This is what we're celebrating or observing This Week
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February 4, 2018
February 5, 2018
February 5, 2017
Pompeii (17 years before it is buried by Mount Vesuvius) experiences an earthquake which is believed to have registered 7.5 on the Richter Scale (62 AD) - Feb. 5
Mexico Constitution Day (1917) - Feb. 5
Morecambe Bay (England) cockling disaster occurs when at least 21 cockle pickers are caught by a fast moving incoming tide and drown (2004) - Feb. 5
USS Port Royal (US Navy guided missile cruiser) runs aground off Oahu, Hawaii causing damage (in the millions) to the ship and the coral reef it hit (2009) - Feb. 5
Stephen W. Thompson (American aviator of WWI) becomes the 1st person in the US Military to shoot down an enemy aircraft (1918) - Feb. 5
Super Tuesday tornado outbreak occurs when 87 tornadoes form killing at least 57 people across 4 states during an election Tuesday (2008) - Feb. 5
Tybee Bomb (7,600 pound Mark 15 hydrogen bomb) is lost in the waters off Tybee Island near Savannah, GA during a practice exercise (1958) - Feb. 5
United Artists (UA) is founded as a joint venture by Mary Pickford, Charles Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks and D.W. Griffith (1919) - Feb. 5
National Weather Person's Day - Feb. 5
Triodion (Orthodox liturgical book that begins on the fourth Sunday before the Great Lent) date varies (2017) - Feb. 5
Superbowl Sunday (2017) - Feb. 5
February 6, 2018
February 6, 2017
Alfred, Hereditary Prince of Saxe-Coburg Gotha dies at age 24 from complications of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to his head (1899) - Feb. 6
Great Blizzard of '78 occurs dropping up to 55 inches of snow in some areas of northeast USA (1978) - Feb. 6
George VI of the United Kingdom (Father of Queen Elizabeth II) dies in his sleep from a coronary thrombosis (1952) - Feb. 6
James II of England (VI of Scotland) assumes the throne upon the death of his brother Charles II (1685) - 2/6
Reggae Day - Feb. 6
Munich Air Disaster - BEA flight 609 crashes on takeoff killing 23 of the 44 aboard including the Manchester United Football team (1958) - Feb. 6
Pay a compliment Day - Feb. 6
Elizabeth II of the UK (on vacation in Kenya) learns of the death of her father, George VI, and that she is now Queen (1952) - Feb. 6
Waitangi Day (New Zealand national day celebrating the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, New Zealand's founding document - 1840) - 2/6
Charles II (age 19) is declared King of Scotland (England and Ireland become republics under Oliver Cromwell) as successor to his executed father Charles I (1649) - Feb. 6
Sapporo Snow Festival - Japanese 7-day Festival of beautiful ice sculptures and snow statues (2017) - Feb. 6-12
Lame Duck Day - 20th amendment to the U.S. Constitution goes into effect (1933) - Feb. 6
February 7, 2018
February 7, 2017
Ballet Day - Feb. 7
Great Balitmore Fire rages from 10:48am Feb. 7 to 5pm Feb. 8 destroying 1,545 buildings spanning 70 city blocks (1904) - Feb. 7
The Beatles arrive in America's newly named JFK airport to begin an American tour (1964) - Feb. 7
Charles Dickens (Most popular English novelist of the Victorian era) is born in Portsmouth (1812) - Feb. 7
Collapse of the Soviet Union occurs when the Central Committee of the communist in the USSR agrees to give up its monopoly of power (1990) - Feb. 7
Provisional IRA use a white van parked in Whitehall to launch a mortar shell at Number 10 Downing St that exploded in the back garden (1991) - Feb. 7
Grenada gains independence from the UK (1974) - Feb. 7
Mud March of the Suffragettes occurs when ladies from all classes of society marched together through the muddied streets in solidarity (1907) - Feb. 7
Wave all your fingers at your neighbor Day - Feb. 7
February 8, 2018
February 8, 2017
Anna Nicole Smith (US TV Personality) age 39 found unresponsive in a hotel room is rushed to a nearby hospital where she was prounced DOA (2007) - Feb. 8
Boy Scout Day celebrates the founding of Scouting in America by William D. Boyce (1910) - Feb. 8
Devil's Footprints - a phenomenon in Devon England when a series of hoof-like marks appear in a single trail for over 100 miles (1855) - Feb. 8
Allende Meteorite (largest carbonaceous chondrite class ever found on earth) is seen falling over the Mexican state of Chihuahua (1969) - Feb. 8
Kite Flying Day - Feb. 8
Mary Queen of Scots is beheaded at Fotheringhay Castle in Northamtonshire on the order of her cousin, Queen Elizabeth I (1587) - Feb. 8
Ha-Ri-Ku-Yo (Japanese Needle Mass Holiday - when Japanese women give prayers for all their broken needles) - Feb. 8
Peter I of Russia (aka Peter the Great) died from a gangrene infected bladder (1725) - Feb. 8
Laugh and Grow Rich Day - Feb. 8
Princess Elizabeth of the United Kingdom proclaims herself Queen at a ceremony in St. James's Palace, London (1952) - Feb. 8
February 9, 2018
February 9, 2017
The Beatles make their first appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show (1964) - Feb. 9
US Weather Bureau is founded through a joint congressional resolution signed by President Grant (1870) - Feb. 9
John Hooper (Anglican Bishop of Glouchester) is burned at the stake for his protestism under Mary Tudor (1555) - Feb. 9
Princess Margaret of the UK (Countess of Snowdon, sister to Queen Elizabeth) dies at King Edward VII Hospital after suffering a stroke (2002) - Feb. 9
Sylmar earthquake (6.6 on the Richter Scale) strikes the San Fernando Valley, CA, claiming 65 lives and costing over half a billion in damages (1971) - 2/9
Toothache Day - Feb. 9
February 10, 2018
February 10, 2017
Arthur Miller (American playwright) dies of congestive heart failure on the 56th anniversary of his Death of a Salesman's Broadway debut (2005) - Feb. 10
Joseph Lister (British surgeon best known for his work advancing sterile surgery) dies at age 84 in his Walmer, Kent home (1912) - 2/10
Las Vegas Hilton fire is set by arsonist Philip Cline just 90 days after the devastating MGM Grand fire leaving 8 dead and 198 injured (1981) - Feb. 10
Lord Darnley (King Consort to Mary Queen of Scots) is found murdered in the gardens of Kirk o' Field dressed in his nightshirt (1567) - Feb. 10
Oxford England - St Scholastica Day Riots occur when scholars and townspeople have a disagreement over beer (1355) - Feb. 10
Victoria of the UK marries Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (Victoria's first cousin) in the Chapel Royal at St. James Palace London (1840) - 2/10
Roy Scheider (American actor best known for his role in Jaws) dies at age 75 from an attributed staph infection (2008) - Feb. 10
Clarence House announces Prince Charles is to marry his long-term partner Camilla Parker Bowles in acivil ceremony at Windsor Castle (2005) - Feb. 10
Shirley Temple Black (American Film and TV actress) dies in her Woodside, CA home from natural causes at age 85 (2014) - Feb. 10
Tu B'Shvat (Jewish Holiday that marks the New year of the Trees) that occurs in the month of Shavat-date varies (2017) - Feb. 10
February 11, 2018
February 11, 2017
Don't Cry over Spilled Milk Day - Feb. 11
Elizabeth of York (Queen consort to Henry VII of England) is born at Westminster as the eldest child of King Edward IV (1466) - 2/11
Elizabeth of York (Queen consort to Henry VII of England and mother to Henry VIII) dies from a post-partum infection on her 37th birthday (1503) - Feb. 11
National Inventor's Day (United States) celebrating the birth of Edison declared by US President Regan (1983) - Feb. 11
Leon Foucault (French physicist best known for the invention of the Foucault pendulum) dies from multiple sclerosis in Paris (1868) - Feb. 11
National Foundation Day (Japan) originally established to celebrate the foundation of Japan by Emperor Jimmu-today it is Constituton Day (1946) - Feb. 11
Thomas Edison (American inventor and businessman credited with inventing the phonograph and electric light bulb) is born in Milan, OH (1847) - 2/11
Yalta Conference (aka Crimea conference - a wartime meeting among the heads of government in the US, UK and USSR) concludes (1945) - Feb. 11
Second Honeymoon Weekend - begins Friday closest to Valentine's Day (2011) - Feb. 11
Harry Whittington (Texas attorney) is accidentally shot in the face by US Vice President Dick Cheney while on a quail hunt (2006) - Feb. 11
Whitney Houston (American recording artist, actress, producer and model) is found dead at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, CA at age 48 (2012) - 2/11
Full Moon (February) - Snow Moon - Feb. 11
February 12, 2017
Abraham Lincoln's Birthday - Feb. 12
Charles M. Schulz (American Cartoonist best known for his strip "Peanuts") - dies from complications of colon cancer (2000) - Feb. 12
Charles Darwin is born in Shrewsbury England (1809) - Feb. 12
Gusav III becomes King of Sweden upon the death of his father (Adolf Frederick) who supposedly ate himself to death (1771) - 2/12
Lady Jane Grey (Queen of England for 9 days) is beheaded on Tower Green on the order of her cousin Queen Mary I (1554) - Feb. 12
Lord Guilford Dudley (Husband of Lady Jane Grey) is executed at the Tower (1554) - Feb. 12
NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) is founded (1909) - 2/12
Northwest Flight 705 crashes into the Florida Everglades after penetrating a severe thunderstorm cell all 43 aboard were killed (1963) - Feb. 12
The opening ceremonies of the 2010 Winter Olympics are held in Vancouver, Canada (2010) - Feb. 12
US President Bill Clinton is acquitted by the United States Senate in his impeachment trial (1999) - Feb. 12
Continental Airlines' Flight 3407 crashes into a house in the suburbs of Buffalo, NY killing a total of 50 people with one on the ground (2009) - Feb. 12
Amy Bishop (biology professor at the University of Alabama in Huntsville) shoots her colleagues during a faculty meeting killing 3 and injuring 3 more (2010) - Feb. 12
Grammy Awards - 59th Annual Ceremony held at the Staples Center in Los Angeles airs on CBS (2017) - Feb. 12
World Marriage Day - held the 2nd Sunday in February (2017) - 2/12
Most captions and photos are courtesy of Wikipedia
