1227 – Ferrand of Portugal freed from the Louvre
1412 – Joan of Arc, French saint (d. 1431) was born.
1540 – King Henry VIII of England marries Anne of Cleves.
1661 – English Restoration: The Fifth Monarchists unsuccessfully attempt to seize control of London, England.
1605 – The first edition of El ingenioso hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha (Book One of Don Quixote) by Miguel de Cervantes is published in Madrid.
1639 – Virginia is 1st colony to order surplus crops (tobacco) destroyed
1649 – The English Rump Parliament votes to put Charles I on trial for treason and other “high crimes”
1661 – The Fifth Monarchists unsuccessfully attempt to seize control of London.
1681 – 1st recorded boxing match (Duke of Albemarle’s butler vs his butcher) Making slaves fight it out for centuries…
1838 – Alfred Vail demonstrates a telegraph system using dots and dashes (this is the forerunner of Morse code).
1842 – 4,500 British & Indian troops leave Kabul, massacred before India
1852 – Louis Braille, French educator, invented braille (b. 1809) died.
1853 – President-elect of the United States Franklin Pierce and his family are involved in a train wreck near Andover, Massachusetts. Pierce’s 11-year-old son Benjamin is killed in the crash.
1854 – Sherlock Holmes, Mycroft, fictional detective (via Arthur Conan Doyle) Born
1878 – Carl Sandburg, US, poet/biographer of Lincoln (The People, Yes) Born
1883 – Khalil Gibran, Lebanon, mystic poet (The Prophet, Broken Wings) Born
1893 – The Washington National Cathedral is chartered by Congress. The charter is signed by President Benjamin Harrison.
1893 – Great Northern Railway connects Seattle with east coast
1896 – Cecil Rhodes resigns as premier of Cape colony
1896 – Abram N Pritzker, US businessman (Hyatt Hotels, McCall’s magazine) Grandfather of Penny Pritzker (Sec of Commerce, Board of Directors of the Council on Foreign Relations, and major Obama donor) Birthed
1906 – Maurice Ravel’s “Miroirs,” premieres in Paris
1907 – Maria Montessori opens her 1st (Montessori) school (Rome)
1912 – New Mexico becomes 47th state
1912 – Alfred Wegener, geophysicist and meteorologist, presents his controversial theory of continental drift in a lecture at a the Geological Association (Geologischen Vereinigung) at the Senckenberg-Museum, Frankfurt.
1914 – Danny Thomas, Deerfield Mich, comedian (Danny Thomas Show) Founder of St Jude’s FREE medical center for children! – Born
1914 – Stock brokerage firm of Merrill Lynch founded
1919 – Theodore Roosevelt, American politician, 26th President of the United States (b. 1858) died.
1920 – Sun Myung Moon, evangelist (Unification Church-Moonies), Owner, UPI / Washington Times (d. 2012) Birthed
1924 – Earl Scruggs, NC, bluegrass musician (& Flat-Ballad of Jed Clampett), (d. 2012) Born
1927 – US Marines (Gen Smedley Butler) sent to Nicaragua
1929 – Mother Teresa arrives in Calcutta, India to begin her work among India’s poorest and sick people.
1930 – The first diesel-engined automobile trip is completed, from Indianapolis, Indiana, to New York, New York.
1931 – Thomas Edison submits his last patent application.
1933 – Clyde Barrow allegedly kills Tarrant County Deputy Sheriff Malcolm Davis after walking into a trap set for another criminal
1941 – President Franklin Roosevelt’s “4 Freedoms” speech (freedom from speech, worship, want and fear) during US State of Union address
1946 – Syd Barrett, English singer-songwriter and guitarist (Pink Floyd and Stars) (d. 2006) was born.
1950 – The United Kingdom recognizes the People’s Republic of China. The Republic of China severs diplomatic relations with the UK in response.
1950 – Louis Freeh, former Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation – Birthed
1951 – Kim Wilson, rocker (Fabulous Thunderbirds) Born
1951 – Korean War: An estimated 200–1,300 South Korean communist sympathizers are slaughtered in what becomes the Ganghwa massacre.
1953 – Malcolm Young, Scottish-Australian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (AC/DC and Marcus Hook Roll Band) was born.
1955 – Rowan Atkinson, England, comedian/actor (Mr Bean, Blackadder) Born
1957 – Elvis Presley makes his 7th & final appearance on Ed Sullivan Show
1958 – Gibson patents Flying V Guitar
1959 – John Singleton, director (Boyz n The Hood), born in Los Angeles, California, Born
1960 – National Airlines Flight 2511 is destroyed in mid-air by a bomb, while en route from New York City to Miami, Florida.
1960 – The Associations Law comes into force in Iraq, allowing registration of political parties.
1962 – Michael Houser, American guitarist (Widespread Panic) (d. 2002) was born.
1963 – “Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom” with Marlin Perkins begins on NBC
1964 – Rolling Stones’ 1st tour as headline act (with Ronettes)
1967 – Vietnam War: United States Marine Corps and ARVN troops launch “Operation Deckhouse Five” in the Mekong River delta.
1970 – Gabrielle Reece, Trinidad, volleyball star/model (Extremists) Born
1971 – Irwin Thomas, Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist (Southern Sons and Electric Mary) was born
1971 – Gary Wiseman, American drummer (Bowling for Soup) was born.
1973 – “Schoolhouse Rock,” premieres on ABC-TV with Multiplication Rock
1974 – In response to the 1973 oil crisis, daylight saving time commences nearly four months early in the United States.
1975 – 1000 Led Zeppelin fans, waiting overnight inside the lobby of the Boston Garden for tickets to the group’s February 4th gig to go on sale, cause a riot and an esimated $30,000 damage
1976 – Ted Turner purchases Atlanta Braves for reported $12 million
1977 – EMI records drop punk rock group Sex Pistols
1978 – The Crown of St. Stephen (also known as the Holy Crown of Hungary) is returned to Hungary from the United States, where it was held after World War II.
1985 – Robert H W Welch Jr, US founder/leader John Birch Society, dies at 85
1986 – Alex Turner, English musician (Arctic Monkeys) Born
1987 – Astronomers at University of California see 1st sight of birth of a galaxy
1992 – The US Government urges doctors to stop using silicone breast implants, outlining the health effects
1993 – Bill Wyman announces he will leave Rolling Stones
1993 – John B “Dizzy” Gillespe, blues trumpeter, dies of cancer at 75
1993 – Rudolph Nureyev, Russian ballet dancer (Kirov), dies of AIDS at 54
1994 – Nancy Kerrigan is clubbed on the knee at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Detroit, Michigan.
1995 – A chemical fire in an apartment complex in Manila, Philippines, leads to the discovery of plans for Project Bojinka, a mass-terrorist attack (using airplanes as missiles).
1996 – Robert Russell “Chubby” Wise, musician, dies at 80
2000 – Don Martin, American cartoonist (b. 1931) MAD Mag… Dies
2005 – American Civil Rights Movement: Edgar Ray Killen is arrested as a suspect in the 1964 murders of three civil rights workers.
2006 – Lou Rawls, American singer (b. 1933) Dies
2009 – Israel conducts an assault on Gaza. Operation Cast Lead
2009 – Ron Asheton, American guitarist, songwriter, and actor (The Stooges, The New Order, New Race, and Destroy All Monsters) (b. 1948) died.