Holidays and Events
Feb 4, 2013
Oregon: Abraham Lincoln Birthday
In 1941, the USO was founded.
In 2004, Facebook was launched.
100th birth anniversary of civil rights hero Rosa Parks (1913-2005).
Birth anniversaries of Tadeusz Kosciuszko (1746-1817), Charles Lindbergh (1902-74), and Byron Nelson (1912-2006).
Happy Birthday! Gabrielle Anwar, Clint Black, Alice Cooper, Rob Corddry, Oscar de la Hoya, Dan Quayle
Feb 5, 2013
African-American Coaches Day
Weatherman’s Day
Japan: Sapporo Snow Festival (Feb 5-11).
In 1985, the longest war in history ended: on this date, 2,131 years after the Third Punic War between Rome and Carthage began, the mayors of those cities met at Tunis to sign a treaty of friendship officially ending the war.
225th birth anniversary of English statesman Robert Peel (1788-1850). Members of London, England's Metropolitan Police officers were affectionately known as "bobbies" due to Peel's influence in establishing them.
Birth anniversary of American statesman Adlai Ewing Stevenson (1900-1965).
Happy Birthday! Hank Aaron, Roberto Alomar, Bobby Brown, Father Andrew Greeley, Christopher Guest, Barbara Hershey, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Laura Linney, Jane Bryant Quinn, Charlotte Rampling, Cristiano Ronaldo, Michael Sheen, Roger Staubach, Carlos Tévez, Darrell Waltrip
Feb 6, 2013
Digital Learning Day. 2nd annual. See www.digitallearningday.org
National Girls and Women in Sports Day. 27th annual. See www.ngwsdcentral.com
Birth anniversary of Ronald Wilson Reagan (1911-2004), 40th president of the US (1981-89).
100th birth anniversary of paleoanthropologist Mary Leakey (1913-1996).
Birth anniversaries of Aaron Burr (1756-1836), Babe Ruth (1895-1948), François Truffaut (1932-84) and Bob Marley (1945-81).
In 1952, Princess Elizabeth Alexander Mary succeeded to the British throne upon the death of her father, King George VI. Her coronation, as Elizabeth II, took place June 2, 1953.
55th anniversary of the 1958
Happy Birthday! Sarah Brady, Tom Brokaw, Natalie Cole, Fabian, Mike Farrell, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Barry Miller, Kathy Najimy, Rip Torn, Robert Townsend, Michael Tucker, Mamie Van Doren
Feb 7, 2013
Grenada: Independence Day
Wave All Your Fingers at Your Neighbors Day
Berlin International Film Festival, Potsdamer Platz, Berlin, Germany (Feb 7-17). 63rd annual. See www.berlinale.de.
Florida State Fair, Tampa, FL (Feb 7-18). 109th annual. See www.floridastatefair.com/state-fair.
Birth anniversary of Charles Dickens (1812-70).
Politics are much discussed [in America], so are banks, so is cotton. Quiet people avoid the question of the Presidency . . . the great constitutional feature of this institution being, that directly the acrimony of the last election is over, the next one begins.
~American Notes
Birth anniversaries of Eubie Blake (1883-1983), Sinclair Lewis (1885-1951), Sir Thomas More (1478-1535), and James Augustus Murray (1837-1915).
Happy Birthday! Hector Babenco, Garth Brooks, Miguel Ferrer, Juwan Howard, Eddie Izzard, Ashton Kutcher, Steve Nash, Chris Rock, James Spader, Guy Talese
Feb 8, 2013
Slovenia: Culture Day
Laugh and Get Rich Day
Birth anniversary of Jules Verne, Father of Science Fiction (1828-1905).
Birth anniversaries of poet Elizabeth Bishop (1911-79), actor James Dean (1931-55), and General William Tecumseh Sherman (1820-91).
In 1587 Mary, Queen of Scots was executed at
In 1851,
Founding anniversary of the Boy Scouts of America in 1910.
Happy Birthday! Brooke Adams, Seth Green, John Grisham, Robert Klein, Ted Koppel, Alonzo Mourning, Nick Nolte, Mary Steenburgen, John Williams
Feb 9, 2013
Brazil, French West Indies, Malta: Carnival (Feb 9-12)
Read in the Bathtub Day
Krewe of Endymion Parade, New Orleans, LA. See www.endymion.org
In 1964, the Beatles appeared on “The Ed Sullivan Show.”
Birth anniversary of 9th US president, William Henry Harrison (1773-1841). Served 33 days before succumbing to pneumonia contracted during the inaugural ceremonies.
Birth anniversaries of playwright and poet Brendan Behan (1923-64), ecdysiast Gypsy Rose Lee (1914-70), poet Amy Lowell (1874-1925), diplomat Dean Rusk (1909-94) and country singer Ernest Tubb (1914-84).
Happy Birthday! Mia Farrow, Tom Hiddleston, Carole King, Judith Light, Roger Mudd, Joe Pesci, Shakira, Mena Suvari, Travis Tritt, Alice Walker, Ziyi Zhang
Feb 10, 2013
Chinese New Year: Year of the Snake
Shrove Sunday/Fasching Sunday
Man Day
Plimsoll Day
Belgium: Carnival of Binche (Feb 10-12).
The Grammy Awards, Los Angeles, CA. 55th annual. See www.grammy.com
Joe Cain Procession, Mobile, AL. 47th year.
Krewe of Bacchus Parade, New Orleans, LA. See www.kreweofbacchus.org
250 years ago, in 1763, the Treaty of Paris ended the French and Indian War: France lost all claims to Canada and ceded Louisiana to Spain.
In 1949, Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman premiered at Broadway’s Morosco Theater in
In 1996, IBM’s Deep Blue computer defeated world champion Garry Kasparov in 34 moves in Philadelphia, PA.
Birth anniversaries of Boris Pasternak (1890-1960) and Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956).
Happy Birthday! Elizabeth Banks, Jim Cramer, Laura Dern, Donovan, Roberta Flack, James Gatlin, Greg Norman, Leontyne Price, Mark Spitz, Robert Wagner
Feb 11, 2013
Shrove Monday
Iceland: Bun Day
Vatican City:
Be Electrific Day
National Shut-in Visitation Day
Pro Sports Wives Day
Satisfied Staying Single Day
White Shirt Day
Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show begins at Madison Square Garden, New York, NY (Feb 11-12). 137th annual. See www.westminsterkennelclub.org
Birth anniversary of Thomas Alva Edison (1847-1931).
Space Milestones: First Japanese Satellite (1970), First Soviet Commercial Satellite (1990), Endeavour Mapping
Anniversary of the signing of the Yalta Agreement in 1945.
50 years ago, in 1963, Julia Child’s “French Chef” premiered on WGBH-TV, Boston, MA.
In 1990, Nelson Mandela was freed from prison after 27 years’ incarceration.
Happy Birthday! Jennifer Aniston, Paul Bocuse, Brandy, Sheryl Crow, Natalie Dormer, Taylor Lautner, Damian Lewis, Tina Louise, Sergio Mendes, Sarah Palin, Burt Reynolds
Feb 12, 2013
Shrove Tuesday
Mardi Gras
Iceland: Bursting Day
Myanmar: Union Day
Darwin Day
Oglethorpe Day
Paczki Day
Safetypup’s Birthday
New Mexico: Extraterrestrial Culture Day
International Pancake Race: Olney, England, and Liberal, KS, USA.
Krewe of Rex Mardi Gras Parade, New Orleans, LA.
Zulu Mardi Gras Parade, New Orleans, LA.
World Ag Expo, Tulare, CA (Feb 12-14). See www.farmshow.org
350th birth anniversary of Puritan minister Cotton Mather (1663-1728).
200th birth anniversary of American geologist, naturalist, author, explorer James Dwight Dana (1813-1895)
Birth anniversaries of Charles Darwin (1809-82) and Abraham Lincoln (1809-65).
Also the birth anniversaries of WWII general Omar Bradley (1893-1981), dancer Anna Pavlova (1881-1931) and author Georges Simenon (1903-89), creator of Inspector Maigret.
In 1870, the women in the Utah Territory were granted the right to vote.
The NAACP was founded in 1909.
In 1931, Bela Lugosi’s Dracula premiered at the Roxy Theatre in New York City.
Happy Birthday! Joe Don Baker, Judy Blume, Josh Brolin, Joe Garagiola, Robert Griffin III, Arsenio Hall, Chynna Phillips, Christina Ricci, Bill Russell, Jesse Spencer, Franco Zeffirelli
Feb 13, 2013
Ash Wednesday
Lent begins (Feb 13-Mar 30)
Employee Legal Awareness Day
Get a Different Name Day
Madly in Love with Me Day
Anniversary of the Dresden Firebombing (1945).
Birth anniversaries of Eddie Robinson (1919-2007), Bess Truman (1885-1982) and Grant Wood (1892-1942).
Happy Birthday! Stockard Channing, Peter Gabriel, Kelly Hu, Randy Moss, David Naughton, Kim Novak, George Segal, Jerry Springer, Bo Svenson, Peter Tork, Chuck Yeager
Feb 14, 2013
Saint Valentine’s Day
Bulgaria: Viticulturists’ Day
National Donor Day
National Have-a-Heart Day
Race Relations Day
Arizona: Admission Day (1912)
Ferris Wheel Day: birth anniversary of inventor George Washington Gale Ferris (1859-1896).
100th birth anniversaries of sports broadcaster Mel Allen (1913-1996) and football coach Woody Hayes (1913-1987).
100th birth anniversary of labor leader James Hoffa (1913-1975?).
In 1849, President James Polk became the first
In 1920, the League of Women Voters was founded.
In 1929, gunmen posing as police officers shot and killed members of the Bugs Moran gang in Chicago, IL, in what became known as the "Saint Valentine's Day Massacre."
In 1930, Knopf published The Maltese Falcon, by Dashiell Hammett.
In 1946, the ENIAC computer was introduced by J. Presper Eckert and John W. Mauchly.
Happy Birthday! Carl Bernstein, Drew Bledsoe, Michael Bloomberg, Enrico Colantoni, Hugh Downs, Renée Fleming, Zach Galligan, Florence Henderson, Teller, Meg Tilly
Feb 15, 2013
Lupercalia: an ancient Roman fertility festival that was probably a forerunner of Valentine’s Day customs.
Susan B. Anthony Day: birth anniversary (1820-1906)
Great Backyard Bird Count (Feb 15-18). See www.birdsource.org/gbbc.
National Date Festival, Indio, CA (Feb 15-24). 67th annual. See www.datefest.org
Birth anniversary of Galileo Galilei (1564-1642).
Birth anniversary of intrepid Antarctic explorer Ernest Shackleton (1874-1922).
Birth anniversary of Miep Gies (1909-2010), Dutch woman who with her husband Jan hid the Otto Frank family from the Nazis in
Birth anniversary of Irena Sendler (1910-2007), Polish social worker who spearheaded a rescue operation of Jewish children out of the Warsaw Ghetto in WWII.
80 years ago, in 1933 at Miami, FL, an assassin aiming at President-elect Franklin Roosevelt instead shot and killed Anton Cermak, mayor of Chicago.
In 1965, the new Canadian national flag—featuring the red maple leaf--was raised at
Happy Birthday! Adolfo, Marisa Berenson, Claire Bloom, Susan Brownmiller, Matt Groening, Melissa Manchester, Amber Riley, Jane Seymour
