February 10th in History
1635: Academie Francaise is founded in Paris by Cardinal Richelieu
1763: The Peace of Paris ceedes Canada to Britain
1897: New York Times begins using slogan "All the News That's Fit to Print."
1931: New Delhi becomes the capital city of India
1942: The first ever record 'Gold Disc' is presented to Glenn Miller
1954: Eisenhower warns against US intervention in Vietnam, saying it has potential to turn into a quagmire.
1986: Largest ever Mafia trial, in Palermo, Sicily
1986: Jean Claude Duvalier of Haiti flees the country to France


February 10th birthdays
1870: Fritz Klimsch, German sculptor.
1890: Boris Pasternak, Russian author.
1898: Bertolt Brecht, German poet and dramatist
1906: Lon Chaney Jr., American actor.
1930: Robert Wagner, American actor

February 11th in History
1818: Chile proclaims independance
1943: General Eisenhower selected to command the allied armies in Europe
1945: Yalta agreement signed by FDR, Churchill and Stalin
1970: Japan launches its first satellite into orbit
1990: After being in prison for 27 years, Nelson Mandela is freed


February 11th birthdays
1657: Bernard Fontenelle, French scientist.
1800: Henry Fox Talbot, Pioneer of photography
1847: Thomas Edison, American inventor
1908: Vivian Fuchs, British Antartic explorer
1909: Joseph Mankiewicz, American director.
1921: Eva Gabor, American actress.
1926: Leslie Nielsen, American actor
1936: Burt Reynolds, American actor

February 12th in History
1818: Chile gains independence from Spain
1912: China becomes a republic, after centuries of rule by an Emperor
1915: Cornerstone laid for Lincoln Memorial
1950: Albert Einstein warns against hydrogen bomb.
1961: First spacecraft to the planet Venus launched
1973: American prisoners captured in Vietnam are released
1994: Edward Munch's painting "The Scream" is stolen from the Norwegian National Gallery. It is later returned and promptly stolen again.


February 12th birthdays
1809: Charles Darwin, English scientist
1809: Abraham Lincoln, Former (16th) US President
1923: Franco Zeffirelli, Italian director
1933: Costa Gavras, Argentinian director.

February 13th in History
1924: King Tut's tomb is opened
1955: Israel acquires four of seven known Dead Sea scrolls
1960: The French test their first atomic bomb in the Sahara
1974: Russian novelist Alexander Solzhenitsyn is expelled from the USSR


February 13th birthdays
1892: Grant Wood, American painter.
1901: Georges Simenon, Belgian novelist
1933: Kim Novak, American actress.
1933: Emanuel Ungaro, French fashion designer.
1934: George Segal, American actor
1938: Oliver Reed, British actor

February 14th in History
1903: US Dept of Commerce and Labor is established
1924: Thomas Watson opens IBM
1929: The St Valentines Day Massacre, in Chicago, between rival gansters
1950: USSR and China sign peace treaty.
1963: First successful kidney transplant


February 14th birthdays
1766: Thomas Malthus, British philosopher.
1817: Frederick Douglass, African-American abolitionist.
1819: Christopher Sholes, American inventor of the typewriter
1894: Jack Benny, American actor
1944: Alan Parker, British director
1944: Carl Bernstein, American journalist (Watergate).

February 15th in History
1804: New Jersey becomes last northern state to abolish slavery
1936: Hitler announces building of Volkswagen
1942: Singapore surrenders to Japanese forces
1971: Britain changes its currency to the decimal system
1974: Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn arrives in Switzerland after being expelled from the USSR
1989: Soviet military occupation of Afghanistan ends


February 15th birthdays
1564: Galileo Galilei, Italian scientist and astronomer
1882: John Barrymore, American actor.
1931: Claire Bloom, English actress
1951: Jane Seymour, English actress
1954: Matt Groening, American cartoonist.

February 16th in History
1913: President Taft agrees not to intervene in Mexican civil war
1937: Nylon is patented
1956: Britain abolishes the death penalty
1959: Fidel Castro becomes the President of Cuba, overthrowing Fulgenico Batista
1960: The nuclear powered submarine 'Triton' sets off on its round the world underwater voyage


February 16th birthdays
1834: Ernst Haeckel, German naturalist
1866: Johann Strauss, Austrian composer.
1920: Patti Andrews, Of the 'Andrews Sisters'
1926: John Schlesinger, American director

February 17th in History
1864: First successful warship attack by a submarine during the American Civil War
1880: The Russian tsar survives an attempted bomb assassination
1883: Vacant/Engaged toilet door sign patented
1913: New York Armory Show introduces Picasso, Matisse, Duchamp to American public. The show is considered "shocking" and calls to close it are made
1933: US Senate accepts Blaine Act, ending prohibition
1972: The Volkswagen 'Beetle' becomes the most successful production model, selling over 15 million vehicles
1972: President Nixon leaves Washington DC for communist China
1972: The House of Commons votes in favour of Britain joining the Common Market


February 17th birthdays
1766: Thomas Malthus, English economist
1924: Margaret Truman, American writer.
1929: Yasser Arafat, Palestinian leader and Nobel Prize winner
1934: Alan Bates, English actor
1934: Barry Humphries, Australian actor
1954: Rene Russo, American actress.

February 18th in History
1841: First continuous filibuster in US Senate began, lasting until March 11
1915: During World War 1, Germany blockades Britain with submarines
1921: British troops occupy Dublin, Ireland
1930: Pluto discovered by Clyde Tombaugh
1965: Gambia gains independence
1972: A report suggested that alcohol abuse was the nation's biggest problem


February 18th birthdays
1517: Mary Tudor, Daughter of Henry VIII
1745: Alessandro Volta, Italian scientist
1838: Ernst Mach, British Physicist, after whom Mach speed numbers are named
1896: Andre Breton, French poet.
1931: Toni Morrison, American writer.
1942: Milos Forman, Czech director.
1954: John Travolta, American actor
1959: Greta Scacchi, American actress

February 19th in History
1878: Thomas Edison patents the phonograph
1906: William Kellogg founds his breakfast cereal company
1976: Iceland breaks off diplomatic relations with Britain over the 'cod war'
1992: North and South Korea officially end their 40 year confrontation


February 19th birthdays
1473: Nicolaus Copernicus, Polish astronomer
1743: Luigi Boccherini, Italian composer and cellist
1924: Lee Marvin, American actor