Historical Events On This Day

1454 In the Thirteen Years' War, the Secret Council of the Prussian Confederation sends a formal act of disobedience to the Grand Master.
1508 Maximilian I assumes imperial title without being crowned
1586 Robert Dudley, earl of Leicester, becomes governor-general of the States General of the United Provinces (Netherlands)
1697 Three Dutch East India Company ships anchor at Dirk-Hartogeiland, Australia
1699 350 rebellious Streltsi executed in Moscow
1782 British garrison surrenders to French & Spanish fleet
1783 Worst quake in 8 years kills some 50,000 (Calabria, Italy)
1784 1st unmanned balloon flight in Ireland
1787 1st Anglican bishops of NY & Pennsylvania consecrated in London
1787 Shays' Rebellion (of debt-ridden Massachusetts farmers) fails
1794 French National Convention proclaims abolishment of slavery
1797 Earthquake in Quito, Ecuador kills 41,000
1803 William Dunlap adapts French melodrama "Voice of Nature"
1810 Royal Navy seizes Guadeloupe.
1822 Free American Blacks settle Liberia, West Africa
1824 J W Goodrich introduces rubber galoshes to public
1846 Mormons leave Nauvoo, Illinois, for settlement in the west
1847 1st US telegraph company established in Maryland
1849 University of Wisconsin begins in 1 room with 20 students
1854 Alvan Bovay proposes name "Republican Party", Ripon, Wisc
1855 Soldiers shoot Jewish families in Coro, Venezuela
1859 The Codex Sinaiticus is discovered in Egypt.
1887 Interstate Commerce Act authorizes federal regulation of railroads
1895 1st rolling lift bridge opens, Chicago
1899 The Philippine-American War begins with fighting between American and Philippine revolutionary forces
1901 Emperor of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Franz Josef I, gives a speech condemning the demands of national groups and calls for economic and social reform
1903 Stanley Cup: Montreal AAA beat Winn Victorias, 2 games to 1 & 1 tie
1904 John Millington Synge's "Well of Saints" premieres in Dublin
1913 Louis Perlman patents demountable auto tire-carrying wheel rim
1913 National Institute of Arts & Letters founded
1914 US Congress approves Burnett-anti-immigration law
1915 Experiments to find cause of pellagra begin at Miss Penitentiary
1917 Belgian Council of Flanders established
1919 City of Bremen's Soviet Republic overthrown
1920 1st flight from London to South Africa takes-off (lasts 1½ months)
1922 WGY-AM in Schenectady NY begins radio transmissions
1922 After boycotts and international pressure, Japan agrees to return Shantung Province to China
1924 1st Winter Olympic games close at Chamonix, France
1924 George Kelly's "Show-Off," premieres in NYC
1926 Austrian chancellor Seipel wants to join Germany
1927 KGA-AM in Spokane WA begins radio transmissions
1929 Archie Jackson scores 164 in Test Cricket debut v England at Adelaide
1930 1st tieless, soundless, shockless streetcar tracks, New Orleans
1931 National League adopts a deader baseball
1932 3rd Winter Olympic games open in Lake Placid, NY
1932 Japanese troops occupy Harbin, Manchuria
1933 -Feb 10] Crew of Dutch "7 Provinces" mutiny after pay cuts
1938 Disney's "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" is officially released
1939 Glenn Cunningham (top miler) says 4-min mile beyond human effort
1941 British tanks occupy Maus, Libya
1941 Former Dutch premier De Geer flies to Berlin
1941 United Service Organization (USO) founded
1942 Clinton Pierce becomes 1st US general wounded in action in WW II
1943 Bertolt Brecht's play "The Good Person of Szechwan" premieres in Zurich
1944 Jean Anouilh's "Antigone" premieres in Paris
1944 US 7th Infantry Division captures Kwajalein

1946 Garson Kanin's "Born Yesterday" premieres in NYC

1948 Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon) declares independence from UK

1949 Failed assassination attempt on Shah of Persia

1950 4th British Empire Games open in Auckland, New Zealand

1951 US female Figure Skating championship won by Sonya Klopfer

1951 US male Figure Skating championship won by Richard Button

1956 AL plans to test automatic intentional walk during spring training

1957 1st electric portable typewriter placed on sale (Syracuse NY)

1958 "Oh, Captain!" opens at Alvin Theater NYC for 192 performances

1958 Hall of Fame fails to elect anyone for 1st time since 1950

1959 Israel begins exporting copper ore

1960 BBWAA voters fail to elect a new Hall of Fame member

1960 Giants move their offices to Candlestick Park

1960 Lionel Bart's musical "Fings ain't wot they used t'be" premieres

1961 Sputnik 7 launches into Earth orbit; probable Venus probe failure

1962 "Gay Life" closes at Shubert Theater NYC after 113 performances

1962 Russian newspaper Izvestia reports baseball is an old Russian game

1962 US female Figure Skating championship won by Barbara Roles

1962 US male Figure Skating championship won by Monty Hoyt

1964 FAA begins 6 month test of reactions to sonic booms over Oklahoma City

1965 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site

1966 All-Nippon Airways 727 crashes off Haneda Airport (Japan); kills 133

1967 "Wild Thing" hits #20 on the pop singles chart by Senator Bobby

1967 US launches Lunar Orbiter 3

1968 "Golden Rainbow" opens at Shubert Theater NYC for 355 performances

1968 Bowie Kuhn replaces William Eckert as 5th commissioner of baseball

1968 Around 100 Indians and Pakistanis from Kenya arrive in Britain, escaping discrimination

1969 Lonne Elder's "Ceremonies in Dark Old Men" premieres in NYC

1970 "Charles Aznavour" opens at Music Box Theater NYC for 23 performances

1970 "Gantry" opens at George Abbott Theater NYC for 1 performance

1970 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site

1971 Baseball announces a special hall of fame wing for blacks

1971 British car maker Rolls Royce declared itself bankrupt

1971 Government exhibit under construction in Brazil collapses, kills 65

1971 National Guard mobilized to quell rioting in Wilmington NC

1971 Lieutenant-General Vernon Erskine-Crum becomes General Officer Commanding of the British Army in Northern Ireland

1972 6th round of Strategic Arms Limitation Talks ends in Vienna Austria

1972 Senator Strom Thurmond suggests John Lennon be deported

1973 "No, No Nanette" closes at 46th St Theater NYC after 861 performances

1973 Islanders & Sabres had a penalty free game

1973 Manfred Kokot runs world record 50m indoor (5.61 sec)

1973 Reshef, Israel's missile boat, unveiled

1973 British Army snipers shoot dead a Provisional Irish Republican Army volunteer and three civilians at the junction in Belfast during the 'Troubles' in N Ireland

1973 An International inspection team is sent to Vietnam to observe progress on the Paris truce agreement

1974 Chimpanzee Nim Chimsky signs his 1st word, at 2½ months

1974 Petroleum rationing ends in Netherlands

1974 Patricia Hearst (19), daughter of publisher Randolph Hearst, kidnapped by Symbionese Liberation Army

1974 Provisional Irish Republican Army bomb explodes on a bus in West Yorkshire, England, carrying British Army soldiers and some of their family members

1975 Haicheng earthquake, M 7.3, occurred in Haicheng, Liaoning, China.

1976 12th Winter Olympic games opens in Innsbruck, Austria

1976 7.5 earthquake kills 22,778 in Guatemala & Honduras

1976 US Federal Judge Judge Oliver upholds Seitz's decision on Andy Messersmith free agency

1976 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site

1977 30th NHL All-Star Game: Wales beat Campbell 4-3 at Vancouver

1977 Elevated train jumps track, crashes onto Chicago st (11 die, 200 hurt)

1977 Fleetwood Mac's "Rumours" released

1977 Wings release "Maybe I'm Amazed"

1979 "Co-Ed Fever," TV Comedy, debut & cancelled that outing on CBS

1979 End of last 3+day D/N game for 15 yrs (WSC, SCG)

1979 Joanne Carner wins LPGA Colgate Triple Crown Golf Tournament

1979 29th NBA All-Star Game: West beats East 134-129 at Pontiac, Michigan

1980 Bani Sadr sworn in as premier of Iran

1980 Joanne Carner wins LPGA Whirlpool Golf Championship of Deer Creek

1980 Studio 54 holds its grand closing party on its last night in business

1982 "Pump Boys & Dinettes" opens at Princess Theater NYC for 573 performances

1982 Indoor distance record for a paper airplane (47m) Tacoma Wash

1982 Musical "Pump Boys & Dinettes" premieres in NYC

1982 Suriname premier Chin A Sen flees

1983 Jose Happart becomes mayor of Voeren Belgium

1983 US male Figure Skating championship won by Scott Hamilton

1984 "9" closes at 46th St Theater NYC after 739 performances

1984 "Backstage Magic" opens at CommuniCore

1984 Frank Aquilera sets world frisbee distance record (168m) Las Vegas

1985 20 countries (but not US) sign UN treaty outlawing torture

1985 Naval exercises canceled when US refuses to tell NZ of nuclear weapons

1986 38th NHL All-Star Game: Wales beat Campbell 4-3 (OT) at Hartford

1986 Israeli fighters intercept Libyan passenger airliner

1988 Despite union calls to end the strike, rank-and-file seamen at major British ports refuse to return to work

1989 Dean Jones scores 216 v WI at the Adelaide Oval

1990 10 Israeli tourists murdered near Cairo

1990 Anders Holmertz swims world record 400 m freestyle (3:40.81)

1990 Danny Everett runs world record 400m indoor (45:04)

1990 Lyudmila Narozhi-Lenko runs world record 60m hurdles indoor (7.69)

1990 NFL Pro Bowl: NFC beats AFC 27-21

1990 Pat Bradley wins Oldsmobile LPGA Golf Classic

1993 Admiral William Studeman ends term as acting director of CIA

1993 Russian space agency tests a 82-foot wide space mirror

1994 10th Soap Opera Digest Awards - Days of Our Lives wins

1994 20 die in armed assault on mosque in Khartoum, Sudan

1994 Merlene Ottey runs world record 50 m indoor (6.00 sec)

1994 Russian team beats ladies world record 4x800 m indoor (8:18.71)

1995 Dean Jones completes 324* for Victoria v South Australia

1995 Sandra Volker swims female European record 50m backstroke (27.77)

1995 Zimbabwe's 1st Test Cricket victory, over Pakistan by an inning

1996 NFL Pro Bowl: NFC beats AFC 20-

1997 US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright announces she just discovered that her grandparents were Jewish

1997 En route to Lebanon, two Israeli Sikorsky CH-53 troop-transport helicopters collide in mid-air over northern Galilee, Israel killing 73

1998 An earthquake measuring 6.1 on the Richter Scale in northeast Afghanistan kills more than 5,000.

1999 MV New Carissa runs aground near Coos Bay, Oregon.

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.

2000 German extortionist Klaus-Peter Sabotta is jailed for life for attempted murder and extortion in connection with the sabotage of German railway lines.

2001 NFL Pro Bowl: AFC beats NFC 38-17

2001 51st NHL All-Star Game: North America beats World 14-12 at Denver, Colorado

2003 The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia is officially renamed Serbia and Montenegro and adopts a new constitution.