Historical Events and Current Affairs on February 8

1526: Heavy storm strikes Dutch coast, many die
1575: University of Leiden Neth opens
1600: Vatican convicts scholar Giordano Bruno to death
1601: Earl Robert Devereux of Essex armies draws into London
1622: King James I disbands the English parliament
1672: Isaac Newton reads 1st optics paper before Royal Society in London
1690: French & Indian troops set Schenectady settlement NY on fire
1690: Lord Halifax resigns as Lord Privy Seal
1693: William & Mary college is 2nd college chartered in US
1735: 1st opera in US "Flora," opens in Charleston, SC
1743: Comet C/1743 C1 approaches within 0.0390 AUs of Earth
1744: French/Spanish fleet leaves Toulon
1750: Minor earthquake in London
1775: Leidse U 400th anniversary dinner
1776: Wolfgang von Goethes' "Stella," premieres in Hamburg
1802: Simon Willard patents banjo clock
1807: Napoleon defeats Russians in battle of Eylau
1809: Franz I of Austria declares war on France
1837: 1st VP chosen by Senate, Richard Johnson (Van Buren admin)
1861: Confederate States of America organizes in Montgomery, Ala
1862: Battle of Roanoke Island NC, Federals gain control of Pamlico Sound
1862: Opera "Lily of Killarney," premieres in London
1865: 1st black major in US army, Martin Robinson Delany
1883: Louis Waterman begins experiments to invents fountain pen
1887: Aurora Ski Club of Red Wing, Minn became the 1st US ski club
1887: Dawes Act passed (indians living apart from tribe granted citizenship)
1889: Flood ravages Dutch coast
1894: Enforcement Act repealed, making it easier to disenfranchise blacks
1895: Tchaikovsky/Petipa's "Swan Lake," premieres in Petersburg
1896: Georges Feydeaus' "Le Dindon," premieres in Paris
1896: Western Conference forms of Midwestern U, later renamed Big 10 Conf
1898: John Ames Sherman patents 1st envelope folding & gumming mach (Mass)
1904: Russo-Japanese War begins
1905: Cyclone hit Tahiti & adjacent islands, killing some 10,000 people
1908: Wilhelmina '08 soccer team forms in Weert Neth
1909: France & Germany sign treaty about Morocco
1910: Boy Scouts of America incorporated & chartered (William D Boyce-Chic)
1911: US helps overthrow Pres Miguel Devila of Honduras
1911: Victor Herbert's opera "Natoma," premieres in NYC
1912: 1st eastbound US transcontinental flight lands in Jacksonville, Fla
1914: General Zamon becomes president of Haiti
1915: "Birth of a Nation" opens at Clune's Auditorium in LA
1916: French cruiser "Admiral Charner" torpedoed off Syrian coast, kills 374
1916: NL votes down Charlie Ebbets proposal to limit 25› seats
1918: "Stars & Stripes," weekly US armed forces newspaper, 1st published
1920: Swiss men vote against women's suffrage
1922: Radio arrives at the White House
1923: Coal mine explosion at Dawson, New Mexico kills 120
1923: German NSDAP Volkischer Beobachter newspaper becomes a daily
1924: 1st coast-to-coast radio hookup: Gen John Joseph Carty speech in Chic
1925: Kaufman & Berlin's "cocoanuts," premieres in NYC
1925: Marcus Garvey enters federal prison in Atlanta
1926: German Reichstag decides to apply for League of Nations membership
1926: Sean O'Casey's "Plough & Stars" opens at Abbey Theater Dublin
1926: Walt Disney Studios forms
1927: Belgian-Swiss treaty signed
1928: 1st transatlantic TV image received, Hartsdale, NY
1928: Scottish inventor J Blaird demonstrates color-TV
1929: KOY-AM in Phoenix Arizona begins radio transmissions
1930: "Happy Days Are Here Again" by Benny Mereoff hits #1
1931: Gas explosion Fire in Fushun-coal mine, Manchuria kills 3,000
1933: -23øF (-31øC), Seminole, Texas (state record)
1933: 1st flight of all-metal Boeing 247
1934: Export-Import Bank organizes in Washington, DC
1934: Gaston Doumergue forms new French govt
1935: 1st NFL draft; Jay Berwanger of U Chicago is 1st pick (by Eagles)
1935: He never plays in NFL
1936: 1st NFL draft, Eagles select Heisman Trophy winner Jay Berwanger
1936: 1st ski jumping tournament, Red Wing, Minn
1936: 1st successful Toronto Maple Leaf penalty shot, Conacher vs Rangers
1936: Pandit Jawaharlal follows Gandhi as chairman of India Congress Party
1937: Maxwell Anderson's "Masque of Kings," premieres in NYC
1940: Lewis & Hamilton's musical "Two for the Show," premieres in NYC
1940: Lodtz, 1st large ghetto established by Nazis in Poland
1941: Japanese armored barges cross Strait of Johore to attack Singapore
1941: NSB'er Max Blokzijl begins nazi propaganda on Dutch radio
1942: Congress advises FDR that, Americans of Japanese descent should be
1942: locked up en masse so they wouldn't oppose the US war effort
1942: Stravinsky's "Danses Concertantes," premieres in Los Angeles
1943: Red Army recaptures Kursk
1944: 1st black reporter accredited to White House, Harry McAlpin
1944: U-762 sunk off Ireland
1945: Allied air attack on Goch/Kleef/Kalkar/Reichswald
1946: B‚la Bart•ks 3rd Concert for piano/orchestra premieres in Phila
1946: Premier Salazar of Portugal forbids opposition parties
1947: Jan van der Hoorn wins 8th Dutch 11-cities skating race (10:51)
1947: KSD (now KSDK) TV channel 5 in St Louis, MO (NBC) begins broadcasting
1948: 5th Winter Olympic games close at St Moritz, Switzerland
1949: Hungarian Cardinal Mindszenty sentenced to life in prison
1952: "RCA Victor Show Starring Dennis Day," debuts on NBC TV
1953: WLVA (now WSET) TV channel 13 in Lynchburg-Roanoke, VA (ABC) begins
1955: Malenkov resigns as USSR premier, Bulganin replaces him
1956: Mine disaster in Quaregnon Belgium, 8 die
1957: SF Public Library's bookmobile initiated in front of City Hall
1958: Edgar Whitehead succeeds Garfield Todd as premier of South Rhodesia
1958: French planes bomb Sakiet Tunisia, 75 die
1958: KIRO TV channel 7 in Seattle, WA (CBS) begins broadcasting
1960: Boston Celtic Bill Russell becomes 1st NBAer with 50 rebounds (51)
1960: Congress opens hearings looking into payola
1962: KACB TV channel 3 in San Angelo, TX (NBC) begins broadcasting
1962: US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1963: 1st transmission of Clandestine Voice of Iraqi People (Communist)
1963: AFL's Dallas Texans become KC Chiefs
1963: US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1964: being added to the 1964 Civil Rights Act
1964: Peter Shaffer's "Royal Hunt of the Sun," premieres in London
1964: Rep Martha Griffiths address gets civil rights protection for women
1965: Eastern DC-7B crashes into Atlantic off Jones Beach NJ, kills 84
1965: Supremes release "Stop In the Name of Love"
1967: Longest losing streak in Toronto Maple Leaf history (10 games)
1967: Peter (Asher) & Gordon (Waller) discontinue their singing partnership
1967: Pirate Radio UKGM (England) closes down
1967: US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1968: Officers kill 3 students demonstrating in SC State (Orangeburg)
1969: Last edition of Saturday Evening Post
1969: Meteorite weighing over 1 ton falls in Chihuahua, M‚xico
1971: Pedro Morales beats Ivan Koloff in NY, to become WWF wrestling champ
1971: South Vietnamese troops invade Laos
1972: Josh Gibson & Buck Leonard selected to Hall of Fame
1973: Jean Kerrs "Finishing Touches," premieres in NYC
1973: Mushtaq & Asif Iqbal make 350 stand for 4th wicket v NZ
1973: Senate names 7 members to investigate Watergate scandal
1974: "Good Times," debuts on CBS TV
1974: Ringo releases "You're 16"
1974: Skylab 4's astronauts land
1974: Soap opera "Secret Storm" ends a 20 year run
1975: 1800 Unification church couples' wed in Korea
1975: Caps only got one shot in a period against Islanders
1976: Hua Guofeng becomes premier of China PR
1976: Largest crowd at Cleveland Coliseum (Cavs vs Wash-21,130)
1977: Earthquake in SF, at 5.0, strongest since 1966
1977: Hustler publisher Larry Flynt sentenced due to
1978: Crown Prince Sad Abdallah al-Salim Al Sabah becomes PM of Kuwait
1979: US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1981: "5 O'Clock Girl" closes at Helen Hayes Theater NYC after 12 perfs
1981: "Brigadoon" closes at Majestic Theater NYC after 133 performances
1981: N G Thomas discovers asteroids #2556 Louise & #2764 Moeller
1981: US female Figure Skating championship won by Elaine Zayak
1981: US male Figure Skating championship won by Scott Hamilton
1982: Dodgers trade Davey Lopes to A's breaking up the longest-playing
1982: infield (Cey-Russell-Lopes-Garvey)
1983: 35th NHL All-Star Game: Campbell beat Wales 9-3 at NY Islander
1983: Baseball orders Mickey Mantle to sever ties with Claridge Casino
1983: Champion thoroughbred Shergar kidnapped in Ireland; never found
1983: Eric Peters sets transatlantic sailboat record (E-W)-46 days
1983: Lloyds of London pays $10.6 million insurance
1983: Tina Howe's "Painting Churches," premieres in NYC
1983: Wayne Gretzky sets NHL all star record of 4 goals in 1 period
1984: 14th Winter Olympic games opens in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia
1984: 1st time 8 people in space
1984: A's take Yankees pitcher Tim Belcher as Type A free agent compensation
1984: Sarahill, #3315 Chant, #3354 McNair, #3355 Onizuka & #3857 Cellino
1984: Soyuz T-10 launches with crew of 3 to Salyut 7
1985: Bruce Morris, Marshall Univ, makes a 92' 5¬" basketball shot
1985: Michael Gross swims world record 800m freestyle (7:38.75)
1985: Opposition leader Kim Dae Jung returns to South-Korea
1986: 5' 7" Spud Webb of Atlanta Hawks wins NBA Slam Dunk Competition
1986: US male Figure Skating championship won by Brian Boitano
1987: 37th NBA All-Star Game: West beats East 154-149 (OT) at Seattle
1988: NASA launches DOD-2
1989: 5 cm of snow falls in outskirts of Los Angeles
1989: Jockey Chris Antley begins record of 64 consecutive winning days
1989: US Boeing 707 crashes into Santa Maria mountain, 145 die
1990: "60 Minutes" commentator Andy Rooney suspended by CBS for racial
1990: David Hares "Racing Demon," premieres in London
1990: remarks attributed to him by a gay magazine
1991: Roger Clemens signs record $5,380,250 per year Red Sox contract
1992: "I'm Too Sexy" by Right Said Fred peaks at #1
1992: 16th Winter Olympic games opens in Albertville, France
1992: Ulysses spacecraft passes Jupiter
1993: car-truck crashes to show that 1973-87 GM pickups were prone to fires
1993: GM sues NBC, alleging that "Dateline NBC" program had rigged 2
1993: Suchoi-24 crashes into Tupolev passenger flight, 134 die
1994: M”tley Cre drummer Tommy Lee charge with possession of loaded firearm
1995: 6.4 earthquake at Trujillo, Colombia (46+ killed)
1996: but he had to leave the Browns' name behind
1996: NFL & Cleveland allows Art Modell to move his NFL franchise to Balt
1998: 1st female ice hockey game in Olympic history Finland beats Sweden 6-0
1998: 48th NBA All-Star Game: East beats West 135-114 at NYC
2000: Two small planes collide north of Chicago, killing 3, including Bob Collins

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