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Today February 3rd 2009 this day in history Read more below to view events, deaths, births, Holidays observances and video clips. Last database updated: Jan 17th, 2009
Events
1112 – Ramon Berenguer III of Barcelona and Douce I of Provence marry, uniting the fortunes of those two states.
1377 – more than 2,000 people of the Italian city of Cesena are slaughtered by Papal Troops (Cesena Bloodbath).
1451 – Sultan Mehmed II inherits the throne of the Ottoman Empire.
1488 – Bartolomeu Dias of Portugal lands in Mossel Bay after rounding the Cape of Good Hope, becoming the first known European to travel so far south.
1509 – The Battle of Diu, between Portugal and the Ottoman Empire takes place in Diu, India.
1690 – The colony of Massachusetts issues the first paper money in America.
1706 – During the Battle of Fraustadt Swedish forces defeat a superior Saxon-Polish-Russian force by deploying a double envelopment.
1783 – American Revolutionary War: Spain recognizes United States independence.
1787 – Shays Rebellion is crushed.
1807 – A British military force, under Brig-Gen. Sir Samuel Auchmuty captures the city of Montevideo, then part of the Spanish Empire now capital of Uruguay.
1809 – The Illinois Territory is created.
1830 – The sovereignty of Greece was confirmed in a London Protocol.
1834 – Wake Forest University is established.
1867 – Emperor Meiji becomes the 122nd emperor of Japan.
1870 – The Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified, granting voting rights to citizens regardless of race.
1900 – Gubernatorial candidate William Goebel is assassinated in Frankfort, Kentucky.
1908 – Foundation of Panathinaikos in Athens, Greece.
1913 – The Sixteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified, authorizing the Federal government to impose and collect an income tax.
1916 – Parliament buildings in Ottawa, Canada burn down.
1917 – World War I: The United States breaks off diplomatic relations with Germany a day after the former announced a new policy of unrestricted submarine warfare.
1918 – The Twin Peaks Tunnel begins service as the longest streetcar tunnel in the world at 11,920 feet (3,633 meters) long.
1923 – The Alpha Zeta chapter of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia founded at Pennsylvania State University.
1930 – The Communist Party of Vietnam is established.
1931 – The Hawke s Bay earthquake, New Zealand s worst natural disaster, kills 258.
1941 – World War II: Nazi Germany forcibly restores Pierre Laval to office in occupied Vichy, France.
1944 – World War II: United States troops capture the Marshall Islands.
1945 – World War II: The Soviet Union agrees to enter the Pacific Theatre conflict against Japan.
1945 – World War II: As part of Operation Thunderclap, 1,000 B-17 s of the Eighth Air Force bomb Berlin.
1947 – The lowest temperature in North America is recorded in Snag, Yukon.
1957 – Senegalese political party Democratic Rally merges into the Senegalese Party of Socialist Action (PSAS).
1958 – Founding of the Benelux Economic Union, creating a testing ground for a later European Economic Community.
1959 – A plane crash near Clear Lake, Iowa kills Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, The Big Bopper, and Roger Peterson also known as The Day the Music Died.
1966 – The unmanned Soviet Luna 9 spacecraft makes the first controlled rocket-assisted landing on the Moon.
1967 – Ronald Ryan, the last person to be executed in Australia, is hanged in Pentridge Prison, Melbourne.
1969 – In Cairo, Yasser Arafat is appointed Palestine Liberation Organization leader at the Palestinian National Congress.
1971 – New York Police Office Frank Serpico is shot during a drug bust in Brooklyn and survives to later testify against police corruption.. Many believed the incident proved NYPD officers tried to kill him.
1984 – Space Shuttle program: STS-41-B Mission – Astronauts, Bruce McCandless II and Robert L. Stewart make first untethered spacewalks using the Manned Maneuvering Unit.
1988 – Iran-Contra Affair: The United States House of Representatives rejects President Ronald Reagan s request for $36.25 million to aid Nicaraguan Contras.
1989 – After a stroke, P.W. Botha resigns party leadership and the presidency of South Africa.
1989 – A military coup overthrows Alfredo Stroessner, dictator of Paraguay since 1954.
1991 – The Italian Communist Party dissolves and splits into the Democratic Party of the Left and the Communist Refoundation Party.
1996 – 7.0 Earthquake in Lijiang, Yunnan, China.
1998 – Karla Faye Tucker is executed in Texas becoming the first woman executed in the United States since 1984.
1998 – Cavalese cable-car disaster: a United States Military pilot causes the death of 20 people when his low-flying plane cuts the cable of a cable-car near Trento, Italy.
1999 – In Jammu and Kashmir the political party Democratic Janata Dal (Jammu and Kashmir) is revived.
2007 – A Baghdad market bombing kills at least 135 people and injures a further 339.
Births
1338 – Jeanne de Bourbon, wife of Charles V of France (d. 1378)
1677 – Jan Santini Aichel, Czech architect (d. 1723)
1690 – Richard Rawlinson, English minister (d. 1755)
1721 – Friedrich Wilhelm von Seydlitz, Prussian general (d. 1773)
1747 – Samuel Osgood, American patriot (d. 1813)
1777 – John Cheyne (physician), British physician, surgeon and author (d. 1836)
1795 – Antonio José de Sucre, South American independence leader (d. 1830)
1807 – Joseph E. Johnston, Confederate general (d. 1891)
1808 – Princess Marie of Saxe-Weimar, Princess of Prussia (d. 1877)
1809 – Felix Mendelssohn, German composer (d. 1847)
1811 – Horace Greeley, American journalist, editor, and publisher (d. 1872)
1817 – Achille Ernest Oscar Joseph Delesse, French geologist (d. 1881)
1821 – Elizabeth Blackwell, American physician (d. 1910)
1824 – Ranald MacDonald, Canadian-born Scottish educator and interpreter (d. 1894)
1826 – Walter Bagehot, British essayist, journalist and businessman, (d. 1877)
1830 – Robert Arthur Talbot Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1903)
1842 – Sidney Lanier, American writer (d. 1881)
1843 – William Cornelius Van Horne, American-born railway pioneer and executive (d. 1915)
1859 – Hugo Junkers, German aircraft designer (d. 1935)
1862 – James Clark McReynolds, American Supreme Court Justice (d. 1946)
1872 – Lou Criger, American baseball player (d. 1934)
1874 – Gertrude Stein, American writer (d. 1946)
1876 – William Tedmarsh, silent movie actor (d. 1937)
1887 – Juan Negrín, Spanish Prime Minister (d. 1956)
1887 – Georg Trakl, Austrian poet (d. 1914)
1889 – Carl Theodor Dreyer, Danish film director, (d. 1968)
1893 – Gaston Julia, French mathematician (d. 1978)
1894 – Norman Rockwell, American illustrator (d. 1978)
1898 – Alvar Aalto, Finnish architect (d. 1976)
1899 – João Café Filho, Brazilian president (d. 1970)
1899 – Lao She, Chinese writer (d. 1966)
1899 – Doris Speed, English actress (d. 1994)
1904 – Luigi Dallapiccola, Italian composer (d. 1975)
1904 – Pretty Boy Floyd, American gangster (d. 1934)
1905 – Arne Beurling, American mathematician(d. 1986)
1907 – James Michener, American author (d. 1997)
1909 – André Cayatte, French filmmaker (d. 1989)
1909 – Simone Weil, French philosopher (d. 1943)
1911 – Jehan Alain, French organist and composer (d. 1940)
1911 – Robert Earl Jones, American actor (d. 2006)
1912 – Jacques Soustelle, French anthropologist (d. 1990)
1913 – Richard Seaman, British racing driver (d. 1939)
1918 – Joey Bishop, American entertainer, member of the Rat Pack (d. 2007)
1918 – Helen Stephens, American runner (d. 1994)
1920 – Henry Heimlich, American physician
1920 – Tony Gaze, Australian racing driver
1923 – Alys Robi, Quebec singer
1924 – E. P. Thompson, English socialist historian, (The Making of the English Working Class), (d. 1993)
1924 – Martial Asselin, French Canadian politician and lieutenant governor of Quebec
1925 – Keith Dunstan, Australian author and journalist
1925 – John Fiedler, American voice actor (d. 2005)
1925 – Leon Schlumpf, member of the Swiss Federal Council
1926 – Shelley Berman, American comedian
1926 – Hans-Jochen Vogel, German politician
1927 – Kenneth Anger, American Underground Filmmaker
1927 – Val Doonican, Irish singer and entertainer
1927 – Joan Lowery Nixon, American writer (d. 2003)
1927 – Blas Ople, Filipino politician (d. 2003)
1928 – Frankie Vaughan, British singer (d. 1999)
1929 – Ken Shipp, American football coach
1930 – Gillian Ayres, English painter
1932 – Peggy Ann Garner, American actress (d. 1984)
1933 – Paul Sarbanes, American politician
1938 – Victor Buono, American actor (d. 1982)
1938 – Emile Griffith, US Virgin Islands professional boxer
1939 – Michael Cimino, American film director
1940 – Fran Tarkenton, American football player
1941 – Neil Bogart, American record executive (d. 1982)
1941 – Dory Funk, Jr., American professional wrestler
1943 – Blythe Danner, American actress
1943 – Dennis Edwards, American singer (The Temptations)
1943 – Shawn Phillips, American singer, guitarist and songwriter
1944 – Trisha Noble, Australian singer and actress
1945 – Johnny Cymbal, American singer and songwriter (d. 1993)
1945 – Bob Griese, American football player
1947 – Paul Auster, American novelist
1947 – Dave Davies, British musician (The Kinks)
1947 – Stephen McHattie, Canadian actor
1947 – Melanie Safka, American singer-songwriter
1948 – Carlos Felipe Ximenes Belo, East Timor politician, Nobel Peace laureate
1948 – Henning Mankell, Swedish author
1949 – Arthur Kane, American musician
1949 – Hennie Kuiper, Dutch cyclist
1950 – Morgan Fairchild, American actress
1951 – Eugenijus Riabovas, Lithuanian football manager
1952 – Fred Lynn, American baseball player
1953 – Savvas Tsitouridis, Greek politician
1954 – Tiger Williams, Canadian ice hockey player
1955 – Stephen Euin Cobb, American novelist
1955 – Kirsty Wark, British broadcast journalist
1956 – John Jefferson, American football player
1956 – Nathan Lane, American actor
1956 – Lee Ranaldo, American musician (Sonic Youth)
1957 – Chico Serra, Brazilian racing driver
1957 – Steven Stapleton, British musician (Nurse With Wound)
1958 – N. Gregory Mankiw, American economist
1959 – Thomas Calabro, American actor
1959 – Yasuharu Konishi, Japanese musician (Pizzicato Five)
1959 – Lol Tolhurst, British musician (The Cure)
1960 – Kerry Von Erich, American wrestler (d. 1993)
1960 – Marty Jannetty, American Wrestler
1961 – Jay Adams, American skateboarder
1961 – Linda Eder, American singer
1961 – Keith Gordon, American actor
1962 – Michele Greene, American actress
1965 – Karlous Marx Shinohamba, Namibian politician
1965 – Maura Tierney, American actress
1966 – Frank Coraci, American film director
1967 – Dave Benson-Phillips, Children s TV Presenter
1967 – Bob Taylor, English footballer
1968 – Vlade Divac, National Basketball Association player
1969 – Retief Goosen, professional golfer
1970 – Oscar Cordoba, Colombian footballer
1970 – Warwick Davis, British actor
1971 – Sean Dawkins, American former football player
1971 – Elisa Donovan, American actress
1971 – Vincent Elbaz, French actor
1971 – Sarah Kane, English playwright (d. 1999)
1971 – Hong Seok-cheon, South Korean actor
1972 – Mart Poom, Estonian football player
1972 – Jesper Kyd, Film and Video game music composer
1973 – Ilana Sod, Mexican journalist
1974 – Konrad Galka, Polish swimmer
1974 – Miriam Yeung, Hong Kong actress
1976 – Mathieu Dandenault, Canadian hockey player
1976 – Isla Fisher, Australian actress
1976 – Dwayne Rudd, American football player
1976 – Tim Heidecker, American comedian
1977 – Daddy Yankee , reggaeton singer/rapper.
1978 – Adrian R Mante, American actor
1978 – Eliza Schneider, American actress and singer
1980 – Sarah Lewitinn, American writer
1981 – Alisa Reyes, American actress and singer
1981 – Maurice Ross, Scottish footballer
1982 – Alan Gurr, Australian V8 Supercar driver
1982 – Jessica Harp, American singer (The Wreckers)
1983 – Richard Bartel, National Football League quarterback
1983 – Silambarasan Rajendar,famous south Indian actor
1989 – Slobodan Rajkovic, Serbian footballer
1989 – Ryne Sanborn, American actor
1990 – Sean Kingston, American reggae rapper
Deaths
619 – Laurence of Canterbury, 2nd Archbishop of Canterbury
699 – Saint Werburgh
1014 – King Sweyn I of Denmark
1116 – King Coloman of Hungary (b. 1070)
1399 – John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster (b. 1340)
1428 – Ashikaga Yoshimochi, Japanese shogun (b. 1386)
1451 – Murad II, Ottoman Sultan (b. 1404)
1468 – Johannes Gutenberg, German publisher
1566 – George Cassander, Flemish theologian (b. 1513)
1619 – Henry Brooke, 11th Baron Cobham, English conspirator (b. 1564)
1737 – Tommaso Ceva, Italian Mathematician (b. 1648)
1802 – Pedro Rodríguez, Conde de Campomanes, Spanish statesman (b. 1723)
1832 – George Crabbe, English naturalist (b. 1754)
1862 – Jean-Baptiste Biot, French physicist (b. 1774)
1866 – François-Xavier Garneau, French Canadian poet and historian (b. 1809)
1874 – Lunalilo, Hawaiian monarch (b. 1835)
1889 – Belle Starr, American outlaw (b. 1848)
1922 – John Butler Yeats, Northern Irish artist (b. 1839)
1924 – Woodrow Wilson, 28th President of the United States, Nobel laureate (b. 1856)
1929 – Agner Krarup Erlang, Danish scientist (b. 1878)
1935 – Hugo Junkers, German engineer (b. 1859)
1936 – Sophie of Schönburg-Waldenburg, consort of William of Wied, Prince of Albania (b. 1885)
1937 – Marija Leiko, Latvian film actress (b. 1887)
1945 – Roland Freisler, Nazi leader (b. 1893)
1947 – Marc Mitscher, American Navy Admiral (b. 1887)
1956 – Émile Borel, French mathematician (b. 1871)
1956 – Johnny Claes, Belgian racing driver (b. 1916)
1959 – The Day the Music Died
Buddy Holly, American singer (b. 1936)
Roger Peterson, pilot (b. 1937)
Ritchie Valens, American singer (b. 1941)
J.P. The Big Bopper Richardson, American singer (b. 1930)
1960 – Fred Buscaglione, Italian singer and actor (b. 1921)
1961 – Viscount Dunrossil, Australian governor-general (b. 1893)
1964 – Sir Albert Richardson, English architect (b. 1880)
1967 – Joe Meek, English record producer (b. 1929)
1969 – Eduardo Mondlane Mozambican independence founder (b. 1920)
1975 – William D. Coolidge, American physicist and inventor (b. 1873)
1975 – Umm Kulthum, Egyptian singer (b. 1904)
1985 – Frank Oppenheimer, American physicist (b. 1912)
1989 – John Cassavetes, American actor (b. 1929)
1989 – Lionel Newman, American movie music orchestra leader, composer and arranger (b. 1916)
1991 – Harry Ackerman, American TV executive producer (b. 1912)
1991 – Nancy Kulp, American actress (b. 1921)
Holidays and observances
Japan – the festival of Setsubun before spring.
Mozambique – Heroes Day.
United States – Four Chaplains Day.
United States – the earliest calendar day that Mardi Gras can occur.
Saint Blaise, Catholics visit churches to have their throats blessed.
Aaron the Illustrious, saint of the Syriac Orthodox Church
Saint Ansgar, patron saint of Denmark
Saint Hadelin
Saint Werburgh
Saint Berlindis
Saint Margaret of England
Saint Nona and Saint Celsa
February 3 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
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