Welcome to Today In History for Monday, February 8, 2010.
On this day in history...
- 0421 - Flavius Constantine becomes emperor Constantine III of West Roman emp
- 1526 - Heavy storm strikes Dutch coast, many die
- 1575 - University of Leiden Neth opens
- 1600 - Vatican convicts scholar Giordano Bruno to death
- 1601 - Earl Robert Devereux of Essex armies draws into London
- 1622 - King James I disbands the English parliament
- 1672 - Isaac Newton reads 1st optics paper before Royal Society in London
- 1690 - French & Indian troops set Schenectady settlement NY on fire
- 1690 - Lord Halifax resigns as Lord Privy Seal
- 1693 - William & Mary college is 2nd college chartered in US
- 1735 - 1st opera in US "Flora," opens in Charleston, SC
- 1743 - Comet C/1743 C1 approaches within 0.0390 AUs of Earth
- 1744 - French/Spanish fleet leaves Toulon
- 1750 - Minor earthquake in London
- 1775 - Leidse U 400th anniversary dinner
- 1776 - Wolfgang von Goethes' "Stella," premieres in Hamburg
- 1802 - Simon Willard patents banjo clock
- 1807 - Napoleon defeats Russians in battle of Eylau
- 1809 - Franz I of Austria declares war on France
- 1837 - 1st VP chosen by Senate, Richard Johnson (Van Buren admin)
- 1861 - Confederate States of America organizes in Montgomery, Ala
- 1862 - Battle of Roanoke Island NC, Federals gain control of Pamlico Sound
- 1862 - Opera "Lily of Killarney," premieres in London
- 1865 - 1st black major in US army, Martin Robinson Delany
- 1883 - Louis Waterman begins experiments to invents fountain pen
- 1887 - Aurora Ski Club of Red Wing, Minn became the 1st US ski club
- 1887 - Dawes Act passed (indians living apart from tribe granted citizenship)
- 1889 - Flood ravages Dutch coast
- 1894 - Enforcement Act repealed, making it easier to disenfranchise blacks
- 1895 - Tchaikovsky/Petipa's "Swan Lake," premieres in Petersburg
- 1896 - Georges Feydeaus' "Le Dindon," premieres in Paris
- 1896 - Western Conference forms of Midwestern U, later renamed Big 10 Conf
- 1898 - John Ames Sherman patents 1st envelope folding & gumming mach (Mass)
- 1904 - Russo-Japanese War begins
- 1905 - Cyclone hit Tahiti & adjacent islands, killing some 10,000 people
- 1908 - Wilhelmina '08 soccer team forms in Weert Neth
- 1909 - France & Germany sign treaty about Morocco
- 1910 - Boy Scouts of America incorporated & chartered (William D Boyce-Chic)
- 1911 - US helps overthrow Pres Miguel Devila of Honduras
- 1911 - Victor Herbert's opera "Natoma," premieres in NYC
- 1912 - 1st eastbound US transcontinental flight lands in Jacksonville, Fla
- 1914 - General Zamon becomes president of Haiti
- 1915 - "Birth of a Nation" opens at Clune's Auditorium in LA
- 1916 - French cruiser "Admiral Charner" torpedoed off Syrian coast, kills 374
- 1916 - NL votes down Charlie Ebbets proposal to limit 25 seats
- 1918 - "Stars & Stripes," weekly US armed forces newspaper, 1st published
- 1920 - Swiss men vote against women's suffrage
- 1922 - Radio arrives at the White House
- 1923 - Coal mine explosion at Dawson, New Mexico kills 120
- 1923 - German NSDAP Volkischer Beobachter newspaper becomes a daily
- 1924 - 1st coast-to-coast radio hookup: Gen John Joseph Carty speech in Chic
- 1925 - Kaufman & Berlin's "cocoanuts," premieres in NYC
- 1925 - Marcus Garvey enters federal prison in Atlanta
- 1926 - German Reichstag decides to apply for League of Nations membership
- 1926 - Sean O'Casey's "Plough & Stars" opens at Abbey Theater Dublin
- 1926 - Walt Disney Studios forms
- 1927 - Belgian-Swiss treaty signed
- 1928 - 1st transatlantic TV image received, Hartsdale, NY
- 1928 - Scottish inventor J Blaird demonstrates color-TV
- 1929 - KOY-AM in Phoenix Arizona begins radio transmissions
- 1930 - "Happy Days Are Here Again" by Benny Mereoff hits #1
- 1931 - Gas explosion Fire in Fushun-coal mine, Manchuria kills 3,000
- 1933 - -23øF (-31øC), Seminole, Texas (state record)
- 1933 - 1st flight of all-metal Boeing 247
- 1934 - Export-Import Bank organizes in Washington, DC
- 1934 - Gaston Doumergue forms new French govt
- 1935 - 1st NFL draft; Jay Berwanger of U Chicago is 1st pick (by Eagles) He never plays in NFL
- 1936 - 1st NFL draft, Eagles select Heisman Trophy winner Jay Berwanger
- 1936 - 1st ski jumping tournament, Red Wing, Minn
- 1936 - 1st successful Toronto Maple Leaf penalty shot, Conacher vs Rangers
- 1936 - Pandit Jawaharlal follows Gandhi as chairman of India Congress Party
- 1937 - Maxwell Anderson's "Masque of Kings," premieres in NYC
- 1940 - Lewis & Hamilton's musical "Two for the Show," premieres in NYC
- 1940 - Lodtz, 1st large ghetto established by Nazis in Poland
- 1941 - Japanese armored barges cross Strait of Johore to attack Singapore
- 1941 - NSB'er Max Blokzijl begins nazi propaganda on Dutch radio
- 1942 - Stravinsky's "Danses Concertantes," premieres in Los Angeles
- 1942 - Congress advises FDR that, Americans of Japanese descent should be locked up en masse so they wouldn't oppose the US war effort
- 1943 - Red Army recaptures Kursk
- 1944 - 1st black reporter accredited to White House, Harry McAlpin
- 1944 - U-762 sunk off Ireland
- 1945 - Allied air attack on Goch/Kleef/Kalkar/Reichswald
- 1946 - Bla Bartks 3rd Concert for piano/orchestra premieres in Phila
- 1946 - Premier Salazar of Portugal forbids opposition parties
- 1947 - Jan van der Hoorn wins 8th Dutch 11-cities skating race (10:51)
- 1947 - KSD (now KSDK) TV channel 5 in St Louis, MO (NBC) begins broadcasting
- 1948 - 5th Winter Olympic games close at St Moritz, Switzerland
- 1949 - Hungarian Cardinal Mindszenty sentenced to life in prison
- 1952 - "RCA Victor Show Starring Dennis Day," debuts on NBC TV
- 1953 - Betty Jameson wins LPGA Serbin Golf Open
- 1953 - WLVA (now WSET) TV channel 13 in Lynchburg-Roanoke, VA (ABC) begins
- 1955 - Malenkov resigns as USSR premier, Bulganin replaces him
- 1956 - Mine disaster in Quaregnon Belgium, 8 die
- 1957 - SF Public Library's bookmobile initiated in front of City Hall
- 1958 - Edgar Whitehead succeeds Garfield Todd as premier of South Rhodesia
- 1958 - French planes bomb Sakiet Tunisia, 75 die
- 1958 - KIRO TV channel 7 in Seattle, WA (CBS) begins broadcasting
- 1960 - Boston Celtic Bill Russell becomes 1st NBAer with 50 rebounds (51)
- 1960 - Congress opens hearings looking into payola
- 1962 - KACB TV channel 3 in San Angelo, TX (NBC) begins broadcasting
- 1962 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
- 1963 - 1st transmission of Clandestine Voice of Iraqi People (Communist)
- 1963 - AFL's Dallas Texans become KC Chiefs
- 1963 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
- 1964 - Peter Shaffer's "Royal Hunt of the Sun," premieres in London
- 1964 - Rep Martha Griffiths address gets civil rights protection for women being added to the 1964 Civil Rights Act
- 1965 - Eastern DC-7B crashes into Atlantic off Jones Beach NJ, kills 84
- 1965 - Supremes release "Stop In the Name of Love"
- 1967 - Longest losing streak in Toronto Maple Leaf history (10 games)
- 1967 - Peter (Asher) & Gordon (Waller) discontinue their singing partnership
- 1967 - Pirate Radio UKGM (England) closes down
- 1967 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
- 1968 - Officers kill 3 students demonstrating in SC State (Orangeburg)
- 1969 - Last edition of Saturday Evening Post
- 1969 - Meteorite weighing over 1 ton falls in Chihuahua, Mxico
- 1971 - Pedro Morales beats Ivan Koloff in NY, to become WWF wrestling champ
- 1971 - South Vietnamese troops invade Laos
- 1972 - Josh Gibson & Buck Leonard selected to Hall of Fame
- 1973 - Jean Kerrs "Finishing Touches," premieres in NYC
- 1973 - Mushtaq & Asif Iqbal make 350 stand for 4th wicket v NZ
- 1973 - Senate names 7 members to investigate Watergate scandal
- 1974 - "Good Times," debuts on CBS TV
- 1974 - Ringo releases "You're 16"
- 1974 - Skylab 4's astronauts land
- 1974 - Soap opera "Secret Storm" ends a 20 year run
- 1975 - 1800 Unification church couples' wed in Korea
- 1975 - Caps only got one shot in a period against Islanders
- 1976 - Hua Guofeng becomes premier of China PR
- 1976 - Jan Stephens wins LPGA Sarah Coventry Naples Golf Classic
- 1976 - Largest crowd at Cleveland Coliseum (Cavs vs Wash-21,130)
- 1977 - Earthquake in SF, at 5.0, strongest since 1966
- 1977 - Hustler publisher Larry Flynt sentenced due to
- 1978 - Crown Prince Sad Abdallah al-Salim Al Sabah becomes PM of Kuwait
- 1979 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
- 1981 - "5 O'Clock Girl" closes at Helen Hayes Theater NYC after 12 perfs
- 1981 - "Brigadoon" closes at Majestic Theater NYC after 133 performances
- 1981 - Sally Little wins LPGA Elizabeth Arden Golf Classic
- 1981 - US female Figure Skating championship won by Elaine Zayak
- 1981 - US male Figure Skating championship won by Scott Hamilton
- 1982 - Dodgers trade Davey Lopes to A's breaking up the longest-playing infield (Cey-Russell-Lopes-Garvey)
- 1983 - 35th NHL All-Star Game: Campbell beat Wales 9-3 at NY Islander
- 1983 - Baseball orders Mickey Mantle to sever ties with Claridge Casino
- 1983 - Eric Peters sets transatlantic sailboat record (E-W)-46 days
- 1983 - Tina Howe's "Painting Churches," premieres in NYC
- 1983 - Wayne Gretzky sets NHL all star record of 4 goals in 1 period
- 1983 - Champion thoroughbred Shergar kidnapped in Ireland; never found Lloyds of London pays $10.6 million insurance
- 1984 - 14th Winter Olympic games opens in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia
- 1984 - 1st time 8 people in space
- 1984 - A's take Yankees pitcher Tim Belcher as Type A free agent compensation
- 1984 - Soyuz T-10 launches with crew of 3 to Salyut 7
- 1985 - 1st-class cricket debut of Jimmy Adams (age 17), Jamaica v Barbados
- 1985 - Bruce Morris, Marshall Univ, makes a 92' 5¬" basketball shot
- 1985 - Michael Gross swims world record 800m freestyle (7:38.75)
- 1985 - Opposition leader Kim Dae Jung returns to South-Korea
- 1986 - 5' 7" Spud Webb of Atlanta Hawks wins NBA Slam Dunk Competition
- 1986 - US male Figure Skating championship won by Brian Boitano
- 1987 - 37th NBA All-Star Game: West beats East 154-149 (OT) at Seattle
- 1987 - Nancy Lopez wins LPGA Sarasota Golf Classic
- 1988 - NASA launches DOD-2
- 1989 - 5 cm of snow falls in outskirts of Los Angeles
- 1989 - Jockey Chris Antley begins record of 64 consecutive winning days
- 1989 - US Boeing 707 crashes into Santa Maria mountain, 145 die
- 1990 - David Hares "Racing Demon," premieres in London
- 1990 - "60 Minutes" commentator Andy Rooney suspended by CBS for racial remarks attributed to him by a gay magazine
- 1991 - Roger Clemens signs record $5,380,250 per year Red Sox contract
- 1992 - "I'm Too Sexy" by Right Said Fred peaks at #1
- 1992 - 16th Winter Olympic games opens in Albertville, France
- 1992 - Ulysses spacecraft passes Jupiter
- 1993 - Suchoi-24 crashes into Tupolev passenger flight, 134 die
- 1993 - GM sues NBC, alleging that "Dateline NBC" program had rigged 2 car-truck crashes to show that 1973-87 GM pickups were prone to fires
- 1994 - Jack Nicholson uses a golf club to attack a car
- 1994 - Kapil Dev sets world record for Test Cricket wickets with 432
- 1994 - Mtley Cre drummer Tommy Lee charge with possession of loaded firearm
- 1995 - 6.4 earthquake at Trujillo, Colombia (46+ killed)
- 1996 - NFL & Cleveland allows Art Modell to move his NFL franchise to Balt but he had to leave the Browns' name behind
- 1998 - 1st female ice hockey game in Olympic history Finland beats Sweden 6-0
- 1998 - 48th NBA All-Star Game: East beats West 135-114 at NYC
- 1998 - NHL stops season until Feb 24th to accomodate the Olympics