Historical Events and Current Affairs on February 2

1032: Koenraad II succeeds Rudolf III as king of Bourgundy
1119: Guido di Borgogna elected Pope Callistus II
1141: Battle at Lincoln: King Stephen captured
1461: 2nd battle of St Alban's-Lancastrian defeat Yorkists
1536: Pedro de Mendoza finds Argentine city of Buenos Aires
1550: English Edward Seymour duke of Somerset, freed
1633: M Rossi's opera "Erminia sul Giordano," premieres in Rome
1637: Zorilla's "El m s Impropio Verdugo Para Las," premieres in Madrid
1653: New Amsterdam becomes a city (later NYC)
1709: British sailor Alexander Selkirk is rescued after being marooned on a
1709: desert island for 5 years, his story inspires "Robinson Crusoe"
1714: Nicholas Rowe's "tragedy of Jane Shore," premieres in London
1731: Georg F H„ndels opera "Poro," premieres in London
1732: King Frederik Willem I moves Lutherans towards East-Prussia
1742: British Walpole govt resigns
1762: Thomas Arnes opera "Artaxerxes," premieres in London
1795: Joseph Haydns 102nd Symphony in B, premieres
1798: Federal St Theater, Boston, becomes 1st in US destroyed by fire
1802: 1st leopard exhibited in US, Boston (admission 25›)
1811: Russian settlers establish Ft Ross trading post, north of SF
1823: Rossini's opera "Semiramide" premieres in Venice
1829: Madman Jonathan Martin sets York Cathedral afire, does œ60,000 damage
1843: US & British settlers in Oregon Country choose govt committee
1848: 1st ship load of Chinese arrive in SF
1848: California, New Mexico & Arizona for $15 million
1848: Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ends Mexican War; US acquires Texas
1852: 1st British public men's toilet opens (Fleet St London)
1852: Alexandre Dumas Jr's "Le Dame aux Cam‚lias," premieres in Paris
1854: Pope Pius IX encyclical "On persecution of Armenians"
1863: Samuel Clemens becomes Mark Twain for 1st time
1864: -Oct 7th) Cruise of CSS Florida
1869: James Oliver invents removable tempered steel plow blade
1870: Cardiff Giant (supposed petrified human) proved to be gypsum
1870: Mark Twain, 34, marries Olivia Langdon in Elmira, NY
1876: Baseball's National League forms with teams in Boston, Chicago,
1876: Cincinnati, Hartford, Louisville, New York, Philadelphia, St Louis
1878: Greece declares war on Turkey
1880: SS Strathleven arrives in London with 1st Australian frozen mutton
1882: Knights of Columbus forms in New Haven, Conn
1892: Bottle cap with cork seal patented by William Painter (Baltimore)
1892: Johnny Briggs takes a hat-trick, England v Aust SCG
1892: Longest boxing match under modern rules; 77 rounds in
1892: Nameoki, Illinois between Harry Sharpe & Frank Crosby
1893: 1st movie close-up (of a sneeze), Edison studio, West Orange, NJ
1894: US warship Kearsarge wrecked on Roncador Reef, near Solomon Island
1900: Gustave Charpentiers opera "Louise" premieres in Paris
1901: Female Army Nurse Corps established as a permanent organization
1904: US blues singer Gertrude Pridgett marries comic William Rainey
1906: Pope encyclical against separation of church & state
1909: Italian writer Marinetti publishes Futurist Manifest in Paris
1912: Frederick R Law, parachutes from Statue of Liberty (stunt for Pathe)
1913: NY football Giants sign Jim Thorpe
1913: NYC's Grand Central Terminal opens
1914: James Royce Shannon's musical "Shameen Dhu," premieres in NYC
1919: Monarchist riot in Portugal
1920: Estonia declares its Independence from Russia (Dorpat Peace)
1920: France occupies (German) Memel territory
1920: Tarto/Dorpat peace treaty: USSR recognizes Estonian independence
1922: It was 2:22:22 on 2/2/22
1922: James Joyce's "Ulysses" published in Paris (1,000 copies)
1923: Ethyl gasoline 1st marketed, Dayton, Ohio
1923: US signs friendship treaty with Central American countries
1924: International Ski Federation (FIS) forms
1925: Belgian episcopacy rejects liberalism, communism & socialism
1925: Dogsleds reach Nome with emergency diphtheria serum after 1000-km
1925: NL holds Golden Jubilee Year meeting at same hotel where NL began
1926: 3 men dance Charleston for 22« hours
1927: Harry Tierney/Joseph McCarthy's "Rio Rita," premieres in NYC
1927: Ziegfeld Theater (Loew's Ziegfeld) opens at 6th Ave & 54th St NYC
1931: 1st siyyum of Talmud celebrated by Daf Yomi students
1931: 1st use of a rocket to deliver mail (Austria)
1932: Al Capone sent to prison (Atlanta, Georgia)
1932: Geneva disarmament conference begins with 60 countries
1932: Grimmett takes 14 wickets v South Africa (7-116 & 7-83)
1932: Reconstruction Finance Corp organized
1933: 2 days after becoming chancellor, Adolf Hitler dissolves Parliament
1933: G”ring bans communist meetings/demonstrations in Germany
1933: Ucicky's "Rotten Morning," premieres in Berlin
1934: Dutch RC Bishops warn against fascism/nazism
1935: Lie detector 1st used in court (Portage Wisc)
1940: Frank Sinatra's singing debut in Indianapolis (Tommy Dorsey Orch)
1942: LA Times urges security measures against Japanese-Americans
1942: US auto factories switch from commercial to war production
1943: Battle of Stalingrad ends with final surrender of the German army
1943: Cubs return to original uniform after experimenting with a vest
1943: German 6th Army surrenders at Stalingrad, turning point of WW II
1944: 4th US marine division conquerors Roi, Marshall Islands
1944: Allied troops 1st set foot on Japanese territory
1944: Baseball meets in NYC to discuss postwar action
1944: Edward Chodorov's "Decision," premieres in NYC
1945: Escape attempt at Mauthausen concentration camp
1946: "Nellie Bly" closes at Adelphi Theater NYC after 16 performances
1948: President Truman urges congress to adopt a civil rights program
1949: 1st 45 RPM record released
1950: "Arms & the Girl" opens at 46th St Theater NYC for 134 performances
1950: 1st broadcast of "What's My Line," on CBS-TV
1951: -35øF (-37øC), Greensburg, Indiana (state record until 1994)
1951: US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1954: Bevo Francis, Rio Grande College, scores 113 pts in basketball game
1954: Pres Eisenhower reports detonation of 1st H-bomb (done in 1952)
1954: Snow falls on Gibraltar
1955: 1st presidential news conference on network TV-Eisenhower on ABC
1956: Coasters sign with Atlantic Records
1957: "Candide" closes at Martin Beck Theater NYC after 73 performances
1957: Liz Taylor's 3rd marriage (Mike Todd)
1957: UN adopts a resolution calling for Israeli troops to leave Egypt
1958: Syria joins Egypt in United Arab Republic
1958: WRIK (now WLUZ) TV channel 7 in Ponce, PR (PTC) begins broadcasting
1959: Buddy Holly's last performance
1959: Vince Lombardi signs a 5 year contract to coach Green Bay Packers
1960: Michale Eufemia sinks 625 balls in pool match without a miss
1961: Prince Bernhard opens new RAI building in Amsterdam
1962: 1st pole vault over 16' (4.88m) (John Uelses-16¬', Melrose Games)
1962: 8 of 9 planets align for 1st time in 400 years
1962: USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
1963: Helen Shapiro begins tour (Beatles are part of undercard)
1964: GI Joe, debuts as a popular American boy's toy
1964: Red Faber, Burleigh Grimes, Tim Keefe, Heinie Manush, John Montgomery
1964: Sjoukje Dijkstra (Neth) wins Olympic gold for figure skating
1964: Ward, & Miller Huggins are selected to Hall of Fame
1965: Joe Ortons "Loot," premieres in Brighton
1967: Bolivia adopts its constitution
1967: Formation of American Basketball Association is announced
1968: Springer Publishers in West Berlin, bombed
1969: KMST TV channel 46 in Monterey-Salinas, CA (CBS) begins broadcasting
1969: Stan Coveleski & Waite Hoyt are voted into baseball Hall of Fame
1970: Pete Maravich becomes 1st to score 3,000 college basketball points
1971: Idi Amin ousts Milton Obote to become dictator of Uganda
1972: Lefty Gomez, Ross Youngs & William Harridge selected for Hall of Fame
1972: Tom Stoppard's "Jumpers," premieres in London
1973: "Midnight Special" rock music show debuts on NBC-TV
1973: James R Schlesinger, becomes 9th director of CIA (until July)
1973: Richath Helms, ends term as 8th director of CIA
1974: Barbra Striesand's 1st #1 hit, "The Way We Were"
1974: Pope Paul VI encyclical "To Honor Mary"
1974: Smallest crowd at Cleveland Arena (Cavs vs Golden State-1,641)
1975: Army offensive against rebels in Eritrea Ethiopia
1975: US female Figure Skating championship won by Dorothy Hamill
1975: US male Figure Skating championship won by Gordon McKellen Jr
1976: "Honeymooners Second Honeymoon" airs on TV
1976: "Rich Little Show," debuts on NBC-TV
1976: Roger Connor, Fred Lindstrom & ump Cal Hubbard elected to Hall of Fame
1977: Burn up of Salyut 4 Space Station (USSR)
1977: Radio Shack officially begins creating TRS-80 computer
1977: Toronto's Ian Turnbull scores 5 goals, NHL REcord for a defenseman
1980: elected & public officials for bribes for political favors
1980: FBI releases details of Abscam, a sting operation that targeted 31
1982: "Late Night with David Letterman" premieres on NBC
1982: Govt troops & Moslem-fundamentalists battle in Hamah Syria
1982: San Diego beats Miami 41-38 in OT after blowing a 24-0 lead
1983: Chicago Absp Joseph L Bernardin is among 18 new cardinals invested
1983: Pope John Paul II names 18 new cardinals
1984: 8th Soap Opera Digest Poll Awards
1984: Lebanese army fight in Beirut
1985: US male Figure Skating championship won by Brian Boitano
1986: "Jerome Kern Goes to Hollywood" closes at Ritz NYC after 13 perfs
1986: Dalai Lama meets Pope John Paul II in India
1986: NFL Pro Bowl: NFC beats AFC 28-24
1986: Oscar Arias Sanchez elected president of Costa Rica
1987: KC Royal pitcher Dennis Leonard (3X 20 game winner), retires
1987: Philippines adopts constitution
1989: 0øF (-18øC) or below in 15 US states
1989: FW de Klerk replaces Botha as South Africa's National Party leader
1989: NL announces Yanks' broadcaster Bill White will be 1st black president
1990: & legalizes ANC & 60 other political orgs
1990: Marina Ogilvy (daughter of Engl princess Alexandra) weds Paul Mowatt
1990: South Africa's Pres FW de Klerk promises to free Nelson Mandela
1991: Aravinda De Silva scores 267 v NZ at Wellington
1991: NH snaps its 32-game losing streak at home beating Holy Cross, 72-56
1991: US postage is raised from 25› to 29›
1992: Danny Everett runs world record 400m indoor (45.02 sec)
1992: IRS & Willie Nelson settle on $9M tax bill (of $16.7M)
1992: Kieren Perkins swims world record 1500m freestyle (14:32.40)
1992: NFL Pro Bowl: NFC beats AFC 21-15
1993: Frito Lay pays court ordered $2,500,000 to Tom Wait for using his song
1993: Irina Privalova runs world record 50m indoor (6.05 sec)
1995: "Moliere Comedies" opens at Criterion Theater NYC for 56 performances
1995: US space shuttle Discovery launched
1996: Ali Landry, 22, (Louisiana), crowned 45th Miss USA
1996: Lowest temperature ever recorded in Minnesota : -60F (Tower MN)
1997: "Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus" closes at Gershwin NYC
1997: NFL Pro Bowl: AFC beats NFC 26-23 (OT)
1998: Daniel Baldwin hospitalized in NYC for cocaine overdose
1998: Philippine DC-9 crashes apparently killing all 104 on board

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