On this day thread

[Muteswan]

5th February
1782 British garrison in Menorca (western Mediterranean) surrenders to French and Spanish fleet as part of the American Revolutionary War.
1788 Robert "Bobbie" Peel, British Prime Minister (Tory/Conservative/Peelite: 1834-35; 1841-46), founder of the British Conservative Party and founder of the modern police force (Bobbies), born in Ramsbottom, England (d. 1850).
1870 1st motion picture shown to a theater audience, Philadelphia.
1900 The United States and the United Kingdom sign treaty for Panama Canal.
1916 Enrico Caruso records "O Solo Mio" for the Victor Talking Machine Co.
1919 Hollywood film studio United Artists founded by Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks, Mary Pickford and D. W. Griffith.
1922 Reader's Digest magazine 1st published.
1924 The Royal Greenwich Observatory begin broadcasting the hourly time signals known as the Greenwich Time Signal or the "BBC pips".
1940 Glenn Miller and his Orchestra record "Tuxedo Junction".
1953 Sweets were taken 'off ration' in Britain, 8 years after the 2nd World War had ended.
1962 Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn all within 16 degrees.
1969 Michael Sheen,Welsh actor, born today in Newport.
1983 Former Nazi Gestapo official Klaus Barbie brought to trial.
1985 Cristiano Ronaldo, Portuguese soccer striker, born in Funchal, Portugal.
1992 Neymar Jr., Brazilian soccer forward, born in Mogi das Cruzes, São Paulo.
1997 O.J. Simpson found liable in the deaths of Ron Goldman and Nicole Simpson in a civil court action.
2004 Twenty-three Chinese people drown when a group of 35 cockle-pickers are trapped by rising tides in Morecambe Bay, England. Twenty-one bodies are recovered.
2008 Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, Indian guru who developed Transcendental Meditation, dies at 90.
2015 70s British rock star Gary Glitter is convicted of sexual child abuse charges in London.
2019 Pope Francis admits for the first time that clerics have sexually abused nuns.
2020 US Senate votes to acquit President Donald Trump 52-48 on charges of abuse of power and 53-47 on obstruction of Congress.
2020 Kirk Douglas [Issur Danielovitch], American actor (Spartacus, Gunfight at the O.K. Corral), dies at 103.
2021 Christopher Plummer died today aged 91.

 

[Muteswan]

6th February
1783 Lancelot "Capability" Brown, English landscape architect who designed over 170 parks, dies at about 67.
1819 Stamford Raffles founds Singapore as a British trading port.
1911 Ronald Reagan, 40th US President (Republican: 1981-89) and actor, born in Tampico, Illinois (d. 2004).
1918 The Representation of the People Act passed by the British Parliament received the Royal Assent, granting the vote to women over 30.
1912 Eva Braun, German mistress and wife of Adolf Hitler, born in Munich, Germany (d. 1945).
1922 Patrick Macnee, British actor (The Avengers, Magnum, P.I., Sherlock Holmes), born in London, England (d. 2015).
1922 Denis Norden, British television personality, born in London, United Kingdom (d. 2018).
1924 Billy Wright, English football player, born in Ironbridge, United Kingdom (d. 1994).
1931 Fred Trueman, England cricket fast bowler (England 67 Tests, 307 wickets), born in Stainton, England (d. 2006).
1933 Leslie Crowther, English comedian & television presenter, born in West Bridgford, United Kingdom (d. 1996).
1935 "Monopoly" board game goes on sale for 1st time.
1940 Jimmy Tarbuck, English comedian, born in Liverpool, United Kingdom.
1945 Bob Marley, Jamaican reggae musician (Exodus, One Love), born in Nine Mile, Saint Ann, Jamaica (d. 1981).
1952 George VI, King of the United Kingdom (1936-52), dies of a coronary thrombosis at 56.
1952 Queen Elizabeth succeeded to the British throne. The Queen and Prince Philip were on tour in Kenya when they heard the news of the death of her father, King George VI.
1958 Seven Manchester United footballers (Busby’s Babes) died in their Airspeed AS-57 Ambassador when the plane crashed in thick snow on the runway at Munich airport during its third attempted take off. The team had just beaten Red Star Belgrade in the European Cup quarter-final. Duncan Edwards survived the crash but died 15 days later in hospital. Manager Matt Busby was seriously injured, but survived. Of the 44 passengers and crew on board, 8 United players were killed and there were 15 other fatalities, including 8 journalists.
1958 George Harrison joined Liverpool group The Quarrymen. The group who were named after Lennon's school featured John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Len Garry, Eric Griffiths and John Lowe.
1962 Axl Rose [William Bailey], American singer & songwriter (Guns & Roses), born in Lafayette, Indiana.
1964 France & Great-Britain sign accord over building channel tunnel.
1966 Rick Astley, English singer & songwriter (Never Gonna Give You Up), born in Newton-le-Willows, United Kingdom.
1971 1st time a golf ball is hit on Moon (by Alan Shepard).
1971 The Irish Republican Army shoots and kills Gunner Robert Curtis, the first British soldier to die during the 'Troubles'.
1971 Bernard Watt (28), a Catholic civilian, is shot and killed by the British Army during street disturbances in Ardoyne, Belfast.
1971 James Saunders (22), a member of the IRA, is shot and killed by the British Army during a gun battle near the Oldpark Road, Belfast.
1990 Steve Briers of Wales recites entire lyrics of Queen's album "A Night At The Opera" in 9 minutes 58.44 seconds backwards!
1993 Arthur Ashe, American tennis player (3 Grand Slam singles titles), dies of AIDS related pneumonia at 49.
1998 Carl Wilson, American rock vocalist and guitarist (Beach Boys), dies of lung cancer at 51.
2007 Italian American singer, songwriter, and actor Frankie Laine died aged 93.
2011 Irish guitarist and singer Gary Moore died aged 58 in his sleep of a heart attack in his hotel room while on holiday in Estepona, Spain.
2018 Elon Musk's company SpaceX launches Falcon Heavy, world's most powerful rocket.
2020 Date of the 1st COVID-19 related death in the US (confirmed by the CDC April 21).

 

[Muteswan]

7th February
1301 Edward of Caernarvon (later Edward II) becomes first (English) Prince of Wales.
1783 Great Siege of Gibraltar launched by France and Spain against the British colony during American War of Independence is lifted after 3 years and 7 months.
1812 Charles Dickens, English journalist and novelist was born.
1845 The Portland Vase, thought to date to the 1st century BC is shattered into more than 80 pieces by a drunken visitor to the British Museum. Now restored.
1930 Born on this day in Swansea,Peter Jones, broadcaster best known as a sports commentator on BBC radio.
He was commentating during the Hillsborough disaster of 1989 and was emotionally so deeply affected by it, that it is thought to have contributed to his collapse whilst commentating on the Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race of 1990 and his subsequent death the following day.
1935 Born this day, in Swansea,Cliff Jones, former Welsh football international, who was capped 59 times and a member of Tottenham Hotspur's 1960 - 61 double-winning side, being widely considered at the time as the best left-winger in the world.
1938 Harvey Firestone, American manufacturer and founder of the Firestone Tyre and Rubber Company, dies at 69.
1945 Born this day in Llansaint, Carmarthenshire,Gerald Davies - former Wales and Lions international rugby union player, who has has been called one of the best wingers of all time.
Davies did not tour South Africa with the 1974 Lions because of his opposition to apartheid, but later in 2009, managed the Lion's tour there. After his retirement from playing, Davies became a respected rugby journalist and was a member of Tasker Watkins committee looking into the reform of Welsh rugby. He became President of the Welsh Rugby Union in 2019.
1959 Fidel Castro proclaims new Cuban constitution.
1959 Buddy Holly was buried in Lubbock, Texas.
1963 Roland Lefebvre, Dutch cricket all-rounder (11 ODIs, captain), born in Rotterdam, Netherlands.
1964 Beatles land at NY's JFK airport, for 1st US tour.
1969 British rock band The Who record their song "Pinball Wizard" at Morgan Studio's, London.
1970 Led Zeppelin scored their first UK No.1 album with Led Zeppelin II.
1974 UK Prime Minister Edward Heath calls for a 'snap' general election in the midst of a protracted miners' strike.
1979 Pink Floyd premiere their live version of "The Wall" in Los Angeles.
1984 American astronaut Bruce McCandless makes 1st untethered space walk.
1989 Born on this day in St Asaph, Neil Taylor, Wales football international. Taylor was a member of Wales' memorable Euro 16 campaign, in which they lost in the semi-final to the eventual winners, Portugal.
1991 Prime Minister John Major and senior Cabinet Ministers escaped unhurt during an apparent assassination attempt, when the IRA fired three mortar shells at 10 Downing Street from a van parked several streets away in the centre of London.
1992 Maastricht Treaty signed by 12 countries from the European Community (EC) to create the European Union (EU).
1995 Last day of Test Cricket cricket for Graham Gooch & Mike Gatting.
2005 Britain's Ellen MacArthur becomes the fastest person to sail solo around the world taking 71 days,14 hours,18 minutes 33 seconds.
2006 The completion, in Cardiff Bay, of The Senedd. It the main public building of the National Assembly, the main centre for democracy and devolution in Wales.
2018 DNA analysis of Chedder Man, UK's oldest complete skeleton shows he had dark skin and blue eyes.

 

[Muteswan]

8th February
1587 Mary, Queen of Scots, is beheaded at Fotheringhay Castle aged 44 after being convicted of plotting to assassinate Elizabeth I in the Babington Plot.
1855 The Devil's Footprints, hoof-like marks mysteriously appear for over 60km after a snowfall in southern Devon, England.
1928 Stanley Baker, Welsh actor and producer (Concrete Jungle, Zorro, Zulu), born in Ferndale, Glamorgan (d. 1976).
1931 James Dean, American actor and cultural icon (Giant, Rebel Without a Cause), and 1st actor to be posthumously nominated for a Best Actor Academy Award, born in Marion, Indiana (d. 1955).
1932 John Williams, American composer responsible for some of the most recognizable film scores (Jaws, Star Wars, Harry Potter, India Jones, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial), born in NYC, New York.
1942 Congress advises FDR that, Americans of Japanese descent should be locked up en masse so they wouldn't oppose the US war effort.
1955 John Grisham, American writer (Client, Firm, Pelican Brief), born in Jonesboro, Arkansas.
1960 Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom issued an Order-in-Council, stating that she and her family would be known as the House of Windsor, and that her descendants will take the name "Mountbatten-Windsor".
1965 Health Minister Kenneth Robinson announced that cigarette advertisements were to be banned from British television.
1972 The Albert Hall management cancelled a Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention concert because of the ‘obscene lyrics’ of one of their songs. Fans demonstrated outside the hall.
1973 Max Yasgur died of a heart attack aged 53. He was the owner of the dairy farm in Bethel, New York at which the Woodstock Music and Art Fair was held between August 15 and August 18, 1969.
1983 Prize stallion and Derby winner Shergar kidnapped in Ireland, never to be found causing Lloyd's of London to payout $10.6 million insurance.
1990 Del Shannon [Charles Westover], American rock musician and songwriter (Runaway), commits suicide at 55.
1998 Enoch Powell, British Conservative MP and shadow cabinet member infamous for his "Rivers of Blood" speech, dies at 85.

 

[Muteswan]

9th February
1540 The first recorded horse racing meeting in Britain; held at the Roodeye Field, Chester.
1846 Wilhelm Maybach, German engineer, designer of 1st Mercedes born today.
1922 Jim Laker, English cricket spin bowler (46 Tests; world best 19-90 4th Test v Australia 1956), born in Bradford, Yorkshire (d. 1986).
1942 World War Two: Soap rationing began in Britain.
1942 Carole King, American songwriter, and singer (Tapestry - "You've Got A Friend"; "So Far Away"; "You Make Me Feel Like A Natural Woman"), born in Brooklyn, New York.
1961 The Beatles appeared at The Cavern Club, Liverpool, for the very first time (as The Beatles), they would go on to make a total of 292 other appearances at the Club. They were paid £5 for this luchtime appearance and George Harrison was nearly denied admission to play because he was wearing jeans.
1964 1st appearance of the Beatles on the "Ed Sullivan Show", from New York, draws 73.7 million television viewers.
1964 On this day, BBC Cymru Wales was launched, to provide a service specific for Wales.
1969 1st flight of the Boeing 747 jumbo jet.
1970 Glenn McGrath, Australian cricket fast bowler (124 Tests, 563 wickets @ 21.64)), born in Dubbo, New South Wales.
1971 5 men are killed near a BBC transmitter on Brougher Mountain, County Tyrone, in a landmine attack carried out by the Irish Republican Army.
1972 British government declares state of emergency after month-long coal miners' strike.
1979 Football club Nottingham Forest clinched Britain's first £1m transfer deal when England forward Trevor Francis signed for Brian Clough's League and Cup winning side after eight seasons with Birmingham City.
1981 American singer and musician Bill Haley who became known as the first Rock 'n' Roll star, was found dead, fully clothed on his bed at his home in Harlingen, Texas from a heart attack, aged 55.
1990 Spacecraft Galileo flies by Venus at an altitude of 10,000 miles (16,000 km) in a gravity assist maneuver to gain speed on its way to Jupiter.
1995 Irish music and dance show "Riverdance" first opens in Dublin, Ireland with lead dancer Michael Flatley.
1996 The IRA detonated an enormous bomb in London's Docklands, effectively bringing an end to the cease-fire and signalling the start of a new bombing campaign on mainland Britain.
1997 Scottish singer Brian Connolly with the Seventies Glam rock group Sweet died of kidney and liver failure aged 51.
2002 The Queen's sister, Princess Margaret, aged 71, died in her sleep after suffering a stroke and a heart attack.
2020 Fastest supersonic New York to London journey made by British Airways Boeing 747-436 in four hours and 56 minutes, speeds of 1,327 km/h / 825 mph due to Storm Ciara.
2020 Deaths from COVID-19 virus overtake those of Sars (2003) with 813 deaths worldwide, with more than 34,800 known infections.
2021 Deaths from Covid-19 to date 2.33 million deaths and 117 million cases.

 

[Muteswan]

10th February
1774 Andrew Baker demonstrated his practical diving suit in the River Thames.
1824 Samuel Plimsoll, inventor (Plimsoll line for ships), born in Bristol, England.
1870 30 miners were killed in a mining accident at Morfa Colliery, Port Talbot.
1905 Born on this day in Alltwen, near Pontardawe, Rachel Thomas, film and television actress, best remembered for her role as a miner's wife in the film ‘Proud Valley’. She was also a mainstay of Pobl y Cwm, the BBC Wales television soap opera.
1912 Hobbs & Rhodes make 323 cricket opening stand v Aust at MCG.
1914 Larry Adler, American pop and classical harmonica player, and composer, born in Baltimore, Maryland (d. 2001).
1929 Jerry Goldsmith. Created the music for scores of classic movies and television shows ‘Star Trek’, ‘Planet of the Apes’, ‘The Man from U.N.C.L.E.’ and ‘Dr. Kildare’ born today.
1940 "Tom & Jerry" cartoon created by William Hanna & Joseph Barbera debut by MGM.
1940 "In The Mood" by Glenn Miller hits #1.
1942 Glenn Miller awarded 1st ever gold record for selling 1 million copies of "Chattanooga Choo Choo".
1947 WW II peace treaties signed.
1950 Mark Spitz, American swimmer (won then record 7 Olympic golds in 1972), born in Modesto, California.
1955 Greg Norman, Australian golfer (British Open 1986, 93), born in Mount Isa, Queensland.
1963 On 10th February 1963, the paramilitary Welsh nationalist organisation Mudiad Amddiffyn Cymru planted a bomb at the construction site of the Tryweryn Reservoir.The organisation was founded in response to the flooding of the Afon Tryweryn valley and the village of Capel Celyn to provide water for Liverpool. The reservoir for the then Liverpool Corporation was passed by Parliament, even though not a single Welsh MP voted in favour.The organisation remained active during the 1960's and on 30 June 1969, the evening before the investiture of Prince Charles at Caernarfon, two of its members, Alwyn Jones and George Taylor, were killed when a bomb exploded prematurely.
1971 American singer-songwriter Carole King released her second studio album Tapestry.
1981 Holly Willoughby, British TV presenter, born in Brighton, United Kingdom.
1992 Mike Tyson convicted of raping Desiree Washington in Indiana.
2005 His Royal Highness Charles, Prince of Wales announces engagement to Camilla Parker Bowles.
2005 Who singer Roger Daltrey was awarded the CBE by The Queen at Buckingham Palace for services to the music industry.
2011 Trevor Bailey, English cricket all-rounder, writer and broadcaster (61 Tests, top score 134, 132 wickets; BBC), dies in a fire in his retirement flat at 87.
2014 Shirley Temple, American actress and diplomat, famous 1930s child star, dies of natural causes at 85.
2021 Dai Davies, Welsh goalkeeper,(Swansea, Everton, Wrexham, Tranmere, Bangor) died today aged 72. RIP Dai.

 

[Muteswan]

11th February
1531 Henry VIII was recognized as supreme head of the Church of England.
1650 René Descartes, French philosopher "I think therefore I am", stops thinking due to pneumonia at 53.
1800 William Henry Fox Talbot, English photographic pioneer, born in Dorset, England (d. 1877).
1847 Thomas Edison, American inventor (lightbulb, phonograph, motion picture camera), born in Milan, Ohio (d. 1931).
1851 1st cricket 1st-class game in Australia, Tasmania v Victoria, Launceston.
1852 First British public female toilet opens (Bedford Street, London).
1878 1st weekly weather report published in UK.
1926 Leslie Nielsen, Canadian actor (Spy Hard, Forbidden Planet, Naked Gun), born in Regina, Saskatchewan (d. 2010).
1956 British diplomats Guy Burgess and Donald Maclean deny working as spies for Soviet Russia after reappearing in the Soviet Union after going missing 5 years earlier.
1964 The Beatles made their live concert debut in the US at the Washington Coliseum.
1969 Jennifer Aniston, American actress (Rachel-Friends), born in Los Angeles, California.
1971 Damian Lewis, British actor, born in St John's Wood, London.
1973 Tom Tumulty, American linebacker (Cincinnati Bengals), born in Penn Hills, Pennsylvania. Any relation?
1975 Margaret Thatcher defeats Edward Heath for leadership of the British Conservative Party.
1983 Single "Total Eclipse of the Heart" sung by Bonnie Tyler and composed by Jim Steinman is released.
1983 Police launched a mass murder investigation in London after discovering human remains in drains. Civil servant Dennis Andrew Nilsen, 37, was later charged with 12 murders and sentenced to six life sentences.
1990 Nelson Mandela released after 27 years imprisonment in South Africa.
1993 Queen Elizabeth II and the Prince of Wales both volunteered to pay income tax and capital gains tax on their private income.
1998 The hand-written lyrics to 'Candle in the Wind' by Bernie Taupin were auctioned off at Christie's in LA for £278,512.
2006 Jackie Pallo, English professional wrestler, dies at 79.
2012 Whitney Houston, American singer (I Will Always Love You; I Wanna Dance With Somebody), and actress (The Bodyguard), dies from an accidental bathtub drowning at 48.
2021 World's second oldest person French nun Sister André' celebrates her 117th birthday after surviving COVID-19 in Toulon.

 

[Muteswan]

12th February
1554 Queen of England for nine days, Lady Jane Grey is executed for treason.
1809 Abraham Lincoln, 16th US President (Republican: 1861-65), born in Hardin County, Kentucky (d. 1865).
1809 Charles Darwin, English naturalist (Origin of the Species) conceived the theory of evolution by natural selection, born in Shrewsbury, Shropshire (d. 1882).
1935 First secret demonstration of radio signals detecting aircraft by Robert Watson-Watt at Daventry, England.
1950 Steve Hackett, British progressive rock guitarist, and composer (Genesis, 1971-77; GTR), born in Pimilco, London, England.
1954 The British Standing Advisory Committee on cancer claimed that the illness had a definite link with cigarette smoking.
1964 End of Richie Benaud's 63-Test Cricket career.
1964 Fighting breaks out between Turks and Greeks over dispute islands in Cyprus and 16 are killed; the UN responds the following month by sending a peacekeeping force.
1969 '(If Paradise Is) Half As Nice' by Amen Corner was at No.1 on the UK singles chart.
1978 Gethin Jones, British (Welsh) television presenter, born in Cardiff, United Kingdom.
1989 Loyalist paramilitary group kill Pat Finucane, a Belfast lawyer who represented republican hunger striker Bobby Sands, while he is having dinner with family.
1993 A 2 year old boy, James Bulger, was abducted from the Strand Shopping Centre, Bootle, and later killed by two 10 year old boys, Jon Venables and Robert Thompson. They were the youngest people to be charged with murder in England and Wales during the 20th century. A mere eight years later, in June 2001, the parole board ruled that the boys were no longer a threat to public safety and could be released. They were given new identities and moved to secret residence locations but on 2nd March 2010 Jon Venables was returned to prison, short term, for a violation of the terms of his licence of release.
1998 Intel unveils its 1st graphics chip i740.
1999 US President Bill Clinton acquitted by the Senate in his impeachment trial.
2000 Charles M. Schulz, American cartoonist (Peanuts), dies at 77.
2002 The trial of former President of Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Slobodan Milošević begins at the United Nations war crimes tribunal in The Hague. He eventually dies four years later before its conclusion.
2015 Welsh singer Steve Strange, (born Steven Harrington) lead singer of Eighties pop band Visage, died aged 55 following a heart attack in hospital in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt.
2018 Oxfam deputy director resigns over charity's failure to deal with sexual misconduct allegations in Haiti and Chad.
2019 The death, aged 81, of Gordon Banks, English goal keeper. He made 628 appearances during a 15-year career in the Football League, and won 73 caps for England.

 

[Muteswan]

13th February
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 the Bill of Rights which establishes the rights of parliament and places limits on the crown.
1832 First appearance of cholera in London.
1861 Abraham Lincoln declared US President in Washington, D.C.
1866 Jesse James holds up his first bank, stealing $15,000 from the Clay County Savings Association in Liberty, Missouri.
1907 English suffragettes storm British Parliament & 60 women are arrested.
1917 Dutch exotic dancer Mata Hari is arrested in Paris on suspicion that she is a German spy.
1944 Jerry Springer, English-born US talk show host (Jerry Springer Show), born in London, England.
1945 Allied planes begin bombing Dresden, Germany; a firestorm results and over 22,000 die.
1950 Peter Gabriel, English rock vocalist (Genesis, 1967-75), born in Surrey, England.
1967 The Beatles released the double A sided single 'Strawberry Fields Forever/Penny Lane' on Capitol Records in the US.
1970 Robbie Williams, English singer, born in Stoke-on-Trent, England.
1970 On this day, Friday the 13th, Black Sabbath released their debut self-titled studio album on Vertigo records in the UK.
1972 The Greasy Truckers concert took place at the Roundhouse in London, featuring Man, Brinsley Schwarz and Hawkwind.
1975 British mineworkers' leaders agreed to accept the coal board's latest pay offer of up to 35%.
1978 Tomorrow's World presenter Anna Ford was officially announced as ITN's first female newsreader.
1982 Pink Floyd's album "Dark Side of the Moon" marks 402 weeks in the album charts.
1986 Luke Moore, English footballer, born in Birmingham, United Kingdom.
1991 Ron Pickering, British athletics coach and BBC sports commentator, dies after a heart bypass operation at 60.
2000 The last original "Peanuts" comic strip appears in newspapers one day after Charles M. Schulz dies.
2020 Scientists overturn current thought about how planets form - not by violent collision but gentle clumping, through study of Arrokoth in Kepler belt, published in "Science".

 

[Muteswan]

14th February
270 St. Valentine dies giving birth to Valentine's Day (some sources say 269, others 273).
1349 900 Jews are burned alive in Strasbourg and similar number banned from the city after being blamed for the spread of the Black Death.
1717 Recorded production at Swansea’s first copper works began today. This was the Llangyfelach Copperworks near Landore, which had opened the previous month.
1779 James Cook, British explorer, navigator and cartographer, discovered and explored Australia, Pacific Islands and New Zealand for Britain, killed in a fight with Hawaiians near Kealakekua at 50.
1852 London’s famous children’s hospital in Great Ormond Street accepted its first patient, three year-old Eliza Armstrong. It was the first hospital in the English speaking world providing in-patient beds specifically for children.
1895 Oscar Wilde's "Importance of Being Earnest," opens in London.
1924 Thomas J. Watson renames the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company (CTR) as International Business Machines (IBM).
1929 St Valentine's Day Massacre in Chicago, 7 gangsters killed, allegedly on Al Capone's orders.
1931 The original "Dracula" film starring Bela Lugosi as the titular vampire, is released.
1970 Simon Pegg [Buckingham], English comedian & actor (Shaun of the Dead, Mission: Impossible), born in Brockworth, England.
1970 The Who appeared at Leeds University, England. The show was recorded for the bands forthcoming 'Live At Leeds' album.
1971 Richard Nixon installs secret taping system in the White House.
1973 Muhammad Ali beats British heavyweight boxing champion Joe Bugner by unanimous points decision in 12 rounds at Las Vegas Convention Centre.
1975 P. G. Wodehouse, English-American writer (Bertie Wooster novels), dies at 93.
1978 1st "micro on a chip" patented by Texas Instruments.
1984 Britain's Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean famously dominate the ice dancing at the Sarajevo Winter Olympics; perform to Maurice Ravel's "Bolero" in free dance routine; record 9-of-9 perfect scores for artistic impression.
1986 Frank Zappa appeared on an episode of the television series Miami Vice. He portrayed a crime boss named 'Mr. Frankie.'
1989 Supreme Leader of Iran, Ayatollah Khomeini issues a fatwa calling for the death of Salman Rushdie and his publishers due to his novel "Satanic Verses". A bounty is also placed on his head.
1989 The first of 24 satellites of the Global Positioning System are placed into orbit.
1989 English keyboardist Vincent Crane (Atomic Rooster) died from a deliberate overdose of Anadin tablets aged 45.
2003 Dolly the sheep, the first cloned mammal, was put down after being diagnosed with a severe lung infection.
2006 Chip and PIN was introduced. UK cardholders had to use their PIN (Personal Identification Number) to be sure that they could pay for goods.
2010 Dick Francis, British jockey and detective writer, dies at 89.
2011 George Shearing, British-American blind jazz pianist (Lullaby of Birdland), dies at 91.
2013 Oscar Pistorius, a South African amputee sprinter, is charged with the murder of Reeva Steenkamp.
2014 The death (aged 91) of former Preston and England footballer Sir Tom Finney.
2020 UEFA places 2 year ban on Manchester City from European club competition for committing "serious breaches" of club licensing and financial fair play regulations; EPL champions also fined €30million

 

[Muteswan]

15th February
1564 Galileo Galilei, Italian astronomer, physicist and engineer who has been called the father of science, born in Pisa, Duchy of Florence, Italy (d. 1642).
1676 Isaac Newton writes to Robert Hooke “If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants”.
1928 After some 70 years of work, the 1st Edition of the Oxford English Dictionary was completed.
1929 Graham Hill, British auto racer (Formula One World Champion, 1962 & 1968) born in Hampstead, London (d. 1975).
1936 Adolf Hitler announces construction of the Volkswagen Beetle (the People's Car, aka the Käfer/Beetle).
1941 Duke Ellington first records "Take the A Train".
1944 891 British bombers attack Berlin in the largest raid by the RAF against the city.
1945 English musician John Helliwell, saxophonist with Supertramp born today.
1954 Matt Groening, American cartoonist and writer (Life in Hell, The Simpsons, Futurama), born in Portland, Oregon.
1961 Entire US figure skating team is killed in an air crash outside Brussels airport in Belgium whilst flying to World Championships in Prague from NYC; 72 passengers, including 34 American skaters, coaches, officials, and other members of extended team are lost.
1964 Beatles' "Meet the Beatles!" album goes #1 & stays #1 for 11 weeks in the USA.
1965 Nat King Cole, American singer (Unforgettable, Mona Lisa), dies of cancer at 49.
1965 John Lennon passes his driving test.
1971 Decimal Day in the United Kingdom when the old currency of pounds, shillings and pence with the pound being worth two hundred and forty pennies was replaced with a currency of pounds and pence with one hundred pennies in each pound.
The announcement of the change to decimal coinage came in 1966 and as hundreds of millions of new coins were needed and expansion at the existing Royal Mint at Tower Hill in London was not practical, it was decided to find a new location outside London. More than 20 sites were considered, however in keeping with the government's policy of transferring industry from the capital to development areas, Llantrisant was eventually chosen as the site for the new Royal Mint. It had a suitable 38 acre site with a readily available workforce and crucially had the backing James Callaghan, who as Chancellor of the Exchequer was Master of the Mint and also an MP for Cardiff.
Work on the new mint began in August 1967 with the first phase opened in December 1968 in time for decimalisation. The second phase of construction began in 1973 involving a progressive transfer from Tower Hill which was completed in 1975. The Royal Mint at Llantrisant now houses some of the most advanced coining machinery in the world and it has a larger capacity than any other mint in Western Europe.
1978 New Zealand won a Test Series against England for the first time, after 48 years of matches.
1981 An English Football League match was played on a Sunday for the first time.
1989 Soviet military occupation of Afghanistan ends.
1996 The Sea Empress ran aground at the entrance to Milford Haven harbour, 72,000 tonnes of crude oil escaped into the sea.
1998 The Angel of the North, a large-scale steel sculpture 20 m (66 ft) tall by Antony Gormley is installed at Gateshead, northern England.
2001 First draft of the complete human genome is published in the journal "Nature".
2019 US President Donald Trump declares a national emergency to divert funds to build a border wall, after signing bipartisan spending agreement to avoid another government shutdown.
2020 Caroline Flack, British television presenter (Love Island), commits suicide at 40.

 

[TheLoneRanger]

16th February 1943.

The last German bombing of Swansea in WW2.

 

[Muteswan]

16th February
600 Pope Gregory the Great decrees saying "God bless You" is the correct response to a sneeze.
1659 Merchant Nicholas Vanacker made out the first known British cheque, payable to Mr Delboe for the grand sum of £400.
1751 1st publication of Thomas Gray's poem "Elegy Written in a Country Church Yard".
1922 Geraint Evans, Welsh bass-baritone opera singer, born in Cilfynydd, Wales (d. 1992).
1923 Howard Carter opens the inner burial chamber of Egyptian Pharaoh Tutankhamun's tomb and finds the sarcophagus.
1933 England regains the Ashes, thanks to "bodyline" tactics.
1950 The birth of Peter Hain in Nairobi Labour Party politician. He served in the Cabinets of both Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, firstly as Leader of the House of Commons under Blair and as both Secretary of State for Work and Pensions and Secretary of State for Wales under Brown.
1954 Michael Holding, cricket fast bowler (Whispering Death) born in Kingston Jamaica.
1957 Death of the politician Leslie Hore-Belisha, minister of Transport who introduced the driving test, the Highway Code and the Belisha beacon used at zebra crossings.
1957 LeVar Burton, American actor, (Roots - "Kunta Kinte"; Star Trek: The Next Generation - "Lt. Cmdr. Geordi La Forge") born in Landstuhl, Germany.
1959 John McEnroe, American tennis player (US Open 1979-81, 84 / Wimbledon 1981, 83, 84), born in Wiesbaden, Germany.
1960 Peter "Pete" Willis, British musician and songwriter (Def Leppard), born in Sheffield, England.
1964 Christopher Eccleston, English actor (Ninth Doctor in Doctor Who), born in Salford, England.
1972 Many homes and businesses were without electricity for up to nine hours a day from this day. Miners, into the sixth week of their strike over pay, picketed power stations and all other sources of fuel supply in an attempt to step up pressure on the Government.
1979 Valentino Rossi, Italian motorcycle road racer (MotoGP World C'ship 2001, 02, 03, 04, 05, 08, 09; 250cc World C'ship 1999; 125cc World C'ship 1997), born in Urbino, Italy.
1985 Bruce Springsteen went to No.1 on the UK album chart with 'Born In The USA', his first UK No.1 album.
2005 The UK version of "The Apprentice" with British business magnate Alan Sugar premieres on the BBC.
2005 The Kyoto Protocol that aimed to slow down global warming took effect, but the US and Australia refused to support it.
2020 America evacuates 400 citizens from COVID-19-infected cruise ship Diamond Princess quarantined in Yokohama port, Japan.
2020 Harry Gregg, Irish soccer goalkeeper (25 caps Northern Ireland; Manchester United) and manager (Shrewsbury Town, Swansea, Crewe Alexandra), dies at 87.
2020 Larry Tesler, American computer scientist (invented copy, cut, paste), dies at 74. (I’d be lost without this man )
2335 Geordi La Forge, character on Star Trek Next Generation.

 

[Muteswan]

17th February
1776 1st volume of Edward Gibbon's seminal work "The Decline and Fall of Roman Empire" published.
1867 William Cadbury, British chocolate manufacturer (Cadbury), born in Edgbaston, England (d. 1957).
1874 Conservatives, under Disraeli, won their first majority since 1841.
1876 Sardines first canned by Julius Wolff in Eastport, Maine.
1882 1st Test Cricket match played at Sydney Cricket Ground.
1904 Giacomo Puccini's opera "Madama Butterfly" premieres in Milan.
1909 Geronimo [one who yawns], Apache chief, dies at 79.
1917 Edgar Evans perished on the return from the South Pole (born in Rhossili,Gower).
1934 Barry Humphries, Australian comedian, actor and author known for his stage alter egos (Dame Edna Everage, Sir Les Patterson), born in Melbourne, Victoria.
1936 Peter Walker, English cricket batsman (3 Tests; Glamorgan CCC), born in Bristol, England (d. 2020).
1936 The world's first superhero, The Phantom, a cartoon strip by Lee Falk, makes his first appearance in comics.
1938 A surprise item was shown at the Dominion Theatre, London. It was the first public, experimental demonstration of Baird colour television on a big 12 ft x 9 ft screen. Transmitted from Crystal Palace, the short programme consisted of fashion plates and a cartoon.
1941 Gene Pitney, American vocalist and songwriter, born in Hartford, Connecticut (d. 2006 in Cardiff).
1944 Born this day in Penclawdd, Gower, Sir Karl Jenkins, musician and composer.
Jenkins, who began his musical career with the National Youth Orchestra of Wales, went on to study music at Cardiff University and the Royal Academy of Music. He was known in his early career as a jazz musician, playing the saxophone, keyboards and oboe. His album "Adiemus: Songs of Sanctuary" was No.1 in the classical album charts and "The Armed Man" was listed as No. 1 in Classic FM's "Top 10 by living composers". Jenkins is a fellow and an associate of the Royal Academy of Music, joint president of the British Double Reed Society and Patron of the International Choral Music Society.
Jenkins has also created several pieces of music for advertising and is best known in that field for composing the music for Levi's Jeans and Renault's "Papa, Nicole, advertisements. In 2016 Jenkins wrote the choral work Cantata Memoria in memory of the children lost in the 1966 Aberfan disaster. He also played for Soft Machine from 1972.
1955 Fanny Cradock's first cookery programme Kitchen Magic, was broadcast on television.
1958 The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) was formed in Britain.
1963 Michael Jordan, American Basketball Hall of Fame forward, owner (5-time NBA MVP, 6-time NBA champion Chicago Bulls), born in Brooklyn, New York.
1972 British Parliament votes to join the European Common Market.
1982 Commencement of Sri Lanka's 1st Test Cricket match, v England.
1982 Thelonious Monk, American jazz pianist and composer (Straight, No Chaser; 'Round Midnight), dies of a stroke at 64.
1987 Born on this day in Caerphilly,Nathan Cleverly, WBA and former WBO light-heavyweight world boxing champion. Cleverly also graduated with a BSc in Mathematics from Cardiff University in 2010.
1991 Ed Sheeran, English singer-songwriter, born in Halifax, England.
2003 The London Congestion Charge scheme began, with a fee charged for some categories of motor vehicle to travel at certain times within Charge Zone.
2005 Hunting with dogs became illegal in Britain at midnight.
2013 Richard Briers, English actor, dies from emphysema at 79.
2018 Britain's Lizzy Yarnold wins her 2nd consecutive Olympic women's skeleton gold medal in Pyeongchang; also wins event in Sochi (2014).
2020 Amazon boss Jeff Bezos pledges $10 billion to help fight climate change.

 

[Muteswan]

18th February
1294 Kublai Khan, Mongol Emperor (1260-94) and founder of the Yuan dynasty in China (1271-94), dies at 78.
1503 Henry Tudor (later Henry VIII) created Prince of Wales.
1564 Michelangelo, Italian sculptor, painter, architect and poet of the High Renaissance dies at 88.
1678 John Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress" is published in Holborn, London, by Nathaniel Ponder.
1745 Alessandro Volta, Italian physicist and inventor of the 1st battery, born in Como, Italy (d. 1827).
1879 Sculptor Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi is awarded a patent for his design for the Statue of Liberty.
1885 Mark Twain publishes the "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" in the US.
1898 Enzo Anselmo Giuseppe Maria Ferrari, motor racing driver and manufacturer, born today in Modena Italy.
1906 Hans Asperger, Austrian pediatrician and eponym of Asperger syndrome, born in Vienna, Austria-Hungary (d. 1980).
1933 Yoko Ono Lennon [Mrs. John Lennon], Japanese artist, poet, and singer, born in Tokyo, Japan.
1933 The birth, in Sacriston (County Durham), of Sir Robert William "Bobby" Robson CBE, English footballer and football manager.
1954 The first Church of Scientology is established in Los Angeles, California.
1954 John Travolta, American actor(Saturday Night Fever; Pulp Fiction), and singer, born in Englewood, New Jersey.
1967 Colin Jackson, Welsh 100m hurdler (Olympic silver 1988), born in Cardiff, Wales.
1967 Robert Oppenheimer, American theoretical physicist known as the father of the atomic bomb (Manhattan Project), dies of throat cancer at 62.
1977 Kiss play their first concert in their hometown venue of Madison Square Garden in New York City.
1990 Freddie Mercury made his final public appearance on stage when he joined the rest of Queen to collect the Brit Award for Outstanding Contribution to Music, held at the Dominion Theatre, London, England.
1998 Robert Mark "Robbie" James (23 March 1957 – 18 February 1998) was a Welsh international footballer who played for many teams including Swansea City, Stoke City and Queens Park Rangers.He represented his country on 47 occasions over a period of ten years, scoring a total of seven goals. LEGEND.
2009 English fantasy author Terry Pratchett receives a knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace.
2016 Pope Francis questions US Presidential hopeful Donald Trump's Christianity over his call to build a wall on the Mexican border
2019 16 US states, including California and New York, band together to sue President Donald Trump over his use of emergency powers to build a border wall.