WEDNESDAY, Feb. 8, 2023

1735 - First opera in U.S., "Flora", opens in Charleston, S.C.

1776 - Wolfgang von Goethes' "Stella" premieres in Hamburg

1802 - Simon Willard patents banjo clock

1807 - Napoleon defeats Russians in battle of Eylau

1895 - Tchaikovsky/Petipa's "Swan Lake" premieres in Petersburg

1905 - Cyclone hit Tahiti & adjacent islands, killing some 10,000 people

1926 - Walt Disney Studios is formed

1933 - First flight of all-metal Boeing 247

1934 - Gaston Doumergue forms new French government

1971 - South Vietnamese troops invade Laos

1976 - Hua Guofeng becomes premier of China PR

1989 ― U.S. Boeing 707 crashes into Santa Maria mountain, 145 die