Today in History - History - February 20th

1971Bruin Phil Esposito is NHL's quickest to score 50 goals in a season

1938UK Foreign Sec Eden resigns, says PM Chamberlain appeased Germany

1974Gordie Howe comes out of retirement for $1M from Houston Aeros, WHA

1988Peter Kalikow purchases NY Post from Rupert Murdoch for $37.6 million

1975Margaret Thatcher elected leader of British Conservative Party

19784th People's Choice Awards: John Wayne & Barbra Streisand win (Motion Picture) and James Garner & Mary Tyler Moore win (TV)

1994Pope John Paul II demands juristic discrimination of homosexuals

1960Jimi Hendrix, rock and roll guitarist, plays his first gig.

1997SF Giants Barry Bonds signs record $22.9M 2 year contract

1963Willie Mays (SF Giants) signs a record $100,000 per year contract

1942Phil Esposito, Sault Ste. Marie Ontario, NHL center/GM (Bruins, Rangers)

1963Charles Barkley, Leads Alabama, NBA forward (Phoenix, Rockets, Oly-gold-96)

1967Kurt Cobain, Aberdeen Washington, rock vocalist (Nirvana)

1951Gordon Brown, Giffnock, Renfrewshire, Scotland, British Labour Prime Minister (2007—10)

1887Vincent Massey, Toronto Ontario, Governor General of Canada

1988Rihanna, Barbadian singer

1989Police violence victim Rodney King (23) weds Crystal Lynnette Waters

1968Comedian John Cleese (Monty Python) marries actress Connie Booth

1907Henri Moissan [Ferdinand-Frederic-], chemist (Nobel 1906), dies at 54

1966Chester W Nimitz, US admiral (WW II), dies at 80