February 1

February 1 is the 32nd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 333 days remaining, (334 in leap years).

Events

• 1411 - Peace of Toruń 1411 signed in Toruń, Poland
• 1662 - The Chinese general Koxinga seizes the island of Taiwan after a nine-month siege.
• 1713 - The Kalabalik or Tumult in Bendery results from the Ottoman sultan's order that his unwelcome guest, King Charles XII of Sweden, be seized.
• 1788 - Isaac Briggs and William Longstreet patent the steamboat.
• 1790 - In New York City the Supreme Court of the United States convenes for the first time.
• 1793 - France declares war on the United Kingdom and the Netherlands.
• 1796 - The capital of Upper Canada is moved from Newark to York.
• 1814 - Mayon Volcano, in the Philippines, erupts, killing around 1,200 people; most devastating eruption of Mayon Volcano.
• 1856 - Auburn University is chartered as the East Alabama Male College.
• 1861 - American Civil War: Texas secedes from the United States.
• 1862 - Julia Ward Howe's "Battle Hymn of the Republic" is published for the first time in the Atlantic Monthly.
• 1880 - The first edition of theatrical newspaper The Stage is published.
• 1884 - Edition one of the Oxford English Dictionary is published.
• 1893 - Thomas A. Edison finishes construction of the first motion picture studio, the Black Maria (West Orange, New Jersey).
• 1896 - The opera La bohème premieres (Turin).
• 1908 - King Carlos I of Portugal and his son, Prince Luis Filipe are killed in Terreiro do Paco, Lisbon.
• 1913 - New York City's Grand Central Terminal opens as the world's largest train station.
• 1918 - Russia adopts the Gregorian Calendar.
• 1920 - The Royal Canadian Mounted Police begin operations.
• 1924 - United Kingdom recognizes USSR.
• 1929 - Frenchman Charles Rigoulet is the first weightlifter to lift over 400 pounds (181 kg) in the "clean and jerk" method.
• 1943 - World War II: Vidkun Quisling is appointed Premier of Norway by the Nazi occupiers.
• 1946 - Trygve Lie of Norway is picked to be the first United Nations Secretary General.
• 1958 - Merger of Egypt and Syria to form the United Arab Republic, which lasted until 1961.
• 1960 - Four black students stage a sit-in at a lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina.
• 1965 - Churchill River, Newfoundland - Hamilton River in Labrador renamed Churchill River in honour of Winston Churchill.
• 1968 - Vietnam War: Viet Cong officer Nguyen Van Lem is executed by Nguyen Ngoc Loan a South Vietnamese National Police Chief. The execution was videotaped and photographed by Eddie Adams and helped sway public opinion against the war.
• 1968- Official unification of the three former military services of Canada, the Royal Canadian Navy, the Canadian Army and the Royal Canadian Air Force became the united Canadian Armed Forces.
• 1968- Merger of the historic New York Central Railroad and Pennsylvania Railroad to form ill-fated Penn Central Transportation.
• 1974 - In São Paulo, Brazil, a fire in a 25-story office building kills 189 and injures 293.
• 1974 - Kuala Lumpur declared a Federal Territory.
• 1978 - Director Roman Polanski skips bail and flees to France after pleading guilty to charges of engaging in sex with a 13-year-old girl.
• 1979 - Convicted bank robber Patty Hearst is released from prison after her sentence was commuted by President Jimmy Carter.
• 1979 - Ayatollah Khomeini is welcomed back into Tehran, Iran after nearly 15 years of exile.
• 1981 - Trevor Chappell bowls his infamous "Underarm Ball" to Brian McKechnie to prevent New Zealand scoring a 6, and tying the ODI, on the last ball of the third match in the final of the Benson & Hedges World Series Cup. It directly led to the banning of underarm bowling by the International Cricket Council as not within the spirit of the game.
• 1982 - Senegal and Gambia form a loose confederation known as Senegambia.
• 1989 - The Western Australian towns of Kalgoorlie and Boulder amalgamate to form the City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder.
• 1992 - The Chief Judicial Magistrate of Bhopal court declares Warren Anderson, ex-CEO of Union Carbide, a fugitive under Indian law for failing to appear in the Bhopal Disaster case.
• 1994 - In Portland, Oregon Tonya Harding's ex-husband Jeff Gillooly pleads guilty for his role in attacking figure skater Nancy Kerrigan.
• 1995 - Manic Street Preachers lyricist Richey James Edwards goes missing from the Embassy Hotel in London, UK.
• 1996 - Communications Decency Act is passed by the U.S. Congress.
• 1999 - North Dakota Public Radio is launched.
• 2003 - Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrates over Texas upon reentry killing all seven astronauts onboard.
• 2004 - At least 244 people trampled to death in a stampede at the Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia.
• 2004 - Janet Jackson exposes her breast on American television during the half-time show of the Super Bowl.
• 2005 - Nepal King Gyanendra excercised Coup d'état to capture the democracy becoming Chairman of the Councils of ministers.

Births

• 1261 - Walter de Stapledon, English bishop (d. 1326)
• 1462 - Johannes Trithemius, German cryptographer (d. 1516)
• 1552 - Edward Coke, English colonial entrepreneur and jurist (d. 1634)
• 1635 - Marquard Gude, German archaeologist (d. 1689)
• 1690 - Francesco Maria Veracini, Italian composer (d. 1768)
• 1761 - Christian Hendrik Persoon, South African mycologist (d. 1836)
• 1844 - G. Stanley Hall, American psychologist (d. 1844)
• 1859 - Victor Herbert, Irish composer (d. 1924)
• 1874 - Hugo von Hofmannsthal, Austrian writer (d. 1929)
• 1882 - Louis Stephen St. Laurent, twelfth Prime Minister of Canada (d. 1973)
• 1884 - Yevgeny Zamyatin, Russian writer (d. 1937)
• 1887 - Charles Nordhoff, English-born author (d. 1947)
• 1894 - John Ford, American director and producer (d. 1973)
• 1894 - James P. Johnson, American pianist and composer (d. 1955)
• 1901 - Clark Gable, American actor (d. 1960)
• 1902 - Langston Hughes American writer (d. 1967)
• 1904 - S. J. Perelman, American humorist and author (d. 1979)
• 1905 - Emilio G. Segrè, Italian physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1989)
• 1906 - Hildegarde, American actress and singer (d. 2005)
• 1907 - Günter Eich, German lyricist (d. 1972)
• 1908 - George Pál, Hungarian-born director and producer (d. 1980)
• 1909 - George Beverly Shea, Canadian singer
• 1915 - Sir Stanley Matthews, English football player (d. 2000)
• 1918 - Dame Muriel Spark, Scottish author
• 1922 - Renata Tebaldi, Italian soprano (d. 2004)
• 1931 - Boris Yeltsin, President of Russia
• 1936 - Azie Taylor Morton, U.S. Treasurer (d. 2003)
• 1937 - Don Everly, American musician (Everly Brothers)
• 1937 - Garrett Morris, American comedian
• 1938 - Sherman Hemsley, American comedian and actor
• 1940 - Bibi Besch, Austrian-American actress (d. 1996)
• 1941 - Karl Dall, German television moderator.
• 1942 - Terry Jones, Welsh actor and writer
• 1947 - Jessica Savitch, American journalist (d. 1983)
• 1948 - Rick James, American musician and composer (d. 2004)
• 1948 - Elisabeth Sladen, British actress
• 1950 - Mike Campbell, American guitarist and producer
• 1954 - Bill Mumy, American actor and musician
• 1956 - Exene Cervenka, American musician (X)
• 1961 - Volker Fried, German field hockey player
• 1962 - José Luis Cuciuffo, Argentinian footballer =)
• 1962 - Tomoyasu Hotei, Japanese guitarist
• 1965 - Sherilyn Fenn, American actress
• 1965 - Brandon Lee, American actor (d. 1993)
• 1965 - Princess Stéphanie of Monaco
• 1966 - Michelle Akers, American soccer player
• 1966 - Rob Lee, English footballer
• 1968 - Lisa Marie Presley, American singer and actress
• 1968 - Pauly Shore, American comedian
• 1968 - Mark Recchi, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1969 - Gabriel Batistuta, Argentine footballer
• 1969 - Joshua Redman, American musician
• 1969 - Brian Krause, American actor
• 1971 - Yoshi DeHerrera, American television personality
• 1971 - Jill Kelly, American pornographic actress
• 1971 - Ron Welty, American musician (The Offspring)
• 1971 - Zlatko Zahovič, Slovenian footballer
• 1974 - David Carter, Seneschalstown footballer (retired)
• 1975 - Big Boi, American musician (Outkast)
• 1977 - Kevin Kilbane, Irish footballer
• 1984 - Darren Fletcher, Scottish footballer
• 1985 - Dean Shiels, Northern Irish footballer

Deaths

• 1248 - Henry II, Duke of Brabant (b. 1207)
• 1328 - King Charles IV of France (b. 1294)
• 1542 - Girolamo Aleandro, Italian Catholic cardinal (b. 1480)
• 1563 - Menas, Emperor of Ethiopia (died of fever)
• 1590 - Lawrence Humphrey, English clergyman and educator
• 1691 - Pope Alexander VIII (b. 1610)
• 1718 - Charles Talbot, 1st Duke of Shrewsbury, English politician (b. 1660)
• 1733 - King Augustus II of Poland (b. 1670)
• 1734 - John Floyer, English physician and writer (b. 1649)
• 1743 - Giuseppe Ottavio Pitoni, Italian composer (b. 1657)
• 1761 - Pierre François Xavier de Charlevoix, French historian (b. 1682)
• 1768 - Sir Robert Rich, 4th Baronet, British cavalry officer (b. 1685)
• 1793 - William Wildman Shute Barrington, British statesman (b. 1717)
• 1851 - Mary Shelley, English author (b. 1797)
• 1893 - George Henry Sanderson, Mayor of San Francisco (b. 1824)
• 1897 - Constantin von Ettingshausen, Austrian geologist (b. 1826)
• 1903 - George Gabriel Stokes, Irish physicist (b. 1819)
• 1908 - King Carlos I of Portugal (b. 1863)
• 1928 - Hughie Jennings, baseball player (b. 1869)
• 1944 - Piet Mondriaan, Dutch painter (b. 1872)
• 1957 - Friedrich Paulus, German general (b. 1890)
• 1958 - Clinton Davisson, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1888)
• 1966 - Hedda Hopper, American gossip columnist (b. 1885)
• 1966 - Buster Keaton, American actor (b. 1895)
• 1970 - Alfréd Rényi, Hungarian mathematician (b. 1921)
• 1976 - Werner Heisenberg, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1901)
• 1976 - George Whipple, American scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1878)
• 1979 - Abdi İpekçi, Turkish Journalist (b. 1929)
• 1981 - Donald Wills Douglas, Sr., American aircraft manufacturer (b. 1892)
• 1981 - Geirr Tveitt, Norwegian composer (b. 1908)
• 1986 - Alva Myrdal, Swedish politician, diplomat, and writer, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1902)
• 1988 - Heather O'Rourke, American actress (b. 1975)
• 1989 - Elaine de Kooning, American artist (b. 1918)
• 1997 - Herb Caen, American newspaper columnist (b. 1916)
• 1999 - Paul Mellon, American philanthropist (b. 1907)
• 2002 - Hildegard Knef, German actress, singer, and writer (b. 1925)
• 2003 - The crew of the Space Shuttle Columbia, astronauts:
  • Michael P. Anderson (b. 1959)
  • David Brown (b. 1956)
  • Kalpana Chawla (b. 1961)
  • Laurel Clark (b. 1961)
  • Rick D. Husband (b. 1957)
  • Willie McCool (b. 1961)
  • Ilan Ramon (b. 1954)
• 2003 - Mongo Santamaria, Cuban percussionist and band leader (b. 1922)
• 2005 - John Vernon, Canadian actor (b. 1932)

Holidays and observances

• St. Brigid of Kildare - one of the three patron saints of Ireland, the others being St. Patrick and St. Columcille.
• Imbolc - the first day of Spring in Ireland (Irish Calendar), one of the eight solar holidays in the Wheel of the Year.
• The start of Black History Month in the United States.

Fiction

• In Roald Dahl's Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, the fictional character Willy Wonka gives an unprecedented tour of his chocolate factory on February 1 (year unspecified).

External links

• On this day in Canada
• NY Times: On this day
• BBC: On This Day

January 31 - February 2 - January 1 - March 1 -- listing of all days