Notable Historical Events on February 20th
February 20th Historical Events
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
1472 |
Orkney and Shetland are left by Norway to Scotland, due to a dowry payment. |
1525 |
Swiss & German mercenaries desert Francois I's army |
1547 |
King Edward VI of England was enthroned following death of Henry VIII |
1613 |
Gerard Reynst appointed Dutch gov-gen of East-Indies |
1619 |
Trial against Johan van Oldenbarnevelt begins in The Hague for alleged crimes against the federal government |
1653 |
Defeat of Dutch fleet under Adm Van Tromp by Adm Blake off Portsmouth |
1673 |
1st recorded wine auction held (London) |
1710 |
Johan Willem Friso becomes viceroy of Groningen, Netherlands |
1724 |
George F Handel's opera "Giulio Cesare in Egitto," premieres in London |
1725 |
10 sleeping Indians scalped by whites in New Hampshire for £100 a scalp bounty |
1732 |
Estates of Holland ratifies Treaty of Vienna |
1737 |
French minister of Finance, Chauvelin, resigns |
1745 |
Jacobite troops occupy Fort Augustus, Scotland |
1746 |
Bonnie Prince Charlie occupies Inverness Castle |
1768 |
1st American chartered fire insurance company opens (Penn) |
1792 |
US postal service created, postage 6 cents - 12 cents depending on distance |
1798 |
Louis Alexandre Berthier removes Pope Pius VI from power. |
1809 |
US Supreme Court rules federal government power greater than any state |
1810 |
Andreas Hofer, Tyrolean patriot and leader of rebellion against Napoleon's forces, executed. |
1811 |
Austria declares bankruptcy |
1816 |
Rossini's opera "Barber of Seville" premieres in Rome |
1823 |
English Capt James Weddell reaches 74°15' S, 1520 km from S pole |
1831 |
Polish revolutionaries defeat Russians in battle of Growchow |
1832 |
Charles Darwin visits Fernando Noronha in Atlantic Ocean |
1835 |
Concepcion, Chile, destroyed by earthquake; 5,000 die |
1839 |
Congress prohibits dueling in District of Columbia |
1846 |
British occupy Sikh citadel of Lahore |
1856 |
John Rutledge, Liverpool-NY steamer, hits iceberg; many die |
1861 |
Department of Navy of Confederacy forms (US Civil War) |
1861 |
Steeple of Chichester Cathedral blown down during a storm |
1864 |
Civil War battle of Olustee, Florida |
1865 |
M I T forms 1st US collegiate architectural school |
1869 |
Tennessee Governor W C Brownlow declares martial law in Ku Klux Klan crisis |
1872 |
Hydraulic electric elevator patented by Cyrus Baldwin |
1872 |
Luther Crowell patents a machine that manufactures paper bags |
1872 |
Metropolitan Museum of Art opens (NYC) |
1872 |
Silas Noble & JP Cooley patents toothpick manufacturing machine |
1873 |
University of California gets its 1st Med School (UC/SF) |
1877 |
1st cantilever bridge in US completed, Harrodsburg, Kentucky |
1877 |
International Association (minor baseball league) organizes |
1887 |
1st minor league baseball association organizes (Pittsburgh) |
1887 |
Germany, Austria-Hungary & France end Triple Alliance |
1890 |
Amsterdam Theater destroyed by fire |
1895 |
Congress authorizes a US mint at Denver, Colorodo |
1899 |
Ill Tel & Tel granted franchise for Chicago freight tunnel system |
1901 |
1st territorial legislature of Hawaii convenes |
1902 |
Heavy surf breaks over Seal Rocks & damages Sutro Baths, SF |
1903 |
Nick Young remains as NL president as AG Spalding ends challenge |
1909 |
Publication of the Futurist Manifesto in the French journal Le Figaro. |
1912 |
Argentina beat the MCC in their inaugural cricket 1st-class fixture |
1913 |
King O'Malley drives in the first survey peg to mark commencement of work on the construction of Canberra. |
1915 |
Panama-Pacific International Exposition opens in San Francisco |
1917 |
Ammunition ship explodes in Archangel harbour, about 1,500 die |
1917 |
Kern, Bolton & Wodehouse's musical "Oh, Boy!," premieres in NYC |
1919 |
French premier Clemenceau injured during assassination attempt |
1921 |
Riza Khan Pahlevi seizes control of Iran |
1922 |
Marc Connelly & George Kaufman's "To the Ladies," premieres in NYC |
1922 |
Vilinus, Lithuania, agrees to separate from Poland |
1922 |
WOR-AM in New York City begins radio transmissions |
1923 |
Christy Mathewson becomes pres of Boston Braves |
1927 |
Golfers in SC arrested for violating Sabbath |
1929 |
American Samoa organizes as territory of US |
1929 |
Red Sox announce they will play Sunday games at Braves Field |
1930 |
Capelle soccer team forms |
1931 |
Congress allows California to build Oakland-Bay Bridge |
1932 |
Japanese troops occupy Tunhua China |
1933 |
Curom, Curacaose Broadcast System starts: Princess Juliana's speech |
1933 |
House of Reps completes congressional action to repeal Prohibition |
1933 |
Sidney Howard's "Alien Corn," premieres in NYC |
1934 |
Virgil Thomson's opera "4 Saints in 3 Acts" opens in NYC |
1935 |
Dane Caroline Mikkelson is 1st woman in land on Antarctica |
1937 |
1st automobile/airplane combination tested, Santa Monica, Ca |
1938 |
UK Foreign Sec Eden resigns, says PM Chamberlain appeased Germany |
1940 |
Larry Clinton & his Orchestra record "Limehouse Blues" |
1941 |
1st transport of Jews to concentration camps leave Plotsk Poland |
1941 |
Nazis order Polish Jews barred from using public transportation |
1941 |
Romania breaks relations with Netherlands |
1942 |
Lt E H O'Hare single-handedly shoots down 5 Japanese heavy bombers, becomes America's first World War II flying ace |
1943 |
Allied troops occupy Kasserine pass in Tunisia |
1943 |
New volcano Paracutin erupts in farmer's corn patch (Mexico) |
1943 |
Phil Wrigley & B Rickey charter All-American Girls Softball League |
1943 |
American movie studio executives agree to allow the Office of War Information to censor movies. |
1944 |
Batman & Robin comic strip premieres in newspapers |
1944 |
US takes Eniwetok Island |
1944 |
World War II: The "Big Week" began with American bomber raids on German aircraft manufacturing centers. |
1947 |
Chemical mixing error causes explosion that destroys 42 blocks in LA |
1947 |
Earl Mountbatten of Burma appointed as last viceroy of India |
1947 |
State of Prussia ceases to exist. |
1948 |
Czechoslovakia's non-communist minister resigns |
1949 |
1st International Pancake Race held (Liberal Ks) |
1950 |
Dylan Thomas arrives in NYC for his 1st US poetry reading tour |
1950 |
WOL-AM in Washington DC swaps calls with WWDC |
1952 |
"African Queen" opens at Capitol Theater in NYC |
1952 |
1st black umpire in organized baseball certified (Emmett Ashford) |
1953 |
August A Busch buys the Cards for $3.75 million |
1953 |
US Court of Appeals rules that Organized Baseball is a sport & not a business, affirming the 25-year-old Supreme Court ruling |
1954 |
Babe Didrikson-Zaharias wins LPGA Serbin Golf Open |
1954 |
General Zahedi wins election in Persia |
1955 |
Fay Crocker wins LPGA Serbin Golf Open |
1956 |
WOSU TV channel 34 in Columbus, OH (PBS) begins broadcasting |
1957 |
Hughie Tayfield takes 9-113 v England, 13 wkts for match |
1958 |
Jockey Eddie Arcaro rides his 4,000th winner |
1958 |
LA Coliseum Comm approves 2-yr pact allows Dodgers to use facility |
1959 |
The Avro Arrow program to design and manufacture supersonic jet fighters in Canada is cancelled by the Diefenbaker government amid much political debate. |
1960 |
Jimi Hendrix, rock and roll guitarist, plays his first gig. |
1962 |
John Glenn is 1st American to orbit Earth (Friendship 7) |
1963 |
End of the Test Cricket careers of Neil Harvey & Alan Davidson |
1963 |
Willie Mays (SF Giants) signs a record $100,000 per year contract |
1965 |
Beatles record "That Means a Lot" |
1965 |
Ranger 8 makes hard landing on the Moon, returns photos, other data |
1965 |
Turkish government of Uerguplu forms |
1966 |
Author Valery Tarsis banished in USSR |
1968 |
State troopers used tear gas to stop demonstration at Alcorn A & M |
1971 |
Bruin Phil Esposito is NHL's quickest to score 50 goals in a season |
1971 |
Maj General Idi Amin Dada appoints himself president of Uganda |
1971 |
Natl Emergency Center erroneously orders US radio & TV stations to go off the air. Mistake wasn't resolved for 30 minutes |
1972 |
1st time Cleveland Cavaliers beat NY Knicks (111-109) |
1972 |
Ard Schenk becomes world champ skater |
1972 |
Sicco Mansholt becomes chairman of European Committee |
1973 |
10th time Islanders shut-out-4-0 vs Penguins |
1974 |
Cher files for separation from husband Sonny Bono |
1974 |
Gordie Howe comes out of retirement for $1M from Houston Aeros, WHA |
1975 |
Leonard Baichan scores 105* on Test Cricket debut, v Pakistan Lahore |
1975 |
Margaret Thatcher elected leader of British Conservative Party |
1975 |
USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR |
1975 |
A feud begains between the Official Irish Republican Army and the Irish National Liberation Army; the two groups assassinate a number of each other's volunteers until the feud ends in June 1975 |
1976 |
Muhammad Ali KOs Jan Pierre Coopman in 5 for heavyweight boxing title |
1976 |
The Southeast Asia Treaty Organization disbands. |
1977 |
"My Fair Lady" closes at St James Theater NYC after 384 performances |
1977 |
Judy Rankin wins LPGA Orange Blossom Golf Classic |
1978 |
4th People's Choice Awards: John Wayne & Barbra Streisand win (Motion Picture) and James Garner & Mary Tyler Moore win (TV) |
1978 |
Bob Backland beats Billy Graham in NY, to become WWF wrestling champ |
1978 |
Egypt announces it is pulling its diplomats out of Cyprus |
1978 |
Jane Blalock wins LPGA Orange Blossom Golf Classic |
1979 |
"Comin' Uptown" opens at Winter Garden Theater NYC for 45 performances |
1979 |
11 loyalists known as the "Shankill Butchers" are sentenced to life in prison for 19 murders; the gang was named for its late-night kidnapping, torture and murder (by throat slashing) of random Catholic civilians in Belfast |
1981 |
Flight readiness firing of Columbia's main engines; 20 seconds |
1981 |
James Sanford equals 50m indoor world record (5.61 sec) |
1982 |
NY Islanders wins then NHL record 15th straight game |
1983 |
Japan launches Tenma satellite to study x-rays (450/570 km) |
1983 |
Roland Liboton becomes world champ cross-country cycling |
1985 |
After defending his WBC flyweight championship, Sot Chitalada's check for $104,000 is stolen by a ringside pickpocket |
1986 |
LA Dodger Orel Hershiser is 1st to win a $1M salary by arbitration |
1986 |
Mike Tyson sexually harasses a woman in Albany NY |
1987 |
Bomb blamed on Unabomber explodes by computer store in Salt Lake City |
1987 |
David Hartman quits ABC's "Good Morning America," after 11 years |
1988 |
500 die in heavy rains in Rio de Janeiro Brazil |
1988 |
Andre Hoffmann skates world record 1500m (1:52.06) |
1988 |
Brian Boitano wins Olympic gold medal in figure skating |
1988 |
Cornelia Oschkenat hurdles indoor world record 50m (6.58 sec) |
1988 |
Kelly Hrudy's 5th Islander shut-out win-Hartford 3-0 |
1988 |
Peter Kalikow purchases NY Post from Rupert Murdoch for $37.6 million |
1988 |
Rob Druppers runs world record indoor 1000m (2:16.2) |
1988 |
Stefka Kostadinova high jumps indoor world record (2.06 m) |
1989 |
Members of 1949 Oklahoma football team cancelled an April reunion because of deplorable conduct of Oklahoma players |
1989 |
An IRA bomb destroys a section of a British Army barracks in Ternhill, England |
1991 |
"Taking Steps" opens at Circle in Sq Theater NYC for 78 performances |
1991 |
33rd Grammy Awards: Another Day in Paradise, Mariah Carey |
1991 |
A gigantic statue of Albania's long-time dictator, Enver Hoxha, is brought down in the Albanian capital, Tirana, by mobs of angry protesters. |
1992 |
"Private Lives" opens at Broadhurst Theater NYC for 37 performances |
1992 |
Orthodox patriarch Shenouda III visits Netherlands |
1992 |
Ross Perot says he'll run for President on Larry King Show |
1993 |
Florida Marlins open their 1st spring training camp |
1993 |
Lisa Walters wins LPGA Itoki Hawaiian Ladies Golf Open |
1993 |
NY Islanders retire Billy Smith's number 31 |
1994 |
3 Afghans take 70 Pakistani children hostage |
1994 |
Johann Olav Koss skates world record 10 km (13:30.55) |
1994 |
Pope John Paul II demands juristic discrimination of homosexuals |
1997 |
"Stanley" opens at Circle in Sq Theater NYC |
1997 |
SF Giants Barry Bonds signs record $22.9M 2 year contract |
1998 |
Tara Lipinski wins Olympic figure skating gold medal |
1998 |
UN Sec-Gen Kofi Annan lands in Baghdad, for peace negotiations |
1998 |
US movie box office hits quickest $1 billion for year (51 days) |
2001 |
The United States Supreme Court declines to consider an appeal by five major oil companies against Unocal's patent on production of cleaner "reformulated" gasoline sold in California |
2002 |
In Reqa Al-Gharbiya, Egypt, a fire on a train injures over 65 and kills at least 370. |
2003 |
During a Great White concert in West Warwick, Rhode Island, a pyrotechnics display sets the club ablaze, killing 100 and injuring over 300 others. |
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. |
2010 |
In Madeira Island, Portugal, heavy rain causes floods and mudslides, leaving at least 32 deaths in the worst disaster on the history of the archipelago. |
2012 |
Scientists successfully regenerate Silene stenophylla from a 31,800 year old piece of fruit, greatly surpassing the previous record of 2,000 years |
2012 |
South Korea angers North Korea as it proceeds with live fire drills in disputed Korean sea borders |
2013 |
Estonia becomes the first country to establish a national system of fast chargers for electric cars |
2013 |
Kepler-37b, the smallest known exoplanet, is discovered |
2016 |
2 Serbians believed among 49 killed in US airstrike in Libya |
2016 |
Umberto Eco, famed author of 'The Name of the Rose,' dead at 84 |
2016 |
Lock of John Lennon's hair sells for thousands |
2017 |
Three Top American Gymnasts Accuse Doctor of Sexual Abuse |
2017 |
CCTV footage shows deadly assault on N. Korean leader's half-brother |
2017 |
Anthony Davis has 52 to lead West to win in All Star Game |
2017 |
Hitler's phone sold for $243000 at US auction |
2017 |
SpaceX successfully launches rocket after Saturday setback |
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