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Contents

Events

Births

Deaths

Holidays and observances

Liturgical feasts

External links

Events

★ 211 - Roman Emperor Septimius Severus dies, leaving the Roman Empire in the hands of his two quarrelsome sons, Caracalla and Geta.

★ 362 - Roman Emperor Julian promulgates an edict that recognizes equal rights to all the religions in the Roman Empire.

★ 1454 - In the Thirteen Years' War, the Secret Council of the Prussian Confederation sends a formal act of disobedience to the Grand Master.

★ 1703 - In Edo (now Tokyo), 46 of the Forty-Seven Ronin commit seppuku (ritual suicide) as recompense for avenging their master's death.

★ 1783 - American Revolutionary War: The United Kingdom formally declares that it will cease hostilities with the United States of America.

★ 1789 - George Washington is unanimously elected to be the first President of the United States by the U.S. Electoral College.

★ 1792 - George Washington is unanimously elected to a second term as President of the United States by the U.S. Electoral College.

★ 1794 - The French legislature abolishes slavery throughout all territories of the French Republic.

★ 1801 - John Marshall is sworn in as Chief Justice of the United States.

★ 1810 - British Navy seizes Guadeloupe.

★ 1825 - The Ohio Legislature authorizes the construction of the Ohio and Erie Canal and the Miami and Erie Canal.

★ 1859 - Codex Sinaiticus discovered in Egypt.

★ 1861 - American Civil War: In Montgomery, Alabama, Delegates from six break-away U.S. states meet and form The Confederate States of America.

★ 1899 - The Philippine-American War begins.

★ 1915 - Germany establishes a submarine blockade around the UK and declares any vessel in it a legitimate target.

★ 1932 - World War II: Japan occupies Harbin, China.

★ 1936 - Radium E. becomes the first radioactive element to be made synthetically.

★ 1941 - World War II: The United Service Organization (USO) is created to entertain American troops.

★ 1943 - World War II: Battle of Stalingrad ends.

★ 1945 - World War II: The Yalta Conference begin .

★ 1948 - Ceylon (later renamed Sri Lanka) becomes independent within the British Commonwealth.

★ 1957 - USS ''Nautilus'', the first nuclear-powered submarine, logs her 60,000th nautical mile, matching the endurance of the fictional ''Nautilus'' described in Jules Verne's novel ''"20,000 Leagues Under the Sea"''.

★ 1966 - All Nippon Airways Boeing 727 jet plunges into Tokyo Bay, killing 133.

★ 1969 - Yasser Arafat takes over as chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization.

★ 1974 - The Symbionese Liberation Army kidnaps Patty Hearst in Berkeley, California.

★ 1976 - In Guatemala and Honduras an earthquake kills more than 22,000.

★ 1980 - Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini names Abolhassan Banisadr as president of Iran.

★ 1991 - The Baseball Hall of Fame votes to ban Pete Rose.

★ 1992 - A Coup d'état is led by Hugo Chávez Frías, against Venezuelan President Carlos Andrés Pérez.

★ 1996 - Major snowstorm paralyzes Midwestern United States, Milwaukee, Wisconsin ties all-time record low temperature at -26°F (-22°C).

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

★ 1997 - After at first contesting the results, Serbian President Slobodan Milošević recognizes opposition victories in the November 1996 elections.

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

★ 1999 - Hugo Chávez Frías, Venezuelan military and politician, is elected President of Venezuela.

★ 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.

★ 1999 - The ''New Carissa'' runs aground near Coos Bay, Oregon

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

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

★ 2006 - A stampede occurs in the ULTRA Stadium near Manila killing 88..

Births

★ 1575 - Pierre de Bérulle, French cardinal and statesman (d. 1629)

★ 1620 - Gustaf Bonde, Swedish statesman (d. 1667)

★ 1646 - Hans Erasmus Aßmann, Freiherr von Abschatz, German statesman and poet (d. 1699)

★ 1677 - Johann Ludwig Bach, German composer (d. 1731)

★ 1688 - Pierre de Marivaux, French writer (d. 1763)

★ 1725 - Dru Drury, English entomologist (d. 1804)

★ 1746 - Tadeusz Kościuszko, Polish, Belarusian and Lithuanian national hero (d. 1817)

★ 1778 - A. P. de Candolle, Swiss botanist (d. 1841)

★ 1799 - Almeida Garrett, Portuguese writer (d. 1854)

★ 1859 - Timofei Mikhailov, Russian revolutionary, member of Narodnaya Volya

★ 1841 - Clément Ader, French aviation pioneer (d. 1926)

★ 1846 - Nikolay Umov, Russian physicist (d. 1915)

★ 1849 - Jean Richepin, French poet (d. 1926)

★ 1871 - Friedrich Ebert, German politician, 1st Reichspräsident of the Weimar Republic (d. 1925)

★ 1873 - Étienne Desmarteau, Canadian athlete (d. 1905)

★ 1875 - Ludwig Prandtl, German physicist (d. 1953)

★ 1881 - Fernand Léger, French painter (d. 1955)

★ 1892 - Andreu Nin, Catalan politician (d. 1937)

★ 1882 - E. J. Pratt, Canadian poet (d. 1964)

★ 1895 - Nigel Bruce, English actor (d. 1953)

★ 1896 - Friedrich Glauser, German-language Swiss writer (d. 1938)

★ 1896 - Friedrich Hund, German physicist (d. 1997)

★ 1897 - Ludwig Erhard, 2nd Bundeskanzler of Germany (d. 1977)

★ 1900 - Jacques Prévert, French poet and lyricist (d. 1977)

★ 1902 - Charles Lindbergh, American pilot (d. 1974)

★ 1902 - Hartley Shawcross, British lawyer and politician (d. 2003)

★ 1904 - MacKinlay Kantor, American writer (d. 1977)

★ 1906 - Dietrich Bonhoeffer, German theologian (d. 1945)

★ 1906 - Clyde Tombaugh, American astronomer (d. 1997)

★ 1908 - Julian Bell, British poet (d. 1937)

★ 1912 - Ola Skjåk Bræk, Norwegian politician (d. 1999)

★ 1912 - Erich Leinsdorf, Austrian conductor (d. 1993)

★ 1912 - Byron Nelson, American golfer (d. 2006)

★ 1912 - Louis-Albert Cardinal Vachon, archbishop of Quebec (d. 2006)

★ 1913 - Rosa Parks, American civil rights activist (d. 2005)

★ 1914 - Alfred Andersch, German writer (d. 1980)

★ 1915 - William Talman, American actor (1968)

★ 1915 - Norman Wisdom, English actor and comedian

★ 1916 - Shah Maghsoud Sadegh Angha, 41st master of the Oveyssi-Shahmaghsoudi Sufi Order (d. 1980)

★ 1917 - Yahya Khan, President of Pakistan (d. 1980)

★ 1918 - Ida Lupino, English film actress and director (d. 1995)

★ 1918 - Luigi Pareyson, Italian philosopher (d. 1991)

★ 1918 - Janet Waldo, American actress

★ 1921 - Betty Friedan, American feminist (d. 2006)

★ 1921 - K. R. Narayanan, President of India (d. 2005)

★ 1923 - Conrad Bain, Canadian-born actor

★ 1925 - Russell Hoban, American writer

★ 1929 - Jerry Adler, American actor

★ 1931 - Isabel Martínez de Perón, third wife of Argentine dictator Juan Perón

★ 1935 - Martti Talvela, Finnish bass (d. 1989)

★ 1936 - David Brenner, American comedian

★ 1936 - Gary Conway, American actor

★ 1937 - David Newman, American filmmaker (d. 2003)

★ 1940 - George Romero, American director, screenwriter and producer

★ 1940 - John Schuck, American actor

★ 1941 - John Steel, British musician (The Animals)

★ 1943 - Alberto João Jardim, Portuguese president of the regional government of Madeira

★ 1943 - Ken Thompson, American computer scientist

★ 1944 - Florence LaRue, American singer (The Fifth Dimension)

★ 1947 - Dan Quayle, 44th Vice President of the United States

★ 1948 - Alice Cooper, American musician

★ 1949 - Michael Beck, American actor

★ 1950 - Pamela Franklin, British actress

★ 1951 - Patrick Bergin, Irish actor

★ 1951 - Phil Ehart, American musician (Kansas)

★ 1951 - Dariush Eghbali, Iranian singer and musician

★ 1951 - Stan Papi, American baseball player

★ 1952 - Lisa Eichhorn, American actress

★ 1952 - Jerry Shirley, drummer of rock band Humble Pie.

★ 1952 - Li Yinhe, Chinese sexologist

★ 1953 - Kitaro, Japanese composer

★ 1957 - Don Davis, American composer

★ 1957 - Evan Wolfson, American attorney and activist

★ 1958 - Tomasz Pacyński, Polish writer

★ 1959 - Pamelyn Ferdin, American actress

★ 1959 - Lawrence Taylor, American football player

★ 1960 - Tim Booth, British singer (''James'')

★ 1960 - Siobhan Dowd, British/Irish author (d. 2007)

★ 1960 - Jenette Goldstein, American actress

★ 1960 - Jonathan Larson, American composer (d. 1996)

★ 1961 - Stewart O'Nan, American author

★ 1961 - Denis Savard, Canadian ice hockey player

★ 1962 - Clint Black, American musician

★ 1962 - Michael Riley, Canadian actor

★ 1963 - Pirmin Zurbriggen, Swiss skier

★ 1964 - Noodles, American guitarist (The Offspring)

★ 1965 - Jerome Brown, American football player (d. 1992)

★ 1966 - Viatcheslav Ekimov, Russian cyclist

★ 1966 - Kyoko Koizumi, Japanese actress and singer

★ 1967 - Sergei Grinkov, Russian figure skater (d. 1995)

★ 1968 - Marko Matvere, Estonian actor

★ 1969 - Duncan Coutts, Canadian bassist (Our Lady Peace)

★ 1969 - Dallas Drake, ice hockey player

★ 1970 - Gabrielle Anwar, English actress

★ 1971 - Rob Corddry, American actor and comedian

★ 1971 - Michael A. Goorjian, American actor

★ 1972 - Giovanni Silva De Oliveira, Brazilian footballer

★ 1973 - Oscar de la Hoya, Mexican-born boxer

★ 1975 - Natalie Imbruglia, Australian musician and actress

★ 1975 - Konstantinos Nebegleras, Greek footballer

★ 1976 - Cam'ron, American rapper

★ 1977 - Gavin DeGraw, American musician

★ 1978 - Danna Garcia, Colombian actress

★ 1979 - Giorgio Pantano, Italian racing car driver

★ 1981 - Jason Kapono, America professional basketball player

★ 1981 - Tom Mastny, Indonesian baseball player

★ 1981 - Dimitar Berbatov, Bulgarian footballer

★ 1982 - Chris Sabin, American professional wrestler

★ 1982 - Tomas Vaitkus, Lithuanian professional road racing cyclist

★ 1982 - Kimberly Wyatt, American singer and dancer (Pussycat Dolls)

★ 1984 - Mauricio Pinilla, Chilean footballer

★ 1985 - Bug Hall, American actor

★ 1987 - Lucie Šafářová, Czech tennis player

★ 1988 - Eoin McDowell, Irish rugby player

★ 1988 - Alexandros Pagalis, Greek footballer

★ 1988 - Carly Patterson, American gymnast

★ 1989 - Febian Brandy, English footballer

Deaths

★ 211 - Septimius Severus, Emperor of Rome (b. 146)

★ 708 - Pope Sisinnius

★ 856 - Rabanus Maurus, Bishop of Mainz

★ 869 - Saint Cyril, Greek missionary to the Slavs (b. 827)

★ 1508 - Conrad Celtes, German humanist scholar (b. 1459)

★ 1590 - Gioseffo Zarlino, Italian composer (b. 1517)

★ 1615 - Dom Justo Takayama, Japanese warlord (b. 1552)

★ 1615 - Giovanni Battista della Porta, Italian physicist (b. 1535)

★ 1694 - Nataliya Kyrillovna Naryshkina, Tsaritsa of Russia (b. 1651)

★ 1713 - Anthony Ashley Cooper, 3rd Earl of Shaftesbury, English politician and philosopher (b. 1671)

★ 1774 - Charles Marie de La Condamine, French mathematician and geographer (b. 1701)

★ 1799 - Étienne-Louis Boullée, French architect (b. 1728)

★ 1781 - Josef Mysliveček, Czech composer (b. 1737)

★ 1894 - Adolphe Sax, Belgian instrument maker (b. 1814)

★ 1905 - Louis-Ernest Barrias, French sculptor (b. 1841)

★ 1928 - Hendrik Lorentz, Dutch physicist, Nobel Prize Laureate (b. 1853)

★ 1933 - Archibald Sayce, English educator (b. 1846)

★ 1936 - Wilhelm Gustloff, German leader of the Swiss Nazi party (b. 1895)

★ 1940 - Nikolai Yezhov, Head of Soviet NKVD (b. 1895)

★ 1943 - Frank Calder, the first NHL President (b. 1877)

★ 1944 - Yvette Guilbert, French singer and actress (b. 1867)

★ 1944 - Arsen Kotsoyev, Russian writer (b. 1872)

★ 1958 - Henry Kuttner, American author (b. 1915)

★ 1959 - Una O'Connor, Irish actress (b. 1880)

★ 1966 - Gilbert H. Grosvenor, American president of the National Geographic Society (b. 1875)

★ 1967 - Albert Orsborn, 6th General of The Salvation Army (b. 1886)

★ 1968 - Neal Cassady, American writer (b. 1926)

★ 1969 - Thelma Ritter, American actress (b. 1905)

★ 1974 - Satyendra Nath Bose, Indian physicist (b. 1894)

★ 1975 - Louis Jordan, American musician (b. 1908)

★ 1975 - Howard Hill, American archer (b. 1899)

★ 1977 - Brett Halliday, American writer (b. 1904)

★ 1982 - Alex Harvey, Scottish musician (b. 1935)

★ 1982 - Georg Konrad Morgen, German judge (b. 1909)

★ 1983 - Karen Carpenter, American singer and musician (The Carpenters) (anorexia) (b. 1950)

★ 1984 - Anna Anderson, claimant to the throne of Russia

★ 1987 - Liberace, American musician (b. 1919)

★ 1987 - Carl Rogers, American psychologist (b. 1902)

★ 1990 - Whipper Billy Watson, Canadian professional wrestler (b. 1917)

★ 1992 - Lisa Fonssagrives, Swedish model (b. 1911)

★ 1995 - Godfrey Brown, British athlete and teacher (b. 1915)

★ 1995 - Patricia Highsmith, American author (b. 1921)

★ 2000 - Carl Albert, American politician, 54th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives (b. 1908)

★ 2000 - Doris Coley, American singer (Shirelles) (b. 1941)

★ 2000 - Phil Tonken, American radio and television announcer (b. 1919)

★ 2001 - J. J. Johnson, American jazz trombonist and composer (b. 1924)

★ 2001 - Iannis Xenakis, Greek composer and architect (b. 1922)

★ 2002 - George Nader, American film and television actor (b. 1921)

★ 2003 - Charlie Biddle, Canadian jazz bassist (b. 1926)

★ 2003 - Benyoucef Ben Khedda, Algerian politician (b. 1920)

★ 2005 - Ossie Davis, American actor (b. 1917)

★ 2006 - Betty Friedan, American feminist (b. 1921)

★ 2006 - Myron Waldman, American animator (b. 1908)

★ 2007 - Steve Barber, American baseball pitcher (b. 1938)

★ 2007 - José Carlos Bauer, Brazilian World Cup footballer (b. 1925)

★ 2007 - Ilya Kormiltsev, Russian poet and translator (b. 1959)

★ 2007 - Barbara McNair, American singer and actress (b. 1934)

★ 2007 - Jules Olitski, Ukrainian-born American abstract painter and sculptor (b. 1922)

Holidays and observances

★ Ancient Latvia - Biezputras Diena observed.

★ Independence Day in Sri Lanka (1948).

★ Angolan Anniversary of the Outbreak of Armed Struggle against Portuguese Colonialism.

★ World Cancer Day

Liturgical feasts

In the Roman Catholic Church:

★ Andrew Corsini

★ Saint Gilbert (d. 1189)

★ Saint John de Britto

★ Saint Rembert of Torhout

★ Saint Veronica
February 4 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

External links

★ BBC: On This Day

★

★ On this day in Canada
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