1855 – Josef Munzinger, Swiss Federal Councilor, dies at 63
1865 – John Pegram, American Brigadier General (Confederate Army), dies in battle at 33
1945 – Robert Brasillach, French author and journalist (editor in chief of the fascist weekly Je Suis Partout), controversially executed for treason by firing squad at 35
1986 – Dandy Nichols [Daisy Sander], British actress (Till Death Us Do Part, Confessions of a Window Cleaner), dies at 78
1989 – Chris Gueffroy, East German attempted defector (b. 1968)
1991 – Salvador Luria, Italian-American microbiologist (Nobel Prize 1969), dies at 78
2001 – Fulgence Charpentier, French Canadian journalist, dies at 103
2009 – James Whitmore, American actor (The Shawshank Redemption, Give ’em Hell Harry), dies of lung cancer at 87
2012 – Janice Voss, American astronaut (shuttle radar topography mission), dies from breast cancer at 55
2021 – Ken McCaffery, Australian rugby league centre (12 Tests; North Sydney; Queensland), broadcaster (9 Network) and administrator (North Sydney DRLFC), dies at 91
Author: gil7
Historical Events for 6th February 2024
1904 – Japan notifies Russia that in view of Russia’s delaying tactics and provocative military action, Japan is ending negotiations and recalling its members from Moscow
1953 – US controls on wages and some consumer goods lifted
1961 – KOAP TV channel 10 in Portland, OR (PBS) begins broadcasting
1973 – Nancy Ford and Gretchen Cryer’s musical “Shelter” opens at John Golden Theater, NYC; runs for 31 performances
1974 – US House of Reps begins determining grounds for impeachment of President Richard Nixon
1977 – 4th time New York Rangers shut-out New York Islanders, 4-0
1987 – US female Figure Skating championship won by Jill Trenary
1990 – Groundbreaking begins on Baltimore Orioles’ new $102 million stadium
1995 – Greg Blewett scores his 2nd century in his 2nd Test Cricket
2020 – Antarctica records high temperature of 64.9 F / 18.2 C at Esperanza, Argentina’s research station
Today in History for 6th February 2024
Historical Events
1920 – Saarland administrated by League of Nations
1941 – Auke Adema wins 6th official Dutch 11 Cities Skating Race (9:19)
1971 – James Saunders (22), a member of the IRA, is shot and killed by the British Army during a gun battle near the Oldpark Road, Belfast
1973 – Bernice Fekete skips her curling rink to 2nd straight 8-ender, Edm
1974 – Dutch speed limit set at 100km due to oil crisis
1996 – Heidi Fleiss scheduled to begin her 7 year jail sentence
Famous Birthdays
1639 – Daniel Georg Morhof, German writer and scholar, born in Wismar, Germany (d. 1691)
1899 – Ramon Novarro [Jose Samaniegos], Mexican-American actor (Ben-Hur, Mata Hari), born in Durango, Mexico (d. 1968)
1925 – Pramoedya Ananta Toer, Javanese author (Anak semua bangsa), born in Blora Regency, Indonesia (d. 2006)
1929 – Sixten Jernberg, Swedish skier (Olympic gold 1956/60/64), born in Lima, Sweden (d. 2012)
1957 – Simon Phillips, English drummer and record producer (Toto), born in London
1983 – S. Sreesanth, Indian cricketer, born in Kothamangalam, India
Famous Deaths
1699 – Jozef Ferdinand of Bavaria, heir of Spanish king Carlos II, dies of smallpox at 6
1958 – Billy Whelan, Irish soccer forward (4 caps, Republic of Ireland; Manchester United 79 games), dies Munich air disaster at 22
1985 – Charles Briggs, American actor (13 Frightened Girls, Capt Newman), dies at 53
1989 – Nuno Oliveira, Portuguese equestrian, horse trainer, dressage instructor, author (‘baroque’ or ‘classical’ style), dies at 63
2001 – Filemon Lagman, Filipino Communist revolutionary (b. 1953)
2012 – Antoni Tapies, Spanish painter, sculptor and theorist (Dau al Set), dies at 88
Famous Deaths for 5th February 2024
1679 – Joost van den Vondel, Dutch poet and dramatist (Jephtha), dies at 91
1822 – Ali Paşa Tepelenë, known as ‘The Lion of Janina”, Ottoman Albanian ruler, Pasha of Yanina (1788-1822), dies aged somewhere between 78-82
1932 – Barney Dreyfuss, American Baseball HOF executive (owner Pittsburgh Pirates 1900-32; World Series 1909, 25), dies at 66
1938 – Hans Litten, German lawyer, workers’ rights advocate, anti-Nazi antagonist, and educator, commits suicide while imprisoned at Dachau concentration camp at 34
1947 – Hans Fallada [Rudolf Wilhelm Friedrich Ditzen], German writer (Little Man, What Now?), dies at 53
1982 – Dolores Moran, American actress (Yankee Doodle Dandy), dies of cancer at 56
1989 – Joe Raposa, American composer and songwriter (Sesame Street), dies at 51
1992 – Miguel Rolando Covian, Brazilian physiologist (b. 1913)
1999 – Wassily Leontief, Russian economist, Nobel Prize Laureate (b. 1906)
2011 – Brian Jacques, English author, author of the Redwall series (b. 1939)
Historical Events for 5th February 2024
1576 – Henry of Navarre (later Henry IV of France) abjures Catholicism at Tours
1943 – Jake LaMotta defeats future multi-weight world boxing champion Sugar Ray Robinson by unanimous points decision in Detroit in the 2nd of their 6 meetings; his only win of their rivalry; Robinson’s first loss in his first 40 pro bouts
1945 – Big Racket becomes fastest race horse at 69t.6 kph (440 yd/20.8 s)
1972 – Two IRA members are killed when a bomb they were planting exploded prematurely
1978 – Fred Newman makes 88 consecutive basketball free throws blindfolded
1986 – Corazon Aquino and Ferdinand Marcos appear on “Nightline”
1991 – All American Bowl ends after 14 years
2006 – Super Bowl XL, Ford Field, Detroit, MI: Pittsburgh Steelers beat Seattle Seahawks, 21-10; MVP: Hines Ward, Pittsburgh, WR
2016 – Computer hackers try to steal 1 billion from Federal Reserve Bank of New York using Bangladesh banking codes, steal 81 million before a typo alerts authorities
2018 – A share market sell off starts on Wall Street with Dow Jones sinking 4.6%, spreads around the globe
Today in History for 5th February 2024
Historical Events
1597 – A group of early Japanese Christians, known as the 26 Martyrs, are killed by the new government of Japan for being seen as a threat to Japanese society
1927 – “The General”, American silent film starring Buster Keaton and Marion Mack, co-directed by Keaton and Clyde Bruckman, premieres in New York City
1938 – Hans Engnestangen skates world record 500m (41.8 sec)
1948 – Gretchen Fraser becomes 1st US woman Olympic ski slalom champion
1962 – Black and White parents stage an overnight sit-in after school board denies transfer requests of nine Black families for their children to be transferred to newer school facility in Englewood, New Jersey
1988 – 1st prime-time wrestling match in 30 yrs, André the Giant defeats Hulk Hogan
Famous Birthdays
1519 – René of Châlon, (d. 1544)
1921 – Ken Adam, British film production designer (James Bond sets), born in Berlin, Germany (d. 2016)
1939 – Patric Standford, British composer (Taikayoku; Christus Requiem), born in Barnsley, Yorkshire, England (d. 2014)
1966 – Rok Petrovič, Slovenian skier, born in Ljubljana, Slovenia (d. 1993)
1975 – Jan l’Ami, Dutch soccer player (Willem II), born in Breda, Netherlands
1986 – Reed Sorenson, American stock car racing driver, born in Peachtree City, Georgia
Famous Deaths
1812 – Franz Schneider, Austrian composer, dies at 74
1926 – André Gedalge, French composer (le Petit Savoyard, Phoebé) and Mayor of Chessy, Seine-et-Marne, dies at 69
1961 – Anthony Gustav de Rothschild, British philanthropist, dies at 73
1975 – Åke Persson, Swedish bebop jazz trombonist (Kenny Clarke-Francy Boland Big Band, 1963–71), dies at 42
1977 – Izaak Boleslavski, Russian chess player, dies at 67
2005 – Gnassingbé Eyadéma, General and President of Togo (1967-2005), dies of a heart attack at 69
Famous Deaths for 4th February 2024
211 – Lucius Septimius Severus, Emperor of Rome (193-211), dies at 64
1615 – Dom Justo Takayama, Japanese warlord (b. 1552)
1774 – Charles Marie de La Condamine, French mathematician and geographer (b. 1701)
1936 – Wilhelm Gustloff, German leader of the Swiss Nazi party (b. 1895)
1956 – Peder Gram, Danish composer, dies at 74
2000 – Doris Coley, American pop singer (The Shirelles – “Will You Love Me Tomorrow”; “Baby It’s You”), dies of breast cancer at 58
2001 – Iannis Xenakis, Romanian-born, Greek-French composer, music theorist, and architect who helped revolutionize 20th century classical music (Metastaseis), dies after several years of serious illness at 78
2016 – Ulf Söderblom, Finnish conductor (Finnish National Opera, 1973-93), and teacher, dies at 85
2020 – Giancarlo Bergamini, Italian fencer (Olympic gold foil, team 1956; silver foil team 1952, individual 1956), dies at 93
2021 – Nolan Porter, American RandB singer-songwriter (“Keep On Keeping On”), dies at 71
Historical Events for 4th February 2024
1922 – After boycotts and international pressure, Japan agrees to return Shantung Province to China
1933 – German President Paul von Hindenburg limits freedom of the press
1937 – Jim Margie, Philadelphia, bowls 900 in 3 (unsanctioned) games
1951 – US male Figure Skating championship won by Richard Button
1964 – FAA begins 6 month test of reactions to sonic booms over Oklahoma City
1972 – Dutch speed skater Ard Schenk wins the 5,000m at the Sapporo Winter Olympics; also wins the 1,500m and 10,000m gold medals
1974 – Chimpanzee Nim Chimsky signs his 1st word, at 2½ months
1985 – 20 countries (but not US) sign UN treaty outlawing torture
1997 – O.J. Simpson found liable in the deaths of Ron Goldman and Nicole Simpson in a civil court action
1999 – Unarmed West African immigrant Amadou Diallo is shot dead by four plainclothes New York City police officers on an unrelated stake-out, inflaming race-relations in the city.
Today in History for 4th February 2024
Historical Events
1600 – Astronomers Tycho Brahe and Johannes Kepler meet for the first time near Prague
1849 – University of Wisconsin begins in 1 room with 20 students
1913 – National Institute of Arts and Letters founded
1965 – US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1969 – 41,163, then largest NBA crowd, watches doubleheader Cin-Det, SD-Bost
2014 – Same-sex marriage is legalized in Scotland
Famous Birthdays
1889 – Walter Catlett, American actor (Climax, Front Page, Tale of 2 Cities), born in San Francisco, California (d. 1960)
1925 – Jutta Hipp, German-American jazz pianist and composer, born in Leipzig, German Weimar Republic (d. 2003)
1938 – Joe Beard, American blues guitarist (No More Cherry Rose), born in Ashland, Mississippi
1941 – Mike Deasy, American rock and jazz session guitarist (Beach Boys; Monkees; Randy Newman), born in Los Angeles, California
1958 – Werner Schwab, Austrian playwright and artist, born in Graz (d. 1994)
1958 – Tomasz Pacyński, Polish writer
Famous Deaths
1847 – Henri Dutrochet, French physiologist (discovered and named process of osmosis), dies at 70
1895 – Faustina Hasse Hodges, English-American composer, dies at 71
1961 – Piet[er] L. Kramer, Influential Dutch architect (Amsterdam School), dies at 79
1992 – Andries Antonie Rieu, Dutch conductor (Maastricht Symphony Orchestra, 1949-80), dies at 75
2005 – Peter Heine, South African cricketer (solid South African fast bowler in 1950’s), dies at 76
2013 – Reg Presley [Reginald Ball], English rock vocalist (Troggs – “Wild Thing”; “Love Is All Around”), and songwriter, dies from lung cancer at 71
Famous Deaths for 3rd February 2024
1566 – George Cassander, Flemish theologian (b. 1513)
1846 – Joseph Weigl, German-Austrian composer (La Principessa d’Amalfi; Emmeline), and conductor, dies at 79
1875 – Everhardus Johannes Potgieter, Dutch writer (Liedekens van Bontekoe), dies at 66
1895 – Theodore Dwight Weld, American abolitionist and writer (American Slavery As It Is: Testimony of a Thousand Witnesses), dies at 91
1943 – Alexander Goode, American US Navy chaplain and rabbi (The Four Chaplains) drowns in the sinking of the Dorchester at 31
1956 – Émile Borel, French mathematician (b. 1871)
1958 – Johan Buziau, Dutch cabaret performer and clown (1 great dog), dies at 81
1966 – June Walker, American actress (War Nurses), dies at 65
1975 – Robert Evett, American composer, dies at 52
1996 – Tibor Reich, British textile designer (Tibor Ltd), dies at 79