February 11

February 11 is the 42nd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 323 days remaining, 324 in leap years.

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Events:

• 660 BC -- Traditional founding date of Japan by Emperor Jimmu Tenno.
• 385 -- Oldest Pope elected; Siricius, bishop of Tarragona.
• 731 -- Gregory II ends his reign as Pope.
• 824 -- Paschal I ends his reign as Pope.
• 1531 -- King Henry VIII recognized as supreme head of the Church in England.
• 1543 -- Battle of Wayna Daga - Ethiopian/Portugese troops beat Muslim army.
• 1720 -- Sweden & Prussia sign peace (2nd Treaty of Stockholm).
• 1752 -- Pennsylvania Hospital, the 1st hospital in the US, opened.
• 1790 -- Society of Friends petitions Congress for abolition of slavery.
• 1794 -- 1st session of US Senate open to the public.
• 1808 -- Anthracite coal 1st burned as fuel, experimentally.
• 1809 -- Robert Fulton patents the steamboat.
• 1810 -- Napoleon marries Marie-Louise of Austria.
• 1812 -- Massachusetts governer Elbridge Gerry invents gerrymandering.
• 1814 -- Norway's independence is proclaimed.
• 1826 -- London University is founded.
• 1837 -- American Physiological Society organizes in Boston.
• 1840 -- Gaetano Donizetti's opera "La Fille du Regiment" premieres in Paris.
• 1843 -- Giuseppe Verdi's opera "I Lombardi" premieres in Milan.
• 1852 -- 1st British public toilet for women opens in Bedford Street London.
• 1854 -- Major streets lit by coal gas for 1st time.
• 1858 -- Virgin Mary appears to St Bernadette of Lourdes.
• 1861 -- US House unanimously passes resolution guaranteeing noninterference with slavery in any state.
• 1873 -- Spanish Cortes fires king Amadeus I.
• 1878 -- 1st US bicycle club, Boston Bicycle Club, forms.
• 1878 -- 1st weekly Weather report published in UK.
• 1889 -- Meiji constitution of Japan adopted; 1st Diet convenes in 1890.
• 1896 -- Oscar Wilde's play "Salomé" premieres in Paris.
• 1902 -- Police beat up universal suffrage demonstrators in Brussels.
• 1903 -- Anton Bruckner's 9th Symphony premieres in Vienna.
• 1905 -- Pope Pius X publishes the encyclical Vehementer nos.
• 1907 -- De Master's Dutch government resigns.
• 1907 -- Passenger ship Larchmont sinks by Block Island, 322 die.
• 1908 -- Australia regain the Ashes with a 308 run cricket victory over England.
• 1908 -- Heemskerk's government begins in the Netherlands.
• 1916 -- Emma Goldman arrested for lecturing on birth control.
• 1916 -- Baltimore Symphony Orchestra presents its 1st concert.
• 1919 -- Friedrich Ebert (SPD), elected President of Germany.
• 1927 -- US female Figure Skating championship won by Beatrix Loughran.
• 1927 -- US male Figure Skating championship won by Nathaniel Niles.
• 1928 -- 2nd Winter Olympics opens in St. Moritz, Switzerland.
• 1929 -- Italy and the Vatican sign the Lateran Treaty.
• 1929 -- Eugene O'Neill's "Dynamo" premieres in New York NY.
• 1937 -- A sit-down strike ends when General Motors recognises the United Automobile Workers Union.
• 1938 -- Steve Casey beats Lou Thesz in Boston to become wrestling champion.
• 1941 -- 1st Gold record presented to Glenn Miller for Chattanooga Choo Choo.
• 1941 -- Lieutenant-General Erwin Rommel arrives in Tripoli.
• 1941 -- Sicherheitsdienst complains about Dutch anti German sentiments.
• 1942 -- "Archie" comic book debuts.
• 1943 -- General Eisenhower selected to command the allied armies in Europe.
• 1945 -- Yalta Conference ends.
• 1948 -- John Costello follows Eamon De Valera as premier of Ireland.
• 1951 -- Kwame Nkrumah wins 1st parliamentary election on Gold Coast (Ghana).
• 1953 -- President Eisenhower refuses clemency appeal for Rosenberg couple.
• 1953 -- USSR breaks diplomatic relations with Israel.
• 1958 -- Marshal Chen Yi succeeds Chou En-Lai as Minister of Foreign affairs.
• 1958 -- Ruth Carol Taylor is 1st African-American woman hired as flight attendant.
• 1960 -- Jack Paar walks off his TV show.
• 1961 -- Trial of Adolf Eichmann begins in Jerusalem.
• 1963 -- The Beatles tape 10 tracks for their 1st album, including "Please, Please Me".
• 1963 -- CIA Domestic Operations Division is created.
• 1964 -- The Beatles have their 1st live appearance in US in the Washington DC Coliseum.
• 1964 -- Greeks & Turks begin fighting in Limassol, Cyprus.
• 1964 -- Taiwan drops diplomatic relations with France.
• 1965 -- Beatle Ringo Starr marries Maureen Cox.
• 1968 -- Jeffrey Kramer survives 76 meter jump, Washington Bridge, Hudson River NY.
• 1968 -- Peggy Fleming wins Olympics figure skating gold medal, Grenoble, France.
• 1968 -- Israeli-Jordan border clashes.
• 1968 -- Madison Square Garden III closes Madison Square Garden IV opens in New York.
• 1969 -- Diana Crump becomes 1st US woman jockey to ride against men.
• 1970 -- John Lennon pays £1,344 fines for 96 people who had protested against the South African rugby team playing in Scotland.
• 1970 -- Japan becomes the fourth country to launch a satellite into orbit.
• 1971 -- US, UK, USSR, others sign Seabed Treaty outlawing nuclear weapons.
• 1973 -- First release of American prisoners of war from Vietnam takes place.
• 1975 -- Margaret Thatcher defeats Edward Heath for Conservative leadership.
• 1976 -- Clifford Alexander Jr confirmed as 1st black Secretary of US Army.
• 1977 -- 20.2-kg lobster caught off Nova Scotia (heaviest known crustacean).
• 1978 -- 16 Unification Church couples wed in New York NY.
• 1978 -- China lifts a ban on works by Aristotle, Shakespeare, & Dickens.
• 1979 -- 43 million viewers watch "Elvis!" on ABC.
• 1979 -- Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini seizes power in Iran.
• 1981 -- Polish premier Jozef Pinkowski replaced by Wojciech Jaruzelski.
• 1985 -- Jordan king Hussein & PLO leader Arafat sign accord.
• 1985 -- Wasim Akram takes 10 wickets in his 2nd Test Cricket match, but New Zealand still wins.
• 1986 -- Rights activist Anatoly Scharansky released by USSR, leaves the country.
• 1987 -- British Airways begins trading stocks.
• 1987 -- Philippines constitution goes into effect.
• 1987 -- US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site.
• 1988 -- Anthony M Kennedy appointed to the Supreme Court.
• 1989 -- Barbara Clementine Harris consecrated 1st female bishop in the Episcopalian Church.
• 1989 -- US female Figure Skating championship won by Jill Trenary.
• 1990 -- James "Buster" Douglas KOs Mike Tyson to win heavyweight boxing crown.
• 1990 -- Nelson Mandela, a political prisoner for 27 years, is freed from Victor Verster prison outside Cape Town, South Africa.
• 1990 -- US male Figure Skating championship won by Todd Eldredge.
• 1991 -- UNPO, the Unrepresented Nations & People Organization forms in The Hague, Netherlands.
• 1992 -- F-16 jet crashes into a residential district of Hengelo, the Netherlands. No causalties are reported..
• 1992 -- Michael Johnson runs an indoor world record over 400 meters.
• 1993 -- Howard Stern's radio show begins transmitting to Rochester NY.
• 1993 -- Irina Privalova runs a world indoor record over 60 meters.
• 1993 -- Janet Reno is selected by President Clinton as US Attorney General.
• 1995 -- Danyon Loader swims world record 400 meters freestyle.
• 1995 -- Mark Foster swims world record 50 meters butterfly.
• 1995 -- Sandra Volker swims European record 50 meters backstroke.
• 1995 -- US male Figure Skating championship won by Todd Eldredge.
• 1997 -- Bill Parcells becomes head coach of New York Jets.

Births:

• 1380 -- Gianfrancesco Poggio Bracciolini, Italian humanist.
• 1465 -- Elizabeth of York, British consort of King Henry VII.
• 1535 -- Gregory XIV (Niccolò Sfondrati), Pope (1590-1591).
• 1557 -- John Uijtenbogaert Dutch remonstrant theologian.
• 1568 -- Honore d'Urfe French writer.
• 1657 -- Bernard Le Bovier Fontenelle, French scientist and man of letters.
• 1755 -- Albert Christoph Dies, composer.
• 1764 -- Marie-Joseph de Chenier French poet.
• 1774 -- Hans Jarta, Swedish political activist/administrator/publicist.
• 1776 -- Joannis Capodistrias Greek governor of Troezen (1827-31).
• 1790 -- Ignaz Assmayer, composer.
• 1800 -- William Henry Fox Talbot, English photographic pioneer.
• 1802 -- Lydia Child.
• 1810 -- Loisa Puget, composer.
• 1812 -- Alexander Hamilton Stephens, Vice President (Confederacy).
• 1812 -- Benjamin Franklin Sands, Commander (Union Navy).
• 1813 -- Otto Ludwig, German novelist/playwright/critic.
• 1819 -- Samuel Parkman Tuckerman, composer.
• 1821 -- Auguste Edouard Mariette, French Egyptologist who dug out the Sphinx..
• 1821 -- Hermann Allmers, writer.
• 1829 -- William Anderson Pile Bvt Major General (Union volunteers).
• 1830 -- Hans Bronsart von Schellendorf, composer.
• 1830 -- Peter Arnold Heise, composer.
• 1833 -- Melville Weston Fuller 8th chief justice of US.
• 1839 -- Josiah Willard Gibbs theoretical physicist/chemist.
• 1840 -- Samuel Dana Greene, Lieutenant Commander (Union Navy).
• 1847 -- Thomas Alva Edison, American inventor.
• 1860 -- Rachilde [Marguerite Vallette-Eymery], French author.
• 1867 -- August W Messer, German philosopher/educator/psychologist.
• 1869 -- Helene Kroller-Muller Dutch museum founder and patron of the arts.
• 1873 -- [Feodor Chaliapine]], Russian author/novelist.
• 1874 -- Elsa Beskow (Maartman), Swedish children's book/fairy tales author.
• 1874 -- Fritz Bennicke Hart, composer.
• 1875 -- Sara Wennerberg-Reuter, composer.
• 1879 -- Jean Gilbert, composer.
• 1882 -- Gheorghe Cucu composer.
• 1883 -- Paul August von Klenau Danish composer/conductor.
• 1887 -- Ernst Hanfstängl German/US pianist/politician.
• 1887 -- John van Melle South African writer.
• 1889 -- John Mills, American musician.
• 1889 -- Vladimir Mikhaylovich Deshevov composer.
• 1890 -- John de Vries, fairy tale writer.
• 1891 -- J W Hearne English cricket player.
• 1893 -- Johan Alberts Dutch literary figure.
• 1894 -- Alfonso Leng, composer.
• 1894 -- Isaac Kolthoff chemist.
• 1895 -- Viktor Nikolayevich Trambitsky, composer.
• 1896 -- Else Lasker-Schüler, writer.
• 1897 -- Yves de La Casiniere, composer.
• 1898 -- Leo Szilard, Hungarian physicist/A-bomb worker/peace activist.
• 1900 -- Thomas Hitchcock Jr, polo player.
• 1900 -- Hans-Georg Gadamer, German philosopher.
• 1902 -- Arne Jacobsen Danish architect/designer.
• 1903 -- Hans Redlich, composer.
• 1903 -- Rex Lease, American actor.
• 1904 -- Henry LaBouisse, head of UNICEF (1965-1979).
• 1904 -- Sir Keith Holyoake, New Zealand Prime Minister (1960-72).
• 1905 -- Elizabeth Vuyk, Dutch/Indonesian writer.
• 1906 -- Denis Barnett, British air chief marshal.
• 1907 -- E W Swanton, author & sports commentator.
• 1908 -- Sutan Takdir Alishahbana, Indonesian linguistic/author/novelist.
• 1908 -- Vivian Ernest Fuchs, geologist/explorer.
• 1908 -- Josh White.
• 1909 -- Joseph Mankiewicz.
• 1909 -- Max Baer (The Livermore Larruper), American boxer/actor.
• 1911 -- Alec Cairncross chancellor of Glasgow University.
• 1912 -- Roy Fuller English poet/novelist.
• 1912 -- Rudolf Firkusny Napajedla, Czechoslovakian, pianist.
• 1913 -- Lucio Diestro, composer.
• 1914 -- Matt Dennis, singer.
• 1914 -- French Duynstee, Dutch constitutional lawyer.
• 1914 -- Menelaos Pallantios, composer.
• 1914 -- Winand Borgerhoff Mulder court judge of Amsterdam.
• 1915 -- Haakon Stotijn, Dutch oboist.
• 1915 -- Mervyn Levy, artist/critic.
• 1915 -- Patrick Leigh Fermor, author.
• 1916 -- Bernice Levin Neugarten, social scientist/gerontologist.
• 1916 -- Joseph Alioto, Mayor of San Francisco.
• 1917 -- Richard Jock Kinneir, graphic designer.
• 1917 -- Sidney Sheldon, author.
• 1919 -- Gretchen Fraser, slalom skier.
• 1919 -- Eddie Robinson, football coach.
• 1920 -- Billy Halop, actor.
• 1920 -- Daniel Francis Galouye, American science fiction author.
• 1920 -- Farouk I, last King of Egypt (1936-52).
• 1920 -- Paul Peter Piech, artist.
• 1921 -- Eva Gabor, Hungarian actress.
• 1921 -- Lloyd Bentsen, American politician.
• 1922 -- Leslie Nielsen, actor.
• 1922 -- Tudor Jarda, composer.
• 1923 -- Ronald Arculus, British diplomat.
• 1924 -- Mary Tregear, Oriental art historian.
• 1925 -- Peter Berger, British Vice-Admiral.
• 1925 -- Kim Stanley, actress.
• 1925 -- Virginia Johnson, doctor/sexologist.
• 1926 -- Paul Bocuse French chef.
• 1926 -- Alexander Gibson British conductor/founder of the Scottish Opera.
• 1928 -- Conrad Janis, actor.
• 1928 -- Archibald Forster, CEO (Esso UK).
• 1928 -- Gerry AlexanderWest Indies cricket player.
• 1928 -- Raoul Cita, rocker.
• 1929 -- Leonard Gregory Kastle, composer.
• 1930 -- Alevtina Koltschina Soviet skier.
• 1930 -- C H Dearnley, organist.
• 1931 -- Larry Merchant, author/boxing commentator.
• 1932 -- Jerome Lowenthal, pianist/professor.
• 1934 -- Francesco Pennisi, composer.
• 1934 -- John Surtees, British race car driver.
• 1934 -- Patrick Holmes Sellors, ophthalmologist.
• 1934 -- Mary Quant, fashion designer.
• 1934 -- Tina Louise, actress.
• 1935 -- Sergio Mendes -- an alternative source gives 1941.
• 1935 -- Gerry Goffin.
• 1935 -- Bent Lorentzen, composer.
• 1935 -- Gene Vincent, American rock guitarist/vocalist -- an alternative source gives 1943.
• 1936 -- Burt Reynolds, American actor..
• 1937 -- Bill Lawry, Australian cricket player.
• 1937 -- Lodewijk Boer, Dutch violinist/playwright.
• 1937 -- Marilyn Butler, Rector of Exeter College, Oxford University.
• 1937 -- Peter Lashley, West Indies cricket player.
• 1938 -- Boris Majorov, Soviet ice hockey player.
• 1938 -- Yevgeniy Majorov, Soviet ice hockey player.
• 1938 -- Bevan Congdon,New Zealand cricket player.
• 1938 -- Willy Correa de Oliveira, composer.
• 1938 -- Manuel Noriega, Panamanian general and dictator.
• 1939 -- Gerry Goffin, rock lyricist.
• 1939 -- Jane Hyatt Yolen, science fiction author.
• 1940 -- Calvin Fowler basketball player.
• 1940 -- John Fink, actor.
• 1940 -- Bobby Picket, rocker.
• 1941 -- Glenn Randall Jr, stuntman.
• 1941 -- Jeremy Mackenzie, general.
• 1942 -- Archie Andrews, (comic book character).
• 1942 -- Leon Haywood, vocalist/keyboardist.
• 1942 -- Tony Colton, rock producer.
• 1942 -- Otis Clay, gospel/R&B-singer.
• 1943 -- Iain Cameron British brigadier.
• 1944 -- Bert Greene golfer.
• 1944 -- Buddhadev Dasgupta, film director.
• 1944 -- Michael G Oxley, American politician.
• 1946 -- M C Walker, CEO of Iceland Frozen Foods.
• 1946 -- Timothy Chambers pediatrician.
• 1948 -- Sue Bernard, Playboy magazine's playmate for December 1966.
• 1949 -- Charlie Hargrett, rock guitarist.
• 1950 -- Earnest Jim Istook, American politician.
• 1950 -- Johanna E Beerens, actress.
• 1950 -- Rochelle Fleming, soul music vocalist.
• 1953 -- Philip Anglim, actor.
• 1953 -- Stephen D Thorne, astronaut.
• 1953 -- Alan Rubin music figure.
• 1954 -- Catherine Hickland, actress -- an alternative source gives 1956.
• 1956 -- Kathleen Beller, actress.
• 1958 -- Michael Jackson, controller of BBC2.
• 1958 -- Regina Marsikova, Czechoslovakian tennis player.
• 1959 -- Corinne Shigemoto, US judo coach.
• 196- -- Bianca Ferguson actress.
• 1960 -- Richard A Mastracchio, astronaut.
• 1960 -- Michel Clasquin. wikipedian
• 1961 -- Mary Docter, American speed skater.
• 1961 -- Becky LeBeau, vocalist.
• 1961 -- Carey Lowell, actress.
• 1962 -- Sheryl Crow, American singer.
• 1962 -- Scott Kolden, actor.
• 1963 -- Todd Benzinger American baseball player.
• 1965 -- Angie Ridgeway, golfer.
• 1965 -- Stephen Gregory, actor.
• 1966 -- Anthony Parker, American football player.
• 1966 -- Patrick Kuhnen, West German tennis player.
• 1966 -- Stephen Gregory, actor.
• 1967 -- Barbara Byrne, American rower.
• 1967 -- [[Chris Reohr], American fencer.
• 1967 -- John Patterson US baseball player.
• 1969 -- Shannon Long Gladstone, Australian Playboy magazine's playmate for October 1988.
• 1969 -- Bryan Eversgerd US baseball player.
• 1969 -- Jennifer Aniston, American actress.
• 1970 -- Alistair Brown, English cricket player.
• 1970 -- Jason Allyn Scott, US rower.
• 1972 -- Dennis Iliohan, Dutch football player.
• 1974 -- D'Angelo, singer.
• 1975 -- Chuck Watanabe, kayaker.
• 1976 -- Brice Beckham, actor.
• 1977 -- Jessica Carlson, US archer.
• 1977 -- Stephanie Richardson, Canadian swimmer.
• 1979 -- Brandy Norwood, singer.
• 1980 -- Matthew Lawrence, actor.
• 1980 -- Natasha Bobo, actress.

Deaths:

• 641 -- Heraclius, emperor of Byzantium (610-641)..
• 731 -- Gregory II Greek-Syrian Pope.
• 821 -- Benedict of Aniane, saint.
• 824 -- Paschal I Italian Pope (817-824).
• 867 -- Theodora the Saint, beauty queen/empress of Byzantium.
• 1141 -- Hugo of St. Victor, philosopher/theologian/mystic.
• 1503 -- Elizabeth of York, consort of King Henry VII, dies on her 38th birthday.
• 1543 -- Ahmed Gran, sultan of Adal.
• 1554 -- Lady Jane Grey, deposed Queen of England.
• 1622 -- Alfonso Fontanelli, composer.
• 1650 -- René Descartes, philosopher.
• 1685 -- David Teniers III, Flemish painter.
• 1762 -- [[Johann Tobias Krebs], composer.
• 1797 -- Antoine Dauvergne, composer.
• 1806 -- Vicente Martin y Soler, composer.
• 1841 -- J H Ferdinand Olivier, German painter.
• 1868 -- Léon Foucault, astronomer.
• 1870 -- Jacob M de Kempenaer, Dutch Minister of Internal Affairs (1848-1849).
• 1870 -- Leopold Eugen Mechura, composer.
• 1879 -- Honore Daumier, caricaturist/painter.
• 1879 -- Willem J van Zeggelen, Dutch author.
• 1882 -- Gustav Schmidt, composer.
• 1892 -- Erik Anthon Valdemar Siboni, composer.
• 1894 -- [[Pasqual Juan Emilio Arrieta y Corera composer, dies at 70.
• 1899 -- George Morgan becomes the 1st English motorist to die in an motor accident.
• 1901 -- Milan I, king of Serbia.
• 1903 -- Henryk Szulc, composer.
• 1907 -- Peter J Savelberg, Dutch monastery founder.
• 1911 -- Albert von Rothschild, baron/Austrian banker.
• 1922 -- Gerardus J P Bolland, Dutch philosopher.
• 1931 -- Charles Algernon Parsons, British inventor.
• 1939 -- Franz Schmidt, Austrian composer.
• 1940 -- John Buchan, 1st Baron Tweedsmuir, Governor-General of Canada (1935-1940).
• 1941 -- Rudolf Hilferding, German economist/Minister of Finance.
• 1944 -- Ivan Sollertinski, friend of Russian composer Dimitri Shostakovich.
• 1945 -- Al Dubin, Swiss songwriter.
• 1945 -- J S H Lokerman, Dutch resistance fighter.
• 1948 -- Sergei Eisenstein, film director.
• 1961 -- Eduard R Verkade, Dutch actor/director.
• 1961 -- Patrice Lumumba, 1st premier of Congo (Kinshasa).
• 1963 -- Sylvia Plath, poet/novelist.
• 1968 -- Howard Lindsay, US playwright.
• 1969 -- James Lanphier, actor.
• 1970 -- Emil Abranyi, composer.
• 1971 -- Whitney Young Jr, National Urban League director.
• 1972 -- Jan Wils, architect.
• 1973 -- Hans D Jensen, German physicist.
• 1974 -- Anna Q Nilsson, actress.
• 1976 -- Lee J Cobb, actor.
• 1976 -- Alice Allen, actress.
• 1976 -- Charlie Naughton, actor.
• 1977 -- Louis J M Beel, Dutch premier (1946-1948, 1958-1959).
• 1978 -- James B Conant, headmaster of Harvard University.
• 1982 -- Eleanor Powell, tap dancer/wife of Glenn Ford.
• 1982 -- Takashi Shimura, Japanese actor.
• 1985 -- Heinz Eric Roemheld, composer.
• 1985 -- Henry Hathaway actor/director.
• 1985 -- Ulysses Sipmson Kay, composer.
• 1986 -- Frank Herbert, science fiction author.
• 1989 -- George O'Hanlon, actor/director.
• 1991 -- Oscar Nitzchke, German architect.
• 1992 -- Ray Danton, US actor/director.
• 1993 -- George A Stephen, inventor .
• 1993 -- Joy Garrett, actress.
• 1993 -- Oksana Kostina, Russian gymnast.
• 1994 -- Antonio Martin, Spanish cyclist.
• 1994 -- Sorrell Brooke, actor.
• 1994 -- William Conrad, actor.
• 1996 -- Amelia Rosselli, poet.
• 1996 -- Bob Shaw, science fiction writer.
• 1996 -- Cyril Poole, English cricket player.
• 1996 -- Kebby Musokotwane, prime minister of Zambia (1985-1989).
• 1996 -- Phil Regan, actor.
• 1997 -- Don Porter, actor.

Holidays and observances:

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See Also: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December

February 10 - February 12 - January 11 - March 11 - more historical anniversaries