Historical Events
- Feb 1 200" (5.08-m) Hale telescope 1st used [See June 3, 1948]
- Feb 1 RCA releases 1st single record ever (45 rpm)
Assassination Attempt
Feb 4 Failed assassination attempt on Shah of Persia Mohammad Reza Pahlavi
Mohammad Reza Pahlavi
- Feb 5 Huaso sets official world equestrian high-jump record, 2.47 m, Chic
Event of Interest
Feb 7 Joe DiMaggio becomes 1st $100,000 a year baseball player for the New York Yankees
Joe DiMaggio
- Feb 8 Hungarian cardinal József Mindszenty sentenced to life in prison
Theater Premiere
Feb 10 Arthur Miller's play "Death of a Salesman" opens at Morosco Theater, NYC
Arthur Miller
- Feb 11 Willie Pep recaptures world featherweight boxing title
Music Single
Feb 11 "Lovesick Blues" single released by Hank Williams (Cashbox "Best Hillbilly Record of the Year", Billboard Song of the Year 1949)
Hank Williams
- Feb 12 "Annie Get Your Gun" closes at Imperial Theater NYC after 1147 performances
Event of Interest
Feb 12 Panic in Quito, Ecuador, after "War of the Worlds" played on radio
H. G. Wells
Event of Interest
Feb 15 Dmitri Shostakovich' "Song of the Woods" premieres in Leningrad
Dmitri Shostakovich
- Feb 17 Chaim Weitzman elected 1st president of Israel
- Feb 17 Ice Pairs Championship at Paris won by Andrea Kekesy and Ede Kiraly of Hungary
- Feb 17 Ladies' Figure Skating Champions in Paris won by Alena Vrzanova of CZE
- Feb 17 Men's Figure Skating Championship in Paris won by Richard Button of the USA
- Feb 19 "Inside USA" closes at Century Theater NYC after 339 performances
Event of Interest
Feb 19 1st Bollingen Prize for poetry awarded to Ezra Pound
Ezra Pound
- Feb 19 Mass arrests of communists in India
- Feb 20 1st International Pancake Race held (Liberal Ks)
- Feb 21 US TV soap opera "A Woman to Remember" is 1st broadcast on DuMont Television Network
- Feb 24 Israel & Egypt sign an armistice agreement
- Feb 24 V-2/WAC-Corporal rocket 1st object to reach 5x the speed of sound at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico
- Feb 25 WAC Corporal rocket achieves height of 400k (record)
- Feb 26 USAF plane began 1st nonstop around-the-world flight
- Feb 27 Chaim Weizmann becomes 1st President of Israel
Famous Birthdays
- Feb 1 Jim Thorpe, American golfer (The Tradition 2002, 3 PGA Tour titles), born in Roxboro, North Carolina
- Feb 2 Jetty Weels, Surinamese/Dutch vocalist (Mai Tai)
- Feb 2 Ross Valory, rock bassist (Journey - Who's Crying Now, Open Arms), born in San Francisco, California
- Feb 2 Sherry Mathis, actress (Search for Tomorrow)
- Feb 2 Tom Tripplehorn, rocker (Gary Lewis & Playboys-This Diamond Ring)
- Feb 2 Brent Spiner, American actor (Data-Star Trek the Next Generation), born in Houston, Texas
- Feb 2 Francisco Maturana, Colombian football manager
- Feb 3 Oscar Benton, Dutch blues vocalist/guitarist (Ze is Zoals Jij)
- Feb 3 Arthur Kane, American musician (New York Dolls), born in NYC, New York (d. 2004)
- Feb 3 Hennie Kuiper, Dutch cyclist
- Feb 4 Roy Yeager, American musician (Atlanta Rhythm Section), born in Greenwood, Mississippi
- Feb 4 Michael Beck, actor (Hans Helms-Holocaust), born in Memphis, Tennessee
- Feb 5 David Sullivan, Welsh businessman & pornographer (Sunday Sport), born in Cardiff, United Kingdom
- Feb 5 Maidarjabyn Ganzorig, Mongolian scientist & cosmonaut (Soyuz 39 backup), born in Tsetserleg, Mongolia
- Feb 6 Manuel Orantes, Spanish tennis player (US Open-1975), born in Granada, Spain
- Feb 6 Richie Zisk, American retired baseball player & pro scout (Chicago Cubs), born in Brooklyn, New York
- Feb 6 Mike Batt, British director, actor, composer, and former Deputy Chairman (British Phonographic Industry), born in Southampton, England
- Feb 7 Alan Lancaster, English bassist (Status Quo), born in London, England
- Feb 7 Sunil Wettimuny, cricket (Sri Lanka open batsman 1975-79 World Cups)
- Feb 7 Paulo César Carpegiani, Brazilian footballer and coach
- Feb 7 Joe English, American musician (Wings, Sea Level), born in Rochester, New York
- Feb 8 Brooke Adams, American actress (Cynthia-OK Crackerby, Body Snatchers), born in NYC, New York
- Feb 8 Julia Barr, Ft Wayne Ind, actress (Brooke-All My Children)
- Feb 8 Scott Allen, USA, skater (Olympic bronze 1964)
- Feb 9 Bernard Gallacher, British golfer (10 European Tour titles), born in Bathgate, Scotland
- Feb 9 Janet Issaca Ashford, writer
- Feb 9 Judith Light, (Angela-Who's the Boss, 1 Life to Live), born in Trenton, New Jersey
- Feb 10 Nigel Olsson, British rock guitarist and drummer (Elton John's Band), born in Wallasey, Cheshire
- Feb 10 Joe Lavender, NFL cornerback, born in Rayville, Louisiana
- Feb 10 Maxime Le Forestier, French singer
- Feb 10 Harold Sylvester, American actor
- Feb 11 Charlie Hargrett, rock guitarist (Blackfoot)
- Feb 12 Gundappa Viswanath, cricketer (prolific Indian batsman of 70s)
- Feb 12 Len Randle, baseball player (NY Mets)
- Feb 12 Stanley Knight, country artist (Black Oak Arkansas-High on the Hog)
- Feb 14 Jimmy Randell, rocker
- Feb 14 Richard E Neal, (Rep-D-Massachusetts)
- Feb 15 Christopher Rouse, American composer (1993 Pulitzer Prize for Music), born in Baltimore, Maryland (d. 2019)
- Feb 15 George Howard, 13th Earl of Carlisle, English hereditary peer
- Feb 15 Jess Walton, Mich, actress (Jill Foster Abbott-Young & Restless)
- Feb 15 Ken Anderson, NFL quarterback (Cincinnati Bengals)
- Feb 15 Hans Graf, Austrian conductor
- Feb 16 Dorus Vrede, Surinam poet (Otobanda; the Other Bank)
- Feb 17 Fred Frith, English guitarist, violinist and bassist (Skeleton Crew), born in Heathfield, England
- Feb 18 Gary Ridgway, American serial killer
- Feb 19 Eddie Hardin, English rock pianist and singer (Spencer Davis Group), born in London, England
- Feb 19 Dan Bunten, American software developer (d. 1998)
- Feb 19 William Messner-Loebs, American comics writer
- Feb 20 Eddie Hemmings, cricket off-spinner (immense England)
- Feb 20 Ivana Trump, Czech-American model and ex-wife of Donald Trump (1st Wives Club), born in Gottwaldov, Moravia, Czechoslovak Republic
- Feb 21 Jerry Harrison, rock keyboardist (Talking Heads), born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
- Feb 21 Ronnie Hellström, Swedish footballer
- Feb 22 Niki Lauda, Austrian auto racer (F1 world champ 1975, 77, 84), born in Vienna, Austria (d. 2019)
- Feb 22 Olga Morozova, Russian tennis player, born in Moscow, Soviet Union
- Feb 23 Anna-Maria Muller, German DR, Luge (Olympic gold 1972)
- Feb 23 Larry Demps, US R&B vocalist (Dramatics-Me & Mrs Jones)
Marc Garneau
Feb 23 Marc Garneau, Canadian astronaut (STS 13, 77), born in Quebec City, Québec
Marc Garneau
- Feb 23 Maureen Hicks, British MP
- Feb 23 Terry "Tex" Comer, English bassist and guitarist (ACE), born in Burnley, England
- Feb 24 John Lever, cricketer (England lefty quick in 21 Tests 1976-81)
- Feb 25 Ric Flair, American professional wrestler (NWA/WWF/WCW/AWA), born in Memphis, Tennessee
- Feb 26 Emma Kirkby, English soprano, born in Surrey, England
- Feb 26 Elizabeth George, American novelist, born in Warren, Ohio
- Feb 28 Arthur "T-Boy" Ross, American songwriter, brother of Diana, born in Detroit, Michigan (d. 1996)
Famous Weddings
Wedding of Interest
Feb 6 Diplomat Henry Kissinger (25) weds Ann Fleisher (23) in Washington Heights, Manhattan
Henry Kissinger
Wedding of Interest
Feb 22 Future Portuguese President Mário Soares (24) weds actress Maria de Jesus Barroso (24) at the 3rd Conservatory of the Civil Register of Lisbon
Mário Soares
Famous Deaths
- Feb 1 Herbert Stothart, American composer, dies at 63
- Feb 5 Juozas Tallat-Kelpsa, composer, dies at 50
- Feb 8 Franco Leoni, Italian composer, dies at 81
- Feb 8 Leonid Alexeyevich Polovinkin, Russian composer, dies at 54
- Feb 9 Poul Schierbeck, Danish organist and composer, dies at 60
- Feb 12 Hassan al Banna, Egyptian founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, dies at 42
- Feb 14 Yusuf Salman Yusuf, Iraqi-Assyrian communist leader (b. 1901)
- Feb 18 Niceto Alcalá-Zamora, 1st Prime Minister of the Second Spanish Republic and President of Spain (1931-36), dies at 71
- Feb 19 Auguste Jean Maria Charles Serieyx, composer, dies at 83
- Feb 21 Ernest Walker, composer, dies at 78
- Feb 21 Tan Malaka, Indonesian philosopher and founder (Indonesian Communist), executed at 49
- Feb 22 Russell W. Porter, American artist and explorer (Alaska), dies at 77
- Feb 28 Stanley Marchant, English composer, dies at 65