February 28th in History

870 - The Fourth Council of Constantinople closes.

1638 - The Scottish National Covenant is signed in Edinburgh.

1784 - John Wesley charters the Methodist Church.

1811 - Cry of Asencio, beginning of the Uruguayan War of Independence


1897 - Queen Ranavalona III, the last monarch of Madagascar, is deposed by a French military force.

1900 - The Second Boer War: The 118-day "Siege of Ladysmith" is lifted.

1922 - The United Kingdom ends its protectorate over Egypt through a Unilateral Declaration of Independence.

1935 - DuPont scientist Wallace Carothers invents nylon.

1947 - 228 massacre: In Taiwan, civil disorder is put down with the loss of estimated 30,000 civilians.

1972 - Sino-American relations: The United States and People's Republic of China sign the Shanghai Communiqué.

1985 - The Provisional Irish Republican Army carries out a mortar attack on the Royal Ulster Constabulary police station at Newry, killing nine officers in the highest loss of life for the RUC on a single day.

1991 - The first Gulf War ends.

1997 - GRB 970228, a highly luminous flash of gamma rays, strikes the Earth for 80 seconds, providing early evidence that gamma-ray bursts occur well beyond the Milky Way.

1998 - Kosovo War: Serbian police begin the offensive against the Kosovo Liberation Army in Kosovo.

2004 - Over 1 million Taiwanese participating in the 228 Hand-in-Hand Rally form a 500-kilometre (310 mi) long human chain to commemorate the 228 Incident in 1947

2013 - Pope Benedict XVI  resigns the papacy, becoming the first Pope to resign since Pope Gregory XII in 1415. Pope Benedict XVI will be the first Pope to have resigned without external pressure since Pope Celestine V in 1294.

Famous Birthdays


1155 - Henry the Young King, son of Henry II of England

1261 - Margaret of Scotland, Queen of Norway

1683 - René Antoine Ferchault de Réaumur, scientist

1860 - Basil Spalding de Garmendia, tennis player

1882 - Pádraic Ó Conaire, writer

1908 - Billie Bird, actress

1912 - Clara Petacci, mistress of Benito Mussolini

1926 - Svetlana Alliluyeva, daughter of Joseph Stalin

1931 - Iajuddin Ahmed, 13th President of Bangladesh

1942 - Brian Jones, musician


1947 - Stephanie Beacham, actress

1959 - Megan McDonald, children's author

1975 - Greg Simkins, painter

1981 - Florent Serra, tennis player

1984 - Christian Müller, footballer

1988 - Maikol Negro, footballer

1991 - Sarah Bolger, actress

2007 - HRH Princess Lalla Khadija of Morocco

February 27th in History

380 - Edict of Thessalonica: Emperor Theodosius I, with co-emperors Gratian and Valentinian II, declare their wish that all Roman citizens convert to Christianity.

1594 - Henry IV is crowned King of France.

1617 - Sweden and Russia sign the Treaty of Stolbovo, ending the Ingrian War and shutting Russia out of the Baltic Sea.

1700 - The island of New Britain is discovered.

1801 - Pursuant to the District of Columbia Organic Act of 1801, Washington, D.C. is placed under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Congress.

1844 - The Dominican Republic gains independence from Haiti.

1861 - Russian troops fire on a crowd in Warsaw protesting against Russian rule over Poland, killing five protesters.


1900 - Second Boer War: In South Africa, British military leaders receive an unconditional notice of surrender from Boer General Piet Cronje at the Battle of Paardeberg.

1900 - The British Labour Party is founded.

1933 - Reichstag fire: Germany's parliament building in Berlin, the Reichstag, is set on fire.

1940 - Martin Kamen and Sam Ruben discover carbon-14

1951 - The Twenty-second Amendment to the United States Constitution, limiting Presidents to two terms, is ratified.


1964 - The government of Italy asks for help to keep the Leaning Tower of Pisa from toppling over.


1989 - Venezuela is rocked by the Caracazo riots.

1991 - Gulf War: U.S. President George H. W. Bush announces that "Kuwait is liberated".


2010 - An earthquake measuring 8.8 on the Richter scale strikes central parts of Chile leaving over 500 victims, and thousands injured. The quake triggered a tsunami which struck Hawaii shortly after.

Famous Birthdays

272 - Constantine the Great, Roman Emperor

1847 - Ellen Terry, actress

1877 - Adela Verne, pianist

1910 - Joan Bennett, actress



1930 - Paul von Ragué Schleyer, chemist

1932 - Elizabeth Taylor, actress

1940 - Howard Hesseman, actor

1958 - Max Crivello, Itallian artist

1962 - Adam Baldwin, actor

1973 - Peter André, singer

1980 - Chelsea Clinton, daughter of Bill and Hillary Clinton

1986 - Sandeep Singh, hockey player

1991 - Azeem Rafiq, cricketer

February 26th in History

747 BC - Epoch (origin) of Ptolemy's Nabonassar Era.

364 - Valentinian I is proclaimed Roman Emperor.

1658 - Treaty of Roskilde: After a devastating defeat in the Northern Wars (1655–1661), the King of Denmark-Norway is forced to give up nearly half his territory to Sweden to save the rest.

1815 - Napoleon Bonaparte escapes from Elba.

1914 - HMHS Britannic, sister to the RMS Titanic, is launched at Harland & Wolff shipyard in Belfast.

1919 - President Woodrow Wilson signs an act of the U.S. Congress establishing most of the Grand Canyon as a United States National Park.

1935 - Adolf Hitler orders the Luftwaffe to be re-formed, violating the provisions of the Treaty of Versailles.

1936 - In the February 26th Incident, young Japanese military officers attempt to stage a coup against the government.

1961 - Hassan II becomes King of Morocco.


1987 - Iran-Contra affair: The Tower Commission rebukes President Ronald Reagan for not controlling his national security staff.

1991 - Gulf War: United States Army forces capture the town of Al Busayyah.

1993 - World Trade Center bombing: In New York City, a truck bomb parked below the North Tower of the World Trade Center explodes, killing 6 and injuring over a thousand.

Famous Birthdays

1361 - Wenceslaus, Holy Roman Emperor, King of Bohemia

1584 - Albert VI of Bavaria

1746 - Archduchess Marie Amalie of Austria, Duchess of Piacenza

1861 - Nadezhda Krupskaya, widow of Vladimir Lenin

1909 - King Talal of Jordan

1926 - Doris Belack, actress

1954 -HRH Prince Ernst August of Hanover

1968 - Tim Commerford, bassist

1972 - Jonny Quinn, drummer

1979 - Pedro Mendes, footballer

1982 - Nate Ruess, singer-songwriter

1988 - Matteo Ciofani, footballer

1993 - Taylor Dooley, actress

February 25th in History

138 - The Emperor Hadrian adopts Antoninus Pius, effectively making him his successor.

1570 - Pope Pius V excommunicates Queen Elizabeth I of England.

1843 - Provisional Cession of the Hawaiian or Sandwich Islands established by Lord George Paulet.

1856 - A Peace conference opened in Paris after Crimean War.

1870 - Hiram Rhodes Revels, a Republican from Mississippi, is sworn into the United States Senate, becoming the first African American ever to sit in the U.S. Congress.

1921 - Tbilisi, capital of the Democratic Republic of Georgia, is occupied by Bolshevist Russia.

1932 - Adolf Hitler obtains German citizenship by naturalization, which allows him to run in the 1932 election for Reichspräsident.


1945 - World War II: Turkey declares war on Germany.

1947 - The State of Prussia ceases to exist.


1956 - In his speech On the Personality Cult and its Consequences Nikita Khrushchev, leader of the Soviet Union denounces the cult of personality of Joseph Stalin.

1968 - Vietnam War: 135 unarmed citizens of Ha My village in South Vietnam's Quảng Nam Province are killed and buried en masse by South Korean troops in what would come to be known as the Ha My massacre.

1991 - The Warsaw Pact is declared disbanded.

1992 - Khojaly massacre: about 613 civilians are killed by Armenian armed forces during the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan.

Famous Birthdays

1398 - Emperor Xuande of China

1643 - Ahmed II, Ottoman Sultan

1707 - Carlo Goldoni, writer


1883 - Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone, longest-lived Princess of the British Royal Family and the last surviving grandchild of Queen Victoria.

1885 - Princess Alice of Battenberg, the mother of HRH Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and mother-in-law of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

1920 - Sun Myung Moon, founder of Unification Church

1943 - George Harrison, singer and guitarist

1961 - Chris Pitman, keyboardist

1976 - Rashida Jones, actress

1986 - Justin Berfield, actor

1987 - Adrián López Rodríguez, footballer

1993 - Christina Kirkman, American actress

February 24th in History

By Roman custom, February 24 is the day added to a leap year in the Julian calendar. The Mensis Intercalaris began on this day or the following day in intercalary years in the pre-Julian calendar. This custom still has some effect around the world; for example, with respect to name days in Hungary.

303 - Diocletian, Roman Emperor, publishes his edict that begins the persecution of Christians in his portion of the Empire.

1303 - Battle of Roslin, of the First War of Scottish Independence.

1582 - Pope Gregory XIII announces the Gregorian calendar.


1822 - The 1st Swaminarayan temple in the world, Shri Swaminarayan Mandir, Ahmedabad, is inaugurated.

1826 - The signing of the Treaty of Yandaboo marks the end of the First Burmese War.


1863 - Arizona is organized as a United States territory.

1868 - Andrew Johnson becomes the first President of the United States to be impeached by the United States House of Representatives. He is later acquitted in the Senate.


1918 - Estonian Declaration of Independence.

1920 - The Nazi Party is founded.

1968 - Vietnam War: The Tet Offensive is halted; South Vietnam recaptures Hué.

1976 - Cuba: national Constitution is proclaimed.

1996 - The last occurrence of February 24 as a leap day in the European Union and for the Roman Catholic Church.

2008 - Fidel Castro retires as the President of Cuba after nearly fifty years.

2011 - Final Launch of Space Shuttle Discovery

Famous Birthdays

1103 - Emperor Toba of Japan

1557 - Matthias, Holy Roman Emperor


1767 - Buddha Loetla Nabhalai, King of Siam

1774 - Prince Adolphus, 1st Duke of Cambridge

1890 - Marjorie Main, actress

1927 - Emmanuelle Riva, actress

1947 - Edward James Olmos, actor


1955 - Steve Jobs, computer pioneer

1963 - HRH Prince Carlo of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, Duke of Castro

1970 - Jonathan Ward, American television and movie actor

1976 - Bradley McGee, cyclist

1982 - Kevin O'Neill, rugby player

1989 - Trace Cyrus, musician

1990 - Stefan Müller, footballer

February 23rd in History

303 - Roman Emperor Diocletian orders the destruction of the Christian church in Nicomedia, beginning eight years of Diocletianic Persecution.

1455 - Traditional date for the publication of the Gutenberg Bible, the first Western book printed with movable type.

1778 - American Revolution: Baron von Steuben arrives at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania to help to train the Continental Army.

1821 - Alexander Ypsilantis starts the Greek War of Independence in Iași, Wallachia, modern-day Romania.


1847 - Mexican-American War: Battle of Buena Vista – In Mexico, American troops under General Zachary Taylor defeat Mexican General Antonio López de Santa Anna.

1854 - The official independence of the Orange Free State is declared.

1870 - In the United States, post-Civil War military control of Mississippi ends and it is readmitted to the Union.


1900 - In South Africa, Boers and British troops fight in the Battle of Hart's Hill.

1903 - Cuba leases Guantánamo Bay to the United States "in perpetuity".


1917 - First demonstrations in Saint Petersburg, Russia. The beginning of the February Revolution.

1918 - Last monarch of Mecklenburg-Strelitz commits suicide.

1934 - Leopold III becomes King of Belgium.

1945 - World War II: During the Battle of Iwo Jima, a group of United States Marines and a commonly forgotten US Navy Corpsman, reach the top of Mount Suribachi on the island and are photographed raising the American flag.

1947 - The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) is founded.

1991 - Gulf War: Ground troops cross the Saudi Arabian border and enter Iraq, thus beginning the ground phase of the war.

2010 - Unknown criminals pour more than 2.5 million litres of diesel oil and other hydrocarbons into the river Lambro, in Northern Italy, causing an environmental disaster.

Famous Birthdays

1417 - Pope Paul II

1648 - Arabella Churchill, mistress of James II of England

1852 - Emperor Duc Duc, the fifth Emperor of the Vietnamese Nguyễn Dynasty

1874 - Konstantin Päts, 1st President of Estonia

1915 - Jon Hall, actor

1929 - Alexy II of Moscow, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia

1952 - Brad Whitford, musician

1960 - HIH Naruhito, Crown Prince of Japan

1969 - Marc Wauters, cyclist

1983 - Emily Blunt, actress

1988 - Nicolás Gaitán, footballer

2012 - HRH Princess Estelle of Sweden, Duchess of Östergötland, second in the line to the Swedish throne

February 22nd in History

1371 - Robert II becomes King of Scotland, beginning the Stuart dynasty.


1744 - War of the Austrian Succession: The Battle of Toulon begins.

1797 - The Last Invasion of Britain begins near Fishguard, Wales.

1819 - By the Adams-Onís Treaty, Spain sells Florida to the United States for five million US dollars.


1848 - The French Revolution of 1848, which would lead to the establishment of the French Second Republic, begins.

1862 - Jefferson Davis is officially inaugurated for a six-year term as the President of the Confederate States of America in Richmond, Virginia. He was previously inaugurated as a provisional president on February 18, 1861.

1889 - President Grover Cleveland signs a bill admitting North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana and Washington as US states.

1915 - World War I: Germany institutes unrestricted submarine warfare.

1943 - World War II: Members of White Rose are executed in Nazi Germany.

1958 - Egypt and Syria join to form the United Arab Republic.

1973 - Cold War: Following President Richard Nixon's visit to the People's Republic of China, the two countries agree to establish liaison offices.

1979 - Independence of Saint Lucia from the United Kingdom.

1986 - Start of the People Power Revolution in the Philippines.

1997 - In Roslin, Scotland, scientists announce that an adult sheep named Dolly has been successfully cloned.

2006 - At least six men stage Britain's biggest robbery, stealing £53m (about $92.5 million or €78 million) from a Securitas depot in Tonbridge, Kent.

Famous Birthdays

1403 - King Charles VII of France

1732 - George Washington, First President of the United States

1824 - Pierre Janssen, astronomer

1879 - Johannes Nicolaus Brønsted, physical chemist

1900 - Seán Ó Faoláin, author

1913 - George Holmes "Buddy" Tate, jazz musician

1918 - Robert Wadlow, World's tallest ever human

1929 - Donald May, actor

1933 - HRH Katharine, Duchess of Kent

1944 - Robert Kardashian, lawyer

1962 - Les Wallace, darts player

1973 - Juninho Paulista, footballer

1984 - Tommy Bowe, rugby player

1989 - Anna Sundstrand, singer

1990 - Luca Profeta, footballer

February 21st in History

1440 - The Prussian Confederation is formed.

1613 - Mikhail I is elected unanimously as Tsar by a national assembly, beginning the Romanov dynasty of Imperial Russia.

1808 - Without a previous declaration of war, Russian troops cross the border to Sweden at Abborfors in eastern Finland, thus beginning the Finnish war, in which Sweden will lose the eastern half of the country to Russia.

1848 - Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels publish The Communist Manifesto.

1885 - The newly completed Washington Monument is dedicated.

1916 - World War I: In France, the Battle of Verdun begins.

1925 - The New Yorker publishes its first issue.

1937 - The League of Nations bans foreign national "volunteers" in the Spanish Civil War.

1948 - NASCAR is incorporated.

1965 - Malcolm X is assassinated at the Audubon Ballroom in New York City by members of the Nation of Islam.

1972 - President Richard Nixon visits the People's Republic of China to normalize Sino-American relations.

1975 - Watergate scandal: Former United States Attorney General John N. Mitchell and former White House aides H. R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman are sentenced to prison.

1976 - The inaugural Winter Paralympic Games opened in Örnsköldsvik, Sweden.

Famous Birthdays

1484 - Elector Joachim I of Brandenburg

1728 - Tsar Peter III of Russia, husband of Catherine the Great

1895 - Henrik Dam biochemist, Nobel laureate

1924 - Robert Mugabe, President of Zimbabwe

1937 - His Majesty King Harald V of Norway

1949 - Jerry Harrison, musician

1963 - William Baldwin, actor

1976 - Michael McIntyre, Comedian

1979 - Jennifer Love Hewitt, actress

1980 - Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, King of Bhutan

1986 - HI&RH  Prince Amedeo of Belgium, Archduke of Austria-Este

1989 - Kristin Herrera, actress

February 20th in History

1472 - Orkney and Shetland are pawned by Norway to Scotland in lieu of a dowry for Margaret of Denmark.

1547 - Edward VI of England is crowned King of England at Westminster Abbey.

1798 - Louis Alexandre Berthier removes Pope Pius VI from power.

1864 - American Civil War: Battle of Olustee occurs – the largest battle fought in Florida during the war.

1877 - Tchaikovsky's ballet Swan Lake receives its première performance at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow.


1921 - The Young Communist League of Czechoslovakia is founded.


1933 - The Congress of the United States proposes the Twenty-first Amendment to the United States Constitution that will end Prohibition in the United States.

1933 - Adolf Hitler secretly meets with German industrialists to arrange for financing of the Nazi Party's upcoming election campaign.

1944 - World War II: The "Big Week" began with American bomber raids on German aircraft manufacturing centers.


1978 - The last Order of Victory is bestowed upon Leonid Brezhnev.

1989 - An IRA bomb destroys a section of a British Army barracks in Ternhill, England

2005 - Spain becomes the first country to vote in a referendum on ratification of the proposed Constitution of the European Union, passing it by a substantial margin, but on a low turnout.

Famous Birthdays

1745 - Henry James Pye, poet

1839 - Benjamin Waugh, social reformer; founder of the NSPCC

1859 - Eliza Courtney, Illegitimate daughter of Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire and Charles Grey

1867 - Louise, Princess Royal and Duchess of Fife

1887 - Vincent Massey, Governor-General of Canada

1928 - Jean Kennedy Smith, diplomat

1939 - Frank Arundel, footballer

1951 - Gordon Brown, British Prime Minister

1963 - Ian Brown, singer

1967 - Kurt Cobain, musician

1975 - Brian Littrell, singer

1981 - Chris Thile, musician

1988 - Rihanna, singer

February 19th in History

197 - Emperor Septimius Severus defeats usurper Clodius Albinus in the Battle of Lugdunum, the bloodiest battle between Roman armies.

356 - Emperor Constantius II issues a decree closing all pagan temples in the Roman Empire.

1674 - England and the Netherlands sign the Treaty of Westminster, ending the Third Anglo-Dutch War. A provision of the agreement transfers the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam to England, and it is renamed New York.


1819 - British explorer William Smith discovers the South Shetland Islands, and claims them in the name of King George III.

1846 - In Austin, Texas the newly formed Texas state government is officially installed. The Republic of Texas government officially transfers power to the State of Texas government following Texas' annexation by the United States.

1861 - Serfdom is abolished in Russia.

1884 - More than sixty tornadoes strike the Southern United States, one of the largest tornado outbreaks in US history.

1945 - World War II: Battle of Iwo Jima – about 30,000 United States Marines land on the island of Iwo Jima.

1959 - The United Kingdom grants Cyprus independence, which is then formally proclaimed on August 16, 1960.

1985 - Artificial heart recipient William J. Schroeder becomes the first such patient to leave hospital.

2006 - A methane explosion in coal mine near Nueva Rosita, Mexico, kills 65 miners.

Famous Birthdays

1473 - Nicolaus Copernicus, mathematician and astronomer

1630 - Shivaji, founder of the Maratha Empire of India

1800 - Émilie Gamelin, founder of the Sisters of Providence

1888 - Aurora Quezon, First Lady of the Philippines

1913 - Prince Pedro Gastão of Orléans-Braganza, pretender to the Brazilian throne

1932 - Joseph P. Kerwin, astronaut

1940 - Saparmurat Niyazov, President of Turkmenistan

1948 - Tony Iommi, guitarist

1953 - Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, President of Argentina

1960 - HRH Prince Andrew, Duke of York

1975 - Daniel Adair, Drummer

1981 - Beth Ditto, singer

1985 - Arielle Kebbel, actress

1990 - Luke Pasqualino, actor

February 18th in History

1229 - The Sixth Crusade: Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor signs a ten-year truce with al-Kamil, regaining Jerusalem, Nazareth, and Bethlehem with neither military engagements nor support from the papacy.


1332 - Amda Seyon I, Emperor of Ethiopia begins his campaigns in the southern Muslim provinces.

1478 - George, Duke of Clarence, convicted of treason against his older brother Edward IV of England, is executed in private at the Tower of London.

1637 - Eighty Years' War: Off the coast of Cornwall, England, a Spanish fleet intercepts an important Anglo-Dutch merchant convoy of 44 vessels escorted by 6 warships, destroying or capturing 20 of them.


1797 - French Revolutionary Wars: Sir Ralph Abercromby and a fleet of 18 British warships invade Trinidad.

1814 - Napoleonic Wars: The Battle of Montereau.


1861 - In Montgomery, Alabama, Jefferson Davis is inaugurated as the provisional President of the Confederate States of America.

1861 - With the Italian unification almost complete, Victor Emmanuel II of Piedmont, Savoy and Sardinia assumes the title of King of Italy.


1900 - Second Boer War: Imperial forces suffer their worst single-day loss of life on Bloody Sunday, the first day of the Battle of Paardeberg.

1913 - Pedro Lascuráin becomes President of Mexico for 45 minutes; this is the shortest term to date of any person as president of any country.


1942 - World War II: The Imperial Japanese Army begins the systematic extermination of perceived hostile elements among the Chinese in Singapore.

1943 - The Nazis arrest the members of the White Rose movement.

1954 - The first Church of Scientology is established in Los Angeles, California.

1965 - The Gambia becomes independent from the United Kingdom.

1979 - Snow falls in the Sahara Desert in southern Algeria for the only time in recorded history.


2004 - Up to 295 people, including nearly 200 rescue workers, die near Neyshabur in Iran when a runaway freight train carrying sulfur, petrol and fertilizer catches fire and explodes.

Famous Birthdays

1374 - St Jadwiga of Poland, Queen of Poland

1516 - Queen Mary I of England

1658 - Charles-Irénée Castel de Saint-Pierre, writer

1883 - Madan Lal Dhingra, Revolutionary

1898 - Enzo Ferrari, founder of Ferrari

1925 - George Kennedy, actor

1941 - Irma Thomas, singer

1947 - HRH Princess Christina of the Netherlands

1954 - John Travolta, actor

1967 - Marco Aurélio, footballer

1977 - Ike Barinholtz, actor

1984 - HRH Stéphanie, Hereditary Grand Duchess of Luxembourg

1989 - Vicente, footballer

February 17th in History

364 - Emperor Jovian dies after a reign of eight months. He is found dead in his tent at Tyana (Asia Minor) en route back to Constantinople in suspicious circumstances.

1370 - Northern Crusades: Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Teutonic Knights meet in the Battle of Rudau.


1500 - Duke Friedrich and Duke Johann attempt to subdue the peasantry of Dithmarschen, Denmark, in the Battle of Hemmingstedt.

1600 - The philosopher Giordano Bruno is burned alive, for heresy, at Campo de' Fiori in Rome.


1801 - An electoral tie between Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr is resolved when Jefferson is elected President of the United States and Burr Vice President by the United States House of Representatives.

1814 - War of the Sixth Coalition: The Battle of Mormans.

1854 - The United Kingdom recognizes the independence of the Orange Free State.


1865 - American Civil War: Columbia, South Carolina, is burned as Confederate forces flee from advancing Union forces.

1871 - The victorious Prussian Army parades through Paris, France after the end of the Siege of Paris during the Franco-Prussian War.

1933 - The Blaine Act ends Prohibition in the United States.


1978 - The Troubles: The Provisional IRA detonates an incendiary bomb at the La Mon restaurant, near Belfast, killing 12 and seriously injuring 30.

1979 - The Sino-Vietnamese War begins.


2006 - A massive mudslide occurs in Southern Leyte, Philippines; the official death toll is set at 1,126.

2008 - Kosovo declares independence.

2011 - Libyan protests begin. In Bahrain, security forces launched a deadly Pre-dawn raid on protesters in Pearl Roundabout in Manama, the day is locally known as Bloody Thursday.

Famous Birthdays

624 - Wu Zetian, Empress of the Zhou Dynasty of China

1524 - Charles of Guise, Cardinal of Lorraine

1653 - Arcangelo Corelli, composer

1861 - Princess Helena of Waldeck and Pyrmont

1925 - Hal Holbrook, actor

1941 - Julia McKenzie, actress and theatre director


1968 - Bryan Cox, football player

1972 - Taylor Hawkins, musician

1989 - Rebecca Adlington, swimmer

1991 - Ed Sheeran, singer

February 16th in History

116 - Emperor Trajan sends laureatae to the Roman Senate at Rome on account of his victories and being conqueror of Parthia.

1249 - Andrew of Longjumeau is dispatched by Louis IX of France as his ambassador to meet with the Khagan of the Mongol Empire.

1742 - Spencer Compton, Earl of Wilmington, becomes British Prime Minister.

1862 - American Civil War: General Ulysses S. Grant captures Fort Donelson, Tennessee.


1918 - The Council of Lithuania unanimously adopts the Act of Independence, declaring Lithuania an independent state.

1923 - Howard Carter unseals the burial chamber of Pharaoh Tutankhamun.


1934 - The Austrian Civil War ends with the defeat of the Social Democrats and the Republican Schutzbund.

1936 - Elections bring the Popular Front to power in Spain.

1943 - World War II: Red Army troops re-enter Kharkov.

1959 - Fidel Castro becomes Premier of Cuba after dictator Fulgencio Batista was overthrown on January 1.

1985 - Hezbollah is founded.

1999 - In Uzbekistan, a bomb explodes and gunfire is heard at the government headquarters in an apparent assassination attempt against President Islam Karimov.

2005 - The Kyoto Protocol comes into force, following its ratification by Russia.

Famous Birthdays

1032 - Emperor Yingzong of China

1620 - Frederick William, Duke of Prussia

1786 - Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna of Russia

1826 - Joseph Victor von Scheffel, poet

1898 - Katharine Cornell, actress

1921 - Vera-Ellen, actress

1932 - Ahmad Tejan Kabbah, President of Sierra Leone

1944 - António Mascarenhas Monteiro, 2nd President of Cape Verde

1958 - Natalie Angier, journalist and author

1961 - Eric Red, screenwriter and director

1971 - Amanda Holden, actress and TV personality

1978 - Tia Hellebaut, athlete

1991 - HRH Princess Alexandra of Luxembourg

1992 - Zsófia Susányi, tennis player

February 15th in History

590 - Khosrau II is crowned King of Persia.

1113 - Pope Paschal II issued a bill sanctioning the establishment of the Order of Hospitallers.

1637 - Ferdinand III becomes Holy Roman Emperor.

1804 - The Serbian revolution begins.

1862 - American Civil War: General Ulysses S. Grant attacks Fort Donelson, Tennessee.


1933 - In Miami, Florida, Giuseppe Zangara attempts to assassinate President-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt, but instead shoots Chicago mayor Anton J. Cermak, who dies of his wounds on March 6, 1933.

1942 - World War II: The Fall of Singapore. Following an assault by Japanese forces, the British General Arthur Percival surrenders. About 80,000 Indian, United Kingdom and Australian soldiers become prisoners of war, the largest surrender of British-led military personnel in history.

1944 - World War II: The assault on Monte Cassino, Italy, begins.

1952 - King George VI is buried in St. George's Chapel at Windsor Castle.

1971 - The decimalisation of British coinage is completed on Decimal Day.

1972 - José María Velasco Ibarra, serving as President of Ecuador for the fifth time, is overthrown by the military for the fourth time.

1989 - Soviet Union invasion of Afghanistan: The Soviet Union officially announces that all of its troops have left Afghanistan.

2003 - Protests against the Iraq war take place in over 600 cities worldwide. It is estimated that between 8 million to 30 million people participate, making this the largest peace demonstration in history.

Famous Birthdays

1458 - Ivan the Young, Ruler of Tver

1710 - King Louis XV of France

1809 - Cyrus McCormick, inventor


1873 - Hans von Euler-Chelpin, chemist, Nobel laureate

1874 - Sir Ernest Shackleton, explorer

1898 - Totò, actor and composer

1939 - Gerd Bohnsack, football manager

1951 - Jane Seymour, actress

1958 - Chrystine Brouillet, novelist

1967 - Jane Child, musician

1973 - Alex Borstein, actress

1978 - Kimberly Goss, singer and musician

1983 - Philipp Degen, footballer

1988 - Tim Mannah, rugby player

February 14th in History

270 - St. Valentine dies


1014 - Pope Benedict VIII crowns Henry of Bavaria, King of Germany and of Italy, as Holy Roman Emperor.

1076 - Pope Gregory VII excommunicates Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor.


1400 - Richard II dies, most likely from starvation in Pontifract Castle, on orders from Henry Bolingbroke

1556 - Thomas Cranmer is declared a heretic.

1779 - James Cook is killed by Native Hawaiians near Kealakekua on the Island of Hawaii.

1835 - The original Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, in the Latter Day Saint movement is formed in Kirtland, Ohio.

1859 - Oregon is admitted as the 33rd US state.

1900 - Second Boer War: In South Africa, 20,000 British troops invade the Orange Free State.

1919 - The Polish-Soviet War begins.

1929 - St Valentine's Day massacre: Seven people, six of them gangster rivals of Al Capone's gang, are murdered in Chicago, Illinois.


1943 - World War II: Tunisia Campaign – General Hans-Jurgen von Arnim's Fifth Panzer Army launches a concerted attack against Allied positions in Tunisia.

1944 - World War II: Anti-Japanese revolt on Java.

1945 - President Franklin D. Roosevelt meets with King Ibn Saud of Saudi Arabia aboard the USS Quincy, officially starting the U.S.-Saudi diplomatic relationship.

1956 - The XX Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union begins in Moscow. On the last night of the meeting, Premier Nikita Khrushchev condemns Joseph Stalin's crimes in a secret speech.

1962 - First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy takes television viewers on a tour of the White House.

1981 - Stardust Disaster: A fire in a Dublin nightclub kills 48 people

2005 - Lebanese self-made billionaire and business tycoon Rafik Hariri is killed, along with 21 others, when explosives, equivalent of around 1,000 kg of TNT, are detonated as his motorcade drove near the St. George Hotel in Beirut.

2011 - As a part of Arab Spring, the Bahraini uprising, a series of demonstrations, amounting to a sustained campaign of civil resistance, in the Persian Gulf country of Bahrain begins with a 'Day of Rage'.

Famous Birthdays

1545 - Lucrezia de' Medici, Duchess of Ferrara

1692 - Pierre-Claude Nivelle de La Chaussée, writer

1847 - Queen Maria Pia of Savoy of Portugal

1931 - Brian Kelly, actor

1945 - HSH Hans-Adam II, Prince of Liechtenstein

1953 - Odds Bodkin, author

1962 - Michael Higgs, actor

1967 - Mark Rutte, Prime Minister of the Netherlands

1970 - Simon Pegg, comedian and actor

1976 - Erica Leerhsen, actress

1986 - Oliver Lee, actor

1991 - Chris Rowney, footballer

1994 - Paul Butcher, Jr., actor

February 13th in History

1462 - Treaty of Westminster is finalised between Edward IV of England and the Scottish Lord of the Isles.


1542 - Catherine Howard, the fifth wife of Henry VIII of England, is executed for adultery.

1572 - Elizabeth I of England issues a proclamation which revokes all commissions on account of the frauds which they had fostered.

1575 - Henry III of France is crowned at Rheims, marrying Louise de Lorraine-Vaudémont on the same day.

1633 - Galileo Galilei arrives in Rome for his trial before the Inquisition.


1668 - Spain recognizes Portugal as an independent nation.

1689 - William and Mary are proclaimed co-rulers of England.

1931 - New Delhi becomes the capital of India.

1945 - World War II: The siege of Budapest concludes with the unconditional surrender of German and Hungarian forces to the Red Army.

1971 - Vietnam War: Backed by American air and artillery support, South Vietnamese troops invade Laos.

1990 - German reunification: An agreement is reached on a two-stage plan to reunite Germany.

2008 - Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd makes a historic apology to the Indigenous Australians and the Stolen Generations.

2012 - The European Space Agency (ESA) conducted the first launch of the European Vega rocket from Europe’s space port in Kourou, French Guiana.

Famous Birthdays


711 BC - Jimmu, Japanese Emperor

1457 - Mary of Burgundy, daughter of Charles the Bold and wife of Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor

1599 - Pope Alexander VII

1683 - Giovanni Battista Piazzetta, painter

1835 - Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, Founder of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community

1885 - Bess Truman, First Lady of the United States, wife of President Harry S. Truman

1907 - Katy de la Cruz, singer

1913 - Khalid bin Abdul-Aziz, King of Saudi Arabia

1933 - Caroline Blakiston, actress

1945 - David Tremlett, artist

1956 - HRH Princess Alia bint Al Hussein of Jordan

1960 - Matt Salinger, actor

1974 - Robbie Williams, singer

1979 - Rafael Márquez, footballer

1988 - Aston Merrygold, singer

1990 - Kevin Strootman, Dutch footballer

A 12-century Irish saint reckons the next Pope is the last

St Malachy – the first Irish saint to be canonised by a Pope – had a prophecy concerning every Pope between then and now.

St. Malachy

Malachy is the supposed author of the ‘Prophecy of the Popes’ – a list allegedly written in 1139, but ‘rediscovered’ in 1590 – which claims to have predicted the identities (or at least attributes) of each Pope between the time of its writing and the end of the Church.


While its authenticity is not affirmed by the Church itself, and while it is impossible to know whether the list was written retrospectively before it was first published in 1595, it appears to have been successful in some ways – though of course its predictions are suitably vague so as to apply to most cases anyway.
The argument that the list is a hoax gathers further weight with the fact that for each of the Popes mentioned before 1590, it describes something historical about their upbringing or background – but only makes vague references to events in subsequent pontificates.


Nonetheless, the whole point of Malachy’s list – which is occasionally attributed to Nostradamus, supposedly to give the latter a way of publishing a prediction without having it stained by association with his name – is that it claims to predict the existence of 112 popes from the time of its writing.
The first of those Popes is Celestine II; the 111th is the current pontiff, Benedict XVI.

The prophecy refers to the 112th pope as…

Peter the Roman, who will nourish the sheep in many tribulations; when they are finished, the city of seven hills will be destroyed, and the dreadful judge will judge his people. The end.

While no Pope since the first (St Peter, one of Jesus’ own disciples) has taken the name Peter, out of reverence for the man who brought the church to Rome, it is not unthinkable that the name could yet be taken on by another.


One of the frontrunners in the forthcoming election is Peter Turkson, a black cardinal from Ghana.
While there are many cities known as the ‘cities of seven hills’, Rome is the best-known one – though Jerusalem is also built on seven hills and could possibly be the city referenced.

February 12th in History

881 - Pope John VIII crowns Charles the Fat, the King of Italy: Holy Roman Emperor


1502 - Vasco da Gama sets sail from Lisbon, Portugal, on his second voyage to India.

1541 - Santiago, Chile is founded by Pedro de Valdivia.

1554 - Lady Jane Grey (The Nine Days' Queen) is beheaded at the Tower of London


1733 - Englishman James Oglethorpe founds Georgia, the 13th colony of the Thirteen Colonies, and its first city at Savannah (known as Georgia Day).

1771 - Gustav III becomes the King of Sweden.


1817 - An Argentine/Chilean patriotic army, after crossing the Andes, defeats Spanish troops on the Battle of Chacabuco.

1818 - Bernardo O'Higgins formally approved the Chilean Declaration of Independence near Concepción, Chile.

1832 - Ecuador annexes the Galápagos Islands.

1912 - Puyi, Xuantong Emperor, the last Emperor of China, abdicates.

1934 - The Austrian Civil War begins.

1946 - African American United States Army veteran Isaac Woodard is severely beaten by a South Carolina police officer to the point where he loses his vision in both eyes.

1968 - Phong Nhi and Phong Nhat massacre.

1992 - The current Constitution of Mongolia comes into effect.

1999 - President Bill Clinton is acquitted by the United States Senate in his impeachment trial.

2004 - The city of San Francisco, California begins issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples in response to a directive from Mayor Gavin Newsom.

2012 - A primary election is held in Venezuela to choose the contestant against incumbent President Hugo Chávez

Famous Birthdays

1074 - Conrad II of Italy, King of Germany and Italy

1567 - Thomas Campion, composer and poet


1768 - Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor

1775 - Louisa Adams, First Lady of the United States, widow of John Quincy Adams

1809 - Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of the United States

1869 - Emperor Kien Phuc, the 7th Emperor of the Vietnamese Nguyễn Dynasty

1876 - Thubten Gyatso, 13th Dalai Lama

1895 - Kristian Djurhuus, 2nd Prime Minister of the Faroe Islands

1908 - Jean Effel, painter and journalist

1934 - Anne Krueger, economist

1950 - Steve Hackett, guitarist

1970 - Judd Winick, writer and artist

1980 - Christina Ricci, actress

1990 - Robert Griffin III, football player

1993 - Jennifer Stone, actress

February 11th in History

660 BC - Traditional date for the foundation of Japan by Emperor Jimmu.

55 - Tiberius Claudius Caesar Britannicus, heir to the Roman Emperorship, dies under mysterious circumstances in Rome. This clears the way for Nero to become Emperor.

1531 - Henry VIII of England is recognized as supreme head of the Church of England.


1659 - The assault on Copenhagen by Swedish forces is beaten back with heavy losses.

1752 - Pennsylvania Hospital, the first hospital in the United States, is opened by Benjamin Franklin.

1790 - The Religious Society of Friends, also known as Quakers, petitions US Congress for abolition of slavery.

1855 - Kassa Hailu is crowned Tewodros II, Emperor of Ethiopia, by Abuna Salama III in a ceremony at the church of Derasge Maryam

1873 - King Amadeus I of Spain abdicates.


1919 - Friedrich Ebert is elected President of Germany.

1929 - Fascist Italy and the Vatican sign the Lateran Treaty.

1942 - World War II: The Battle of Bukit Timah is fought in Singapore.

1964 - Greeks and Turks begin fighting in Limassol, Cyprus.

1968 - Israeli-Jordanian border clashes.


1987 - The Constitution of the Philippines goes into effect.

1990 - Nelson Mandela is released from Victor Verster Prison outside Cape Town, South Africa after 27 years as a political prisoner.

2011 - The first wave of the Egyptian revolution culminates in the resignation of Hosni Mubarak and the transfer of power to the Supreme Military Council after 18 days of protests.

Famous Birthdays


1466 - Elizabeth of York, wife of Henry VII of England

1535 - Pope Gregory XIV

1755 - Albert Christoph Dies, composer

1799 - The Blessed Father Basil Moreau, Founder of the Congregation of Holy Cross

1874 - Fritz Hart, composer

1904 - Sir Keith Holyoake, Prime Minister of New Zealand

1920 - King Farouk I of Egypt

1934 - Tina Louise, actress

1936 - Burt Reynolds, actor

1959 - Deborah Meaden, entrepreneur

1964 - Sarah Palin, politician

1969 - Jennifer Aniston, actress

1976 - André Wickström, comedian and actor

1981 - Kelly Rowland, singer

1983 - Rafael van der Vaart, footballer

1992 - Taylor Lautner, American actor

February 10th in History

1258 - Baghdad falls to the Mongols, and the Abbasid Caliphate is destroyed.

1306 - In front of the high altar of Greyfriars Church in Dumfries, Robert the Bruce murders John Comyn sparking revolution in the Scottish Wars of Independence

1567 - Lord Darnley, second husband of Mary, Queen of Scots, is found strangled following an explosion at the Kirk O'Field house in Edinburgh, Scotland, a suspected assassination.

1763 - French and Indian War: The 1763 Treaty of Paris ends the war and France cedes Quebec to Great Britain.

1840 - Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom marries Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha.

1861 - Jefferson Davis is notified by telegraph that he has been chosen as provisional President of the Confederate States of America.

1936 - Second Italo-Abyssinian War: Italian troops launched the Battle of Amba Aradam against Ethiopian defenders.

1939 - Spanish Civil War: The Nationalists conclude their conquest of Catalonia and seal the border with France.

1943 - World War II: Attempting to completely lift the Siege of Leningrad, the Soviet Red Army engages German troops and Spanish volunteers in the Battle of Krasny Bor.

1947 - Italy cedes most of Venezia Giulia to Yugoslavia.

2003 - France and Belgium break the NATO procedure of silent approval concerning the timing of protective measures for Turkey in case of a possible war with Iraq.

2013 - Lunar or Chinese New Year

Famous Birthdays

1606 - Christine Marie of France, Duchess of Savoy

1868 - Prince Waldemar of Prussia

1894 - Harold Macmillan, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

1922 - Árpád Göncz, President of Hungary

1950 - Mark Spitz, swimmer

1962 - Cliff Burton, bass player

1974 - Elizabeth Banks, actress

1981 - Holly Willoughby, TV presenter

1991 - Emma Roberts, actress

February 9th in History

474 - Zeno crowned as co-emperor of the Byzantine Empire.


1621 - Gregory XV becomes Pope, the last Pope elected by acclamation.

1775 - American Revolutionary War: The British Parliament declares Massachusetts in rebellion.


1825 - After no presidential candidate receives a majority of electoral votes in the election of 1824, the United States House of Representatives elects John Quincy Adams President of the United States.

1849 – New Roman Republic established

1904 - Russo–Japanese War: Battle of Port Arthur concludes.

1942 - Year-round Daylight saving time is re-instated in the United States as a wartime measure to help conserve energy resources.

1945 - World War II: The Battle of the Atlantic – HMS Venturer sinks U-864 off the coast of Fedje, Norway, in a rare instance of submarine-to-submarine combat.

1951 - Korean War: Geochang massacre

1971 - Apollo program: Apollo 14 returns to Earth after the third manned moon landing.


1991 - Voters in Lithuania vote for independence.

1996 - The Provisional Irish Republican Army declares the end to its 18 month ceasefire and explodes a large bomb in London's Canary Wharf.

Famous Birthdays

1666 - George Hamilton, 1st Earl of Orkney, soldier

1763 - Ludwig I, Grand Duke of Baden

1773 - William Henry Harrison, 9th President of the United States

1892 - Peggy Wood, actress

1911 - William Darby, World War II Army officer

1926 - Garret FitzGerald, 7th Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland

1942 - Carole King, singer

1949 - Judith Light, actress

1960 - Holly Johnson, singer

1973 - Colin Egglesfield, actor

1986 - HRH Princess Raiyah bint Al Hussein, of Jordan

1989 - Gia Farrell, singer

February 8th in History

421 - Constantius III becomes co-Emperor of the Western Roman Empire.

1347 - The Byzantine civil war of 1341–1347 ends with a power-sharing agreement between John VI Kantakouzenos and John V Palaiologos.

1587 - Mary, Queen of Scots, is executed on suspicion of having been involved in the Babington Plot to murder her cousin, Queen Elizabeth I

1807 - Battle of Eylau – Napoleon defeats Russians under General Bennigsen.

1865 - In the United States, Delaware voters reject the Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and vote to continue the practice of slavery. (Delaware finally ratifies the amendment on February 12, 1901.)


1942 - World War II: Japan invades Singapore.

1945 - World War II: The United Kingdom and Canada commence Operation Veritable to occupy the west bank of the Rhine.

1952 - Elizabeth II is proclaimed Queen of the United Kingdom.

1960 - Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom issues an Order-in-Council, stating that she and her family would be known as the House of Windsor, and that her descendants will take the name "Mountbatten-Windsor".

1968 - American civil rights movement: The Orangeburg massacre: An attack on black students from South Carolina State University who are protesting racial segregation at the town's only bowling alley, leaves three or four dead in Orangeburg, South Carolina.

1974 - Military coup in Upper Volta.

1989 - An Independent Air Boeing 707 crashes into Pico Alto mountain in the Santa Maria Island in the Azores, killing 144.

Famous Birthdays


1191 - Yaroslav II of Russia

1291 - King Afonso IV of Portugal

1405 - Constantine XI Palaiologos, last Byzantine Emperor

1677 - Jacques Cassini, astronomer

1792 - Queen Caroline Augusta of Bavaria of Hungary and Bohemia

1798 - Grand Duke Michael Pavlovich of Russia

1888 - Dame Edith Evans, actress

1911 - Elizabeth Bishop, poet

1941 - Nick Nolte, actor

1949 - Brooke Adams, actress

1960 - Benigno Aquino III, 15th President of the Philippines

1969 - Mary McCormack, actress

1974 - Seth Green, actor

1985 - Jeremy Davis, bassist

1991 - Roberto Soriano, footballer

February 7th in History

457 - Leo I becomes Emperor of the Byzantine Empire.

1301 - Edward of Caernarvon (later King Edward II of England) becomes the first English Prince of Wales.

1783 - American Revolutionary War: French and Spanish forces lift the Great Siege of Gibraltar.

1807 - Napoleonic Wars: Battle of Eylau – Napoléon's French Empire begins fighting against Russian and Prussian forces of the Fourth Coalition at Eylau, Poland.

1856 - The Kingdom of Awadh is annexed by the British East India Company and Wajid Ali Shah, the king of Awadh, is imprisoned and later exiled to Calcutta.

1897 - Greco-Turkish War: The first full-scale battle takes place when the Greek expeditionary force in Crete defeats a 4,000-strong Ottoman force at Livadeia.


1935 - The classic board game Monopoly is invented.

1940 - The second full length animated Walt Disney film, Pinocchio, premieres.

1944 - World War II: In Anzio, Italy, German forces launch a counteroffensive during the Allied Operation Shingle.

1951 - Korean War: Sancheong-Hamyang massacre

1974 - Grenada gains independence from the United Kingdom.


1986 - Twenty-eight years of one-family rule end in Haiti, when President Jean-Claude Duvalier flees the Caribbean nation.

1990 - Dissolution of the Soviet Union: The Central Committee of the Soviet Communist Party agrees to give up its monopoly on power.

1991 - Haiti's first democratically-elected president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, is sworn in.

1992 - The Maastricht Treaty is signed, leading to the creation of the European Union.

1999 - Crown Prince Abdullah becomes the King of Jordan on the death of his father, King Hussein.


2009 - Bushfires in Victoria left 173 dead in the worst natural disaster in Australia's history.

2012 - President Mohamed Nasheed of the Republic of Maldives resigns, after 23 days of anti-governmental protests calling for the release of Chief Judge unlawfully arrested by the military.

Famous Birthdays


572 - Prince Shōtoku of Japan

1102 - Empress Matilda, Princess of England and wife of Henry V of the Holy Roman Empire

1693 - Empress Anna of Russia

1873 - Thomas Andrews, shipbuilder of the RMS Titanic

1906 - Puyi, Emperor of China

1938 - S. Ramachandran Pillai, communist leader

1956 - Mark St. John, musician

1962 - David Bryan, musician

1972 - Robyn Lively, actress

1979 - Nicola Campedelli, footballer

1988 - Nikola Fraňková, tennis player

1993 - David Dorfman, actor

February 6th in History

1649 - The claimant King Charles II of England and Scotland is declared King of Great Britain, by the Parliament of Scotland. This move was not followed by the Parliament of England nor the Parliament of Ireland.

1685 - James II of England and VII of Scotland becomes King upon the death of his brother Charles II.

1778 - American Revolutionary War: In Paris the Treaty of Alliance and the Treaty of Amity and Commerce are signed by the United States and France signaling official recognition of the new republic.

1788 - Massachusetts becomes the sixth state to ratify the United States Constitution.

1833 - Otto becomes the first modern King of Greece.

1851 - The largest Australian bushfires in a populous region in recorded history take place in the state of Victoria.

1899 - Spanish-American War: The Treaty of Paris, a peace treaty between the United States and Spain, is ratified by the United States Senate.

1918 - British women over the age of 30 get the right to vote.

1933 - The 20th Amendment to the United States Constitution, establishing the beginning and ending of the terms of the elected federal offices, goes into effect.

1942 - World War II: The United Kingdom declares war on Thailand.

1952 - The death of George VI of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth Realms. Elizabeth II becomes the first Queen regnant since Queen Victoria. At the exact moment of succession, she was in a tree-house at the Treetops Hotel in Kenya.

1989 - The Round Table Talks start in Poland, thus marking the beginning of overthrow of communism in Eastern Europe.


1998 - Washington National Airport is renamed Ronald Reagan National Airport.

2000 - Second Chechen War: Russia captures Grozny, Chechnya, forcing the separatist Chechen Republic of Ichkeria government into exile.

Famous Birthdays


1347 - St. Dorothea of Montau, saint

1452 - Joan, Princess of Portugal

1611 - Chongzhen, Emperor of China

1643 - Johann Kasimir Kolbe von Wartenberg, first Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Prussia

1665 - Anne, Queen of Great Britain and Ireland

1830 - Daniel Oliver, botanist

1911 - Ronald Reagan, 40th President of the United States

1912 - Eva Braun, mistress and wife of Adolf Hitler

1945 - Bob Marley, musician

1957 - Simon Phillips, Drummer

1962 - W. Axl Rose, singer

1976 - HRH Princess Marie of Denmark

1981 - Calum Best, model

1984 - Darren Bent, footballer

1988 - Bailey Hanks, actress

February 5th in History

62 - Earthquake in Pompeii, Italy.


1778 - South Carolina becomes the second state to ratify the Articles of Confederation.

1782 - Spanish defeat British forces and capture Minorca.


1810 - Peninsular War: Siege of Cádiz begins.

1818 - Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte ascends to the thrones of Sweden and Norway.

1885 - King Leopold II of Belgium establishes the Congo as a personal possession.


1917 - The current constitution of Mexico is adopted, establishing a federal republic with powers separated into independent executive, legislative, and judicial branches.

1917 - The Congress of the United States passes the Immigration Act of 1917 over President Woodrow Wilson's veto. Also known as the Asiatic Barred Zone Act, it forbade immigration from nearly all of south and south-east Asia.

1941 - World War II: Allied forces begin the Battle of Keren to capture Keren, Eritrea.


1958 - A hydrogen bomb known as the Tybee Bomb is lost by the US Air Force off the coast of Savannah, Georgia, never to be recovered.

1962 - French President Charles De Gaulle calls for Algeria to be granted independence.

1971 - Astronauts land on the moon in the Apollo 14 mission.


1994 - During the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina more than 60 people are killed and some 200 wounded as a mortar shell slams into a down-town marketplace in Sarajevo.

1997 - The so-called Big Three banks in Switzerland announce the creation of a $71 million fund to aid Holocaust survivors and their families.

2004 - Rebels from the Revolutionary Artibonite Resistance Front capture the city of Gonaïves, starting the 2004 Haiti rebellion

Famous Birthdays

976 - Emperor Sanjō, of Japan

1589 - Esteban Manuel de Villegas, poet

1788 - Robert Peel, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

1908 - Peg Entwistle, actress

1919 - Red Buttons, actor

1919 - Andreas Papandreou, Prime Minister of Greece

1927 - Ruth Fertel, entrepreneur

1941 - David Selby, actor

1951 - Russell Grant, astrologer



1954 - Cliff Martinez, musician

1964 - Duff McKagan, musician

1972 - HRH Mary, Crown Princess of Denmark

1978 - Shawn Reaves, actor

1985 - Crystal Hunt, actress

1989 - Jeremy Sumpter, actor

Human remains found identified as those of Richard III,

Human remains found buried deep beneath a Leicester car park have been identified as those of Richard III, scientists confirmed today.

In an announcement that rewrote history, archaeologists confirmed that "beyond reasonable doubt" that the skeleton was found in the resting place of the Plantagenet king.


They said that long-awaited DNA results on the bones proved beyond doubt that they belonged to the king, more than 500 years after he was killed in battle.
Speaking before more than 140 journalists from all over the world, the University of Leicester team described their find as "truly astonishing".
They said the skeletal evidence "provides a highly convincing case for identification as Richard III". They said that the skeleton was the king as far as all scientific tests could prove.

The king is to be buried in Leicester Cathedral

Has the long lost grave of the deposed King Richard III been found?

Richard III, King of England

Richard III (2nd October 1452 – 22nd August 1485) was King of England for two years, from 1483 until his death in 1485 during the Battle of Bosworth Field. He was the last King of the House of York and the last of the Plantagenet dynasty. His defeat at the Battle of Bosworth Field was the decisive battle of the Wars of the Roses and is sometimes regarded as the end of the Middle Ages in England.

When his brother Edward IV died in April 1483, Richard was named Lord Protector of the realm for Edward's son and successor, the 12 year old King Edward V. As the new King travelled to London from Ludlow, Richard met and escorted him to London, where he was lodged in the Tower of London. Edward V's brother Richard of Shrewsbury, Duke of York, later joined him there. Arrangements began to be made for Edward's coronation on 22nd June.

However, before the young King could be crowned, Edward IV's marriage to the boys' mother Elizabeth Woodville was publicly declared to be invalid, making their children illegitimate and ineligible for the throne. On 25th June an assembly of lords and commoners endorsed these claims. The following day, Richard III officially began his reign. He was crowned on 6th July. The two young  Princes were not seen in public after August and there arose subsequently a number of accusations that the boys had been murdered by Richard, giving rise to the legend of the Princes in the Tower.

There were two major rebellions against Richard. The first, in October 1483, was led by staunch allies of Edward IV and most notably by Richard's former ally, Henry Stafford, 2nd Duke of Buckingham. The revolt collapsed and Buckingham was executed at Salisbury near the Bull's Head Inn. In August 1485 there was another rebellion against Richard, headed by Henry Tudor, 2nd Earl of Richmond (later King Henry VII) and his uncle Jasper. Henry Tudor landed in Pembrokeshire, his birthplace, with a small contingent of French troops, and marched through Wales recruiting foot soldiers and skilled archers. Richard died during the Battle of Bosworth Field, the last English King to die in battle (and the only English King to do so on English soil since Harold II at the Battle of Hastings in 1066).

Richard's death at Bosworth resulted in the end of the Plantagenet dynasty, which had ruled England since the succession of Henry II in 1154. The last male Plantagenet, Edward, Earl of Warwick (son of Richard III's brother Clarence), was executed by Henry VII in 1499. Henry Tudor succeeded Richard to become Henry VII and sought to cement the succession by marrying the Yorkist heiress Elizabeth of York, Edward IV's daughter and Richard III's niece.

Polydore Vergil, Henry Tudor's official historian, would later record that "King Richard, alone, was killed fighting manfully in the thickest press of his enemies". Richard's naked body was then exposed, possibly in the collegiate foundation of the Annunciation of Our Lady, before being buried at Greyfriars Church, Leicester.In 1495 Henry VII paid £50 for a marble and alabaster monument.According to one tradition, during the Dissolution of the Monasteries his body was thrown into the nearby River Soar, although other evidence suggests that a memorial stone was visible in 1612, in a garden built on the site of Greyfriars. The exact location was then lost, owing to more than 500 years of subsequent development,until the archaeological investigations of 2012 revealed the site of the garden and of Greyfriars church. There is currently a memorial ledger stone in the choir of the Cathedral, as well as a stone plaque on the bridge where his remains were allegedly thrown into the Soar.


Last year the University of Leicester dug on the site of a city church where it was thought the king was buried. They found a skeleton with a badly curved spine and head injuries consistent with recorded details of Richard's death in 1485.

Sources said the tests, the results of which are to be released at 10:00 GMT on Monday the 4th, had "gone down to the wire".



While he remains for many historians the prime suspect for the death of his nephews - the Princes in the Tower - the skeleton's discovery has provided a golden opportunity for those seeking to restore his reputation to make their case.

Dr Phil Stone, chair of the Richard III Society, said: "This is an incredibly exciting time for anyone interested in Richard: it is simply the biggest news to hit Ricardian studies for 500 years."I really hope it is him. It is important, not just because it answers questions about what happened to his body but it gives us a chance to give him the solemn and respectful burial he deserves.
"And along with that, it gives us an opportunity to show the wider public what Richard was really like and remind them Shakespeare's play was fiction."


In September 2012, the university confirmed there was "strong evidence" a skeleton found beneath a council car park in the Greyfriars area of Leicester was the lost king.

The remains have been subjected to a battery of tests, including DNA, carbon dating and environmental analysis in an effort to confirm the identification.

The University of Leicester has played a pivotal role, not only in leading the archaeological dig but in terms of working in partnership with the city council and the Richard III Society to bring this extraordinary project to fruition.



"There is a palpable excitement at the university for an announcement that could potentially rewrite history."

February 4th in History

211 - Roman Emperor Septimius Severus dies at Eboracum (modern York, England) while preparing to lead a campaign against the Caledonians.He leaves the empire in the control of his two quarrelling sons.

1169 - A strong earthquake struck the Ionian coast of Sicily, causing tens of thousands of injuries and deaths, especially in Catania.


1789 - George Washington is unanimously elected as the first President of the United States by the US Electoral College.

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

1859 - The Codex Sinaiticus is discovered in Egypt.


1899 - The Philippine-American War begins with the Battle of Manila.

1932 - Second Sino-Japanese War: Harbin, Manchuria, falls to Japan.


1941 - The United Service Organization (USO) is created to entertain American troops.

1945 - World War II: The Yalta Conference between the "Big Three" (Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin) opens at the Livadia Palace in the Crimea.

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

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

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

1992 -  A coup d'état is led by Hugo Chávez against Venezuelan President Carlos Andrés Pérez.

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


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

2004 - Facebook, a mainstream online social networking site, is founded by Mark Zuckerberg.

Famous Birthdays

1646 - Hans Erasmus Aßmann, Freiherr von Abschatz, statesman

1849 - Jean Richepin, poet

1895 - Nigel Bruce, actor

1908 - Julian Bell, poet

1913 - Rosa Parks, civil rights activist

1915 - Sir Norman Wisdom, actor and comedian

1925 - Gerald Sim, actor

1936 - Gary Conway, actor

1947 - Dan Quayle, former President of the United States

1961 - Stewart O'Nan, author

1967 - Sergei Grinkov, figure skater

1975 - Natalie Imbruglia, musician and actress

1982 - Kimberly Wyatt, singer and dancer

1987 - Lucie Šafářová, tennis player

February 3rd in History

1112 - Ramon Berenguer III of Barcelona and Douce I of Provence marry, uniting the fortunes of those two states.

1451 - Sultan Mehmed II inherits the throne of the Ottoman Empire.

1534 - The Irish rebel Silken Thomas is executed by the order of  Henry VIII in of England.

1690 - The colony of Massachusetts issues the first paper money in America.


1781 - American Revolutionary War: British forces seize the Dutch-owned Caribbean island Sint Eustatius.

1783 - American Revolutionary War: Spain recognizes United States independence.

1809 - The Illinois Territory is created.

1870 - The Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified, guaranteeing voting rights to citizens regardless of race.


1913 - The Sixteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified, authorizing the Federal government to impose and collect an income tax.

1916 - Parliament buildings in Ottawa, Canada burn down.

1944 - World War II: During the Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaign, U.S. Army and Marine forces seize Kwajalein Atoll from the defending Japanese garrison.

1960 - British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan speaks of the "a wind of change" of increasing national consciousness blowing through colonial Africa, signalling that his Government is likely to support decolonisation.


1966 - The unmanned Soviet Luna 9 spacecraft makes the first controlled rocket-assisted landing on the Moon.

1967 - Ronald Ryan, the last person to be executed in Australia, is hanged in Pentridge Prison, Melbourne.

1989 - A military coup overthrows Alfredo Stroessner, dictator of Paraguay since 1954.

2007 - A Baghdad market bombing kills at least 135 people and injures a further 339.

Famous Birthdays


995 - William IV, Duke of Aquitaine

1338 - Jeanne de Bourbon, wife of Charles V of France

1808 - Princess Marie of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, Princess of Prussia

1830 - Robert Arthur Talbot Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

1899 - Lao She, writer

1925 - Leon Schlumpf, member of the Swiss Federal Council

1943 - Dennis Edwards, singer

1948 - Carlos Felipe Ximenes Belo, Nobel Peace laureate

1950 - Pamela Franklin, actress

1959 - Lol Tolhurst, musician

1967 - Bob Taylor, footballer

1976 - Isla Fisher, actress

1982 - Bridget Regan, actress

1991 - Nikola Hofmanova, tennis player

February 2nd in History

506 - Alaric II, eighth king of the Visigoths promulgates the Breviary of Alaric (Breviarium Alaricianum or Lex Romana Visigothorum), a collection of "Roman law".

962 - Translatio imperii: Pope John XII crowns Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor, the first Holy Roman Emperor in nearly 40 years.


1207 - Terra Mariana, comprising present-day Estonia and Latvia, is established.

1461 - Wars of the Roses: The Battle of Mortimer's Cross is fought in Herefordshire, England.

1536 - Spaniard Pedro de Mendoza founds Buenos Aires, Argentina.

1653 - New Amsterdam (later renamed The City of New York) is incorporated.

1887 - In Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania the first Groundhog Day is observed.

1901 - Funeral of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland

1922 - Ulysses by James Joyce is published.

1935 - Leonarde Keeler tests the first polygraph machine.



1966 - Pakistan suggests a six-point agenda with Kashmir after the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965.

1971 - Idi Amin replaces President Milton Obote as leader of Uganda.

1972 - The British embassy in Dublin is destroyed in protest at Bloody Sunday.

1990 - Apartheid: F.W. de Klerk allows the African National Congress to function legally and promises to release Nelson Mandela.

2007 - The worst flooding in Indonesia in 300 years begins.

Famous Birthdays


1455 - King John of Denmark

1494 - Bona Sforza, Queen of Poland

1649 - Pope Benedict XIII

1677 - Jean-Baptiste Morin, composer

1829 - William Stanley, inventor and engineer

1866 - Enrique Simonet, painter

1882 - Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark

1912 - Millvina Dean, last living survivor of the RMS Titanic

1928 - Aloyisus Leon Higginbotham, Jr, civil rights activist

1931 - Dries van Agt, Prime Minister of the Netherlands

1937 - Remak Ramsay, actor

1943 - Susan Hanson, actress

1954 - Christie Brinkley, model

1962 - Michael T. Weiss, actor

1977 - Shakira, singer

1987 - Martin Spanjers, actor