1281 – Simon de Brion elected Pope Martinus IV
1288 – Girolamo Masci elected Pope Nicolas IV
1898 – Black postmaster lynched, his wife and 3 daughters shot in Lake City, South Carolina
1934 – André Malraux and Édouard Corniglion-Molinier set out to find the lost capital of the Queen of Sheba, as mentioned in the Old Testament
1935 – Airplanes are no longer permitted to fly over the White House
1941 – German assault on El Agheila Libya
1945 – Canadian 3rd Division occupies Moyland
2014 – After winning the men’s parallel giant slalom at the Sochi Winter Olympics, Russian snowboarder Vic Wild wins his 2nd gold in the parallel slalom
2019 – Robert Kraft, owner of NFL team the New England Patriots, charged with soliciting prostitution, as part of human-trafficking sting operation in Jupiter, Florida
2019 – Actor Jussie Smollett suspended from US TV show “Empire” after revealed that actor made false claims about racist and homophobic attack
Category: Historical Events
Historical Events for 21st February 2021
1858 – Edwin T Holmes installs 1st electric burglar alarm (Boston, Massachusetts)
1864 – -22] Battle at Okolona, Mississippi
1887 – Oregon becomes 1st US state to make Labor Day a holiday
1934 – Nicaraguan patriot Augusto Cesar Sandino assassinated by National Guard
1944 – “War As It Happens” news show premieres on NBC TV (NYC only)
1950 – WOI TV channel 5 in Ames-Des Moines, IA (ABC/PBS) begins broadcasting
1974 – Yugoslavia adopts constitution
1985 – Evert van Benthem wins his 13th Elfstedentocht, a long distance 11 city skating race
1989 – Pete Rose meets with Commissioner Ueberroth to discuss his gambling
2011 – Thailand’s GDP rose 3.8% in the fourth quarter of 2010 after a minor recession caused by GDP contractions of 0.4% in the second quarter and 0.3% in the third quarter of 2010, it is reported today
Historical Events for 20th February 2021
1710 – Johan Willem Friso becomes Viceroy of Groningen, Netherlands
1935 – Dane Caroline Mikkelson is 1st woman to land on Antarctica
1963 – Future Baseball Hall of Fame outfielder Willie Mays becomes the highest-paid player in MLB, signing a record $100,000 contract with the San Francisco Giants
1966 – Author Valery Tarsis banished in USSR
1980 – Soviet cross-country skier Nikolay Zimyatov wins his 2nd gold medal of the Lake Placid Winter Olympics as part of the 4 x 10k relay; also wins 30k and 50k gold
1982 – NY Islanders win then NHL record 15th straight game by beating Colorado Rockies, 3-2 at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum
1992 – Ross Perot says he’ll run for President on “Larry King Live”
1994 – Johann Olav Koss skates world record 10 km (13:30.55)
2010 – On the Portuguese Atlantic island of Madeira heavy rain causes floods and mudslides, leaving at least 32 deaths in the worst disaster on the history of the archipelago.
2016 – 4-inch lock of John Lennon’s hair sells for $35,000 to a memorabilia collector at an auction in Dallas, Texas
Historical Events for 19th February 2021
1582 – Francis of Valois becomes Duke of Brabant
1959 – Britain, Turkey and Greece sign agreement granting Cyprus independence
1960 – Swedish cross country skier Sixten Jernberg follows his 50k gold medal in Cortina d’Ampezzo (1956) with victory in 30k event at the Squaw Valley Winter Olympics
1971 – Paul McCartney releases “Another Day” in UK
1976 – Frente Polisario forms Democratic Republic of Sahara
1981 – George Harrison is ordered to pay ABKCO Music $587,000 for “subconscious plagiarism” of his song “My Sweet Lord” with Ronnie Mack’s song “He’s So Fine”
2002 – NASA’s Mars Odyssey space probe begins to map the surface of Mars using its thermal emission imaging system.
2006 – 48th Daytona 500: Jimmie Johnson driving from Hendrick Motorsports wins 203 lap race; goes on to win his first championship
2007 – Blogging website Tumblr is founded by David Karp in New York
2018 – Nigeria says 110 girls missing, presumed kidnapped by Boko Haram after attack on school in Dapchi, Yobe state
Historical Events for 18th February 2021
1503 – Henry Tudor (later Henry VIII) created Prince of Wales
1688 – Quakers conduct 1st formal protest of slavery in Germantown, Pa
1857 – Chinese residents in the fledging state of Sarawak rebel against the “White Rajah” James Brooke
1878 – John Tunstall is murdered by outlaw Jessie Evans, sparking the Lincoln County War in Lincoln County, New Mexico.
1885 – Mark Twain publishes the “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” in the US
1908 – 1st US postage stamps in rolls issued
1944 – 15-year-old Joe Nuxhall signs a contract to play baseball with the Cincinnati Reds just one day after playing in a high school basketball game; debuts later that year
1952 – Norwegian speed skater Hjalmar Anderson wins his 3rd gold medal of the Oslo Winter Olympics when he claims the 10,000m in Olympic record 16:45.8; also wins gold in 1,500m and 5,000m
1975 – 2nd American Music Awards: Olivia Newton-John and John Denver win
2003 – Comet C/2002 V1 (NEAT) makes perihelion, seen by SOHO.
Historical Events for 17th February 2021
1461 – Wars of the Roses: Second Battle of St Albans – Lancastrian army defeats Yorkists and recaptures King Henry VI
1818 – Baron Karl von Drais de Sauerbrun patents “draisine” (early bicycle)
1905 – Frances Willard becomes 1st women honored in National Statuary Hall
1926 – Avalanche buries 75 in Sap Gulch, Bingham, Utah; 40 die
1940 – Altmark Incident: Crew of the British destroyer “Cossack” board German “Altmark” in Jøssingfjord, Norway, releasing 299 British prisoners after hand-to-hand fighting with bayonets and the last recorded Royal Naval action with cutlass
1943 – NY Yankee Joe DiMaggio enlists into the US army
1976 – “Rockabye Hamlet” opens at Minskoff Theater NYC for 7 performances
1989 – 6-week study of Arctic atmosphere shows no ozone “hole”
2002 – 44th Daytona 500: Ward Burton’s win first for Dodge since Richard Petty’s victory in the 1974 race
2013 – 62nd NBA All-Star Game, Toyota Centre, Houston, TX: West beats East, 143-138; MVP: Chris Paul, LA Clippers, G
Historical Events for 16th February 2021
1846 – Battle of Sobraon ends 1st Sikh War in India
1916 – The German ambassador in Washington announces that Germany will pay an indemnity for American lives lost on the Lusitania
1940 – British search plane finds German supply ship Altmark, used to accommodate allied sailors from vessels sunk by the Graf Spee off Norway
1953 – Ted Williams safely crash-lands his damaged Panther jet, later awarded the Air medal
1964 – The Beatles’ 2nd appearance on “The Ed Sullivan Show”, from Deauville Hotel in Miami, Florida
1965 – “Baker Street” opens at Broadway Theater NYC for 313 performances
1972 – German mass murderers “Three of Breda” freed
1984 – Bill Johnson becomes first American to win an Olympic downhill skiing gold at the Sarajevo Games; beats Swiss Peter Müller by 0.27s
1986 – Mário Soares from the Socialist Party is elected the 1st civilian President of Portugal
2001 – Mathieu Schneider of the Los Angeles Kings becomes the first defenseman in history to score a goal against all 30 NHL teams as LA beats Minnesota, 4-0
Historical Events for 15th February 2021
590 – Khosrau II, the last great Sasanian king is crowned King of Persia
1845 – William Parsons, Earl of Rosse, 1st uses 72 inch (183 cm) reflector
1964 – Bill Bradley scores 51 points for Princeton
1965 – John Lennon passes his driving test
1965 – Red Maple Leaf Flag becomes the official flag of Canada
1966 – Kees Verkerk becomes world champion all-round skater
1985 – STS 51-E vehicle moves to launch pad
1985 – World chess championship match abandoned with Anatoly Karpov 25 leading Gary Kasparov 23
1993 – Bombings by mafia drug lords kill 14 in Bogota, Colombia
2016 – 58th Grammy Awards: Best Song “Thinking Out Loud” by Ed Sheeran, Best Album “1989” by Taylor Swift
Historical Events for 14th February 2021
1777 – US Congress commissions Benjamin Lincoln a major general in the Continental Army
1778 – “Stars and Stripes” arrives in foreign port for 1st time (France)
1862 – Galena, 1st US iron-clad warship for service at sea, launched, Connecticut
1950 – USSR and China sign peace treaty
1966 – Australian currency is decimalised, and decimal currency postage stamps introduced
1967 – Latin American nuclear free zone proposal drawn up
1971 – Movie “Ben Hur” 1st shown on television
1990 – Perrier recalls 160 million bottles of sparkling water after traces of benzene, a carcinogen, are found in some
2018 – South African President Jacob Zuma resigns from office
2019 – Explosive-packed vehicle rams paramilitary convoy in Indian-controlled Kashmir killing at least 40. Islamic group Jaish-e-Mohammad claim responsibility.
Historical Events for 13th February 2021
1258 – Baghdad, then a city of 1 million, falls to the Mongols as the Abbasid Caliphate is destroyed, tens of thousands slaughtered, ending the Islamic Golden Age
1545 – Willem of Nassau becomes Prince of Orange
1816 – -14] Teatro San Carlo in Naples destroyed by fire
1837 – Riot in New York due to a combination of poverty and increase in the cost of flour
1932 – Australian Championships Women’s Tennis: Coral McInnes Buttsworth retains title; beats Kathrine Le Mesurier 9-7, 6-4
1943 – Women’s US Marine Corps created
1945 – Allied planes begin bombing Dresden, Germany; a firestorm results and over 22,000 die
1960 – France performs 1st nuclear test at Reggane Proving Grounds Algeria
1980 – Apollo Computer Inc incorporated
1993 – Ljubow Kremljowa runs world record 1000m indoor (2:34:84)