Historical Events
- Feb 1 Franz Lehar's opera "Wo die Lerche singt" premieres in Budapest
Music Premiere
Feb 1 Jerome Kern, Guy Bolton & P. G. Wodehouse's musical premieres in New York
Jerome Kern
Gregory Conquers Julius Caesar
Feb 1 Russia adopts the Gregorian calendar (making the day February 14)
Read Article
- Feb 3 Twin Peaks Tunnel for streetcars begins service in San Francisco, at 11,920 feet one of world's longest
- Feb 5 1st US pilot to down an enemy airplane, Stephen W. Thompson
- Feb 5 Separation of church and state begins in USSR
- Feb 6 Great Britain grants women (30 & over) the vote
- Feb 8 "Stars & Stripes,", weekly US armed forces newspaper, 1st published
- Feb 9 US Army chaplain school organizes at Ft Monroe, Virginia
- Feb 9 Sacha Guitry's "Deburan" premieres in Paris
Leon Trotsky
- Feb 10 In Finland, General Carl G. Von Mannerheim gathers an army known as the 'White Guard' to mount a counter revolution against the Bolshevik 'Red Guard'
Event of Interest
Feb 11 US President Woodrow Wilson makes another speech before Congress and announces 'the Four Principles' - freedom of navigation, and end to secret diplomacy, and similar items - that supplement his Fourteen Points
Woodrow Wilson
- Feb 14 H Atteridge & S Rombergs musical "Sinbad," premieres in NYC
- Feb 14 USSR adopts New Style (Gregorian) calendar (originally Feb 1)
- Feb 15 US army troop ship torpedoed & sunk by Germany off Ireland
- Feb 15 Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania adopt the Gregorian calendar
- Feb 16 Lithuania declares independence from Russia & Germany (National Day)
- Feb 18 Germany renews its offensive against the Russians, making dramatic gains against disorganized and dispirited Russian troops
- Feb 21 Australians chase Turkish troop out of Jericho, Dutch Palestine
- Feb 21 The last Carolina parakeet dies in captivity at the Cincinnati Zoo (Cincinnati, Ohio)
- Feb 22 Germany claims Baltic states, Finland & Ukraine from Russia
- Feb 23 First victory of Red Army over the Kaiser's German troops near Narva and Pskov. Since 1923 this date become the Day of Red Army in honour of this victory.
- Feb 24 Estonia declares independence from Russia
- Feb 26 Stands at Hong Kong Jockey Club collapse & burn, killing 604
Famous Birthdays
- Feb 1 Maurice Laing, life president (John Laing)
Muriel Spark
Feb 1 Muriel Spark, Scottish writer (The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie), born in Edinburgh, Scotland (d. 2006)
Muriel Spark
- Feb 2 Hella [S Lelyveld-]Haasse, Dutch author (Cider for Poor People)
- Feb 3 Joey Bishop [Gottlieb], talk show host (Joey Bishop Show), born in The Bronx, New York
- Feb 3 Helen Stephens, American athlete (Olympic gold 100m & 4x100m relay 1936), born in Fulton, Missouri (d. 1994)
- Feb 4 Ida Lupino, Anglo-American actress (Adventures of Sherlock Holmes) and director (The Hitch-Hiker), born in London, England (d. 1995)
- Feb 4 Luigi Pareyson, Italian philosopher (d. 1991)
- Feb 5 Gara Garayev [Kara Karayev], Soviet-Azerbaijani composer (Seven Beauties), born in Baku (d. 1982)
- Feb 6 Lothar-Günther Buchheim, German author, born in Weimar, Germany (d. 2007)
- Feb 7 Markey Robinson, Northern Irish painter (d. 1999)
- Feb 8 Lord Maxd Rayne, English broker/multi-millionaire
- Feb 8 Fred Blassie, American professional wrestler (d. 2003)
- Feb 10 Gordon Pirie, English Group Captain and politician, born in Oxford (d. 2003)
- Feb 10 Idwal Pugh, British ombudsman
- Feb 11 Margaret Heldt, American hairdresser who created the Beehive, born in Chicago, Illinois
- Feb 12 Dominic DiMaggio, baseball outfielder (Boston Red Sox)
- Feb 12 Julian Schwinger, US physicist (1965 Nobel Prize in Physics for quantum electrodynamics), born in New York City (d. 1994)
- Feb 13 Patty Berg, American golfer (15 major titles, US Open 1946), born in Minneapolis, Minnesota (d.2006)
- Feb 13 Irv Cottler, American session and touring drummer (Frank Sinatra; Dinah Shore), born in Brooklyn, New York (d. 1989)
- Feb 15 Allan Arbus, American actor and photographer (M*A*S*H, Greaser's Palace, Curb Your Enthusiasm), born in NYC, New York (d. 2013)
- Feb 16 Patty Andrews, American vocalist (Andrews Sisters), born in Minneapolis, Minnesota (d. 2013)
- Feb 17 Charles Hayes, American politician (Rep-D-IL, 1983-93), born in Cairo, Illinois (d. 1997)
- Feb 17 Olive Gibbs, English peace campaigner (CND), born in Oxford, England
- Feb 18 Jane Loevinger, American psychologist (d. 2008).
- Feb 19 Fay McKenzie, American actress and singer (The Party, Sierra Sue), born in Los Angeles, California (d. 2019)
- Feb 20 Leonore Annenberg American Billionaire
- Feb 22 Don Pardo, Westfield Mass, TV announcer (Jeopardy, Saturday Night Live)
- Feb 22 Robert Wadlow, American who was tallest known human (2.72 m, 8' 11.1"), born in Alton, Illinois (d. 1940)
- Feb 22 Sid Abel, Melville, Saskatchewan, Canadian NHL hockey player (1948-49 Hart Trophy)
- Feb 22 Charles "Charlie O" Finley, American sports entrepreneur (MLB's Kansas City/Oakland A's: NHL's California Golden Seals), born in Birmingham, Alabama (d. 1996)
Alfred J. Gross
Feb 22 Alfred J. Gross, American inventor (invented the walkie-talkie), born in Toronto, Ontario (d. 2000)
Alfred J. Gross
Bobby Riggs
Feb 25 Bobby Riggs, American tennis player ("The Battle of the Sexes", US Open 1939, 41), born in Los Angeles, California (d. 1995)
Bobby Riggs
- Feb 26 Edwin Charles "Preacher" Roe, American baseball pitcher (Brooklyn Dodgers), born in Ash Flat, Arkansas (d. 2008)
- Feb 26 Otis Bowen, American politician, US Sec of Health & Human Services (1985-89), born in near Rochester, Indiana (d. 2013)
- Feb 26 Theodore Sturgeon, American sci-fi author (Hugo, It, Caviar), born in Staten Island, New York (d. 1985)
- Feb 28 Alfred Burke, British actor (Public Eye, Backfire, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets), born in London, England (d. 2011)
Famous Deaths
John L. Sullivan
Feb 2 John L. Sullivan, Irish-American heavyweight boxing champ (1882-92), dies at 59
John L. Sullivan
- Feb 4 Akiyama Saneyuki, Japanese officer in the Imperial Japanese Navy, dies at 49
- Feb 6 Gustav Klimt, Austrian painter/cartoonist, dies at 55
- Feb 7 Alexander Sergeyevich Taneyev, Russian composer, dies at 68
- Feb 9 Emiel van der Straeten, Flemish playwright (Sudanese legends), dies at 30
- Feb 10 Abdul Hamid II, 34th Sultan of the Ottoman Empire (1876-1909), dies at 75
Ernesto Teodoro Moneta
Feb 10 Ernesto Teodoro Moneta, Italian pacifist, Nobel Prize Laureate, dies at 84
Ernesto Teodoro Moneta
Wilfrid Laurier
Feb 17 Wilfrid Laurier, 7th Prime Minister of Canada (Liberal: 1896-1911), dies of a stroke at 76
Wilfrid Laurier
