- 660 BC Traditional date for the founding of Japan by Emperor Jimmu
55 Tiberius Claudius Caesar Britannicus, heir to the Roman Emperorship, dies under mysterious circumstances in Rome, clearing the way for Nero to become Emperor
- 385 Siricius, bishop of Tarragona, elected as Bishop of Rome; first to style himself Pope
- 731 Gregory III begins his reign as Catholic Pope
- 824 St Paschal I ends his reign as Pope
- 1543 Battle at Wayna Daga: Ethiopian and Portuguese troops beat Muslim army
- 1659 The assault on Copenhagen by Swedish forces is beaten back with heavy losses
- 1720 Sweden and Prussia sign the Second Treaty of Stockholm
- 1766 Stamp Act declared unconstitutional in Virginia
Massachusetts Circular Letter
1768 Samuel Adams' letter opposing taxes in the Townshend Act circulates around the American colonies
- 1790 Society of Friends petitions Congress for abolition of slavery
- 1793 Prussian troops occupy Venlo, Netherlands
- 1794 First session of US Senate open to the public
PM William Grenville
1806 William Grenville becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom following the death of William Pitt the Younger
- 1808 Anthracite coal is first burned as fuel experimentally in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania
- 1811 President Madison prohibits trade with Britain for 3rd time in 4 years
- 1812 Massachusetts Governor Elbridge Gerry signs a redistricting bill - first "gerrymander"
- 1814 Norway's independence proclaimed
- 1826 University College London founded; known until 1836 as London University
- 1837 American Physiological Society organizes in Boston
- 1840 Gaetano Donizetti's opéra comique "La Fille du Regiment" (The Daughter of the Regiment) premieres at the Salle de la Bourse in Paris, France
I Lombardi
1843 Giuseppe Verdi's dramatic opera "I Lombardi" premieres at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan, Italy
- 1851 Inaugural first-class cricket match in Australia; Tasmania vs. Victoria in Launceston; Tasmania wins by 3 wickets
- 1852 First British public female toilet opens (Bedford Street, London)
- 1854 For the 1st time coal gas is used to light major streets in San Francisco
- 1855 Kassa Hailu is crowned Tewodros II, Emperor of Ethiopia, by Abuna Salama III in a ceremony at the church of Derasge Maryam
- 1858 First vision of the Virgin Mary to 14-year-old Bernadette of Lourdes, France
- 1861 US House unanimously passes a resolution guaranteeing noninterference with slavery in any state
Lincoln Takes the Train
1861 US President-elect Abraham Lincoln travels by train from Springfield, Illinois, to Washington, D.C.
- 1873 Spanish Cortes fires king Amadeus I
- 1878 First US bicycle club, the Boston Bicycle Club, forms
- 1878 First weekly weather report is published in the UK
- 1889 Japan adopts the Meiji Constitution, the first Diet or Parliament convenes in 1890
- 1895 -17°F (-27.2°C) in Braemar, Grampian (UK record)
- 1895 Georgetown became part of Washington, D.C.
- 1897 White Rose Mission opens on East 97th Street, NYC
- 1898 Owen Smith of NC, AME Zion minister, named US minister to Liberia
- 1899 -15°F (-26°C), Washington, D.C. (district record)
- 1902 Police beat up universal suffrage demonstrators in Brussels
Bruckner's 9th Symphony
1903 Anton Bruckner's 9th Symphony premieres by the Wiener Concertvereinsorchester, under conductor Ferdinand Löwe, in his own unauthorized arrangement, at Wiener Musikvereinssaal in Vienna, Austria
Expedition Act
1903 US Congress adopts the Expedition Act, which authorizes the Attorney General to 'expedite' anti-trust cases through the courts, reflecting growing popular support for President Theodore Roosevelt's "trust busting" campaign
- 1905 James Blackstone, Seattle, bowls 299½-last pin breaks but stands
- 1905 Pope Pius X publishes encyclical Vehementer nos
- 1907 De Master's Dutch government resigns
- 1907 Passenger ship Larchmont sinks by Block Island, off Rhode Island, 322 die
- 1908 Heemskerk's government begins in Holland
- 1916 Baltimore Symphony Orchestra presents its 1st concert, led by Gustav Strube of the Peabody Institute, at the Lyric Theatre
Goldman Arrested for Lecture
1916 Emma Goldman arrested for lecturing on birth control
- 1916 Germany and Austria-Hungary notify the US that they will sink any armed merchant ships starting on 1 March
Wilson's Four Principles
1918 US President Woodrow Wilson makes another speech before Congress and announces 'the Four Principles' - freedom of navigation, and end to secret diplomacy, and similar items - that supplement his Fourteen Points
- 1921 Ambassador Theater opens at 215 W 49th St NYC
- 1922 Influential arts festival Semana de Arte Moderna (Modern Art Week) opens in São Paulo - the beginning of Modernism in Brazil
- 1922 US intervention army leaves Honduras
- 1926 UK transfers administration of Tokelau (Union) Islands in South Pacific to New Zealand
- 1928 II Winter Olympic Games open in St Moritz, Switzerland
- 1929 Eugene O'Neill's play "Dynamo" premieres in NYC
- 1929 Vatican City, the world's smallest country, becomes an enclave of Rome
- 1932 73°F highest temperature ever recorded in Cleveland in February
- 1932 Johan Grøttumsbraaten leads a Norwegian medal sweep of the Nordic combined event at the Lake Placid Games; retains combined title after also winning in St. Moritz
- 1935 -11°F (-24°C), Ifrane, Morocco (African record low)
- 1935 First US airplane flight with an automobile slung beneath the fuselage occurs in New York
- 1936 Pumping begins to build Treasure Island in San Francisco Bay
- 1937 44-day sit-down strike at General Motors in Flint Mich ends
- 1938 Steve Casey beats Lou Thesz in Boston to win the American Wrestling Association World Heavyweight Championship
1st Science Fiction TV Show
1938 World's first science fiction TV program is a broadcast of the play R.U.R. by Karel Čapek
- 1941 Sicherheitsdienst complains about Dutch anti German sentiments
- 1942 "Archie" comic book debuts
- 1943 Transport #47 departs with French Jews to nazi-Germany
Eisenhower Given European Command
1943 US General Eisenhower selected to command the allied armies in Europe; British General Montgomery not best pleased
- 1944 German troops reconquer Aprilia, Italy
- 1944 U-424 sunk off Ireland
1945 Declaration of Liberated Europe is signed at the Yalta Conference by Franklin D. Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and Joseph Stalin, declaring that liberated nations are to establish democratic governments through free elections
- 1945 First gas turbine propeller-driven airplane flight test in Downey, California
- 1946 World War II: Royal Navy's Operation Deadlight ends after scuttling 116 of 156 captured German U-boats
- 1948 Billy Griffith scores cricket century on debut Eng v WI, out for 140
- 1948 John Costello follows Eamon Da Valera as premier of Ireland
- 1948 Test cricket debut of Frank Worrell for the West Indies vs. England at Port-of-Spain
Lovesick Blues
1949 "Lovesick Blues" single is released by Hank Williams (Cashbox "Best Hillbilly Record of the Year," Billboard Song of the Year 1949)
- 1949 Willie Pep recaptures world featherweight boxing title
- 1950 "Rag Mop" by The Ames Brothers hits #1
- 1950 4th British Empire Games close in Auckland, New Zealand
- 1950 Englishman Jack Holden wins Empire Games marathon in Auckland, New Zealand in 2:32:57; runs last 9 miles barefoot after his shoes fell apart during the race
1st General Election in the Gold Coast
1951 Kwame Nkrumah and his Convention People's Party wins 1st legislative general election in the Gold Coast (Ghana) in a landslide
- 1953 President Eisenhower refuses clemency appeal for Rosenberg couple
- 1953 USSR breaks diplomatic relations with Israel
- 1954 6th Emmy Awards: I Love Lucy, Donald O'Connor & Eve Arden win
- 1956 British diplomats Guy Burgess and Donald Maclean deny working as spies for Soviet Russia after reappearing in the Soviet Union after going missing 5 years earlier
- 1957 KUMV TV channel 8 in Williston, ND (NBC) begins broadcasting
NHL Players Association
1957 NHL Players Association forms (NYC), Red Wings' Ted Lindsay elected president
- 1958 BBC pioneering series "Your Life in Their Hands" first broadcast presented by Dr. Charles Fletcher, 1st major TV series to deal with medicine
Hanyu Pinyin Adopted
1958 China's 1st National People's Congress adopts the first edition of Hanyu Pinyin created by Zhou Youguang as the official romanization system for Standard Mandarin Chinese
- 1958 Marshal Chen Yi succeeds Chu En-lai as Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs
- 1958 Ruth Carol Taylor is 1st African-American woman hired as flight attendant, Ithaca NY
- 1958 WTVC TV channel 9 in Chattanooga, TN (ABC) begins broadcasting
- 1959 Vinoo Mankad ends his final Test Cricket (v WI at Delhi)
- 1960 Jack Paar walks off his TV show
- 1961 Robert Weaver sworn in as Administrator of the Housing and Home Finance Agency, the 1st African American to be appointed to a US cabinet-level position
- 1963 American chef Julia Child's show "The French Chef" premieres on WGBH in Boston; one of the first cooking shows in the US
- 1963 CIA Domestic Operations Division created
- 1963 The Beatles record 10 of the 14 tracks for their first UK album "Please Please Me" in marathon recording session
- 1964 Greeks and Turks begin fighting in Limassol, Cyprus
- 1964 Taiwan drops diplomatic relations with France
- 1964 The Beatles' first concert appearance in the US is at the Washington Coliseum in Washington, D.C.
- 1965 Braves propose to pay 5 cents from each ticket to bring a new team to Milwaukee
- 1966 SF Giants outfielder Willie Mays signs baseball's highest contract at $130,000 per year
- 1968 Israeli-Jordan border fight
- 1968 Jeffrey Kramer survives 76-m jump, Washington Bridge, Hudson River New York
- 1968 Madison Square Garden III closes Madison Square Garden IV opens (NYC)
- 1969 Dorey Funk Jr beats Gene Kiniski in Tampa, to become NWA champ
- 1970 26.37 cm (10.38") of rainfall, Mt Washington, NH (state 24-hr rec)
- 1970 Japan becomes the fourth nation to put a satellite (Ohsumi) in orbit
Lennon Pays Protestors Fines
1970 John Lennon pays £1,344 fines for 96 protesting South African rugby team playing in Scotland
- 1971 Montreal Canadien John Believau scores his 500th NHL goal
- 1971 US, UK, USSR, and others sign the Seabed Arms Control Treaty outlawing nuclear weapons on the ocean floor
- 1973 First one-day international for Pakistan and New Zealand
Gould's Record Swim
1973 First sub-17-minute 1,500m female freestyle swim is achieved by Australian swimmer Shane Gould in 16m 56.9s
- 1973 Philadelphia 76ers lose their 20th consecutive NBA game
- 1974 First Major League Baseball arbitration case; Minnesota Twins pitcher Dick Woodson seeking $29,000 wins; Twins offered $23,000
- 1974 Libya nationalizes three US oil companies that had not agreed to 51 percent nationalization in September
- 1974 Titan-Centaur rocket test launch fails
Project Independence
1974 US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger unveils Nixon Administration's seven-point "Project Independence" plan to make the U.S. energy independent
- 1975 TV drama "Sarah T: Portrait of A Teenage Alcoholic" starring Linda Blair, premieres on US network NBC
- 1976 Clifford Alexander Jr confirmed as 1st African American US Secretary of Army
- 1976 John Curry wins Britain's first Olympic gold medal in figure skating at Innsbruck Winter Games; finishes men's singles ahead of Soviet skater Vladimir Kovalyov and Canadian Toller Cranston
- 1977 20.2-kg lobster caught off Nova Scotia (heaviest known crustacean)
- 1978 16 Unification church couples wed in NYC
- 1978 25th hat trick in NY Islander history, Denis Potvin's 2nd
- 1978 EOKA disbands in Cyprus
Khomeini Seizes Power
1979 Iran's Prime Minister Shapour Bakhtiar resigns after losing support of the military; Ayatollah Khomeini seizes power
- 1981 Australia all out 83 v India at MCG chasing 143 to win
- 1982 Ozzie Smith for Garry Templeton trade between San Diego Padres and St. Louis Cardinals finally goes through, after 62 days [1]
"Weird Al" Yankovic
1983 "Weird Al" Yankovic records "Ricky" and "Buckingham Blues" to complete his debut LP, at Scotti Brothers Studio in Santa Monica, California
- 1983 4th largest snowfall in NYC history (18"(46 cm))
Total Eclipse of the Heart
1983 Single "Total Eclipse of the Heart" sung by Bonnie Tyler and composed by Jim Steinman is released
- 1984 10th NASA Space Shuttle Mission (41B): Challenger 4 returns to Earth
- 1984 Wayne Gretzky sets NHL short handed season scoring record at 11
- 1985 English pop stars Boy George and Culture Club appear on American TV action-adventure series "The A-Team" episode "Cowboy George"
- 1985 Kent Hrbek signs 5-year $6 million contract with Minnesota Twins
- 1985 King Hussein of Jordan & PLO leader Arafat sign accord
- 1986 Activist Anatoly Scharansky released by USSR, leaves country
- 1986 Iran begins Fajr-8 offensive against Iraq
- 1987 British Airways begins trading stocks
- 1987 Philippines constitution goes into effect
- 1987 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
- 1989 US Episcopal Church Diocese of Massachusetts installs Barbara Harris (59) as 1st female bishop of a US Episcopal church
Tyson vs. Douglas
1990 In a huge upset, James "Buster" Douglas KOs Mike Tyson in 10th round in Tokyo, Japan to win the world heavyweight boxing title
Mandela Released from Prison
1990 Nelson Mandela is released after 27 years of imprisonment in South Africa
- 1991 Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO) forms in The Hague, Netherlands
- 1992 F-16 jet crashes at residential district of Hengelo, Netherlands (No deaths)
- 1992 Michael Johnson runs indoor world record 400m (44.97 sec)
- 1993 Irina Privalova runs world record 60m indoor (6.92 secs)
1st Female Attorney General
1993 President Clinton selects Janet Reno to be first female US Attorney General
- 1994 Space Shuttle STS-60 (Discovery 18) lands
- 1995 Danyon Loader swims world record 400m freestyle (340.46)
- 1995 Sandra Volker swims European record 50m backstroke (27.67 sec)
- 1995 Space shuttle STS-63 (Discovery 19), lands
- 1995 West Indies score 5-660 against New Zealand in Test cricket
- 1997 Bill Parcells becomes head coach of NY Jets
- 1997 STS 82 (Discovery 22) launches
Radio Station Dangles $5m
1998 KVBC-FM (Las Vegas) offers Monica Lewinsky $5m for an exclusive tell-all, she ignores the request
- 1998 Lyrics to "Candle in the Wind 1997" auctioned for $442,500
- 1999 Pluto moves further away from the sun than Neptune regaining its status as solar system's outermost planet, a title it will retain for 228 years
Cheney's Hunting Accident
2006 US Vice President Dick Cheney accidentally shoots and injures Harry Whittington while on a quail hunt on a ranch in Riviera, Texas
- 2007 A national referendum in Portugal legalises non-therapeutic abortion when requested by the woman during the first 10 weeks of pregnancy.
- 2008 In East Timor, assassination attempts made on independence activists Xanana Gusmao and Jose Ramos-Horta. Both fail.
Geller Buys Lamb Island
2009 Uri Geller purchases Lamb Island, Scotland, previously known for its witch trials
Egyptian Revolution
2011 Egyptian Revolution culminates in the resignation of Hosni Mubarak and the transfer of power to the Supreme Military Council after 18 days of protests during the Arab Spring
- 2012 Israeli Air Force conducts four air strikes in Gaza Strip
- 2013 18 coal miners are killed in an explosion in the Komi region, Russia
Benedict XVI Resigns
2013 Pope Benedict XVI announces his resignation effective February 28, becoming the first pope to resign since 1415
- 2014 11 people are killed after a grenade was tossed into a movie theatre in Peshawar, Pakistan
- 2014 77 people are killed after a military transport plane crashes in Algeria
- 2014 Peace talks resume in Geneva as leaders attempt to bring an end to the civil war in Syria
- 2014 Slopestyle freestyle skiing event makes Olympic debut at Sochi Winter Games; Canadian Dara Howell is inaugural women's gold medallist
- 2015 Francesco Schettino, Captain of the Costa Concordia that ran aground 2012, is convicted of manslaughter in Grosseto and sentenced to 16 years in jail
- 2016 Discover of gravitational waves (through collision of two black holes) announced by physicists from the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (Ligo)
- 2016 Last of Oregon militia occupying Malheur wildlife refuge surrenders to authorities after 41 days
- 2016 Riot between rival drug cartels at a prison in Monterrey, Mexico, leaves 52 dead
- 2016 Sixth Democratic presidential candidates debate, broadcast on CNN and PBS, and held in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
- 2018 Dutchman Sven Kramer becomes only male speed skater to win same Olympic event 3 times, claiming gold in the 5,000m at Pyongchang; first man to win total 8 Olympic medals in the sport
Inventing Modern Art in Brazil
2018 MOMA opens a major solo exhibition for Brazilian artist Tarsila do Amaral in New York [1]
- 2018 Norway sweeps the medals in the Olympic 30k cross country skiathlon at Pyeongchang; Simen Hegstad Krüger wins gold ahead of teammates Martin Johnsrud Sundby & Hans Christer Holund
- 2018 Russian airliner crashes south-east of Moscow, killing all 71 on board
- 2019 Artificial Intelligence system meant to assist diagnosis in the future, pitted against physicians in test to diagnose 600,000 patients in results published in "Nature Medicine", A.I. won, just
- 2020 "The Hot Wing King" a play by Katori Hall premieres off-Broadway at Signature Theatre in New York (Pulitzer Prize 2021 for Drama) [1]
Sanders Wins in New Hampshire
2020 Bernie Sanders wins the New Hampshire Democratic primary
- 2020 Largest wave ever surfed by a woman by Brazilian Maya Gabeira riding a 73.5ft (22.4m) wave at Nazaré, Portugal
- 2020 Snow falls in Baghdad, Iraq, for only the second time in a century
- 2020 US Attorney General, William Barr recommends cutting suggested sentence of Roger Stone, prompting prosecutors to resign
- 2021 Caitlin Clark scores a season-high 39 points for Iowa against Nebraska, breaking the single-game scoring record for Pinnacle Bank Arena
- 2021 California's COVID-19 death toll overtakes New York's, reaching 45,496 amid first sign of falling infection numbers (Johns Hopkins)
- 2021 UK Kent COVID-19 strain set "to sweep the world" and become the dominant strain globally according to UK scientist Sharon Peacock after strain detected in over 50 countries (later named Alpha)
Biden Rescinds Border Order
2021 US President Joe Biden rescinds the national emergency order used by Donald Trump to fund the border wall with Mexico
- 2021 World's second oldest person, French nun Sister André, celebrates her 117th birthday after surviving COVID-19 in Toulon
- 2022 Australia lists the koala as endangered for the first time in Queensland, New South Wales and ACT after a steep decline in numbers [1]
- 2024 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) final; hosts Ivory Coast defeat Nigeria 2-1 at Alassane Ouattara Stadium, Abidjan [1]
- 2024 Argentina's first female saint María Antonia de Paz y Figueroa, (Mama Antula) canonised at a ceremony attended by President Javier Milei at the Vatican [1]
- 2024 Former Finnish Prime Minister Alexander Stubb wins the presidential election over the Green Party [1]
- 2024 Super Bowl LVIII is the most-watched TV program in US history, averaging 123.4 million viewers across television and streaming platforms [1]
2024 Super Bowl LVIII, Allegiant Stadium, Las Vegas, Nevada: Kansas City Chiefs win back to back titles and 3rd in 5 years with an overtime 25-22 win over the SF 49ers; MVP: Patrick Mahomes, KC, QB
Usher Headlines Halftime Show
2024 Usher performs the halftime show at Super Bowl LVIII with guests Alicia Keys, will.i.am, Lil Jon, H.E.R. and Ludacris [1]
