Hit REFRESH if page doesn't load Please Support our Fine Sponsors . . . Link to us - click here . Useful Links - click here . Add your own Personal Historic listing FREE! - Click Here Return to Daily Calendar Today's date is:    Please Support Our Sponsors Wisdom? Humor? Fact? Advice? ... Spotted on a Bumper sticker - Gun control means using both hands What happened on February 11 Please support our Sponsors - They help us keep this site Alive! 0660 BC - Traditional founding date of Japan by Emperor Jimmu. 1531 Henry VIII of England recognized as supreme head of the Church of England. 1543 Battle at Wayna Daga Ethiopian/Portugese troops beat Moslem army 1543 Karel/Henry VIII sign anti-French covenant 1573 First European, Francis Drake sees the Pacific (from Panama) 1575 King Frederick of Denmark offers island of Hveen to Tycho Brahe 1638 Dutch countess Louise of Solms marries earl John of Brederode 1659 The assault on Copenhagen by Swedish forces is beaten back with heavy losses. 1747 Claude de Ramezay and a group of Acadian guides attack the British position at Grand Pré 1752 Benjamin Franklin helps establish the Pennsylvania Hospital the nation's first hospital. 1752 Pennsylvania Hospital, 1st hospital in the United States, opens. 1766 Stamp Act declared unconstitutional in Virginia 1768 Samuel Adams letter, circulates around American colonies, opposing Townshend Act taxes 1778 On this day in 1778, some 300 people visit Voltaire following his return to Paris. Voltaire had been in exile for 28 years 1790 Religious Society of Friends, also known as Quakers, petitions U.S. Congress for abolition of slavery. 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 1794 First session of United States Senate open to the public. 1808 Anthracite coal first burned as fuel, experimentally, Wilkes-Barre PA 1809 Robert Fulton patents the steamboat 1810 Napoleon marries Marie-Louise of Austria 1811 President Madison prohibits trade with Britain for 3rd time in 4 years 1812 Massachusetts Governor Elbridge Gerry signs a law that redistricts the state to the advantage of his party, causing opponents to coin the term gerrymandering. 1812 Confederate Vice President and Georgia statesman Alexander Stephens is born. - USA 1814 Norway's independence is proclaimed, marking the ultimate end of the Kalmar Union. 1826 University College London is founded under the name University of London. 1837 American Physiological Society organizes in Boston 1840 Gaetano Donizetti's opera La Fille du Rgiment receives its first performance in Paris. 1843 Giuseppe Verdi's Opera "I Lombardi," premieres in Milan 1851 First cricket 1st-class game in Australia, Tasmania vs Victoria, Launceston 1852 First British public female toilet opens (Bedford Street London) 1854 Major streets lit by coal gas for first time 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 apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary to 14-year-old Bernadette of Lourdes, southern France 1861 President-elect Lincoln takes train from Spingfield IL to Washington DC 1861 US House unanimously passes resolution guaranteeing noninterference with slavery in any state 1864 Major Charls Heaphy, Auckland Rifel Volunteers, won the Victoria Cross at Mangapiko River, Waikato during the New Zealand (Maori) Wars 1869 Patrick James Whelan c1840-1869 hanged in a snowstorm before a crowd of 5,000 people for the murder of Thomas D'Arcy McGee 1873 King Amadeus I of Spain abdicates. 1873 Spanish Cortes fires king Amadeus I 1878 First weekly Weather report published in UK 1889 Meiji constitution of Japan adopted; 1st Diet of Japan convenes in 1890. 1889 The first Japanese written Constitution, handed by the Meiji emperor to his prime minister, Count Kuroda 1895 -17ºF (-27.2ºC) in Braemar, Grampian (UK record) 1895 Georgetown became part of Washington DC 1896 Oscar Wildes "Salomé," premieres in Paris 1897 White Rose Mission opens on East 97th Street, NYC 1898 Owen Smith of North Carolina, AME Zion minister, named minister to Liberia 1899 -15ºF (-26ºC), Washington DC (district record) 1899 -61ºF (-52ºC), Montana (record low temperature) 1902 Police assault universal suffrage demonstrators in Brussels. 1903 Anton Bruckner's 9th Symphony receives its first performance in Vienna. 1905 Pope Pius X publishes the encyclical Vehementer nos. 1907 De Master's Dutch government resigns 1907 Passenger ship Larchmont sinks by Block Island, 322 die 1908 Heemskerk's government begins in Holland 1916 Baltimore Symphony Orchestra presents its first concert 1916 Emma Goldman arrested for lecturing on birth control 1919 Friedrich Ebert (SPD), elected President of Germany 1922 "April Showers" by Al Jolson hits #1 1922 US intervention army leaves Honduras 1926 Leslie Nielsen actor, comedian, born on this day at Regina Saskatchewan 1926 Tokelau (Union) islands in south Pacific transfers to New Zealand 1928 2nd Winter Olympics games opens in St Moritz, Switzerland 1929 The independence and sovereignty of Vatican City is recognized by Italy, with the signing of the Lateran Treaty. 1932 73ºF highest temperature ever recorded in Cleveland in February 1935 -11ºF (-24ºC), Ifrane, Morocco (African record low) 1935 First US airplane flight with auto slung beneath the fuselage, New York Why? 1936 Burt Reynolds Emmy Award-winning actor was born 1936 Pumping begins to build Treasure Island in San Francisco Bay 1937 General Motors formally recognizes the United Automobile Workers Union, ending a sit-down strike against the auto maker. 1938 BBC Television produces the world's first ever science fiction television program, an adaptation of a section of the Karel Capek play R.U.R., which coined the term "robot". 1939 Lockheed P-38 flies from California to New York in 7 hours 2 minutes. 1941 First Gold record presented (Glenn Miller-Chattanooga Choo Choo) 1941 Lieutenant-General Erwin Rommel arrives in Tripoli 1941 Sicherheitsdienst complains about Dutch anti German sentiments 1942 "Archie" comic book debuts 1942 In Montreal anti-conscription riot breaks out after 10,000 people rally at the Marché St-Jacques 1942 On this day, the German battleships Gneisenau and Scharnhorst, as well as the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen, escape from the French port of Brest and make a mad dash up the English Channel to safety in German waters. Very embarrassing for the Royal Navy 1942 The Battle of Bukit Timah was fought in Singapore during World War II. 1943 General Dwight Eisenhower selected to command the allied armies in Europe. 1943 Ottawa imposes severe wartime gasoline rationing of 10 gallons a month for every private car 1943 Transport nr 47 departs with French Jews to Nazi-Germany 1944 German troops re-conquer Aprilia Italy 1944 U-424 sunk off Ireland 1945 First gas turbine propeller-driven airplane flight tested, Downey CA 1948 Billy Griffith scores cricket century on debut England vs West Indies, out for 140 1948 John Costello follows Eamon Da Valera as premier of Ireland 1949 Willie Pep recaptures world featherweight boxing title 1950 "Rag Mop" by The Ames Brothers hit #1 1951 Kwame Nkrumah wins first parliamentary election on Gold coast (Ghana) 1951 Marshall Teague drove a Hudson Hornet to victory on the beach oval of the 160-mile Daytona Grand National at Daytona Beach, Florida 1953 Russia breaks diplomatic relations with Israel 1953 The Soviet Union breaks off diplomatic relations with Israel. 1954 6th Emmy Awards I Love Lucy, Donald O'Connor & Eve Arden win 1956 Donald Maclean and Guy Burgess, former members of the British Foreign Office who had disappeared from England in 1951, resurface in Moscow 1958 Auto racer Marshall Teague died at age thirty-seven after attempting to raise the closed-course speed record at Daytona. 1958 Marshal Chen Yi succeeds Chu En-lai as Minister of Foreign affairs 1958 Ruth Carol Taylor is first African-American woman hired as flight attendant 1959 Vinoo Mankad ends his final Test Cricket (v West Indies at Delhi) 1960 Jack Paar walks off his TV show 1961 Robert Weaver sworn in with then highest federal post by a black 1962 Nine U.S. and South Vietnamese crewmen are killed in a SC-47 crash about 70 miles north of Saigon 1963 Beatles tape 10 tracks for their first album, including "Please, Please Me" 1963 CIA Domestic Operations Division created 1963 Near Kapuskasing Ontarioa shoot-out between loggers and independents sees three Kapuskasing loggers killed and nine wounded0 1964 Beatles first live appearance in US; Washington DC Coliseum 1964 Greeks and Turks begin fighting in Limassol, Cyprus. 1964 Taiwan drops diplomatic relations with France 1964 The Republic of China (Taiwan) breaks off diplomatic relations with France. 1965 Beatles drummer Ringo Starr marries Maureen Cox in London. 1968 Israeli-Jordanian border clashes. 1968 Jeffrey Kramer survives 76 meter jump, Washington Bridge, Hudson River NY 1969 Dorey Funk Jr beats Gene Kiniski in Tampa, to become NWA champion 1969 In Montreal Quebec Canadian and West Indian student demonstrators destroy $1.4 million computer and set fire to data centre at Sir George Williams University 1970 26.37 cm (10.38") of rainfall, Mt Washington NH (state 24-hour record) 1970 Japan joins the space race, by launching a satellite into earth orbit. 1970 John Lennon pays £1,344 fines for 96 protesting the South African rugby team playing in Scotland 1971 Eighty-seven countries, including the US, UK, and USSR, sign the Seabed Treaty outlawing nuclear weapons in international waters. 1971 Montréal Canadien John Believau scores his 500th NHL goal 1971 US, UK, USSR, others sign Seabed Treaty outlawing nuclear weapons 1973 Vietnam War: First release of American prisoners of war from Vietnam takes place. 1974 Titan-Centaur test launch fails 1975 Margaret Thatcher defeats Edward Heath for Conservative leadership 1976 Clifford Alexander Jr confirmed as first black Secretary of Army 1977 20.2-kg lobster caught off Nova Scotia (heaviest known crustacean) 1977 Off Nova Scotia fisherman catches 20.2 kg lobster off Nova Scotia; the world's heaviest known crustacean 1978 16 Unification church couples wed in New York NY 1978 Censorship: the People's Republic of China lifts a ban on works by Aristotle, Shakespeare and Dickens. 1978 EOKA organization disbands in Cyprus 1978 Number one hit on UK music charts - Brotherhood Of Man - Figaro 1978 Pacific Western Airlines aircraft crashes at Cranbrook, killing 43 people; snowplow on runway during PWA jet's landing 1979 43 million watch "Elvis!" on ABC 1979 Emmy News & Documentaries Award presentation 1979 Islamic revolution of Iran achieved victory by leadership of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. 1979 Musical "They're Playing Our Song," premieres at Imperial NYC for 1082 performances 1981 100,000 gallons (380 m) of radioactive coolant leak into the containment building of TVA Sequoyah 1 nuclear plant in Tennessee, contaminating 8 workers. 1981 Australia all out 83 vs India at MCG chasing 143 to win 1981 Polish premier Jozef Pinkowski replaced by Wojciech Jaruzelski 1983 "Weird Al" Yankovic records "Ricky" & "Buckingham Blues" debut LP 1984 10th space shuttle mission (41-B)-Challenger 4-returns to Earth 1985 Jordan king Hussein & PLO leader Arafat sign accord 1985 Wasim Akram takes 10 wickets in his 2nd Test Cricket, New Zealand still wins 1986 Australia beat India 2-0 to win the World Series Cup 1986 Iran begins Fajr-8 offensive against Iraq 1986 Rights activist Anatoly Scharansky released by USSR, leaves country 1987 British Airways begins trading as a public company 1987 England beat Australia 2-0 to win the World Series Cup 1987 Philippines constitution goes into effect 1988 Anthony M Kennedy appointed to the Supreme Court 1989 Barbara Clementine Harris consecrated first female bishop (Episcopalian) 1990 James "Buster" Douglas KOs Mike Tyson to win heavyweight boxing crown 1990 Nelson Mandela, a political prisoner for 27 years, is freed from Victor Verster Prison outside Cape Town, South Africa. 1990 South African activist Nelson Mandela is freed after 27 years in prison. 1991 UNPO, the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization, forms in The Hague, Netherlands. 1992 F-16 jet crashes at residential district of Hengelo Netherlands (No deaths) 1992 Visitor posting - February 11 1992 Taylor Lautner was born 1993 Baseball pitcher Nolan Ryan announces that he will be retiring after the 1993 season. 1993 Janet Reno is named by president Bill Clinton as the first woman to hold the position of U.S. attorney general. 1994 Lu Parker, (South Carolina), crowned 43rd Miss USA 1994 Visitor posting - Jacob Teter was born. - USA 1995 The space shuttle Discovery touches down at Cape Canaveral, Florida, ending a mission that included docking with the Russian Mir space station. 1995 West Indies score 5-660 against New Zealand 1997 Celine Dion receives an award for her 50 millionth record sold 1997 Space Shuttle Discovery was launched on a mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope. 1998 A federal judge rules that golfer Casey Martin, who suffers from a circulatory condition making it hard to walk, is covered by the American with Disabilities Act. Under the ADA, Martin should be allowed to use a golf cart when he competes in PGA tournaments. 1998 KVBC-FM (Las Vegas) offers Monica Lewinsky $5M for interview 1998 Lyrics to "Candle in the Wind 1997," auctioned for $442,500 1999 In Afghanistan a 6.0 earthquake killed 70 and 500 injured, at least 14,000 homeless and 7,000 houses destroyed in Lowgar and Vardak Provinces 1999 Pluto is once again the farthest planet from the sun in our solar system 2006 U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney accidentally shoots Harry Whittington in the face while the two are hunting together. 2007 In Portugal, a national referendum dictates non-therapeutic abortion to become legal when requested by the woman during the first 10 weeks of pregnancy. More historical events added daily - keep checking back Add your own Personal Historic listing FREE! - Click Here Return to Daily Calendar Contact us at: info @ datesinhistory.com (remove the spaces) "This site contains links to other Internet sites. These links are not endorsements of any products or services in such sites, and no information in such site has been endorsed or approved by this site. We are not responsible for the content of external sites. We do not vouch for accuracy of the dates listed on this site." Privacy Policy . What happened on my birthday? Search other websites with Google If you added a Personal Historic listing - Find it on Google Get a HOUSE for $23,000 ?? Search for "Real Estate" in Las Vegas, Az, Detroit Enter your search terms Submit search form Need financing for that $23,000 House? Search for "Home Financing"