Historical Events
05 Feb 1488
Roman catholic German emperor Maximilian I caught in Belgium
05 Feb 1512
French troops under Gaston de Foix rescues Bologna
05 Feb 1572
Beggars assault Oisterwijk Neth drive nuns out
05 Feb 1597
A group of early Japanese Christians are killed by the new government of Japan for being seen as a threat to Japanese society
05 Feb 1644
1st US livestock branding law passed by Connecticut
05 Feb 1663
Charlevoix Earthquake in Quebec felt strongly in New England
05 Feb 1679
German emperor Leopold I signs peace with France
05 Feb 1736
Methodists John and Charles Wesley arrive in Savannah Georgia
05 Feb 1777
Georgia becomes 1st US state to abolish both entail and primogeniture
05 Feb 1778
Articles of Confederation ratified by 2nd state South Carolina
05 Feb 1782
British garrison in Menorca surrenders to French and Spanish fleet as part of the American Revolutionary War
05 Feb 1782
Spanish take Minorca (western Mediterranean) from British
05 Feb 1795
Zealand Netherlands surrenders to French general Michaud
05 Feb 1817
1st US gas co incorporated Baltimore (coal gas for street lights)
05 Feb 1818
Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte ascends to the thrones of Sweden and Norway
05 Feb 1825
Hannah Lord Montague of NY creates 1st detachable shirt collar
05 Feb 1831
Jan van Speijk blows up his gunboat in Antwerp killing about 30
05 Feb 1846
Oregon Spectator is 1st newspaper to be published on the West Coast
05 Feb 1850
Adding machine employing depressible keys patented New Paltz NY
05 Feb 1859
Wallachia and Moldavia are united under Alexander John Cuza as the United Principalities
05 Feb 1861
Kinematoscope patented by Coleman Sellers Philadelphia
05 Feb 1861
Louisiana delegation except Mr Bouligny withdraws from Congress (US Civil War)
05 Feb 1865
Battle of Hatchers Run Virginia (Armstrongs Mill Dabneys Mill)
05 Feb 1869
Worlds largest alluvial gold nugget the Welcome Stranger found by John Deason and Richard Oates (weighting 97.14kg) in Moliagul Australia
05 Feb 1870
1st motion picture shown to a theater audience Philadelphia
05 Feb 1879
Joseph Swan demonstrates light bulb using carbon glow
05 Feb 1885
King Leopold II of Belgium establishes the Congo as a personal colonial possession
05 Feb 1893
Alfred Naess skates world record 500m (49.4 sec)
05 Feb 1894
Female suffrage organization in Amsterdam forms
05 Feb 1897
Marcel Proust meets Jean Lorrain in a pistol duel
05 Feb 1897
1st showing of a motion picture in Hawaii at the Hawaiian Opera House
05 Feb 1900
British troops under Gen Buller occupy Vaal Krantz Natal
05 Feb 1900
The United States and the United Kingdom sign treaty for Panama Canal
05 Feb 1901
Loop-the-loop centrifugal RR (roller coaster) patented by Ed Prescot
05 Feb 1916
Enrico Caruso records O Solo Mio for the Victor Talking Machine Co
05 Feb 1917
Congress overrides Wilsons veto curtailing Asian immigration
05 Feb 1917
Morosco Theater opens at 217 W 45th St NYC (demolished 1982)
05 Feb 1918
1st US pilot to down an enemy airplane Stephen W. Thompson
05 Feb 1919
NL President John Heydler dismisses charges that Hal Chase bet against his team and threw games in collusion with gamblers
05 Feb 1921
Yankees purchase 20 acres in Bronx for Yankee Stadium
05 Feb 1923
Mass arrests of socialists & communists in Italy
05 Feb 1924
I Winter Olympic Games close at Chamonix France
05 Feb 1924
The Royal Greenwich Observatory begin broadcasting the hourly time signals known as the Greenwich Time Signal or the BBC pips.
05 Feb 1927
The General American silent film directed by Buster Keaton and Clyde Bruckman starring Al Boasberg premieres in New York City
05 Feb 1929
Jimmy Hatlos Theyll Do It Every Time cartoon debuts in San Francisco
05 Feb 1931
Maxine Dunlap becomes 1st US women to earn a glider pilot license
05 Feb 1932
American speed skater Jack Shea wins the 1500m at the Lake Placid Winter Olympics clinches sprint double after also taking out the 500m
05 Feb 1933
Marinus van der Lubbe passes Dutch German boundary
05 Feb 1938
Hans Engnestangen skates world record 500m (41.8 sec)
05 Feb 1938
3rd British Empire Games open in Sydney Australia
05 Feb 1940
General Winckelman replaces Gen Reijnders as Dutch supreme commander
05 Feb 1941
Dutch Premier De Geer returns from Lisbon to Netherlands
05 Feb 1942
Braves get Tommy Holmes from Yanks for Buddy Hassett and Gene Moore
05 Feb 1943
Amsterdam resistance group CS-6 shoots nazi general Seyffardt
05 Feb 1943
Clandestine Radio Atlantiksender Germany 1st transmission
05 Feb 1945
Big Racket becomes fastest race horse at 69t.6 kph (440 yd20.8 s)
05 Feb 1946
The Chondoist Chongu Party is founded in North Korea
05 Feb 1948
Nature of Things science show premieres on NBC prime time
05 Feb 1948
18 year old Dick Button becomes first American mens figure skating Olympic gold medallist at the St. Moritz Winter Games first to complete a double axel in competition retains title in 1952
05 Feb 1948
Gretchen Fraser becomes 1st US woman Olympic slalom champion
05 Feb 1949
Huaso sets official world equestrian high-jump record 2.47 m Chic
05 Feb 1953
Peter Pan by Walt Disney opens at Roxy Theater NYC
05 Feb 1953
Sweet rationing imposed in WWII ends in Britain
05 Feb 1954
WCDC TV channel 19 in Adams MA (ABC) begins broadcasting
05 Feb 1956
VII Winter Olympic Games close in Cortina dAmpezzo Italy
05 Feb 1956
NY Mayor Robert Wagner & Bkln Boro President Frank Cashmore sponsor a bill to create a 30M Brooklyn Sports Center Authority to build
05 Feb 1958
Clifton R Wharton confirmed as 1st US African American foreign minister ( to Romania)
05 Feb 1958
Gamel Abdel Nasser nominated 1st President of United Arab Republic
05 Feb 1958
Test Cricket debut of Lance Gibbs WI v Pakistan Port-of-Spain
05 Feb 1958
Vanguard TV-3 back-up launches into Earth orbit reaches 6 km
05 Feb 1959
Redhead opens at 46th St Theater NYC for 455 performances
05 Feb 1959
Australia regain the Ashes with a 10 wicket victory at Adelaide
05 Feb 1962
French President de Gaulle calls for Algerias independence
05 Feb 1962
Suit to bar Englewood NJ from racial segregated schools filed
05 Feb 1962
Sun Moon Mercury Venus Mars Jupiter and Saturn all within 16 degrees
05 Feb 1963
Maarten Schmidt discovers enormous red shifts in quasars
05 Feb 1966
BBC opens a relay radio station on Ascension Island
05 Feb 1967
Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour premieres on CBS (later ABC NBC)
05 Feb 1967
Anastasio Somoza Debayle elected President of Nicaragua
05 Feb 1967
Bollingen Prize for poetry awarded to Robert Penn Warren
05 Feb 1968
KDTV TV channel 39 in Dallas-Fort Worth Texas (IND) begins broadcasting
05 Feb 1968
Skater Kees Verkerk wins olympic gold in the 1500m
05 Feb 1968
A fishing trawler from Hull sinks off the coast of Iceland
05 Feb 1969
Turn-On debuts and cancelled by ABC after flopping so badly
05 Feb 1969
Vince Lombardi becomes part owner VP GM and head coach of Redskins
05 Feb 1970
1st Test Cricket ton of Barry Richards 126 164 balls 20 fours 1 six
05 Feb 1970
Test Cricket debut of John Traicos South Africa v Australia Durban
05 Feb 1970
WSCV TV channel 51 in Fort Lauderdale FL (IND) suspends broadcasting
05 Feb 1971
Apollo 14 3rd US manned Moon expedition lands near Fra Mauro Alan Shepard & Edward Mitchell (Apollo 14) walk on Moon for 4 hrs
05 Feb 1972
Bob Douglas is 1st African American elected to Basketball Hall of Fame
05 Feb 1972
US airlines begin mandatory inspection of passengers & baggage
05 Feb 1972
Two IRA members are killed when a bomb they were planting exploded prematurely
05 Feb 1973
Comic strip Hagar The Horrible by Dik Browne debuts
05 Feb 1973
Funeral for LC William Nolde last US soldier killed in Vietnam War
05 Feb 1973
Juan Corona sentenced to 25 consecutive life terms for 25 murders
05 Feb 1974
British miners begin their strike in reaction to the three-day week
05 Feb 1974
Mats Wermelin Sweden scores all points in 272-0 basketball win
05 Feb 1974
US Mariner 10 returns 1st close-up photos of Venus cloud structure
05 Feb 1974
John Murtha becomes the first Vietnam War veteran elected to the United States Congress
05 Feb 1974
Randolph Hearsts 19-year-old daughter Patty Hearst is kidnapped from their home in California
05 Feb 1976
Australia complete 5-1 series drubbing of West Indies
05 Feb 1976
Last day of Test Cricket for Lance Gibbs & Ian Redpath
05 Feb 1977
Dis-Gorilla (part 1) by Rick Dees peaks at 56
05 Feb 1977
In The Mood by Henhouse 5 Plus Too (Ray Stevens) peaks at 40
05 Feb 1977
Turn Loose On My Leg by Jim Stafford peaks at 98
05 Feb 1977
General Mills Adventure Theater premieres on CBS radio
05 Feb 1977
Sugar Ray Leonard beats Luis Vega in 6 rounds in his 1st pro fight
05 Feb 1977
Future 5-division world boxing champion Sugar Ray Leonard makes his professional debut with a 6-round unanimous decision over Luis Vega at Baltimores Civic Center
05 Feb 1978
Fred Newman makes 88 consecutive basketball free throws blindfolded
05 Feb 1978
28th NBA All-Star Game Omni Coliseum Atlanta Ga East beats West 133-125 MVP Randy Smith SD Clippers G
05 Feb 1978
Blizzard forms in US North East 100 people killed in New England and New York over 3 days
05 Feb 1979
Costliest single periodical ad 3.2 million Gulf Western in Time
05 Feb 1980
32nd NHL All-Star Game Joe Louis Arena Detroit Wales Conference beats Campbell Conference 6-3 MVP Reggie Leach Philadelphia Flyers RW
05 Feb 1980
Egyptian parliament votes to end boycott of Israel
05 Feb 1981
Piaf opens at Plymouth Theater NYC for 165 performances
05 Feb 1981
Largest Jell-O made (9246 gallons of watermelon-flavor) in Brisbane
05 Feb 1981
Military jury in North Carolina convicts Robert Garwood of collaborating with the enemy during the Vietnam War
05 Feb 1982
DEA announces seizure of 3192 tons of marijuana 495 people
05 Feb 1982
British airline Laker Airways collapses owing 270M pounds (351M)
05 Feb 1982
President of Suriname Hendrick Chin A Sen resigns and flees to the Netherlands
05 Feb 1983
Former Nazi Gestapo official Klaus Barbie brought to trial
05 Feb 1984
NZ beat England (82 & 93) by an innings in 3 days
05 Feb 1988
Arizona House of Reps vote to impeach Republican Governor Evan Mecham
05 Feb 1989
Kareem Abdul-Jabar becomes 1st NBA player to score 38000 points
05 Feb 1990
Notre Dame becomes 1st team to sell its game to a major network (NBC)
05 Feb 1991
A Michigan court bars Dr Jack Kevorkian from assisting in suicides
05 Feb 1991
LA King Dave Taylor becomes 29th NHler to score 1000 points
05 Feb 1992
Last day of Test Cricket cricket for Dilip Vengsarkar
05 Feb 1992
Mike Whitney career-best 7-27 at WACA in Test Cricket win v India
05 Feb 1993
Grenade explodes in Sarajevo killing 63 and injuring 160
05 Feb 1994
Where On Earth Is Carmen San Diego debuts on Fox TV
05 Feb 1994
Medgar Evers murderer Byron De La Beckwith sentenced to life in Jackson Mississippi 30 years after the crime
05 Feb 1994
68 killed and 200 wounded after a mortar bomb is set off in Sarajevo
05 Feb 1995
NFL Pro Bowl Aloha Stadium Honolulu HI AFC beats NFC 41-13 MVP Marshall Faulk Indianapolis Colts RB HI
05 Feb 1996
British supermarket chains stock genetically modified tomato puree - the first GM food to be sold in the country
05 Feb 1997
3 Swiss banks create 70 million Holocaust fund
05 Feb 1997
Brook Lee from Hawaii crowned 46th Miss USA (en route to Miss Universe)
05 Feb 1997
Japans Ministry of Finance announces plans to cut import tariffs on crude oil and most petroleum products
05 Feb 1998
Alberto Acciarito convicted of harassing his ex-wife Ingrid Rossellini
05 Feb 1998
Author Tom Clancy confirms he signed agreement to purchase Minnesota Vikings for slightly more than 200 million an NFL franchise record
05 Feb 1556
Kings Henri I and Philip II sign Treaty of Vaucelles
05 Feb 1864
Danish army begins its withdrawal from Danevirke to Dybbl through driven snow last time the Danes would occupy Danevirke symbol of Danish identity
05 Feb 1931
Malcolm Campbell sets world land speed record speed of 246.08 mph driving his famous Blue Bird car at Daytona Beach Florida
05 Feb 1938
III British Empire Games open in Sydney Australia
05 Feb 1956
Finland goes 1-2 in the ski jumping at the Cortina dAmpezzo Winter Olympics Antti Hyvrinen takes gold ahead of team mate Aulis Kallakorpi
05 Feb 1972
German speed skater Erhard Keller wins his 2nd consecutive Olympic 500m gold medal at the Sapporo Winter Games after taking out the event in Grenoble (1968)
05 Feb 1936
Modern Times silent film directed by written by and starring Charlie Chaplin is released
05 Feb 1956
Finland goes 1-2 in the ski jumping at the Cortina dAmpezzo Winter Olympics Antti Hyvrinen takes gold ahead of teammate Aulis Kallakorpi
05 Feb 1958
Clifton R Wharton confirmed as 1st US African American foreign minister (to Romania)
05 Feb 1512
French troops under Gaston de Foix rescue Bologna which was under siege from a combined Papal-Spanish army
05 Feb 1782
British garrison in Menorca (western Mediterranean) surrenders to French and Spanish fleet as part of the American Revolutionary War
05 Feb 1803
English explorer George Bass and crew set sail from Sydney to Tahiti and Chile - theyre never seen again
05 Feb 1953
Peter Pan animated film by Walt Disney opens at Roxy Theater NYC
05 Feb 1958
Test cricket debut of outstanding West Indian spin bowler Lance Gibbs 2nd Test v Pakistan in Port-of-Spain
05 Feb 1969
Vince Lombardi becomes part owner vice-president general manager and head coach of NFL Washington Redskins
05 Feb 1976
Last day of Test cricket for West Indian spin bowler Lance Gibbs & Australian opening batsman Ian Redpath 6th Test in Melbourne
05 Feb 1977
Comedy album Up Your Nose by Gabriel Kaplan peaks at 91
05 Feb 1831
Jan van Speyk blows up his gunboat in Antwerp to avoid capture by the Belgian killing about 30
05 Feb 1948
Gretchen Fraser becomes 1st US woman Olympic ski slalom champion
05 Feb 1995
Philip Glass Symphony No. 3 for string orchestra premieres with the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra conducted by Dennis Russell Davies in Knzelsau Germany
05 Feb 1736
Methodist religious leaders John Wesley and Charles Wesley arrive in Savannah Georgia
05 Feb 1852
The Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg first opens to the public with Catherine the Greats collection of 4000 paintings forming its core collection
05 Feb 1948
18-year-old Dick Button becomes first American mens figure skating Olympic gold medallist at the St. Moritz Winter Games first to complete a double axel in competition retains title in 1952
05 Feb 1962
Black and White parents stage an overnight sit-in after school board denies transfer requests of nine Black families for their children to be transferred to newer school facility in Englewood New Jersey
05 Feb 1962
French President Charles de Gaulle calls for Algerias independence
05 Feb 1967
The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour variety show premieres on CBS TV [1]
05 Feb 1973
Funeral held for US Army Lt. Col. William Nolde last US soldier killed in Vietnam War
05 Feb 1572
Beggars assault Oisterwijk in the Netherlands drive nuns out
05 Feb 1777
American British Colony of Georgia becomes 1st US territory to abolish both entail and primogeniture land and estate inheritance practices
05 Feb 1865
US Civil War Battle of Hatchers Run Virginia (Armstrongs Mill Dabneys Mill)
05 Feb 1923
General mine strike against wage cuts in Saar Territory (previous part of Germany occupied by Allied forces after WWI)
05 Feb 1924
George Kellys stage comedy The Show-Off opens at the Playhouse Theatre NYC runs for 571 performances
05 Feb 1924
Royal Greenwich Observatory begins broadcasting the hourly time signals known as the Greenwich Time Signal or the BBC pips
05 Feb 1954
WCDC-TV channel 19 in Adams Massachusetts (ABC) begins broadcasting
05 Feb 1956
NYC Mayor Robert Wagner and Brooklyn Boro President Frank Cashmore sponsor a bill to create a 30M Brooklyn Sports Center Authority to build a new stadium for the Dodgers baseball team
05 Feb 1974
John Murtha of Pennsylvania becomes the first Vietnam War veteran elected to the United States Congress
05 Feb 1974
Maximum speed on Germanys Autobahn highway reduced to 100 kph
05 Feb 1987
Dow Jones Industrial Average closes above 2200 for 1st time
05 Feb 2004
Rebels from the Revolutionary Artibonite Resistance Front capture the city of Gonaves starting the Haiti rebellion
05 Feb 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.
05 Feb 2006
Super Bowl XL Ford Field Detroit MI Pittsburgh Steelers beat Seattle Seahawks 21-10 MVP Hines Ward Pittsburgh WR
05 Feb 2008
A major tornado outbreak across the Southern United States leaves at least 58 dead the most since the May 31 1985 outbreak that killed 88.
05 Feb 2009
The United States Navy guided missile cruiser Port Royal runs aground off Oahu Hawaii damaging the ship as well as a coral reef
05 Feb 1644
Connecticut passes the first US livestock branding law
05 Feb 1679
Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I signs a peace treaty with France
05 Feb 1783
Earthquakes ravage Calabria in Italy killing 30000
05 Feb 1817
First US gas company incorporates in Baltimore (coal gas for streetlights)
05 Feb 1825
Hannah Lord Montague of NY creates the first detachable shirt collar
05 Feb 1846
Oregon Spectator is the first newspaper to be published on the West Coast
05 Feb 1850
D.D. Parmelee patents the first key-driven adding machine in New Paltz NY
05 Feb 1869
Worlds largest alluvial gold nugget the Welcome Stranger is found by John Deason and Richard Oates (weighing 97.14 kg) in Moliagul Australia
05 Feb 1870
First motion picture shown to a theater audience airs in Philadelphia
05 Feb 1897
First showing of a motion picture in Hawaii takes place at the Hawaii Opera House
05 Feb 1901
First Loop-the-loop roller coaster opens on Coney Island NY built by Edwin Prescott
05 Feb 1918
Stephen W. Thompson becomes the first US pilot to down an enemy airplane
05 Feb 1936
Silent film Modern Times directed by written by and starring Charlie Chaplin is released
05 Feb 1942
MLB Boston Braves get minor league outfielder Tommy Holmes from New York Yankees in trade for Buddy Hassett and Gene Moore
05 Feb 1953
Peter Pan an animated film by Walt Disney opens at the Roxy Theater in NYC
05 Feb 1972
Bob Douglas is the first African American elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame
05 Feb 1981
Largest Jell-O made in Brisbane with 9246 gallons of watermelon-flavored gelatin
05 Feb 1996
British supermarket chains stock genetically modified tomato puree the first GM food sold in the country
05 Feb 2013
UK House of Commons votes in favour of same-sex marriage
05 Feb 2014
Archaeologists decrypt the 13th C Viking jtunvillur runic code
05 Feb 2016
Computer hackers try to steal 1 billion from Federal Reserve Bank of New York using Bangladesh banking codes steal 81 million before a typo alerts authorities
05 Feb 2017
African Cup of Nations Cameroon defeat Egypt 2-1 in Libreville
05 Feb 2017
Heavy metal band Black Sabbath play their last concert in their home town Birmingham England
05 Feb 2017
Romanian government scraps corruption degree after 6 days of mass demonstrations
05 Feb 2018
Share market sell off starts on Wall Street and spreads around the globe Dow Jones Industrial Average has largest intraday point swing before finishing down 1413 points or 4.6%
05 Feb 2019
Chinas first science fiction blockbuster The Wandering Earth premieres directed by Frant Gwo based on a story by Liu Cixin
05 Feb 2019
Pierre Davis is the first transgender designer to show at New York Fashion Week with label No Sesso
05 Feb 2021
Ocean life is being drowned out by human noise especially shipping construction sonar and seismic surveys according to new research [1]
05 Feb 2022
Body of five-year old Moroccan boy Rayan Oram retrieved from the well he fell down four days previously after huge rescue effort [1]
05 Feb 2022
Sanaz Toossis play English premieres off-Broadway at Atlantic Theater Companys Linda Gross Theater (Pulitzer Prize for Drama 2023) [1]
05 Feb 2022
Six days before his 50th birthday 11-time world surfing champion Kelly Slater wins his 8th Pipeline title beating 22-year old Hawaiian Seth Moniz in the final
05 Feb 2024
Brazil warns it is expecting a very bad year of dengue fever with over 4.2 million cases - with Rio de Janeiro already declaring a public health emergency [1]
05 Feb 2024
One of Los Angeles rainiest days causes mudslides and flooding brought by the Pineapple Express an atmospheric river from Hawaii [1]
05 Feb 2025
Thailand cuts power to several areas bordering Myanmar in an effort to curtail the large scam-factories located there that house thousands of employees held against their will [1]
05 Feb 2025
US President Donald Trump signs an executive order banning transgender women from competing in female sports [1]
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