February Birthdays
3 - Judy (Meeks) Gentry
4 - Beverly (Martin) Ragsdale
5 - Sue (Matherne) Sloan
7 - Bill Davis
15 - Janet (Blanke) Reiprish
15 - Marcia (Kenyon) Aichele
16 - Reba (Parrish) DePriest
17 - Mike Hunter
17 - Tommy Baucom
21 - Herb Stone

1 February
1790 – First session of the U.S. Supreme Court convened (New York City).
1884 – First volume of Oxford English Dictionary published.
1898 – First auto insurance policy probably issued. (Travelers)
1919 – First Miss America crowned (in NY City). But it was discovered later that she was married at the time.
1937 – Don Everly born.
1940 – Sinatra records first record with the Tommy Dorsey band.
1960 – Black college students begin sit-in at lunch counter in Greensboro, NC.
1964 – Governor Welsh (Indiana) declares “Louie, Louie” pornographic and asks radio broadcasters to ban it from their radio stations. Broadcasters respond, “Who can understand the unintelligible rendition as performed by the Kingsmen?"


2 February
1494 – Columbus begins the policy of using Indians as slave labor.
1876 – National Baseball League formed.
1882 – James Joyce born.
1947 – Farrah Fawcett born. (That means she’s older than most of us!)
1959 - Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper make their last onstage appearances at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa.


3 February
1690 – First paper money issued in America by Massachusetts Bay colony.
1956 - Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins and Johnny Cash (later named the “Million Dollar Quartet”) hold a recording session at Sun Studios in Memphis.
1959 - Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper are killed when their plane crashes. Waylon Jennings, though, gives up his seat in the ill-fated plane to the Big Bopper and takes the bus.


4 February
1861 – The Apache Wars begin. They will last over twenty-five [25] years.
1913 – Rosa Parks born.
1948 – Alice Cooper born.


5 February
1961 – The Shirelles’ “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow” reaches #1.


6 February
1626 – Peace of La Rochelle signed.
1885 – George Herman (“Babe”) Ruth born.

7 February
1301 – Edward I confers title “The Prince of Wales” on his son. (The story goes that he promised the Welsh that he would crown someone who was born in Wales and did not speak a word of English. His son had been born a few days earlier in a Welsh castle.)
1478 – Sir Thomas More born.
1867 – Laura (Ingalls) Wilder born.
1885 – Sinclair Lewis born. First American awarded Nobel Prize for Literature (1930).
1922 – Reader’s Digest first published.
1964 – The Beatles arrive in NY for their first appearance on “The Ed Sullivan Show.”
1971 – Swiss women given the right to vote.
1976 – Paul Simon’s “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover” reaches #1.

8 February
1587 – Mary, Queen of Scots, beheaded.
1693 – Charter granted for College of William and Mary (second college in the English colonies).
1828 – Jules Verne born.
1837 – For the only time in U.S. history the Senate elects the Vice President.
1910 – Boy Scouts incorporated in Chicago, IL.
1915 – D.W. Griffith’s “Birth of A Nation” premieres.
1922 – First radio installed in the White House.
1925 – Jack Lemmon born.
1931 – James Dean born.
1936 – First NFL draft.
1960 - The House of Representatives Special Subcommittee on Legislative Oversight opens hearings on disc jockey "payola."

9 February
1773 – William Henry (“Tippecanoe”) Harrison born.
1942 – Carole King is born..
1950 – In Wheeling West Virginia, Senator Joe McCarthy charges that the State Department is “riddled with Communists.”
1964 – The Beatles make their debut appearance on “The Ed Sullivan Show” performing five [5] songs. Estimated audience: 73 million people. (Also, on the show was Davey Jones, later of The Monkees, but this night part of the cast of “Oliver.”)
1964 – GI Joe born.

10 February
1604 – James I orders the compilation of the King James version of the Bible.
1863 – Fire extinguisher patented.
1893 - Jimmy Durante born.
1933 – First singing telegram.
1942 – Car production halted by Ford.
1942 – First World War II Medal of Honor awarded (posthumously to 2nd Lt. Alexander Ramsey Nininger).
1942 – First “gold record” ever awarded (disclaimer) is given to Glenn Miller for “Chattanooga Choo Choo.”
1966 – David Miller convicted of burning his draft card.

11 February
1531 – Henry VIII recognized as head of the Church of England.
1752 – First American hospital opens in Philadelphia.
1847 – Thomas Edison born.
1935 – Gene Vincent born.
1958 – Ruth Carol Taylor becomes first black stewardess.
1964 – The Beatles perform at their first outdoor concert (DC) in the U.S..

12 February
1554 – Lady Jane Grey beheaded.
1802 – Abraham Lincoln born.
1809 – Charles Darwin born.
1878 – Baseball catcher’s mask patented.
1880 – National Croquet League organized in Philadelphia.
1909 – NAACP founded.
1924 – First radio broadcast by a U.S. President (ironically by Calvin “Silent Cal” Coolidge).
1931 – Japan’s first television broadcast (it was a baseball game, of course).
1940 – “The Adventures of Superman” debuts on radio. Bud Collyer starred.
1959 – Barbie, the doll, born.
1961 – The Miracles’ “Shop Around” becomes Motown’s first million seller.
1968 – Jimi Hendrix performs at Garfield High in Seattle (from which he had dropped out).
1989 – Tiny Tim announces his candidacy for mayor of NY.

13 February
1635 – Boston Public Latin School (oldest public school in U.S.) founded.
1866 – Jesse James holds up his first bank.
1937 – First “Prince Valiant” comic strip appears.
1944 – Jerry Springer born.
1961 – Sinatra announces the formation of his own recording label: Reprise Records.
1974 – Alexander Solzhenitsyn deported from Soviet Union.

14 February
1473 – Copernicus born.
1848 – James K. Polk, when he posed for Mathew Brady, became first President to be photographed while in office.
1900 – Lord Roberts invades Orange Free State.
1918 – First Tarzan movie, starring Elmo Lincoln, is released.
1924 – Thomas Watson, Sr., founds IBM.
1929 – The “Saint Valentine’s Day Massacre” in Chicago. Indirectly leads to the downfall of Al Capone.
1967 – Aretha Franklin records “Respect” in New York City.

15 February
1564 – Galileo born.
1898 – The USS Maine explodes in Havana harbor.
1933 – President-elect Franklin Roosevelt escapes assassination attempt. The actual target was, probably, Chicago mayor Anton Cermak (who died) because of his connections to the Chicago mob.
1964 – Billboard, for the first time, lists one act (The Beatles) with five [5] songs in the Top 100.
1969 – Sly and The Family Stone's “Everyday People” reaches #1.
1969 – Vicki Jones arrested for impersonating Aretha Franklin in concert. The impersonation is, apparently, very good – no one asks for a refund.
1975 – Linda Ronstadt’s “You’re No Good” reaches #1.
1975 – Gina Vannelli becomes first white artist to perform on “Soul Train.”

16 February
1923 – Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamen’s tomb opened.
1937 – Nylon patented.
1948 – NBC begins airing the first nightly newscast on TV.
1963 – “Please, Please Me” (The Beatles) reaches #1 in the UK. It’s their first #1 hit.
1968 – First “911” emergency service started in Haleyville, AL.

17 February
1876 – Sardines first canned.
1909 – Geronimo dies at Fort Sill, OK, while under military guard.
1933 – Newsweek first published.
1933 – Blondie Boopadoop marries Dagwood Bumstead.
1942 – Gene Pitney born.
1960 – Elvis receives his first gold album award.
1972 – “Dark Side of The Moon” premiered by Pink Floyd, but would not be released until the following year. Became the longest residing entry in Billboard’s Top 100 (over 300 weeks).

18 February
1678 – Pilgrim’s Progress (John Bunyan) is published.
1885 – Adventures of Huckleberry Finn published.
1908 – U.S. postage stamps sold for the first time. Cost? One [1] cent.
1930 – The planet Pluto discovered by Clyde Tombaugh (later resident astronomer at New Mexico State University).
1954 – John Travolta born.
1956 – The Platters’ “The Great Pretender” reaches #1.
1957 – Vanna White born.
1974 – Without any advertising, Yes sells out their Madison Square Garden show.

19 February
1878 – The phonograph patented.
1913 – First prize put into a box of Cracker Jacks.
1940 – Smokey Robinson born.
1942 – FDR signs executive order giving the American military the authority to relocate and inter Japanese-Americans, even if U.S. citizens.
1953 – Georgia approves first literature censorship board; newspapers are excluded.
1968 – First statewide teachers’ strike in the nation (in Florida).
1977 – Manfred Mann’s “Blinded By The Light” (originally by Bruce Springsteen) reaches #1.
1977 – “Rumours” (Fleetwood Mac) is released. It will be the #1 album for over thirty [30] weeks.

20 February
1431 – Trial of Joan d’Arc begins.
1792 – The U.S. Post Office created.
1872 – Machine to manufacture paper bags patented.
1872 – Machine to manufacture toothpicks patented.
1902 – Ansel Adams born.
1962 – John Glenn orbits the Earth three [3] times. (Unknown to most people his re-entry shields malfunction and he almost doesn’t survive.)

21 February
1631 – Michael Romanov elected Czar. The Romanov dynasty begins.
1804 – First self-propelled locomotive demonstrated (Wales).
1838 – First burglar alarm installed (Boston).
1842 – First sewing machine patented.
1878 – First telephone directory issued (New Haven, CT).
1925 – The New Yorker debuts.
1931 – Alka Seltzer introduced.
1947 – Edward Land demonstrates his Polaroid Land camera.
1965 – Malcolm X assassinated.
1972 – President Nixon begins his historic visit to China. (“A trip only Nixon could have made.”)

22 February
1076 – Gregory VII excommunicates Henry IV (Holy Roman Emperor) and releases his subjects from their oaths of obedience to him. (Part and parcel of the Investiture Contest. Chalk one up for the Pope on this one.)
1630 – Popcorn introduced to Pilgrims by the Indians.
1732 – George Washington born.
1879 – First Woolworth’s five-cent store opens (Utica, NY).
1918 – Don Pardo born. (“Tell ‘em what they’ve won, Don.”)
1957 – First performance of “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On” by Jerry Lee Lewis. He forgot some of the words so just made up what he needed.
1976 – Flo Ballard, one of the original Supremes, dies in Detroit. She lived on welfare the last few years of her life.

23 February
1836 – Siege of the Alamo (and the myth) begins.
1905 – Rotary Club founded.
1954 – First mass inoculation of children with Salk vaccine.
1972 – Elvis and Priscilla Presley separate.
1980 - Queen's "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" reaches #1.

24 February
1582 – Gregorian calendar reforms introduced. (Not adopted by England (and its colonies) until 1753. The Reformation, after all, had just started a few years earlier so they weren’t going to adhere to “papist” dictums.)
1800 – Library of Congress established.
1803 – In Marbury –v- Madison decision U.S. Supreme Court established as final arbiter of the constitutionality of U.S. laws.
1885 – Chester Nimitz born.
1903 – U.S. signs agreement with Cuba acquiring rights to establish Guantanamo Naval Base.
1938 – First nylon toothbrush made.
1943 – George Harrison born. (Until he was in his 40’s he thought his birthday was February 25th.)
1988 – Alice Cooper announces his candidacy for governor of Arizona.

25 February
1634 – Wallenstein assassinated.
1793 – First recorded Cabinet meeting.
1836 – Samuel Colt patents first revolver.
1909 – Zeppo Marx born.
1919 – First gasoline tax levied (Oregon).
1944 – “The Great Marianas Turkey Shoot.”
1950 – “Your Show of Shows” premieres on NBC.
1957 - Buddy Holly and the Crickets record "That'll Be the Day" in Clovis, New Mexico. It will be their biggest hit reaching #2.
1964 – Cassius Clay defeats Sonny Liston for world heavyweight boxing championship.

26 February
1815 – Napoleon escapes from Elba. The “Hundred Days” campaign begins.
1829 – Levi Strauss born.
1848 – The Communist Manifesto published in London by Karl Marx.
1916 – Jackie Gleason born.
1919 – Grand Canyon National Park established.
1928 – Fats Domino born.
1932 – Johnny Cash born.
1935 – Radar first demonstrated.
1936 – First Volkswagen plant opened (by Hitler).
1955 – Billboard reports that, for the first time, 45s outsell 78s.

27 February
1827 – First Mardi Gras held in New Orleans.
1902 – John Steinbeck born.
1933 – The German Reichstag burns. Nazis use it as a pretext for suspending civil liberties.
1973 – Occupation of Wounded Knee, South Dakota, by members of the American Indian Movement begins.
1974 – People magazine introduced.

28 February
1784 – John Wesley founds the Methodist Church by signing the “deed of declaration.”
1827 – The Baltimore and Ohio (B&O of Monopoly fame) chartered. First commercial railroad in the U.S.
1901 – Linus Pauling, twice winner of Nobel Prize, born.
1940 - First broadcast of college basketball games.
1979 – Mr. Ed dies.
1983 – The final episode of the TV series “M*A*S*H” is watched by an estimated 121 million people. Largest audience ever for a TV series.

29 February (I know, but what the heck)
1288 – In Scotland it was established that a woman could propose marriage to a man. If he refuses, he was required to pay a fine.
1860 – Herman Hollerith born.
1904 – Born: Adolph Blaine Charles David Earl Frederick Gerald Hubert Irvin John Kenneth Lloyd Martin Nero Oliver Paul Quincy Randolph Sherman Thomas Uncas Victor William Xerxes Yancy Zeus Wolfeschlegelsteinhausenberdorft, Sr near Hamburg, Germany. He had a Christian name for every letter in the alphabet; eventually shortened it to Mr. Wolfe Plus 585 Sr.
1916 – Dinah Shore born (but, as you’ll see next week, some sources have it as 1 March 1917).
1936 - Fanny Brice's comic character Baby Snooks makes her radio debut.
1940 – Hattie McDaniel becomes the first black to win an Oscar. She won for her role in “Gone With The Wind.”
1940 – Bob Hope hosts the Oscars for the first time.
1952 – “Walk/Don’t Walk” signs installed for the first time: 44th Street at Broadway in New York’s Time Square.

March Birthdays
1 - Neal Ham
8 - Gail (Gunther) Phillips
11 - Faye (Wright) Hardiman
12 - Mary Anne (Gregg) Hauser
12 - Gary Tucker
15 - Judy (Thomas) Davis
18 - Jimmy McCutcheon
25 - Dan Ford
26 - Ronnie Crosslin