of NYC World Trade Center at 12:18pm, killing 6 and injuring over 1,000 in what was the deadliest act of terrorism perpetrated on US soil at the time
- 1993 9th Soap Opera Digest Awards - Days of Our Lives wins
- 1998 Steven M Gluckstern completes sale of NY Islanders
- 1998 Total solar eclipse in Venezuela-Pacific Ocean (4m09)
- 1999 15th Soap Opera Digest Awards - General Hospital wins
- 2001 The Taliban destroy two giant Buddha statues in Bamyan, Afghanistan.
- 2004 Macedonian President Boris Trajkovski is killed in a plane crash near Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
- 2004 The United States lifts a ban on travel to Libya, ending travel restrictions to the nation that had lasted for 23 years.
- 2005 25th Golden Raspberry Awards: "Catwoman" wins
- 2006 XX Winter Olympic Games close in Turin, Italy
- 2010 41st NAACP Image Awards: "Precious" wins Outstanding Motion Picture
- 2011 31st Golden Raspberry Awards: "The Last Airbender" wins
- 2012 17-year old black teenager Trayvon Martin shot and killed by George Zimmerman in Sanford, Florida, highlighted issue of racial profiling in the US
- 2012 Bus plunges off a cliff in Shanxi, China causing 15 deaths
- 2012 Train derailment kills 3 and injures 45 in Burlington, Ontario
- 2013 A flexible battery capable of being charged wirelessly and folded and stretched is developed
- 2013 A hot air balloon crashes in Luxor, Egypt, killing 19 tourists
- 2013 A rocket launched from the Gaza strip into Israel ends the ceasefire since November 2012
- 837 15th recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet
- 1526 Saxony and Hesse form League of Gotha (league of Protestant princes)
- 1531 Evangelical German towns form Schmalkaldische Union
- 1557 1st Russian Embassy arrives in London
- 1563 British composer William Byrd is appointed organist at Lincoln Cathedral, Lincoln, England
- 1626 Yuan Chonghuan is appointed Governor of Liaodong, after he led the Chinese into a great victory against the Manchurians under Nurhaci
- 1665 Battle at Elmina, Gold Coast: Vice-admiral De Ruyter beats English
- 1667 Abraham Crijnssen conquers Fort Willoughby (Zeelandia), Suriname
- 1670 Jews expelled from Austria by order of Leopold I
- 1678 Earl of Shaftesbury freed from the Tower of London
- 1693 1st women's magazine "Ladies' Mercury" published in London, England
- 1696 English/Welsh nobles lay down Oath of Association
New Britain
1700 English explorer William Dampier is the 1st British person to visit the Pacific Island of New Britain, which he names
- 1813 1st federal vaccination legislation enacted
- 1813 US Congress authorizes use of steamboats to transport mail
- 1856 18th Grand National: George Stevens wins aboard 25/1 Freetrader; first of Stevens' record 5 GN victories
Historic Event
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 Russians shoot at Poles protesting Russian rule of Poland in Castle Square, Warsaw
- 1861 US Congress authorizes 1st stamped newspaper wrappers for mailing
- 1864 6th and last day of battle at Dalton, Georgia (about 600 casualties)
- 1864 Near Andersonville, Georgia, rebels open a new POW camp "Camp Sumpter"
- 1865 Civil War skirmish near Sturgeon, Missouri
- 1869 John Menard is 1st African American to make a speech in the US Congress
- 1871 Meeting of Alabama claims commission
- 1872 Charlotte Ray, 1st African American woman lawyer in USA, graduates from Howard University
- 1873 Dutch socialist Samuel van Wooden demands law against child labor
- 1874 Baseball 1st played in England at Lord's Cricket Ground
- 1879 Russian Chemist Constantin Fahlberg discovers saccharin (artificial sweetener) [1]
- 1881 Battle at Amajuba: South African Boers vs British army under General Colley
- 1883 Oscar Hammerstein patents 1st cigar-rolling machine
- 1890 D Needham and P Kerrigan box 100 rounds (6 h 39 m) in San Francisco; match is a draw
- 1900 Battle of Paardeberg: Boer General Piet Cronjé surrenders to the British after a prolonged siege
- 1900 In London, the Trades Union Congress and the Independent Labour Party (formed in 1893) meet, results in a Labour Representative Committee and eventually the modern Labour Party in 1906
- 1901 A General Committee of National Liberal Federation meets and adopts a resolution deploring the continuation of the war in South Africa and condemning the British Government's insistence on unconditional surrender by the Boers
- 1901 NL Rules Committee decrees that all fouls are to count as strikes except after two strikes
- 1906 France and Britain agree to joint control of New Hebrides
- 1908 Sacrifice fly adopted (repealed in 1931, reinstated 1954)
Sports History
1921 US Female Figure Skating championship won by Theresa Weld Blanchard; US male Figure Skating championship won by Sherwin Badger
- 1922 G B Shaw's "Back to Methusaleh I/II" premieres in NYC
Conference of Interest
1922 US Commerce Secretary Herbert Hoover convenes 1st National Radio Conference
- 1922 US Supreme Court unanimously upholds 19th amendment to the US Constuituent - women's right to vote
- 1924 Belgium's Theunis government falls
- 1936 Dutch swimmer Willy den Ouden sets new women's world 100m freestyle record (1:04.6) in Amsterdam; lasts 22 years until broken in 1956 by Dawn Fraser of Australia
Cricket History
1937 Australian cricketer Don Bradman scores 169 in 5th Test match v England in 223 minutes, ensuring Australia wins the Ashes 3-2
- 1939 Belgian government of Pierlot falls
- 1939 Borley Rectory, "the most haunted house in England", destroyed in a fire
- 1939 Supreme Court outlaws sit-down strikes
- 1940 Martin Kamen and Sam Ruben discover carbon-14 (radiocarbon dating) at the University of California Radiation Laboratory in Berkeley, California
- 1942 1st transport of French Jews to nazi-Germany
- 1942 Battle of Java Sea began: 13 US warships sunk and 2 Japanese
- 1942 J S Hey discovers radio emissions from Sun
- 1943 The Rosenstrasse protest starts in Berlin
- 1943 The Smith Mine #3 in Bearcreek, Montana, explodes, killing 74 men
- 1945 Battle of US 94 Infantry
- 1946 4th "Road" film "Road to Utopia" premieres (NYC)
- 1947 French explorer Paul-Emile Victor founds French Polar Expeditions to oversee French scientific missions
- 1951 22nd amendment ratified, limiting US Presidents to 2 terms
- 1956 Female suffrage granted in Egypt
- 1957 Mao's famous speech to the Supreme State Conference "On Correct Handling of Contradictions Among People" expounding Maoist ideals
- 1957 Premiere of only prime-time network TV show beginning with an "X": "Xavier Cugat Show" on NBC (until X-Files)
- 1958 USSR performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya USSR
Sports History
1959 Chicago Cards trade running back Ollie Matson to LA Rams for 9 players
- 1960 Five Nations Rugby Championship is won jointly by England and France with the pivotal game a 3-3 draw between the teams at Stade Colombes, Paris
- 1960 Oil pipe line from Rotterdam to Ruhrgebied opens
- 1960 Veikko Hakulinen of Finland wins his 3rd career Olympic cross country gold medal as part of Finland's 4 x 10k relay team at Squaw Valley, CA; winner: 50k (Oslo, 1952) and 30k (Cortina d’Ampezzo, 1956)
- 1961 The first congress of the Spanish Trade Union Organisation is inaugurated
Assassination Attempt
1962 South Vietnam President Ngô Đình Diệm's palace bombed by dissident air pilots in a failed assassination attempt
Music Premiere
1964 Erwin Drake's musical "What Makes Sammy Run?", starring Steve Lawrence, Robert Alda, and Sally Ann Howes, opens at 54th St Theater, NYC; runs for 540 performances
- 1964 The government of Italy asks for help to keep the Leaning Tower of Pisa from toppling over.
- 1965 Dutch Marijnen government resigns
- 1965 France performs Underground nuclear test at Ecker Algeria
Musical Finale
1965 Hugh Martin and Timothy Gray's musical "High Spirits", based on Noel Coward's "Blithe Spirit", closes at Alvin Theater, NYC, after 375 performances
- 1966 Ice Dance Championship at Davos won by Diane Towler and Bernard Ford of great Britain
- 1966 Ice Pairs Championship at Davos won by Belousova and Protopopov of the Soviet Union
- 1966 Men's Figure Skating Championship in Davos won by Emmerich Danzer of Austria
- 1967 Antigua & St Christopher-Nevis become associated states of UK
- 1967 Dominica gains independence from England
- 1967 Rio de la Plata Treaty
- 1973 American Indian Movement occupy Wounded Knee in South Dakota
Music History
1977 Rolling Stones' guitarist Keith Richards gets suspended sentence for heroin possession in Canada
- 1978 France performs nuclear test at Mururoa atoll
- 1980 Israel & Egypt exchange ambassadors
- 1980 Terrorists occupies Dominican embassy in Bogota
- 1981 Greatest passenger load on a commercial airliner-610 on Boeing 747
- 1982 Dan Issel (NBA-Nuggets), hits on 63rd consecutive free throw
- 1982 Earl Anthony becomes 1st pro bowler to win more than $1 million
- 1982 France performs nuclear test at Mururoa atoll
- 1982 Wayne Williams found guilty of murdering 2 of 28 blacks in Atlanta
- 1983 Eamonn Coghlan of Ireland set indoor mile record of 3:49.78
- 1984 Worker's union leader Billy Nair freed in South Africa
- 1984 WRC-AM in Washington, D.C. changes call letters to WWRC
- 1985 Farmers converge in Washington to demand economic relief
- 1985 Mauritania's new constitutional charter published
- 1985 US dollar is worth Ÿ3.9355 (Netherlands)
- 1986 The United States Senate allows its debates to be televised on a trial basis
- 1987 "Washington Week In Review" 20th anniversary on PBS
- 1987 American Mike Conley sets world indoor triple jump record (17.76m) in New York
- 1987 Donald Regan resigns as White House chief of staff
- 1987 NCAA cancels SMU's entire 1987 football schedule for gross violations of NCAA rules regarding athletic corruption
- 1988 Gulfstream G-IV goes around the world 36:08:34
- 1988 Katarina Witt (GDR) wins 2nd consecutive Olympic figure skating
- 1989 German war criminals Aus der Funten and Fischer freed in Holland
- 1989 Venezuela is rocked by the riots of Caracazo
- 1990 "Hold On" single released by Wilson Phillips (Billboard Song of the Year 1990)
- 1990 Exxon Corp and Exxon Shipping are indicted on 5 criminal counts (Valdez)
- 1991 Ben Elton's "Silly Cow" premieres in London
- 1991 Noureddine Morcelli set 1500m mark at 3:34:16
Music History
1991 Singer James Brown is paroled from prison after serving 2 years of 6 year sentence for weapon and drug related convictions
- 1992 Larry Smith named 9th Commissioner of the CFL
- 1993 PBA National Championship Won by Ron Palombi Jr
- 1994 Luke Cresswell and Steve McNicholas' percussion revue "Stomp" opens at the Orpheum Theatre, NYC; runs for 11,475 performances
- 1994 Maronite church near Beirut bombed, 10 killed
- 1994 XVII Winter Olympic Games close in Lillehammer, Norway
- 1995 Car bomb explodes in Zakho, North-Iraq (54-80 killed)
Film & TV History
1996 American film production company "Happy Madison Productions" is founded by Adam Sandler
- 1996 First ever appearance of Pokémon in role-playing video game "Pocket Monsters Red and Green" for Game Boy in Japan
- 1996 Mark Waugh scores 126 in World Cup against India
- 1997 "Last Night of Ballyhoo" opens at Helen Hayes Theater NYC
- 1997 British singer Sade arrested in Jamaica for disobeying a police officer
- 1998 14th Soap Opera Digest Awards - General Hospital wins
- 1998 Apple discontinues development of the Newton computer
- 1998 Britain's House of Lords agrees to end 1,000 years of male precedence by giving a monarch's first-born daughter the same claim to the throne as any first born son
- 1998 FBI arrests 10 most wanted suspected serial killer Tony Ray Amati
- 1998 NE Patriot David Meggett arrested in Toronto on sex assault charges
- 1999 Aston Villa are the last Premier League team to play a match with an all-English starting XI in a 4-1 defeat by Coventry
- 1999 Korea International School is founded by Soon-Il Chung
- 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
- 2002 Ryanair Flight 296 catches fire in London Stansted Airport. Subsequent investigations criticize Ryanair's handling of the evacuation.
Music History
2002 Singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell receives Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award
- 2003 Former Bosnian Serb leader Biljana Plavsic is sentenced by the U.N. tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands, to 11 years in prison
- 2003 Rowan Williams is enthroned as the 104th Archbishop of Canterbury.
- 2004 A bombing of a Superferry by Abu Sayyaf in the Philippines worst terrorist attack kills 116
- 2004 Former BPMC general secretary Ordrick Samuel launches a new party in Barbuda, Barbudans for a Better Barbuda
- 2007 The Chinese Correction: the Shanghai Stock Exchange falls 9%, the largest drop in 10 years
- 2007 The general strike against Lansana Conté in Guinea ends
- 2009 Statistics Finland informs that Finland's gross domestic product diminished by 1.3% in the last quarter of 2008 from the previous quarter
- 2010 Central Chile is hit with an 8.8 magnitude earthquake.
- 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 (rules till 375)
- 870 8th Ecumenical council ends in Constantinople
- 1570 Anti-Portuguese uprising on Ternate, Moluccas
- 1638 Scottish Presbyterians sign National Convent, Greyfriars, Edinburgh
- 1646 Roger Scott tried in Massachusetts for sleeping in church
- 1653 -Mar 3] 3 Day Sea battle English beat Dutch
- 1667 English colony Suriname comes under Dutch controls
- 1700 Today is followed by March 1 in Sweden, thus creating the Swedish calendar
- 1704 Frenchman Elias Neau opens a school for blacks in NYC
- 1704 Indians attack Deerfield, Massachusetts, killing 40, kidnapping 100
- 1708 Slave revolt in Newton, Long Island NY results in 11 deaths
- 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
- 1730 Russian Empress Anna Ivanovna revokes "the conditions" and dissolves the Privy Council, re-instituting autocracy
- 1749 1st edition of Henry Fieldings' novel "Tom Jones" published
- 1759 Pope Clement XIII allows Bible to be translated into various languages
- 1778 Rhode Island General Assembly authorizes enlistment of slaves
- 1787 The charter establishing the institution now known as the University of Pittsburgh is granted
- 1794 US Senate voids Pennsylvania's election of Abraham Gallatin
- 1804 Charles Pichegru, French army general and royalist who plotted to overthrow Napoleon in the Pichegru Conspiracy, arrested
- 1810 1st US fire insurance joint-stock company organized, Philadelphia
Historic Event
1832 Charles Darwin, aboard HMS Beagle, arrives in the town of Salvador in the Brazilian state of Bahia
- 1835 Dr Elias L"nnrot publishes Finnish poem "Kalevala"
- 1838 Robert Nelson, leader of the Patriotes, proclaims the independence of Lower Canada (today Québec)
- 1844 12-inch gun aboard USS Princeton explodes, killing Secretary of State Abel P. Upshur, Secretary of the Navy Thomas Gilmer, and other high-ranking U.S. federal officials
- 1844 6th Grand National: John Crickmere wins aboard 5/1 co-favourite Discount
- 1847 US defeats Mexico in battle of Sacramento
- 1849 11th Grand National: Tom Cunningham wins aboard 20/1 Peter Simple; 2nd consecutive year there are 3 equine fatalities during the race
- 1850 The University of Utah opens in Salt Lake City, Utah
- 1854 Republican Party formally organized in Ripon, Wisconsin
- 1859 Arkansas legislature requires free blacks to choose exile or slavery
- 1862 Charles Gounod's opera "La Reine de Saba" premieres in Paris
- 1863 Confederate raider "Nashville" sinks near Fort McAllister, Georgia
- 1864 -Mar 3rd] Skirmish at Albemarle County Virginia (Burton's Ford)
- 1864 -Mar 4th) Raid at Kilpatrick's Richmond
- 1870 The Bulgarian Exarchate (Orthodox Church) is established by decree of Sultan Abd-ul-Aziz of the Ottoman Empire
- 1871 2nd Enforcement Act gives federal control of congressional elections in US
Historic Event
1878 Congress overrides US President Rutherford B. Hayes veto of the Bland-Allison Act, requiring the Treasury to buy a certain amount of silver and put it into circulation as silver dollars
Music History
1888 Vincent d'Indy's Wallenstein-trilogy, premieres
- 1891 Oscar Grundén skates world record 500m (50.8 sec)
- 1893 Edward Acheson of Pennsylvania, patents an abrasive he names "carborundum" (Silicon carbide)
- 1896 France dismisses Queen Ranavalona III of Madagascar and exiles her to the island of Réunion
- 1899 Legislative Assembly of the Territory of New Mexico passes legislation founding the University of New Mexico, to be established in (or near) Albuquerque
- 1900 General Buller's troops relieve Ladysmith in Natal
- 1903 Barney Dreyfuss & James Potter buy Philadelphia Phillies for $170,000
- 1904 Football club Sport Lisboa (Benfica) founded in Lisbon, Portugal
- 1904 Vincent d'Indy's 2nd Symphony in B, premieres
- 1906 Stanley Cup: Ottawa HC beats Queen's University (Kingston, ON), 12-7 for a 2-0 sweep of challenge series
- 1908 Failed assassination attempt on Shah Mohammed Ali in Tehran
- 1909 1st National Woman's Day is observed in the United States. Organized by the Socialist Party of America in honor of the 1908 garment workers' strike in New York, where women protested against working conditions.
Cricket History
1912 Australian batting great Victor Trumper scores 50 in his final Test innings in 5th Test loss v England at Sydney Cricket Ground
- 1914 Construction begins on Tower of Jewels for the San Francisco Exposition
- 1915 WWI: After the French try to drive the Germans forces back into the Champagne region, they gain a few hundred yards - at the cost of 50,000 casualties
- 1917 AP reports Mexico & Japan will allie with Germany if US enters WW I
Music History
1920 Maurice Ravel's orchestral suite "Le tombeau de Couperin" premieres in Paris
- 1922 KHQ-AM in Spokane WA begins radio transmissions
- 1923 Swedish King Gustaaf V begins state visit to Netherlands
- 1924 US begins intervention in Honduras
- 1925 "Tea For Two" by Marion Harris hits #1
- 1925 Congress authorizes a special handling stamp
- 1925 Longest win streak in Toronto Maple Leaf history (9 games)
- 1925 Theater Museum of Amsterdam forms
- 1929 Chic Black Hawks lose record NHL 15th straight game at home
- 1931 British politician Oswald Mosley founds the New Party
- 1931 Canadian Rugby Union adopts the forward pass
- 1933 1st female in US Cabinet: Frances Perkins appointed Secretary of Labor
Historic Event
1933 On Adolf Hitler's advice, German President Paul von Hindenburg signs the Reichstag Fire Decree after the building is destroyed by fire in Berlin; this eliminates many civil liberties in Germany
- 1933 Pacifist and anti fascist writer Carl Von Ossietzky arrested, sent to Esterwegen-Papenburg concentration camp
- 1935 Amsterdam Hotel of the Red Lion gets sidewalk permit
- 1935 Ladby Ship is discovered within a Viking grave on the island of Funen in Denmark by amateur archaeologist Poul Helweg Mikkelsen
- 1935 Wallace Carothers manufactures 1st nylon polymer
- 1936 Karl Schäfer of Austria follows up his Winter Olympics victory with his 7th consecutive men’s figure skating World Championship title in Paris, France
- 1936 Olympic champions Ernst Baier and Maxi Herber of Germany win their 4th consecutive pairs figure skating gold medal at the World Championships in Paris, France
Historic Event
1939 Great Britain recognizes Franco regime in Spain
- 1939 The erroneous word "Dord" is discovered in the Webster's New International Dictionary, Second Edition, prompting an investigation.
- 1939 The first issue of Serbian weekly magazine Politikin zabavnik is published.
- 1940 1st televised basketball game (U of Pitts beats Fordham U, 50-37)
- 1940 Richard Wright's "Native Son" published
- 1940 US population at 131,669,275 (12,865,518 African American (9.8%))
- 1941 British-Italian dogfight above Albania
- 1942 1st weapon drop on Netherlands
- 1942 Japanese land in Java, last Allied bastion in Dutch East Indies
- 1942 Race riot at Sojourner Truth Homes, a housing project in Detroit, Michigan
- 1944 Arrests of the ten-Boom family in Nazi occupied Netherlands (Haarlem) through a Dutch collaborator on charges of hiding Jews
- 1950 "Alive & Kicking" closes at Winter Garden Theater NYC after 46 performances
- 1951 French government of Pleven dissolves
- 1951 Senate committee reports of at least 2 major US crime syndicates
Historic Event
1952 Vincent Massey is sworn in as the first Canadian-born Governor General of Canada
- 1957 Jockey Johnny Longden's 5,000th career victory
- 1958 West Indies 1-504 in reply to Pakistan 328, day 3 of 3rd Test Cricket
- 1959 "Goldilocks" closes at Lunt Fontanne Theater NYC after 161 performances
- 1959 Ice Dance Championship at Colorado Springs USA won by Denny & Jones of Great Britain
- 1959 Ice Pairs Championship at Colorado Springs won by Barbara Wagner and Robert Paul of Canada, their 3rd title
- 1959 Ladies Figure Skating Championship in Colorado Springs won by Carol Heiss USA
- 1959 Launch of Discoverer 1 (WTR)-1st polar orbit
- 1959 Men's World Figure Skating Championship in Colorado Springs won by David Jenkins USA
Olympic Gold
1960 Home team United States wins its first Olympic ice hockey gold medal at Squaw Valley; with 9-4 win over Czechoslovakia
- 1960 VIII Winter Olympic Games close in Squaw Valley, California
- 1962 WMGM-AM in New York City changes call letters to WHN
- 1966 Cavern Club (Beatles hangout) in Liverpool, England closes
- 1967 A West German court rules that impostor Anna Anderson failed to prove that she was missing Russian duchess Anastasia Romanov, ending a legal case that lasted almost 30 years
- 1968 Pirate Radio Hauraki, on a boat floating off coast of NZ, returns to the air
- 1969 Ice Dance Championship at Colorado Springs won by Towler & Ford of Great Britain
- 1969 Ice Pairs Championship at Colorado Springs won by Rodnina & Ulanov of the Soviet Union
- 1969 Ladies Figure Skating Champion in Colorado Springs won by Gabriele Seyfert of Great Britain
- 1969 Men's Figure Skating Championship in Colorado Springs won by Tim Wood of USA
Election of Interest
1969 Terence O'Neill re-elected as leader of the Unionist Parliamentary Party and thus confirmed as Northern Ireland Prime Minister
- 1970 Bicycles permitted to cross Golden Gate Bridge
- 1970 Carole Bayer (Sager) and George Fischoff's musical "Georgy" closes at Winter Garden Theater, NYC, after 4 performances
- 1970 Caroline Walker runs world female record marathon (3:02:53)
- 1970 KIIN (now KUN) TV channel 12 in Iowa City, IA (PBS) 1st broadcast
- 1970 WUTR TV channel 20 in Utica-Rome, NY (ABC) begins broadcasting
- 1971 A British soldier dies in Derry after his vehicle had been attacked with petrol bombs (he died as a result of inhaling chemicals from fire extinguishers that were used to put out the fire)
- 1971 WDRB TV channel 41 in Louisville, Kentucky (IND) begins broadcasting
- 1972 The Asama-Sanso incident ends in Japan.
- 1973 Iraq and Iraq Petroleum Company (IPC) reach an agreement on compensation for nationalization
- 1973 Suriname government of Sedney arrests 13 union leaders
- 1974 Ethiopian government of Makonnen forms
- 1974 Taiwan police shoots into crowd
- 1974 UK general election results in a hung parliament
- 1974 US & Egypt re-form diplomatic relations after 7 years
- 1975 A major London tube train crash at Moorgate station kills 43 people and injures a further 74.
- 1975 EG signs accord of Lome with 46 developing countries
- 1975 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
- 1976 Spain withdraws from Western Sahara, leaving Ceuta & Melilla (Spanish Morocco) as the last European possessions in Africa
- 1977 1st killer whale born in captivity (Marineland, Los Angeles California)
- 1977 Dock strike in Rotterdam/Amsterdam ends
- 1979 Ernest Thompson's "On Golden Pond" premieres in NYC
- 1980 "The Well-Tuned Piano" by La Monte Young premieres (takes 4 h 12 m)
- 1980 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
- 1981 Calvin Murphy (Hou), sets NBA record with 78 consecutive free throws
Album Release
1981 Columbia Records releases "Seven Year Ache", the third studio album by Rosanne Cash; it is her commercial break-through and goes to #1 on the country music chart
- 1981 People's Republic of China throws out the Netherlands ambassador due to Dutch sales of submarines to Taiwan
- 1982 AT&T looses a record $7 BILLION for the fiscal year ending on this day
- 1982 FALN (PR Nationalist Group) bombs Wall Street
- 1984 British satirical puppet show "Spitting Image" premieres on ITV
- 1986 European Economic Community signs "Special Act" for Europe free trade
- 1986 Peter Uberroth suspended 7 baseball players for 1 year, after they admitted in Curtis Strong's trial in September, they used drugs
- 1988 Anti-Armenian pogrom in Azerbaijan, 30 killed
- 1988 British television programme "That's Life!" surprises guest Nicholas Winton with an audience full of grown-up children that he saved from German-occupied Czechoslovakia, bringing them to safety in the UK
- 1988 Pat Verbeek becomes 1st NJ Devil to score 4 goals in an NHL game
- 1988 XV Winter Olympic Games close in Calgary, Canada
- 1989 10-time All Star second baseman and manager Red Schoendienst and umpire Al Barlick are elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame
- 1989 Gretchen Polhemus, 23, (Texas), crowned 38th Miss USA
- 1989 Memo by Brian Gumbel criticizing Today Show co-workers becomes public
- 1989 Nevada-Semipalatinsk anti-nuclear movement founded by Olzhas Suleimenov in Kazakhstan, initially aiming to close Semipalatinsk nuclear test site (closed 1991) [1]
- 1990 Dutch police seize 3,000 kg of cocaine
- 1990 US 65th manned space mission STS 36 (Atlantis 6) launches into orbit
- 1991 "Les Miserables" opens at Theatre Carre, Amsterdam
- 1991 Gulf War ends after Iraq accepts a ceasefire following their retreat from Kuwait
- 1991 Noureddine Morceli runs world record 1500m indoor (3:34:16)
- 1991 Steve Tesich's stage drama "Speed of Darkness" opens at Belasco Theater, NYC; runs for 36 performances
- 1993 "Anna Christie" closes at Criterion Theater, NYC, after 54 performances
- 1993 Gun battle erupts near Waco, Texas at Branch Davidian compound after FBI attempts a raid
- 1993 Iolanda Chen triple jumps world indoor record hop step (14.46m)
- 1994 Brady Law, imposing a wait-period to buy a hand gun in the USA, comes into effect
- 1995 Denver International Airport opens
- 1995 The US Pentagon announces that it monitored Iranian installation of surface-to-air Hawk missiles in the Strait of Hormuz
- 1997 Earthquake in Pakistan kills 45
- 1997 FBI agent Earl Pitts pleads guilty to selling secrets to Russia
- 1997 Purchasers of cigarettes in US must prove they are over 18
- 1997 The North Hollywood shootout takes place.
- 1998 "View From the Bridge" closes at Criterion Theater NYC
- 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.
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- 1696 English ex-premier Earl Danby accused of corruption
- 1704 French & Indians attack Deerfield, Massachusetts, kill 50, abduct 100
- 1712 February 29 is followed by February 30 in Sweden, in a move to abolish the Swedish calendar for a return to the Old style.
- 1720 Queen Ulrica Eleonora of Sweden resigns
Historic Event
1768 Polish nobleman Casimir Pulaski joins the Bar Confederation to defend the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth against Russian influence
- 1796 Jay's Treaty proclaimed, settles some differences with England
Historic Event
1832 Charles Darwin walks through the tropical forests of Bahia in Brazil, describing the experience as being in "transports of pleasure"
Historic Event
1904 Theodore Roosevelt, appoints 7-man Panama Canal Commission to proceed with completing a canal at the Isthmus
- 1908 Dutch scientists produce solid helium
- 1920 Trying to maintain independence from Germany and the USSR, Czechoslovakia adopts a constitution
- 1932 Failed coup attempt by fascist Lapua Movement in Finland
- 1932 TIME magazine features eccentric American politician William "Alfalfa" Murray on its cover after Murray stated his intention to run for President of the United States.
Golf Tournament
1940 American golfer Jimmy Demaret wins his third PGA Tour event within an 8-day span, taking the St. Petersburg Open by 1 stroke from Byron Nelson
- 1940 Detroit's Cecil "Tiny" Thompson becomes first goaltender in NHL history to play 40 (or more) games for 12 straight seasons; milestone comes in a 3-1 Red Wings loss at Toronto
- 1940 Finland initiates Winter War peace negotiations
- 1940 Frederic from G & S "Pirates of Penzance" finally released by pirate
Film & TV History
1940 Hattie McDaniel becomes 1st African American woman to win an Oscar for "Gone With The Wind"
- 1944 5 leaders of Indonesia Communist Party sentenced to death
Historic Event
1944 Karol Wojtyla, future Pope John Paul II, is run down and injured by a Nazi truck in Krakow
- 1944 US troop land on Los Negros, Admiralty Islands
- 1948 Lawson Little earns his first tournament victory since his US Navy discharge capturing the St. Petersburg Open by 3 strokes over Bobby Locke; last golfer to win a PGA Tour event on Leap Year Day
- 1948 Stern-group bomb on Cairo-Haifa train kills 27 British soldiers
- 1952 Dick Button leads an unprecedented American sweep when he wins World Men's Figure Skating Championship in Paris; beats compatriots James Grogan and Hayes Alan Jenkins for his 5th straight world title
- 1952 Ice Dance Championship at Paris France won by Westwood & Demmy of Great Britain
- 1952 Ice Pairs Championship at Paris won by Ria Falk & Paul Falk of West Germany
- 1952 Ladies Figure Skating Champ in Paris won by Jacqueline du Bief of France
- 1952 The island of Heligoland is restored to German authority.
- 1956 Islamic Republic forms in Pakistan
Sports History
1956 MLB's Cleveland Indians franchise is sold for nearly $4m; former player and the team’s general manager Hank Greenberg is part of the new ownership group
- 1960 Agadir earthquake in Morocco kills a third of the population (12,000-15,000)
- 1960 KRET TV channel 23 in Richardson, TX (PBS) begins broadcasting
- 1964 "Rugantino" closes at Mark Hellinger Theater NYC after 28 performances
- 1964 Australian swimmer Dawn Fraser records the fastest 100m freestyle of her brilliant career; smashes her own world record 58.9s in Sydney; goes on to win her 3rd straight gold in the event at the Tokyo Olympics
Sports History
1964 Cincinnati's Jerry Lucas and Oscar Robertson combine for a rare 40-40 performance as the Royals beat host Philadelphia 76ers, 117-114; NBA MVP Robertson has 43 points; Rookie of the Year Lucas, 40 rebounds
- 1964 NC high school basketball teams play to 56-54 score in 13 overtime
- 1968 Beatles' "Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" wins Grammy Award for Album of the Year, the first rock LP to do so
- 1968 National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders (Kerner Comm) reports against racism & demands aid given to blacks
- 1968 US end regular flights with nuclear bombs
- 1968 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
Baseball Record
1972 Future Baseball Hall of Fame right fielder Hank Aaron becomes first player to earn $200,000 average annual salary; signs 3-year deal with Atlanta Braves after one of his best seasons – .327 average, 47 HRs and 118 RBIs
- 1972 Jack Anderson discloses Dita Beard (ITT) memo indicating antitrust charges were dropped for $400,000 contribution to Republican Party
- 1976 ABC-TV broadcasts premiere of 1965's hit "The Sound of Music"
NHL Record
1980 Future Hockey Hall of Fame right wing Gordie Howe scores in the 3rd period to become first NHL player to score 800 career goals as Hartford Whalers beat St. Louis Blues, 3-0 at Springfield Civic Center
- 1980 Michael Bracey ends 59 h 55 m trapped in an elevator, England
Historic Event
1984 Pierre Trudeau announces he is stepping down after 15 years as Canadian Prime Minister
- 1984 Swedish center Patrik Sundström scores a goal and adds 6 assists as Vancouver Canucks beat the Penguins 9-5 in Pittsburgh; just the 3rd player in NHL history to record 6 assists in a road game
- 1988 KWK-FM in St Louis Missouri changes call letters to WKBG
- 1988 New Zealand cricket batsman Mark Greatbatch scores an unbeaten 107 on debut to rescue a draw in 2nd Test v England at Eden Park, Auckland
Sports History
1992 Boston’s Ray Bourque becomes just the 3rd defenseman in NHL history to score 1,000 career points with a goal and 2 assists in the Bruins' 5-5 tie with Washington Capitals at Boston Garden
- 1996 Chasing Kenya's 166, the West Indies are dismissed for a dismal 93 in Cricket World Cup at Pune, India; spinner Maurice Odumbe takes 3/15 and fast bowler Rajab Ali 3/17 for Kenya
- 1996 Russian spacecraft Soyuz TM-23 returning from Mir space station
- 1996 Serb forces withdraw from Sarajevo, ending the siege after 1,425 days, the longest siege of a capital city in the history of modern warfare
Album Release
2000 Giant Records releases American rock band Steely Dan's "Two Against Nature", their eighth studio album, and first in 20 years; it wins four Grammy Awards.
- 2004 Jean-Bertrand Aristide resigns as President of Haiti following popular rebel uprising.
- 2020 US and Taliban sign deal to end 18-year war in Afghanistan in Doha, Qatar. US and NATO allies will withdraw their troops after 14 months if deal kept.
- 2020 Watford beats Liverpool, 3-0 at Vicarage Road; first Reds loss since Manchester City January 2019; ends joint-longest winning streak (18) and second longest unbeaten run (44) in English top-flight football history
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