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
Category: Historical Events
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
Historical Events for 20th February 2020
1547 – King Edward VI of England crowned following the death of his father Henry VIII
1932 – Pierre Laval’s first French government falls
1948 – Czechoslovakia’s non-communist minister resigns
1971 – Bruin Phil Esposito is NHL’s quickest to score 50 goals in a season
1981 – James Sanford equals 50m indoor world record (5.61 sec)
1986 – LA Dodger Orel Hershiser is 1st to win a $1M salary by arbitration
1987 – 37th Berlin International Film Festival: “The Theme” wins the Golden Bear
1988 – Stefka Kostadinova of Bulgaria sets high jumps indoor world record (2.06 m)
1988 – Kelly Hrudy’s 5th Islander shut-out win-Hartford 3-0
1999 – Toronto Maple Leafs play their first NHL home game at Air Canada Centre; Steve Thomas scores overtime winner in a 3-2 victory over the Montreal Canadiens
Historical Events for 19th February 2020
607 – Boniface III begins his reign as Catholic Pope
1945 – 980 Japanese soldiers reportedly killed by crocodiles in 2 days on Ramree Island, Burma
1949 – 1st Bollingen Prize for poetry awarded to Ezra Pound
1952 – American defending champion Dick Button becomes first figure-skater to land a triple jump in competition; performs a triple loop in the Olympic free skate in Oslo; wins gold medal ahead of Austria’s Helmut Seibt
1960 – Protest strike in Poznan, Poland
1972 – The Asama-Sanso hostage standoff begins in Japan.
1977 – Right wing Rod Gilbert scores a goal and adds an assist in a 5-2 defeat at the NY Islanders to become first player in NY Rangers history (11th in NHL) to score 1,000 career points
1977 – France performs nuclear test at Mururoa atoll
1978 – Brigitte Kraus runs world record 1000 m indoor (2:34.8)
1978 – 20th Daytona 500: Bobby Allison takes lead with 11 laps remaining; lowest starting position (33rd) for winner until 2007
Historical Events for 18th February 2020
1828 – More than 100 vessels destroyed in a storm, Gibraltar
1879 – Sculptor Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi is awarded a patent for his design for the Statue of Liberty
1899 – San Francisco named as a port of dispatch for Army transports
1918 – Germany renews its offensive against the Russians, making dramatic gains against disorganized and dispirited Russian troops
1928 – USA 2 beats USA 1 by 0.5s for the 5-man bobsleigh gold medal at the St. Moritz Winter Olympics; Germany 2 takes bronze
1951 – 3 City College of NY basketball players admit to accepting bribes
1964 – Muriel Resnik’s “Any Wednesday” premieres in NYC
1965 – The Gambia becomes independent from the United Kingdom
1973 – Belgian Emiel Puttemans runs 3,000m indoor record 7:39.2
1973 – 54-kg octopus measuring 7m across captured in Hood Canal, Washington
Historical Events for 17th February 2020
1598 – Boris Godunov chosen as Tsar of Russia
1772 – 1st Partition of Poland signed in Vienna by Austria, Prussia and Russia
1926 – Avalanche buries 75 in Sap Gulch, Bingham, Utah; 40 die
1946 – Humanistic Covenant forms in Amsterdam
1949 – Chaim Weitzman elected 1st president of Israel
1955 – Mike Souchak sets PGA 72-hole record of 257 (not broken until 2001)
1970 – Robert Marasco’s “Child’s Play” premieres in NYC
1971 – England regains cricket Ashes with a 2-0 series win
1986 – Howard Stern radio show returns to NYC morning radio (WXRK 92.3 FM)
2018 – Russian biathlete Anastasiya Kuzmina wins her 3rd career Olympic gold medal in women’s 12.5k mass start in Pyeongchang; 7.5k sprint champion in Vancouver (2010) and Sochi (2014)
Historical Events for 16th February 2020
1838 – Weenen Massacre: Hundreds of Voortrekkers along the Blaukraans River, Natal are killed by Zulu warriors
1883 – “Ladies Home Journal” begins publishing
1894 – British troops occupy Ilorin, Gold Coast
1916 – The US rejects the right of Germany and Austria-Hungary to sink armed merchant ships
1951 – NYC passes bill prohibiting racism in city-assisted housing
1966 – End of Wally Grout’s Test Cricket career, 187 dismissals as Australian wicketkeeper
1977 – USSR performs nuclear test at Sary Shagan
1978 – 1st Computer Bulletin Board System (Ward and Randy’s CBBS, Chicago)
1989 – Red Sox pitcher Roger Clemens signs $7.5M-3 year contract
1999 – O.J. Simpson’s 1968 Heisman Trophy is sold for $230,000 to help settle a $33.5 million civil judgement against Simpson for the deaths of his ex-wife and her friend