Born On This Day:

• Michel de Montaigne, 1533
• Sir John Tenniel, 1820
• Blondin (Jean-François Gravelet), 1824
• Lord Hailsham, 1872
• Ben Hecht, 1894
• Linus Pauling, 1901
• Benjamin 'Bugsy' Siegel, 1906
• Milt Caniff, 1907
• Vincente Minnelli, 1910
• Zero Mostel, 1915
• Gavin McLeod, 1921
• Charles Durning, 1923
• Svetlana Stalin Alliluyeva, 1926
• Frank Gehry, 1929
• Tommy Tune, 1939
• Mario Andretti, 1940
• Alice May Brock, 1941
• Bubba Smith, 1945
• Bernadette Peters, 1948
• Eric Lindros, 1973

Died On This Day:

• Henry James, 1916
• King Alfonso XIII of Spain, 1941
• Maxwell Anderson, 1959
• Henry Luce, 1967
• Edward Dahlberg, 1977
• Olaf Palme assassinated, 1986
• Laura Z. Hobson, 1986
• Ruby Keeler, 1993
• Daniel J. Boorstin, 2004
• Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., 2007
• Jane Russell, 2011
• George Kennedy, 2016
• Andre Previn, 2019

Today's Events:

• 1258 - Abbasid dynasty of Mohammedan empire ends.
• 1667 - Suriname, a British colony, captured by the Dutch under Admiral Abraham Crjnssen.
• 1749 - Henry Fielding's 'History of Tom Jones' published
• 1775 - Congress outlaws tea drinking in protest against unfair British taxation.
• 1794 - John Wesley signs 'deed of declaration' of the Wesleyan faith.
• 1844 - President John Tyler survives exploding gun on war steamer USS Princeton; other officials killed.
• 1868 - Benjamin Disraeli becomes British Prime Minister.
• 1922 - British protectorate ends in Egypt under new king, Fuad I. British troops remain until 1950s, however.
• 1940 - First televised basketball game. Fordham vs. U. of Pittsburgh at Madison Square Garden.
• 1956 - Jay Forrester patents standard memory device for digital computers developed with Robert Everett.
• 1973 - Indians take ten hostages at Wounded Knee Sioux Reservation, SD; protest U.S. treatment of Indians.
• 1977 - First whale born in captivity at Marineland in Southern California; Six feet long, 125 lbs. Killer.
• 1983 - Final episode of the hit CBS Television series M*A*S*H seen by most people ever - 121.6 million.
• 1991 - Kuwait liberated, Iraq beaten in coalition victory in Persian Gulf; Operation Desert Storm ends.
• 1995 - New 4.9 billion Denver Airport opens; automated baggage handling machines chew up baggage.
• 2001 - 6.8 earthquake hits Seattle, WA.
• 2013 - Pope Benedict XVI becomes the first Pope to retire since Pope Gregory XII in 1415
• 2020 - First American death from coronavirus - a patient near Seattle. Trump says

Feast Day of Saint:

• Oswald of Worcester, Hilarius
• Martyrs of the Plague at Alexandria

Holiday:

• Kalevala Day in Finland
• Egypt Independence Day (1922)

Non-Specific Holiday:

• TU BI-SHEBAT (Judaism) New Year for Trees, celebrated on 15th of lunar month Shebat.
• PRESIDENT'S DAY 3rd Monday in February observing births of Washington & Lincoln
• SHROVE TUESDAY (or Fat Tuesday). Day before Ash Wednesday. Also called Fasnacht (eve of the fast) in Germany and Austria, Carnival (farewell to meat) in Italy, Mardi Gras in Brazil and U.S., Street Urchins' Carnival in Denmark & Pancake Tuesday in Britain.
• ASH WEDNESDAY, moveable feast day celebrated 40 days (ex-Sundays) before Easter.
• PURIM or Feast of Lots (Jewish), celebrated on 14th or 15th of lunar month Adar.
• HOLI (Hindu festival of Spring and Vernal Fire)
• HOLA MOHALLA, Sikh Festival celebrated in India
• LENT, called Careme in France, Quaresima in Italy and the Great Fast in Eastern Orthodoxy. (between Feb and April)
• SUNDAY OF THE GREAT FIRES, first Sunday in Lent.
• CARLING SUNDAY, fifth Sunday in Lent celebrated in Britain
• MAHA SHIVARATRI, Hindu Festival of the Night of Shiva, celebrated mid-February
• TENG CHIEH, Feast of lanterns in China (Fifteenth day of the First Moon)
• CHINESE NEW YEAR celebrated all over the world in February
• SUPER BOWL SUNDAY - first Sunday in February from 2004