1668 – Dutch Prince William III dances in premiere of “Ballet of Peace”
1836 – “Sketches by Boz” (essays) published by Charles Dickens
1904 – Baltimore catches fire (1500 buildings destroyed in 80 blocks)
1920 – Russian Imperial Navy Admiral Kolchak, leader of anti-communist “White Movement” executed by Bolshevik firing squad in Irkutsk, Russian SFSR
1974 – Grenada gains independence from Britain (National Day)
1987 – US male Figure Skating championship won by Brian Boitano
1993 – NFL Pro Bowl, Aloha Stadium, Honolulu, HI: AFC beats NFC, 23-20; MVP: Steve Tasker, Buffalo Bills, WR
1995 – Bluegrass and country musician Alison Krauss releases her compilation album “Now that I’ve Found You”
2005 – Britain’s Ellen MacArthur becomes the fastest person to sail solo around the world, taking 71 days, 14 hours, 18 minutes 33 seconds
2019 – Measles cases in Europe highest in a decade, tripling in a year to 82,596 according to WHO
Category: Historical Events
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
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
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.
Historical Events for 3rd February 2024
1857 – Early ice hockey game played between teams from Swavesey and Over on Mare Fen, England
1863 – Samuel Clemens first uses the pen name Mark Twain in a Virginia City newspaper, the “Territorial Enterprise”
1870 – US state of Iowa ratifies the 15th Amendment to the United States Constitution allowing suffrage for all races and colors
1907 – Josek Suk’s “Asreal Symphony”, dedicated to his late wife and father-in-law Antonin Dvořák, premieres at the Prague National Theatre, conducted by Karel Kovařovic
1930 – William Howard Taft resigns as US chief justice for health reasons
1971 – KTSC TV channel 8 in Pueblo-Colorado Spgs, CO (PBS) 1st broadcast
1987 – Expos trade Jeff Reardon to Twins for Neal Heaton
1998 – Stamps commemorating Diana, Princess of Wales, go on sale in Britain
2019 – Rapper 21 Savage arrested by US immigration for overstaying his visa
2020 – First Democratic caucus in Iowa won narrowly by Pete Buttigieg (most delegates) and Bernie Sanders (most votes) after lengthy delays and irregularities in reporting the results
Historical Events for 2nd February 2024
1852 – Alexandre Dumas Jr’s play, an adaptation of his novel “La Dame aux Camélias” premieres in Paris
1869 – American industrialist James Oliver invents removable tempered steel plow blade
1920 – Tarto/Dorpat peace treaty: USSR recognizes Estonian independence
1922 – James Joyce’s novel “Ulysses” first published by Sylvia Beach in Paris (1,000 copies)
1944 – Edward Chodorov’s play “Decision” premieres in NYC
1956 – Despite a severe ankle injury Tenley Albright leads an American 1-2 in the women’s figure skating at the Cortina d’Ampezzo Winter Olympics; Carol Heiss takes the silver medal
1977 – Toronto Maple Leafs Ian Turnbull scores 5 goals, NHL record for a defenseman
1980 – FBI releases details of Abscam, a sting operation that targeted 31 elected and public officials for bribes for political favors
1980 – Mexican boxer Salvador Sánchez dethrones Danny “Little Red” Lopez as WBC world featherweight champion with a 13th-round TKO in Phoenix, AZ; Lopez champion since November 1976, 8th defense
1982 – Government troops and Muslim fundamentalists battle in Hamah, Syria
Historical Events for 1st February 2024
1814 – Lord Byron’s “Corsair” sells 10,000 copies on day of publication
1892 – Mrs William Astor invites 400 guests to a grand ball at her mansion thus beginning use of “400” to describe socially elite
1918 – Russia adopts the Gregorian calendar (making the day February 14)
1937 – Stapleton, Staten Island, becomes a customs-free port
1951 – 1st X-ray moving picture process demonstrated
1972 – Reprise Records releases “Harvest”, the 4th studio album by Neil Young; becomes best selling album in US, 1972
1979 – American publishing heiress Patty Hearst is released from prison for bank robbery
1987 – NFL Pro Bowl, Aloha Stadium, Honolulu, HI: AFC beats NFC, 10-6; MVP: Reggie White, Philadelphia Eagles, DE
2005 – Arsenal’s English Premier League record 33-game unbeaten streak at home ends when the Gunners go down, 4-2 to Manchester United at Highbury
2013 – The Nigerian Army bombs a Boko Haram camp, killing 18 people
Historical Events for 31st January 2024
1849 – Corn Laws abolished in Britain
1854 – Dutch KNMI established (Royal Meteorological Institute)
1901 – Stanley Cup, Montreal Arena, Westmount, Quebec: Winnipeg Victorias edge Montreal Shamrocks, 2-1 to sweep challenge series, 2-0
1906 – Strongest instrumentally recorded earthquake, Colombia, 8.6 Richter
1945 – Soviet troops reach the Oder River, less that 50 miles from Berlin
1948 – Magnetic tape recorder developed by Wireway
1955 – RCA demonstrates 1st music synthesizer
1966 – Australian Championships Women’s Tennis: Margaret Smith wins her 7th consecutive Australian singles title; beats American Nancy Richey in a walkover, Richey injured
1978 – “Elvis: The Legend Lives!” opens at Palace Theater NYC for 101 performances
2001 – In the Netherlands, a Scottish court convicts a Libyan and acquits another for their part in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 which crashed into Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988
Historical Events for 30th January 2024
1826 – The Menai Suspension Bridge, considered the world’s first modern suspension bridge, connecting the Isle of Anglesey to the north West coast of Wales is opened.
1889 – Victoria beat NSW after following on (NSW all out 63 needed 76)
1892 – Bobby Abel carries his bat for 132* for England in SCG Test
1930 – Vladimir Mayakovsky’s drama “The Bathhouse (Bunya)” premieres in Leningrad
1945 – American Rangers and Filipino resistance fighters liberate over 500 Allied POWs from Japanese at Cabanatuan
1963 – Ivan Sutherland submits a thesis containing his Sketchpad program, a forerunner to modern-day graphic user interfaces and computer-aided design programs
1981 – 8th American Music Awards: Barbra Streisand and Kenny Rogers win
1996 – Gino Gallagher, the suspected leader of the Irish National Liberation Army, is killed while waiting in line for his unemployment benefit.
2000 – 16th Sundance Film Festival: “Girlfight” and “You Can Count on Me” (tie) win Grand Jury Prize Dramatic
2005 – 21st Sundance Film Festival: “Forty Shades of Blue”, directed by Ira Sachs, wins Grand Jury Prize Dramatic
Historical Events for 29th January 2024
1728 – John Gays’ satiric work “The Beggar’s Opera” premieres at the Lincoln’s Inn Fields Theatre in London, England [NS=Feb 9]
1892 – The Coca-Cola Company is incorporated in Atlanta, Georgia
1961 – US female Figure Skating championship won by Laurence Owen
1964 – Unmanned Apollo 1 Saturn launcher test attains Earth orbit
1975 – West Indies win fifth test against India to win an exciting series 3-2
1987 – William J. Casey term as 13th director of the CIA ends
1993 – Test debut of Vinod Kambli, prolific Indian batsman
2002 – US President George W. Bush in his State of the Union address describes “regimes that sponsor terror” an “Axis of Evil”, which includes Iraq, Iran and North Korea
2017 – NFL Pro Bowl, Orlando, FL: AFC beats NFC, 20-13; MVPs: Travis Kelce, KC Chiefs, TE; Lorenzo Alexander, Buffalo Bills, LB
2018 – Toronto police arrest landscaper Bruce McArthur for murder after remains of at least 5 people found in potted plants