March 3......

March 3 is the 62nd (63rd in leap years) day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 303 days remaining in the year on this date.

{Disclaimer: I have attempted to give credit to the many different sources that I get entries. Any failure to do so is unintentional. Any statement enclosed by brackets like these are the opinion of the blogger, A Proud Liberal.}

EVENTS

● 78 - Origin of Saka Era (India)

● 468 - St. Simplicius elected to succeed Catholic Pope Hilarius

● 493 - Ostrogoten King Theodorik the Great beats Odoaker

● 561 - Pelagius I ends his reign as Catholic Pope

● 1409 - Austrian civil war ends

● 1431 - Bishop Gabriele Condulmer elected as Pope Eugene IV

● 1547 - The Seventh Session of the Council of Trent declared: 'If anyone says that one baptized cannot, even if he wishes, lose grace, however much he may sin, unless he is unwilling to believe, let him be anathema.'

● 1585 - The Olympic Theatre, designed by Andrea Palladio, is inaugurated in Vicenza

● 1627 - Piet Heyn conquerors 22 ships in Bay of Salvador Brazil

● 1638 - Duke Bernard van Saksen-Weimar occupies Rheinfelden

● 1639 - The early settlement of Taunton, Massachusetts is incorporated as a town.

● 1657 - Blacks and Native Americans rebel in Massachusetts.

● 1744 - Colonial missionary to the American Indians, David Brainerd wrote in his journal: 'In the morning, spent an hour in prayer. Prayer was so sweet an exercise to me that I knew not how to cease, lest I lose the spirit of prayer.'

● 1746 - Bonnie Prince Charlie occupies Castle of Inverness

● 1776 - US commodore Esek Hopkins occupies Nassau Bahamas

● 1791 - 1st Internal Revenue Act (taxing distilled spirits & carriages)

● 1791 - The United States Mint is created by the U.S. Congress.

● 1794 - Richard Allen founded AME Church

● 1801 - 1st US Jewish Governor, David Emanuel, takes office in Georgia

● 1803 - 1st impeachment trial of a federal judge, John Pickering, begins

● 1803 - Colégio Militar is founded in Portugal by Colonel Teixeira Rebello.

● 1805 - Louisiana-Missouri Territory forms

● 1812 - US Congress passes 1st foreign aid bill (aids Venezuela earthquake victims)

● 1813 - Office of Surgeon General of the US army is established

● 1815 - US declares war on Algiers for taking US prisoners & demanding tribute

● 1817 - The first commercial steamboat route from Louisville to New Orleans was opened.

● 1817 - Mississippi Territory is divided into Alabama Territory & Mississippi

● 1820 - Missouri Compromise passes, allowing slavery in Missouri

● 1833 - According to Akilattirattu Ammanai, Ayya Vaikundar arises from the sea as avatar of Narayana at Thiruchendur.

● 1835 - Congress authorizes a US mint at New Orleans LA

● 1837 - Congress increases Supreme Court membership from 7 to 9

● 1837 - US President Andrew Jackson & Congress recognizes Republic of Texas

● 1838 - Rebellion at Pelee Island, Ontario Canada

● 1842 - 1st US child labor law regulating working hours passed (Massachusetts)

● 1843 - Congress appropriates $30,000 "to test the practicability of establishing a system of electro-magnetic telegraphs" by the US

● 1845 - 1st US law overriding a Presidential veto (John Tyler's)

● 1845 - Congress authorizes ocean mail contracts for foreign mail delivery

● 1845 - Florida is admitted as the 27th U.S. state.

● 1847 - Post Office Department authorized to issue postage stamps

● 1847 - Alexander Graham Bell, the Scottish-born American inventor of the telephone, was born.

● 1849 - Minnesota Territory organizes as a political division of the United States.

● 1849 - The Home Department, forerunner of the Interior Department, was established.

● 1849 - The U.S. Congress passes the Gold Coinage Act authorizing $20 Double Eagle gold coin.

● 1851 - Congress authorizes smallest US silver coin (3¢ piece)

● 1853 - Transcontinental railroad survey is authorized by Congress

● 1853 - US Assay Office in New York NY authorized

● 1855 - Congress approves $30,000 to test camels for military use

● 1855 - Registration of letters authorized by Congress

● 1857 - France and the United Kingdom declare war on China.

● 1861 - Alexander II of Russia signs the Emancipation Manifesto, freeing serfs.

● 1862 - General Pope lays siege in front of New Madrid MO

● 1863 - First U.S. draft law passes. Contains a clause providing draft exemption in exchange for $300 -- a sum that only the rich could afford to pay.

● 1863 - Abraham Lincoln approves charter for National Academy of Sciences

● 1863 - Congress authorizes a US mint at Carson City NV

● 1863 - Federal ironclad ships bomb Fort McAllister Georgia

● 1863 - Free city delivery replaces zone postage; 449 letter carriers hired

● 1863 - Gold certificates (currency) authorized by Congress

● 1863 - Idaho Territory organizes as a political division of the United States.

● 1865 - Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, & Abandoned Lands established to help destitute free blacks

● 1865 - Opening of the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, the founding member of the HSBC Group.

● 1869 - University of South Carolina opens to all races

● 1870 - Paraguay - The forces of Francisco Solano Lopez are annihilated at Cora Hill.

● 1871 - U.S. Congress calls all Native Americans wards of state, nullifying all treaties.

● 1871 - Reacting strongly to charges of corruption, US Congress establishes a Commission on Civil Service Reform. In four years, however, it fails to appropriate a single penny for the Commission, which as a result, is forced to disband.

● 1873 - "Salary Grab" Act passes, raising the salaries of U.S. congressmen and government officials retroactively.

● 1873 - Congress authorizes federal departmental postage stamps

● 1873 - Censorship: The U.S. Congress enacts the Comstock Law, making it illegal to send any "obscene, lewd, or lascivious" books through the mail.

● 1875 - Illegal act of Congress removes lands from Oregon Coast Reservation, despite opposition by Coos and other tribes. Alsea Reservation, Oregon, is returned to public domain.

● 1875 - Congress authorizes 20¢ coin, lasts only 3 years

● 1875 - The first ever organized indoor game of ice hockey is played in Montreal, as recorded in The Montreal Gazette.

● 1877 - Rutherford B. Hayes is privately inaugurated as the 19th President of the United States (his public inauguration coming on March 5).

● 1878 - Bulgaria liberated from Turkey (Peace of San Stefano)

● 1878 - Russia and the Ottomans signed the treaty of San Stefano. The treaty granted independence to Serbia.

● 1879 - 1st female lawyer heard by Supreme Court (Belva Ann Bennett Lockwood)

● 1879 - The United States Geological Survey is created.

● 1882 - New York Steam Corp begins distributing steam to Manhattan buildings

● 1883 - Congress authorizes the 1st steel vessels in US navy

● 1885 - 1st US state (California) establishes a permanent forest commission

● 1885 - Congress passes Indian Appropriations Act (Indians wards of federal government)

● 1885 - US Post Office offers special delivery for 1st-class mail

● 1885 - The American Telephone and Telegraph Company is incorporated in New York State.

● 1887 - American Protective Association forms (anti-Catholic) in Clinton IA

● 1891 - Congress creates Office of Superintendent of Immigration (Treasury Department)

● 1891 - Congress creates US Courts of Appeal

● 1892 - 1st cattle tuberculosis test in US made, Villa Nova PA

● 1893 - Columbian Isabella silver quarter authorized

● 1893 - Congress authorizes 1st federal road agency, in Department of Agriculture

● 1894 - 4th & last British government of Gladstone resigns

● 1899 - Congress authorizes Lafayette silver dollar

● 1899 - George Dewey becomes 1st in US with rank of Admiral of the Navy

● 1900 - Striking miners in Germany returned to work.

● 1901 - Congress creates National Bureau of Standards, in Department of Commerce

● 1903 - Colorado City (Colo.) free-speech fight.

● 1903 - North Carolina becomes 1st state requiring registration of nurses

● 1903 - In St. Louis, MO, Barney Gilmore was arrested for spitting.

● 1903 - The U.S. imposed a $2 head tax on immigrants.

● 1904 - Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany becomes the first person to make a sound recording of a political document, using Thomas Edison's cylinder.

● 1905 - Tsar Nicholas II of Russia agrees to create an elected assembly (the Duma).

● 1905 - US Forest Service forms

● 1906 - Vuia I aircraft built by Romanian Traja Vuia tested in France. It was the first airplane with tires to attempt flight.

● 1908 - The U.S. government declared open war on U.S. anarchists.

● 1909 - Aviators Herring, Curtiss and Bishop announced that airplanes would be made commercially in the U.S.

● 1910 - J.D. Rockefeller Jr. announced his withdrawal from business to administer his father's fortune for an "uplift in humanity". He also appealed to the U.S. Congress for the creation of the Rockefeller Foundation.

● 1910 - In New York, Robert Forest founded the National Housing Association to fight deteriorating urban living conditions.

● 1910 - Nicaraguan rebels admitted defeat in open war and resorted to guerrilla tactics in the hope of U.S. intervention.

● 1911 - 1st US federal cemetery with Union & Rebel graves opens, Missouri

● 1913 - Over 5,000 women march on Washington to demand right to vote. In early guerrilla theatre - women and children stage "Suffrage Tableau" on U.S. Capitol steps.

● 1915 - National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NASA forerunner) created

● 1917 - Congress passes 1st excess profits tax on corporations

● 1917 - Great monarch Michael resigns after 1 day as czar

● 1918 - Germany, Austria and Russia sign the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk ending Russia's involvement in World War I, and leading to the independence of Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland.

● 1919 - Ruling on the conviction of anarchists Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman, the Supreme Court upholds the Espionage Act. Goldman and Berkman were arrested during World War I for so-called conspiracy against the draft. Today's court ruling thus puts draft resistance outside First Amendment protection. Emma Goldman's last act before entering prison was organizing the Political Prisoners' Amnesty League. During the war, thousands of dissenters have been sentenced to long prison terms. At Angel Island, a concentration camp for dissidents, many have been systematically tortured. At the federal prison in Leavenworth, Kansas, prisoners have hung by their wrists for weeks at a time.

● 1919 - 1st international air mail service from US, Seattle WA-Victoria BC

● 1919 - Communist Party in Germany announces a general strike

● 1921 - Toronto's Dr Banting & Dr Best announce discovery of insulin

● 1922 - Italian fascists occupy Fiume & Rijeka

● 1923 - US Senate rejects membership in International Court of Justice, The Hague

● 1923 - TIME magazine is published for the first time.

● 1924 - The 1400-year-old Islamic caliphate is abolished when Caliph Abdul Mejid II of the Ottoman Empire is deposed. The last remnant of the old regime gives way to the reformed Turkey of President Kemal Atatürk.

● 1924 - German & Turkish friendship/trade treaty signed

● 1931 - The "Star Spangled Banner," written by Francis Scott Key, was adopted as the American national anthem. The song was originally a poem known as "Defense of Fort McHenry."

● 1931 - American linguistic pioneer Frank Laubach wrote in a letter: 'If we only let God have his full chance he will break our hearts with the glory of his revelation. That is the privilege which the preacher can have. It is his business to look into the very face of God until he aches with bliss.'

● 1933 - Mount Rushmore National Memorial is dedicated.

● 1933 - US President Herbert Hoover signs the Norris-LaGuardia Act into law.

● 1933 - German Presidential candidate Earnest Thälmann (KPD) arrested

● 1934 - John Dillinger breaks out of jail using a wooden pistol

● 1935 - Dutch Revolutionary Socialist Worker's party (RSAP), forms

● 1938 - Samuel Schwartzbard, Jewish watchmaker, anarchist, and poet, dies, Capetown, South Africa. Escaped the Russian pogroms in 1905, settled in Paris. In 1926 he gunned down Simon Petliura, who had directed the pogroms in which some of his family were murdered. He fired three times, announcing - "This, for the pogroms; this for the massacres, this for the victims." Schwartzbard was acquitted by a jury and freed.

● 1938 - Glenn Cunningham breaks the world record for the indoor mile run by completing the distance in 4 minutes, 4.4 seconds.

● 1938 - Oil is discovered in Saudi Arabia.

● 1939 - In Mumbai, Mohandas Gandhi begins to fast in protest of the autocratic rule in India.

● 1940 - Five people are killed in an arson attack on the offices of the communist newspaper Norrskensflamman in Luleå, Sweden.

● 1941 - Netherlands NSB-leader Mussert visits Göring in Berlin

● 1941 - Moscow denounced the Axis rule in Bulgaria.

● 1942 - World War II: Ten Japanese warplanes raid the town of Broome, Western Australia killing more than 100 people.

● 1942 - 1st combat flight for Canada's Avro Lancaster military plane

● 1943 - US defeats Japan & wins Battle of Bismark Sea

● 1943 - World War II: In London, 173 people are killed in a crush while trying to enter an air-raid shelter at Bethnal Green tube station.

● 1944 - The Order of Nakhimov and Order of Ushakov were instituted in USSR as the highest naval awards.

● 1945 - World War II: Previously neutral Finland declares war on the Axis powers.

● 1945 - Churchill visits Montgomery's headquarter

● 1945 - RAF bombing error hits The Hague killing 511

● 1945 - Roermond/Venlo Netherlands, freed

● 1945 - US & Philippine forces recaptures Corregidor

● 1945 - US 7th Army occupies last part of Westwall

● 1949 - The Tucker Automobile Corporation folds.

● 1950 - Trappist monk Thomas Merton wrote in "Sign of Jonas": 'The Christian life...is a continual discovery of Christ in new and unexpected places. And these discoveries are sometimes most profitable when you find him in something you had tended to overlook or even despise.'

● 1952 - The U.S. Supreme Court upheld New York's Feinberg Law that banned Communist teachers in the U.S.

● 1952 - Puerto Rico approves their 1st self written constitution

● 1953 - Guatemala - Jacobo Arbenz declares the nationalization of idle lands held by the United Fruit Company. U.S.-backed terrorism and genocide follow for the next 30 years.

● 1953 - A Canadian Pacific Airlines De Havilland Comet crashes in Karachi, Pakistan killing 11.

● 1956 - Indonesian government of Harahap resigns

● 1956 - Morocco gains independence from France (Anniversary of throne)

● 1957 - The head of the Catholic archdiocese of Chicago (the largest in the world), Samuel Cardinal Strich, bans rock and roll from Catholic schools and "recreations" in his district. He cites the "tribal rhythms" and "encouragement to behave in a hedonistic manner." Chicago record sellers report no drop in sales of hedonism-encouraging records.

● 1957 - Cypriot liberation fighter Gregoris Afxentiou is killed, while fighting against British troops, burnt alive in a cave near the Machera Monastery, refusing to surrender.

● 1958 - Nuri as-Said becomes the prime minister of Iraq for the 14th time.

● 1959 - Lou Costello comedian, dies at 52.

● 1959 - 1st US probe to enter solar orbit, Pioneer 4, is launched

● 1959 - British government arrests Hastings Banda of Nyasaland, ends emergency crisis

● 1959 - By a vote taken in both bodies, the Unitarian Church and the Universalist Church, along with their fellowships -- the American Unitarian Association and the Universalist Church of America merged into a single denomination.

● 1960 - 9th largest snowfall in NYC history (14.5")

● 1961 - Waterborne Polaris Action Group "welcomes" first submarines, Holy Loch, Scotland.

● 1961 - Village Council in Inuit town of Point Hope, in far northwestern Alaska, objects in letter to Pres. Kennedy to chain explosion of five atomic bombs in nearby above-ground "Project Chariot" tests.

● 1961 - King Hassan II's ascends to throne of Morocco

● 1962 - One hundred twenty participate in 24-hour Quaker vigil for peace, Macclesfield, Britain.

● 1962 - British Antarctic Territory is formed

● 1963 - Senegal adopts constitution

● 1965 - Owsley starts making LSD - large quantities of acid available for the first time.

● 1965 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site

● 1965 - USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakhstan/Semipalitinsk USSR

● 1966 - A British Overseas Airways Boeing 707 flies into a mountain after the captain decides to give the passengers a close-up view of Mt. Fuji. All 124 people aboard are killed.

● 1966 - Kwame Nkrumah flees Ghana to Guinée

● 1966 - Twister hits Jackson MS; 3 minutes after 1st sighting, 57 die

● 1966 - BBC tunes in to colour; The BBC announces plans to begin broadcasting television programmes in colour from next year.

● 1967 - Grenada gains partial independence from Britain

● 1967 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site

● 1968 - FBI director J. Edgar Hoover issues a memo to FBI offices concerning the goals of a "Counter-intelligence Program" against "Black Nationalist-Hate Groups."

● 1968 - Chicano students stage walkout of Los Angeles high schools, calling for an end to racist policies.

● 1968 - Greece, Portugal & Spain's embassies bombed in the Hague

● 1969 - Apollo program: NASA launches Apollo 9 to test the lunar module for 151 Earth orbits (10 days).

● 1969 - In a Los Angeles, California court, Sirhan Sirhan admits that he killed presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy.

● 1971 - Beginning of Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 and India's official entry to the Bangladesh Liberation War in support of Mukti Bahini

● 1971 - Winnie Mandela sentenced to 1 year in jail in South Africa

● 1972 - Sculpted figures of Jefferson Davis, Robert E Lee, & Stonewall Jackson are completed at Stone Mountain GA

● 1972 - Mohawk Airlines Flight 405 crashes in unexplained circumstances.

● 1973 - Presidents Rule introduced in the Indian state of Orissa.

● 1973 - Japan disclosed its first defense plan since World War II.

● 1974 - Reported that a famine in the Sahel, western Africa, has resulted in the deaths of 100,000, and millions more are starving.

● 1974 - Turkish jet crashes killing 345; A Turkish Airlines DC10 crashes near Paris, en route to London, killing all 345 people on board.

● 1974 - Roman Catholic and Lutheran officials reach an agreement for eventual reconciliation into one communion, marking the first agreement between the two churches since the Reformation.

● 1976 - Mozambique closes border with Rhodesia

● 1977 - Libyan Socialist Arabs People's Republic forms

● 1978 - The remains of Charles Chaplin were stolen from his grave in Cosier-sur-Vevey, Switzerland. The body was recovered 11 weeks later near Lake Geneva.

● 1980 - France performs nuclear test at Muruora Island

● 1980 - The submarine Nautilus was decommissioned. The vessel's final voyage had ended on May 26, 1979.

● 1981 - Navajo and Hopi religious leaders request halt in construction of ski resort in the San Francisco Peaks, northern Arizona.

● 1982 - Senate begins debate on expulsion of Senator Harrison Williams (D-NJ)

● 1982 - Queen opens Barbican Centre; The Queen opens the new £153m Barbican Arts Centre in the City of London.

● 1983 - Author/activist Arthur Koestler, 77, and wife found dead of suicidal drug overdoses, London, England. Best known for his novel "Darkness at Noon," which reflects his break with the Communist Party. Hungarian born British novelist/journalist/critic, Koestler worked as a correspondent in the 1920s and 1930s, and was imprisoned by the fascists during Spanish Revolution of 1936. A lifelong advocate of euthanasia.

● 1985 - Miners call off year-long strike; Miners' leaders vote to end the longest-running industrial dispute in Britain without any peace deal over pit closures.

● 1985 - Censorship: Women Against Pornography award their "Pig Award" to Huggies Diapers, claiming that the television ads had "crossed the line between eye-catching and porn."

● 1989 - Machinists strike Eastern Airlines; pilots honor picket lines

● 1989 - Robert McFarlane gets $20,000 fine, two years probation for his role in Iran-Contra.

● 1991 - Iraqi generals & General Schwarzkopf meet to discuss cease fire

● 1991 - Latvia & Estonia vote to become independent of the USSR

● 1991 - Miguel Trovoada installed as President of Sao Tomé e Principal

● 1991 - Switzerland votes on lowering voting age from 20 to 18

● 1991 - United Airlines crashes near Colorado Springs, kills 25

● 1991 - African-American Rodney King is videotaped being severely beaten by Los Angeles police officers.

● 1992 - Gas explodes in coal mine at Zonguldak Turkey, 100s die

● 1992 - President Bush apologizes for raising taxes after pledging not to

● 1994 - The Mexican government reached a peace agreement with the Chiapas rebels.

● 1995 - A U.N. peacekeeping mission in Somalia ended. Several gunmen were killed by U.S. Marines in Mogadishu while overseeing the pull out of peacekeepers.

● 1995 - MPs move to outlaw hunting; A bill which would ban hunting with hounds in England and Wales has become the first such proposal to get a second reading in parliament.

● 1996 - San Francisco police illegally arrest 130 for walking on a street during a march against police brutality.

● 1997 - The tallest free-standing structure in the Southern Hemisphere, Sky Tower in downtown Auckland, New Zealand, opens after two-and-a-half years of construction.

● 1998 - Bill Gates testifies at Senate Judiciary Committee

● 1999 - LaGrand case: The State of Arizona executes Walter LaGrand, a German despite German legal action in the International Court of Justice.

● 1999 - In Egypt, 19 people were killed when a bus plunged into a Nile canal.

● 1999 - Bertrand Piccard and Brian Jones began their attempt to circumnavigate the Earth in a hot air balloon non-stop. They succeeded on March 20, 1999.

● 2001 - A U.S. Air Force Materiel Command C-23 Sherpa transport crashes during stormy weather in the U.S. state of Georgia, killing 21.

● 2002 - Citizens of Switzerland narrowly vote in favour of their country becoming a member of the United Nations, abandoning almost 200 years of formal neutrality.

● 2004 - Belgian brewer Interbrew and Brazilian rival AmBev agreed to merge in a $11.2 billion deal that formed InBev, the world's largest brewer.

● 2005 - Mayerthorpe Incident: James Roszko murders four Royal Canadian Mounted Police constables during a drug bust at his property in Rochfort Bridge, Alberta, then commits suicide. It is the deadliest peace-time incident for the RCMP since 1885 and the North-West Rebellion.

● 2005 - Steve Fossett becomes the first person to fly an airplane around the world solo without any stops without refueling - a journey of 40,234 km/25,000 mi completed in 67 hours and 2 minutes.

● 2005 - The freighter M/V Karen Danielsen, crashes into part of the Great Belt Bridge of Denmark, 800 m from Funen. All traffic across the bridge stops, effectively separating Denmark in two.

● 2006 - Former Congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham was sentenced by a federal judge in San Diego to more than eight years in prison for corruption.

● 2007 - The first of two total lunar eclipse in 2007, observed during the late hours (penumbral eclipse beginning 20:18:11 UT and reaching totality at 23:20:56 UT), will be unique in that it will be partly visible from every continent around the world.

● 2007 - El Tigre, the TV series will debut on Nickelodeon.

BIRTHS

● 1455 - King John II of Portugal (d. 1495)

● 1520 - Matthias Flacius, Croatian Protestant reformer (d. 1575)

● 1583 - Edward Herbert, 1st Baron Herbert of Cherbury, English diplomat, poet, and philosopher (d. 1648)

● 1589 - Gisbertus Voetius, Dutch theologian (d. 1676)

● 1606 - Edmund Waller, British poet (d. 1687)

● 1652 - Thomas Otway, British dramatist (d. 1685)

● 1793 - William Charles Macready, English actor (d. 1873)

● 1800 - Heinrich Georg Bronn, German geologist (d. 1862)

● 1805 - Jonas Furrer, first President of the Swiss Confederation, (d. 1861)

● 1831 - George Pullman, American inventor and industrialist (d. 1897)

● 1839 - Jamshedji Tata, Indian industrialist (d. 1904)

● 1841 - Sir John Murray, Scottish naturalist (d. 1914)

● 1845 - Georg Cantor, German mathematician (d. 1918)

● 1847 - Alexander Graham Bell, Scottish inventor (d. 1922)

● 1851 - Alexandros Papadiamantis, Greek author (d. 1911)

● 1860 - Monte Ward, Baseball player (d. 1925)

● 1863 - Arthur Machen, Welsh-born author (d. 1947)

● 1871 - Maurice Garin, French cyclist (d. 1957)

● 1873 - William Green, American labor union leader (d. 1952)

● 1878 - Leopold Jessner, German Expressionist theatrical producer and director (d. 1945)

● 1886 - Fred A. Busse, Mayor of Chicago (d. 1914)

● 1886 - Tore Ørjasæter, Norwegian poet (d. 1968)

● 1890 - Norman Bethune, Canadian doctor and humanitarian (d. 1939)

● 1891 - Damaskinos, Greek archbishop of Athens (d. 1949)

● 1893 - Beatrice Wood, American artist and ceramicist (d. 1998)

● 1895 - Ragnar Anton Kittil Frisch, Norwegian economist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1973)

● 1895 - Matthew Ridgway, Supreme Allied Commander of NATO, U.S. Army Chief of Staff (d. 1993)

● 1911 - Jean Harlow, American actress (d. 1937)

● 1918 - Arthur Kornberg, American biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine

● 1918 - Fritz Thiedemann, German equestrian (d. 2000)

● 1920 - Julius Boros, American golfer (d. 1994)

● 1920 - James Doohan, Canadian-born actor (d. 2005)

● 1920 - Ronald Searle, British illustrator

● 1922 - Nándor Hidegkuti, Hungarian footballer

● 1923 - Barney Martin, American actor (d. 2005)

● 1923 - Doc Watson, American musician

● 1926 - Lys Assia, Swiss singer

● 1926 - Joseph Anthony Ferrario, American Catholic prelate

● 1926 - James Merrill, American poet (d. 1995)

● 1927 - Pierre Aubert, member of the Swiss Federal Council

● 1930 - Heiner Geißler, German politician

● 1930 - Ion Iliescu, President of Romania

● 1933 - Lee Radziwill, American fashion executive

● 1933 - Marco Antonio Muñiz, Mexican singer (Los Tres Aces)

● 1937 - Bobby Driscoll, American actor (d. 1968)

● 1940 - Germán Castro Caycedo, Colombian writer and journalist

● 1940 - Perry Ellis, fashion designer (d. 1986)

● 1945 - George Miller, Australian film director

● 1945 - Hattie Winston, Actress

● 1946 - John Virgo, English snooker player

● 1947 - Jennifer Warnes, American singer and songwriter

● 1948 - Snowy White, British guitarist (Thin Lizzy, Pink Floyd)

● 1949 - Jüri Allik, Estonian psychologist

● 1949 - Gloria Hendry, American actress

● 1949 - Jesse Jefferson, American baseball player

● 1950 - Tim Kazurinsky, American actor and comedian

● 1952 - Dermot Morgan, Irish actor and comedian (d. 1998)

● 1953 - Robyn Hitchcock, British musician

● 1953 - Zico, Brazilian footballer

● 1955 - Andy Breckman, American comedian and radio personality

● 1956 - Zbigniew Boniek, Polish soccer player

● 1958 - Marc Silvestri, American comic book artist and publisher (Top Cow Productions)

● 1958 - Miranda Richardson, British actress

● 1959 - Ira Glass, American radio host

● 1961 - Fatima Whitbread, British field athlete

● 1961 - Perry McCarthy, British racing driver

● 1961 - Mary Page Keller, Actress

● 1962 - Jackie Joyner-Kersee, American athlete

● 1962 - Herschel Walker, American football player

● 1964 - Laura Harring, Mexican American actress

● 1964 - Duncan Phillips, Australian dummer (Newsboys)

● 1964 - Raul Alcala, Mexican cyclist

● 1966 - Tone-Loc, American musician

● 1966 - Fernando Colunga, Mexican actor

● 1968 - Brian Leetch, American ice hockey player

● 1969 - John Bigham, Rock musician

● 1970 - Julie Bowen, American actress

● 1971 - Tyler Florence, Chef, Food Network personality, cookbook author

● 1971 - Brett Warren, Country singer (The Warren Brothers)

● 1973 - Victoria Zdrok, Ukrainian model

● 1973 - Romans Vainsteins, Latvian cyclist

● 1974 - David Faustino, American actor (''Married... With Children'')

● 1977 - Ronan Keating, Irish singer (Boyzones)

● 1978 - Matt Diaz, American baseball player

● 1979 - Patrick Renna, American actor

● 1980 - Mason Unck, American football player

● 1981 - Kim Yoo-Jin (Eugene), South Korean singer and actress

● 1981 - Sung Yu Ri, South Korean singer and actress

● 1981 - Lil' Flip, American rapper

● 1981 - Dusty Dvoracek, American football player

● 1982 - Jessica Biel, American actress (''7th Heaven'')

● 1983 - Maite Perroni, singer in the Latin Pop group RBD

● 1985 - Sam Morrow, Northern Irish footballer

● 1986 - Stacie Orrico, American singer

● 1992 - Madison Cross, American singer and actress

● 1997 - Maria Francisca Isabel de Bragança, Infanta, daughter of Duarte Pio, Duke of Braganza

DEATHS

● 1111 - Bohemund I, Prince of Antioch

● 1239 - Vladimir III Rurikovich, Grand Prince of Kiev (b. 1187)

● 1459 - Ausiàs March, Catalan poet (b. 1397)

● 1554 - John Frederick, Elector of Saxony (b. 1503)

● 1703 - Robert Hooke, English scientist (b. 1635)

● 1706 - Johann Pachelbel, German composer (b. 1653)

● 1707 - Aurangzeb, Mughal Emperor of India (b. 1618)

● 1717 - Pierre Allix, French Protestant pastor (b. 1641)

● 1744 - Jean Barbeyrac, French jurist

● 1765 - William Stukeley, English arhaeologist (b. 1687)

● 1768 - Nicola Porpora, Italian composer (b. 1686)

● 1792 - Robert Adam, Scottish architect (b. 1728)

● 1850 - Oliver Cowdery, American religious leader (b. 1806)

● 1894 - Ned Williamson, American baseball player (b. 1857)

● 1927 - Mikhail Artsybashev, Russian writer (b. 1878)

● 1927 - J.G. Parry-Thomas, Welsh motor-racing driver (b. 1884)

● 1932 - Eugen d'Albert, German composer (b. 1864)

● 1943 - George Thompson, English cricketer (b. 1877)

● 1959 - Lou Costello, American actor and comedian (b. 1906)

● 1961 - Paul Wittgenstein, Austrian-born pianist (b. 1887)

● 1966 - William Frawley, American actor (b. 1887)

● 1966 - Alice Pearce, American actress (b. 1917)

● 1982 - Georges Perec, French writer (b. 1936)

● 1983 - Hergé, Belgian comics creator (b. 1907)

● 1983 - Arthur Koestler, Austrian writer (b. 1905)

● 1987 - Danny Kaye, American actor, singer, and comedian (b. 1913) and Mr. Walker of PD, ON

● 1988 - Sewall Wright, American biologist (b. 1889)

● 1990 - Gérard Blitz, Belgian waterpoloist and entrepreneur (b. 1912)

● 1991 - Arthur Murray, American dancer and dance instructor (b. 1895)

● 1993 - Carlos Marcello, Tunisian-born gangster (b. 1910)

● 1993 - Albert Sabin, Polish-born medical researcher (b. 1906)

● 1995 - Howard W. Hunter, president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (b. 1907)

● 1996 - Marguerite Duras, French writer (b. 1914)

● 1996 - John Cardinal Krol, American Catholic clergyman (b. 1910)

● 1998 - Fred Friendly, American broadcast executive (b. 1915)

● 1999 - Gerhard Herzberg, German-born chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1904)

● 2000 - Toni Ortelli, Italian composer and alpinist (b. 1904)

● 2001 - Louis Edmonds, American actor (b. 1923)

● 2002 - Harlan Howard, American musician (b. 1927)

● 2003 - Horst Buchholz, German actor (b. 1933)

● 2003 - Luis Marden, American photojournalist (b. 1913)

● 2003 - Peter Smithson, English architect (b. 1923)

● 2003 - Goffredo Petrassi, Italian composer (b. 1904)

● 2004 - Cecily Adams, American actress and casting director (b. 1958)

● 2005 - Max M. Fisher, American philanthropist (b. 1928)

● 2005 - Rinus Michels, Dutch football coach (b. 1928)

● 2006 - Ivor Cutler, Scottish poet (b. 1923)

● 2006 - William Herskovic, Holocaust hero and philanthropist (b. 1914)

HOLIDAYS AND OBSERVANCES

● Roman Catholic:
● St. Anselm of Nonantola
● St. Arthelais
● St. Calupan
● St. Camilla
● St. Cele-Christ
● St. Cleonicus
● St. Cunegundes
● St. Felix
● St. Foila
● St. Hemiterius and Cheledonius
● St. Katharine Drexel
● St. Lamalisse
● St. Marinus & Asterius
● St. Non
● St. Sacer
● St. Titian
● St. Winwaloc
● Bl. Mary Angela Truszkowska

● Russian Orthodox Christian Menaion Calendar for February 20 (Civil Date: March 3)
● Apostles Archippus and Philemon of the Seventy, and Martyr Apphia.
● St. Dositheus of Palestine, disciple of St. Abba Dorotheus.
● St. Rabulas of Samosata.
● Saints Eugene and Macarius, presbyters, confessors at Antioch.
● Martyrs Maximus, Theodotus, Hesychius, and Asclepiodota of Adrianopolis.
● St. Conon, abbot in Palestine.
● St. Philothea, nun of Athens.
● New Hieromartyr Nicetas of Epirus.
● Repose of Hieromonk Theodore of Sanaxar Monastery (1791).
● St. Leo, Bishop of Catania in Sicily.
● St. Agatho, pope of Rome.
● Hieromartyr Sadoc (Sadoth), Bishop of Persia, and 128 Martyrs with him.
● Beheading of St. Cornelius, abbot of the Pskov Caves, and his disciple St. Bessian of Murom.
● St. Agatho, wonderworker of the Kiev Caves.
● St. Bessarion the Great, wonderworker of Egypt.

● Greek Calendar:
● St. Cindeus, Bishop of Pisidia.
● St. Plotinus, monk.
● Abbot Macarius and 34 monks and novices of Valaam martyred by the Lutherans (1578).

● The Moslem World: Mohammed's Birthday

● Bulgaria : Liberation from Ottoman Rule Day (1878)

● Admission Day to the United States
● Florida - 27th state (1845)

● Grenada : Partial Independence Day (1967)

● Hawaii : Japanese Girl's Day

● Morocco : National Day (1961)

● Sudan : Unity Day

● World : Day of Prayer

● Hinamatsuri - Japanese celebration day for girls.

● Malawi - Martyr's Day.

● Georgia - Mothers Day


Click on this LINK to see original Wikipedia list with many having links with details.

Additional facts taken from:

On this day in the New York Times

The BBC’s Take on the day

On This Day Website

Geov Parrish's this Day in Radical History, things that happened on this day that you never had to memorize in school.

Scope Systems Any Day Website

Roman Catholic Saint of the Day

Russian Orthodox Christian Menaion Calendar

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