Today in History for 29th February 2024

Historical Events

1720 – Queen Ulrica Eleonora of Sweden resigns
1768 – Polish nobleman Casimir Pulaski joins the Bar Confederation to defend the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth against Russian influence
1948 – Stern-group bomb on Cairo-Haifa train kills 27 British soldiers
1968 – US end regular flights with nuclear bombs
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

More Historical Events »

Famous Birthdays

1860 – Herman Hollerith, American inventor (1st electric tabulating machine), born in Buffalo, New York (d. 1929)
1924 – David Beattie, New Zealand judge, Governor-General of NZ (1980-85), born in Sydney, Australia (d. 2001)
1944 – Ene Ergma, Estonian politician
1952 – Raúl González, Mexican racewalker (Olympic gold 50k 1984; WR 1978 3:45:52 and 3:41:20), born in China, Nuevo León, Mexico
1956 – (Jonathan) “Jono” Coleman, British-Australian television and radio, writer, and comedian, born in Hackney, England (d. 2021)
1980 – Clinton Toopi, New Zealand rugby league centre (22 Tests; Auckland Warriors, Leeds Rhinos), born in Stratford, New Zealand

More Famous Birthdays »

Famous Deaths

1592 – Alessandro Striggio, Italian composer (b. 1540)
1744 – John Theophilus Desaguliers, French-British natural philosopher and freemason, dies at 60
1968 – Lena Blackburne, American baseball infielder, manager, coach (Chicago White Sox; discovered rubbing clay to take the shine off baseballs), dies at 81
2012 – Davy Jones, British singer and actor (The Monkees – “Daydream Believer”), dies from heart attack at 66
2020 – Éva Székely, Hungarian swimmer (Olympic gold 200m breaststroke 1952; silver 1956; first WR 400m individual medley 1953), dies at 92
2020 – Bill Roe, American sports executive (President USA Track and Field 2000-2008), dies at 69

More Famous Deaths »

Famous Deaths for 28th February 2024

1572 – Aegidius Tschudi, Swiss historian (b. 1505)
1973 – (Pablo) “Tito” Rodríguez, Puerto Rican timbalero, singer, bandleader (“Inolvidable”), and television host, dies of leukemia at 50
1973 – Cecil Kellaway, South African-American stage and screen character actor (Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner; The Luck of the Irish), dies at 82
1985 – Charita Bauer, American actress (The Guiding Light, Aldrich Family), dies following long illness at 62
1990 – Fabia Drake, actress (Nice Girl Like Me), dies at 86
1993 – Joyce Carey, British actress (Brief Encounter, The Cedar Tree), dies at 94
1994 – (Elbert) “Skippy” Williams, American jazz tenor saxophonist and musical arranger, dies at 77
2008 – Mike Smith, British rock singer and keyboardist (Dave Clark Five – “Glad All Over”), dies of pneumonia at 64
2015 – Anthony Mason, American NBA forward (NY Knicks, Charlotte Hornets), dies at 48 of a heart attack
2020 – Freeman Dyson, American physicist (known for his work in quantum electrodynamics, solid-state physics, astronomy and nuclear engineering), dies at 96

More Famous Deaths »

Historical Events for 28th February 2024

1700 – Today is followed by March 1 in Sweden, thus creating the Swedish calendar
1759 – Pope Clement XIII allows Bible to be translated into various languages
1942 – World War II: German submarine U-578 torpedoes US Navy destroyer USS Jacob Jones (DD130) off Cape May, New Jersey, killing all but 11 of 113 man crew
1951 – French government of Pleven dissolves
1951 – Senate committee reports of at least 2 major US crime syndicates
1973 – Iraq and Iraq Petroleum Company (IPC) reach an agreement on compensation for nationalization
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
2004 – 24th Golden Raspberry Awards: “Gigli” wins
2013 – The brains of two rats successfully connected so that they share information

More Historical Events »

Today in History for 28th February 2024

Historical Events

1787 – The charter establishing the institution now known as the University of Pittsburgh is granted
1844 – 6th Grand National: John Crickmere wins aboard 5/1 co-favourite Discount
1944 – Arrests of the ten-Boom family in Nazi occupied Netherlands (Haarlem) through a Dutch collaborator on charges of hiding Jews
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
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
1995 – Denver International Airport opens

More Historical Events »

Famous Birthdays

1261 – Margaret of Scotland, queen of Norway (d. 1283)
1915 – Peter Medawar, British biologist (1960 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine “for discovery of acquired immunological tolerance”), born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (d. 1987)
1933 – Miro Steržaj, Slovenian 9-pin bowler
1951 – Karsan Ghavri, cricketer (Indian lefty medium pacer early 80s)
1954 – Brian Billick, American football coach
1974 – Michael Manasseri, actor (License to Drive)

More Famous Birthdays »

Famous Deaths

1525 – Cuauhtémoc, the last Aztec Emperor (1520-21), tortured and killed by Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés
1964 – Gus Lesnevich, American light heavyweight boxing champ (1947 fighter of year), dies at 49
1979 – Paul Alverdes, German writer (Pfeiferstube), dies at 81
1994 – Pu Yi, brother of last Chinese emperor, Pu Yi, dies at 87
2015 – Ezra Laderman, American composer (Jacob and the Indians), dies at 90
2017 – Leoncjusz Ciuciura, Polish classical composer (Spirals), dies at 86

More Famous Deaths »

Famous Deaths for 27th February 2024

1666 – Luisa de Guzmán, Queen of Portugal (1640-56), dies at 52
1706 – John Evelyn, English writer and diarist (Life of Mrs Godolphin), dies at 85
1805 – Stefan Paluselli, Austrian choirmaster, composer, and monk, dies at 57
1852 – Joseph Drechsler, Czech composer, dies at 69
1942 – Martha McChesney Berry, American educator who founded Berry School for Children, dies at 75
1961 – Platt Adams, American field athlete (Olympic gold standing high jump 1912), dies at 75
1973 – Lucijan Marija Skerjanc, Yugoslav conductor and composer, dies at 72
1985 – Ray Ellington [Henry Pitts Brown], British jazz drummer, singer and bandleader (The Goon Show), dies of cancer at 68
1990 – Nahum Norbert Glatzer, Jewish-American scholar (b. 1903)
2019 – France-Albert René, 2nd President of Seychelles (1977-2004), dies at 83

More Famous Deaths »

Historical Events for 27th February 2024

1925 – Adolf Hitler resurrects NSDAP political party in Munich
1933 – Jean Genet’s play “Intermezzo” premieres in Paris
1940 – Martin Kamen and Sam Ruben discover carbon-14 (radiocarbon dating) at the University of California Radiation Laboratory in Berkeley, California
1942 – Battle of Java Sea began: 13 US warships sunk and 2 Japanese
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
1973 – White Sox slugger Dick Allen signs 3 year $750,000 contract
2002 – Godhra train burning, a Muslim mob kills 59 Hindu pilgrims returning from Ayodhya
2019 – Doctors announce world’s second known case of semi-identical twins, a boy and girl from Brisbane, Australia
2019 – Actor Luke Perry (52) suffers a stroke in Los Angeles
2019 – First gun control legislation for 25 years passed by US House of Representatives, with new federal background checks

More Historical Events »

Today in History for 27th February 2024

Historical Events

1827 – 1st Mardi Gras celebration in New Orleans
1943 – The Rosenstrasse protest starts in Berlin
1974 – US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1981 – Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder record the single “Ebony and Ivory”
1992 – Larry Smith named 9th Commissioner of the CFL
2005 – 77th Academy Awards: “Million Dollar Baby”, Jamie Foxx, and Hilary Swank win

More Historical Events »

Famous Birthdays

272 – Constantine the Great, Emperor of Rome (306-37) who adopted Christianity, born in Naissus (d. 337)
1899 – Charles Best, American-Canadian medical scientist and co-discoverer of insulin, born in West Pembroke, Maine (d. 1978)
1901 – Horatio Luro, American horse trainer (43 x stakes winners; Decidedly, Northern Dancer), born in Buenos Aires, Argentina (d. 1991)
1933 – Geoffrey Maitland Smith, CEO (Sears)
1933 – Edward Lucie-Smith, British poet and poetry critic, born in Kingston, Jamaica
1942 – Michel Forget, French Canadian actor, born in Montreal, Quebec

More Famous Birthdays »

Famous Deaths

1844 – Nicholas Biddle, US lawyer/diplomat/statesman/financier, dies at 85
1921 – Schofield Haigh, English cricket fast bowler (11 Tests, 24 wickets, BB 6/11; Yorkshire CCC), dies from a stroke at 49
1958 – Harry Cohn, CEO (Columbia Pictures), dies of a heart attack
1994 – Harold Acton, English-Italian historian and art collector, dies at 84
2008 – Myron Cope, American sports broadcaster (b. 1929)
2023 – Ricou Browning, American film stuntman (Creature from the Black Lagoon), stunt co-ordinator (Thunderball), director, and producer (Flipper), dies at 93

More Famous Deaths »

Famous Deaths for 26th February 2024

1608 – John Still, English Bishop of Bath and Wells, dies at about 64
1823 – John Philip Kemble, British actor and director (Drury Lane, Covent Garden), dies at 66
1871 – Sophia Hawthorne, American writer, painter and illustrator, dies at 61
1906 – Manuel Fernandez Caballero, Spanish composer, dies at 70
1947 – Kálmán Tihanyi, Hungarian physicist and engineer (invented cathode ray tube for television), dies at 49
1963 – Artturi Leinonen, Finnish journalist and writer (Kati), dies at 74
2002 – Lawrence Tierney, American actor (Abduction, Dillinger, Reservoir Dogs), dies of pneumonia at 82
2005 – Ian Colquhoun, New Zealand cricket wicket-keeper (2 Tests, 4 dismissals), dies at 80
2017 – Robert Allworth, Australian composer (A Different Time, A Different Place), dies at 74
2023 – Fred Shabel, American basketball coach (Connecticut Huskies 1963-67) and executive (AD University of Pennsylvania 1967-75; Comcast Spectacor), dies at 90

More Famous Deaths »

Historical Events for 26th February 2024

364 – Valentinian I is proclaimed Roman Emperor
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
1870 – Beach Pneumatic Transit – 1st attempt to demonstrate a subway in New York opens (pneumatic powered)
1881 – PandO’s SS Ceylon begins world’s 1st round-the-world pleasure cruise from Liverpool
1893 – Norwegian Einar Halvorsen skates world record 500m (48 sec)
1941 – Utrecht and Zaandam strike against raid on Jews
1965 – West Germany ceases military aid to Tanzania
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
1982 – Test Cricket debut of batsman Martin Crowe, playing for New Zealand v Australia in Wellington, run out for 9
1989 – California court throws out most of Margo Adams’s $12 million breach-of-contract suit against Red Sox third baseman Wade Boggs

More Historical Events »

Today in History for 26th February 2024

Historical Events

1773 – State of Pennsylvania approves construction of Walnut Street Jail in Philadelphia; it will become the first experiment with the practice of solitary confinement in the United States
1935 – RADAR (Radio Detection and Ranging) first demonstrated by Robert Watson-Watt
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
2012 – 61st NBA All-Star Game, Amway Centre, Orlando, FL: West beats East, 152-149; MVP: Kevin Durant, OKC Thunder, F
2018 – Global Seed Vault in Svalbard, Norway, receives its 1 millionth seed on its 10 year anniversary
2023 – Dilbert comic strip creator Scott Adams faces widespread condemnation for his comments about African Americans in a YouTube show, prompting his strip and up-coming book to be cancelled

More Historical Events »

Famous Birthdays

1717 – John Randall, British organist and hymn composer, born in Cambridge, England (d. 1799)
1861 – Ferdinand I, 1st tsar of modern Bulgaria (1908-18), born in Vienna, Austria (d. 1948)
1887 – Benegal Narsing Rau, Indian lawyer and civil servant, President of UN Security Council (1950), helped draft India’s constitution, born in Mangalore, India (d. 1953)
1958 – Greg Germann, American actor, born in Houston, Texas
1981 – Johnathan Wendel, American professional video gamer, born in Kansas City, Kansas
1984 – Natalia Lafourcade, Mexican singer, born in Mexico City

More Famous Birthdays »

Famous Deaths

1538 – Worp van Thabor, Frisian abbott of Thabor (Chronicon Frisiae), dies
1906 – Manuel Fernandez Caballero, Spanish composer, dies at 70
1941 – Jan Keizer, Zaanse February striker, shot to death
1972 – Tom Manders, Dutch cabaret artist (Dorus), dies at 50
1973 – Doc Hayes, American basketball coach (Southern Methodist University 1947-67), dies in an auto accident at 67
2008 – John Yates, Anglican bishop (Bishop of Lambeth), dies at 82

More Famous Deaths »