1803 – Ohio becomes 17th state of the Union
1847 – Michigan becomes 1st English-speaking jurisdiction to abolish the death penalty (except for treason against the state)
1878 – First winter ascent of Aneto, highest mountain in the Pyrenees
1941 – German troops invade Bulgaria
1950 – USSR issues golden roubles
1953 – WFBG TV (later WTAJ) channel 10 in Altoona, PA (CBS) begins broadcasting
1959 – Archbishop Makarios returns to Cyprus after 3 years
1969 – Tuesdee Testa becomes the first female jockey to win a race at a major American Thoroughbred track when she takes out the 3rd race at Santa Anita Park aboard Buz On
1978 – Charlie Chaplin’s coffin and remains are stolen from a Swiss cemetery in an extortion plot
1982 – NY Times raises its price from 25 cents to 30 cents
Category: Historical Events
Historical Events for 29th February 2020
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
1868 – 1st British government of Benjamin Disraeli forms
1932 – Failed coup attempt by fascist Lapua Movement in Finland
1940 – 12th Academy Awards: “Gone with the Wind” wins eight Oscars, Robert Donat and Vivien Leigh also win
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
1968 – Howard Hanson’s 6th Symphony, premieres
1976 – American driver Richard Petty wins the only Winston Cup race run on Leap Day, taking the Carolina 500 at Rockingham by 2 laps over Darrell Waltrip
1988 – KWK-FM in St Louis Missouri changes call letters to WKBG
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
Historical Events for 28th February 2020
1728 – George Frideric Handel’s opera “Siroe, re di Persia” premieres in London
1849 – 11th Grand National: Tom Cunningham wins aboard 20/1 Peter Simple; 2nd consecutive year there are 3 equine fatalities during the race
1933 – German President Paul von Hindenburg abolishes free expression of opinion
1940 – Richard Wright’s “Native Son” published
1989 – Gretchen Polhemus, 23, (Texas), crowned 38th Miss USA
1991 – “Speed of Darkness” opens at Belasco Theater NYC for 36 performances
1995 – The US Pentagon announces that it monitored Iranian installation of surface-to-air Hawk missiles in the Strait of Hormuz
2004 – 24th Golden Raspberry Awards: “Gigli” wins
2012 – 54th Daytona 500: Rain affected race stopped for 2 hours because of fuel on track; Matt Kenseth leads for final 34 laps to win
2013 – The brains of two rats successfully connected so that they share information
Historical Events for 27th February 2020
1813 – 1st federal vaccination legislation enacted
1861 – Russians shoot at Poles protesting Russian rule of Poland in Castle Square, Warsaw
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
1935 – 7th Academy Awards: “It Happened One Night”, Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert win
1945 – Battle of US 94 Infantry
1957 – Mao’s famous speech to the Supreme State Conference “On Correct Handling of Contradictions Among People” expounding Maoist ideals
1965 – “High Spirits” closes at Alvin Theater NYC after 375 performances
1968 – CBS news anchor Walter Cronkite delivers a scathing editorial on America’s chances of winning the Vietnam War
1990 – “Hold On” single released by Wilson Phillips (Billboard Song of the Year 1990)
2010 – Central Chile is hit with an 8.8 magnitude earthquake.
Historical Events for 26th February 2020
1616 – Roman Inquisition delivers injunction to Galileo demanding he abandon his belief in heliocentrism, which states the Earth and planets revolve around the Sun
1732 – 1st mass celebrated in 1st American Catholic church, St Joseph’s, Philadelphia
1887 – George Lohmann took 1st 8-wkt haul in test cricket, 8-35 at SCG
1919 – Acadia National Park forms (as Lafayette N P), Maine
1950 – Leonard Bernstein’s “Age of Anxiety” premieres in NYC
1954 – 1st typesetting machine (photo engraving) used, Quincy Mass
1967 – Verne Gagne beats Mad Dog Vachon in St Paul, to become NWA champ
1983 – Shortwave pirate Radio USA (Wellsville, NY) begins transmission
1985 – 27th Grammy Awards: Whats Love Got to Do With It, Cyndi Lauper wins
2001 – The Taliban destroy two giant Buddha statues in Bamyan, Afghanistan.
Historical Events for 25th February 2020
1910 – Dalai Lama flees Tibet for British India to escape Chinese troops
1933 – Major NFL rule changes (hash mark 10 yds in, posts on goal line)
1945 – World War II: Turkey declares war on Germany.
1945 – US aircraft carriers attack Tokyo
1953 – “Wonderful Town” opens at Winter Garden Theater NYC for 559 performances
1960 – John Cage’s “Music for Amplified Toy Pianos” premieres
1971 – “Oh! Calcutta!” moves to Belasco Theater in NYC for 1,316 performances
1980 – British political comedy “Yes Minister” written by Antony Jay and Jonathan Lynn, starring Paul Eddington, Nigel Hawthorne and Derek Fowlds premieres on BBC Two
1993 – Florida Marlins introduce their mascot “Billy”
2018 – China briefly bans the letter ‘N’ as part of widespread censorship efforts
Historical Events for 24th February 2020
1855 – US Court of Claims forms for cases against government
1868 – US House of Representatives vote 126 to 47 to impeach President Andrew Johnson
1888 – Louisville, Kentucky, becomes 1st government in US to adopt Australian ballot (i.e. secret ballot on standard voting forms)
1911 – Japan and the US conclude a treaty that continues restrictions on Japanese laborers
1939 – Roy Harris’ 3rd Symphony premieres in Boston
1969 – 26th Golden Globes: “The Lion in Winter”, Peter O’Toole, and Joanne Woodward win
1976 – Jules Feiffer’s “Knock Knock” premieres in NYC
1977 – 12th Academy of Country Music Awards: Mickey Gilley and Crystal Gayle win
2014 – 7 people are killed and 37 are injured after a bridge collapses in Vietnam
2016 – Oldest Muslim graves in Europe, from the 8th century, identified at a buriel site in Nimes, France
Historical Events for 23rd February 2020
1792 – Joseph Haydn’s 94th Symphony in G premieres
1923 – German Republic day with laws against worker
1950 – 7th Golden Globes: “All the King’s Men”, Broderick Crawford, and Olivia de Havilland win
1960 – Carol Heiss wins the women’s figure skating gold medal at the Squaw Valley Winter Olympics; US takes the singles double after David Jenkins wins men’s event
1966 – Military coup in Syria ends Bitar government
1971 – George Harrison is fined and his driving license is suspended for 1 year
1978 – 20th Grammy Awards: Hotel California, Fleetwood Mac, Debbie Boone wins
1987 – Russian Writers Union accepts Boris Pasternak posthumous as member
1996 – Mark Waugh scores 130 in World Cup vs Kenya, 207 w/brother Steve
2014 – 56th Daytona 500: Dale Earnhardt Jr. breaks a 55-race winless streak to win his 2nd Great American Race
Historical Events for 22nd February 2020
1879 – 1st 5 cent and 10 cent store opened by Frank W. Woolworth in Utica, New York (failed almost immediately)
1912 – J Vedrines makes 1st airplane flight over 100 mph-161.29 kph
1967 – Barbara Garson’s “MacBird” premieres in NYC
1968 – Rock group Genesis release their 1st record “Silent Sun”
1984 – Brothers Anton and Peter Stastny score 8 pts each for NHL Quebec
1998 – XVIII Winter Olympic Games close in Nagano Japan
2013 – 13 Chadian soldiers and 65 Muslim insurgents are killed in conflict in Northern Mali
2014 – Matteo Renzi becomes Prime Minister of Italy
2014 – Snowboard Olympic parallel special slalom event debuts and is run for the only time at the Sochi Winter Games; Russian Vic Wild and Julia Dujmovits of Canada win unique gold medals
2014 – Viktor Yanukovych is ousted as President of Ukraine by the parliament following the Euromaidan revolution
Historical Events for 21st February 2020
1431 – Joan of Arc’s first day of interrogation during her trial for heresy
1440 – The Prussian Confederation is formed.
1792 – US Congress passes Presidential Succession Act
1907 – SS Berlin sinks off the Hook of Holland (142 dead)
1927 – Franz Lehár’s opera “Der Zarewitsch” premieres
1944 – “War As It Happens” news show premieres on NBC TV (NYC only)
1983 – NBA San Diego Clippers begin a 29 game road losing streak
2002 – Canadian world champion women’s ice hockey team wins first of 4 consecutive Winter Olympic gold medals with a 3-2 win over the United States at Salt Lake City
2004 – The first European political party organization, the European Greens, is established in Rome
2009 – 29th Golden Raspberry Awards: “The Love Guru” wins