Today in History

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2013

Today is Tuesday, February 19, the 50th day of 2013. There are 315 days left in the year.356 ― Emperor Constantius II shuts all heathen temples 1856 ― Tin-type camera patented by Hamilton Smith, Gambier, Ohio 1861 ― Russian Tsar Alexander II abolishes serfdom 1878 ― Thomas Alva Edison patents the gramophone (phonograph) 1927 ― General strike against British occupiers in Shanghai 1945 ― 900 Japanese soldiers reportedly killed by crocodiles in two days 1963 ― USSR informs JFK it's withdrawing several thousand troops from Cuba 1969 ― First Test flight of Boeing 747 jumbo jet 1985 ― Mickey Mouse welcomed in China 1986 ― USSR launches Mir space station into Earth orbit

Feb 18, 2013

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2013

Today is Monday, February 18, the 49th day of 2013. There are 316 days left in the year.3102 B.C. ― Origin of Kali Era (India) 1678 ― John Bunyan's “The Pilgrim’s Progress” is published 1885 ― Mark Twain's “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” published 1902 ― The opera “Le Jongleur (Hunchback) de Notre Dame” is produced (Monte Carlo) 1915 ― Germany begins a blockade of England 1930 ― Luigi Pirandello's “Come Tu Mi Vuoi" premieres in Milan 1968 ― British adopt year-round daylight savings time 1968 ― 10,000 demonstrators against U.S. in Vietnam War in West Berlin 1973 ― A 54-kg octopus measuring seven meters across captured in Hood Canal, Wash. 1979 ― Snow falls in the Sahara Desert 

Feb 17, 2013

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2013

Today is Saturday, February 16, the 47th day of 2013. There are 318 days left in the year.600 ― Pope Gregory the Great decrees saying “God bless You” is the correct response to a sneeze 1887 ― First newspaper convention (Rochester, N.Y.) 1937 ― DuPont Corp patents nylon, developed by employee Wallace H. Carothers 1943 ― Sign on Munich facade “Out with Hitler! Long live freedom!” done by "White Rose” student group, caught on Feb. 18, beheaded on Feb. 22 1956 ― Britain abolishes the death penalty 1959 ― Fidel Castro named himself Cuba’s premier after overthrowing Batista 1961 ― China uses its first nuclear reactor 1980 ― Continuous traffic jam extends 176 km north of Lyons, France 1982 ― Lee Majors & Farrah Fawcett Majors divorce 1989 ― Jane Fonda & Tom Hayden separate after 16 years of marriage 

Feb 15, 2013

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2013

Today is Friday, February 15, the 46th day of 2013. There are 319 days left in the year.399 ― Philosopher Socrates sentenced to death 1906 ― British Labour Party organizes 1913 ― First avant-garde art show in America opens in New York City 1931 ― First Dracula movie released 1964 ― Beatles' "Meet the Beatles!" album goes No. 1 and stays No. 1 for 11 weeks 1978 ― Leon Spinks beats Muhammad Ali in 15 for world heavyweight crown 1979 ― 21st Grammy Awards; "Just the Way You Are,” "Taste of Honey” win 1984 ― 500,000 Iranian soldiers move into Iraq 1989 ― Soviet military occupation of Afghanistan ends 1995 ― Population of People's Republic of China hits 1.2 billion 

Feb 14, 2013

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2013

Today is Thursday, February 14, the 45th day of 2013. There are 320 days left in the year.1076 ― Pope Gregory VII excommunicates Henry IV 1689 ― English parliament places Mary Stuart/Prince Willem III on the throne 1711 ― Handel’s opera Rinaldo, premieres 1894 ― Venus is both a morning star and evening star 1924 ― IBM Corporation renamed by Thomas Watson 1944 ― Anti-Japanese revolt on Java 1946 ― Bank of England nationalized 1989 ― Union Carbide agrees to pay $470 million damages for Bhopal disaster 1989 ― Iran's Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini offers $1 million-$3 million bounty on Salman Rushdie's death due to his novel, "Satanic Verses" 1989 ― World's first satellite Skyphone opens 

Feb 13, 2013

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 2013

Today is Wednesday, February 13, the 44th day of 2013. There are 321 days left in the year.1633 ― Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei arrived in Rome for trial before Inquisition for professing belief that earth revolves around the Sun 1689 ― British Parliament adopts Bill of Rights 1861 ― Abraham Lincoln declared President 1867 ― Johann Strauss' "Blue Danube" waltz premieres in Vienna 1945 ― Allied planes bomb Dresden Germany; 135,000 die 1961 ― Soviet Union fires a rocket from Sputnik V to Venus 1974 ― Dissident Nobel writer Alexander Solzhenitsyn expelled from USSR 1977 ― "Guys & Dolls" closes at Broadway Theater, NYC, after 239 performances 1984 ― Six-year-old Texan Stormie Jones gets first heart and liver transplant 1993 ― Sergei Bubka pole vaults indoor record (6.14 meters) 

Feb 12, 2013

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2013

Today is Tuesday, February 12, the 43rd day of 2013. There are 322 days left in the year.1818 ― Chile gains independence from Spain 1877 ― First news dispatch by telephone, between Boston and Salem, Mass. 1912 ― Last Ching (Manchu) Emperor of China, Henry Pui, abdicates 1921 ― Winston Churchill becomes British minister of colonies 1924 ― George Gershwin's "Rhapsody In Blue" premieres at Carnegie Hall (New York City) 1934 ― France hit by a general strike against fascists and royalists 1950 ― Senator Joe McCarthy claims to have list of 205 communist government employees 1950 ― Albert Einstein warns against hydrogen bomb 1955 ― President Eisenhower sends first U.S. advisors to South Vietnam 1991 ― South and North Korea form a joint team for table tennis competition 

Feb 11, 2013

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2013

Today is Saturday, February 9, the 40th day of 2013. There are 325 days left in the year.1863 ― Fire extinguisher patented by Alanson Crane 1895 ― Volleyball invented by W. G. Morgan in Massachusetts 1904 ― Japan declares war on Russia 1926 ― Teaching theory of evolution forbidden in Atlanta, Ga., schools 1942 ― Daylight Savings War Time goes into effect in U.S. 1964 ― First appearance of Beatles on "Ed Sullivan Show" (73.7 million viewers) 1971 ― Probably first gay theme TV episode in "All in the Family” 1972 ― British government declares state of emergency after month-long miners' strike 1985 ― Madonna's "Like a Virgin" album goes No. 1 for three weeks 1997 ― Fox cartoon series "Simpsons" airs 167th episode as the longest-running animated series in cartoon history 

Feb 8, 2013

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 2013

Today is Friday, February 8, the 39th day of 2013. There are 326 days left in the year.  1622 ― King James I disbands the English parliament 1895 ― Tchaikovsky/Petipa's "Swan Lake" premieres in Petersburg 1942 ― Congress advises FDR that, Americans of Japanese descent should be locked up en masse so they wouldn't oppose the U.S. war effort 1965 ― Supremes release "Stop In the Name of Love" 1969 ― Meteorite weighing over 1 ton falls in Chihuahua, Mexico 1975 ― 1,800 Unification Church couples wed in Korea 1976 ― Hua Guofeng becomes premier of China 1977 ― Hustler publisher Larry Flynt sentenced 1984 ― First time eight people in space 1985 ― Opposition leader Kim Dae-jung returns to South Korea 

Feb 7, 2013

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 2013

Today is Thursday, February 7, the 38th day of 2013. There are 327 days left in the year.1613 ― Michail Romanov (16) becomes czar of Russia 1839 ― Henry Clay declares in Senate "I had rather be right than president" 1900 ― Labour Party forms in England 1914 ― Charlie Chaplin debuts "The Tramp" in "Kid Auto Races at Venice" 1940 ― British railroads nationalized 1958 ― Dodgers officially become the Los Angeles Dodgers, Inc. 1964 ― Cassius Clay becomes a Muslim and adopts the name Muhammad Ali 1979 ― Pink Floyd premiered their live version of "The Wall" in Los Angeles 1986 ― Philippine Corazon Aquino defeats incumbent dictator Ferdinand Marcos but fraudulent returns gave the election to Marcos1997 ― U.S. and Russia announce summit set for Helsinki, March 20-21

Feb 6, 2013

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