February 7

Events

• 457 - Leo I becomes emperor of the Byzantine Empire.
• 1301 - Edward of Caernarvon (later King Edward II of England) becomes the first Prince of Wales.
• 1550 - Julius III becomes Pope.
• 1613 - Mikhail Romanov becomes Tsar of Russia.
• 1795 - The 11th Amendment to the United States Constitution is passed.
• 1812 - The strongest in a series of earthquakes strikes New Madrid, Missouri.
• 1882 - In Mississippi City, the last heavyweight boxing championship bare-knuckle fight takes place.
• 1898 - Emile Zola is brought to trial for libel for publishing J'Accuse.
• 1900 - The British Labour Party is formed.
• 1904 - A fire in Baltimore, Maryland destroys over 1,500 buildings in 30 hours.
• 1943 - World War II: In the United States it is announced that shoe rationing will go into effect in two days.
• 1944 - World War II: In Anzio, Italy Nazi forces launch a counteroffensive.
• 1962 - The United States Government bans all US-related Cuban imports and exports.
• 1964 - The Beatles arrived on their first visit to the United States.
• 1971 - Women gain the right to vote in Switzerland.
• 1974 - Grenada becomes independent from the United Kingdom.
• 1977 - The Soviet Union launches Soyuz 24.
• 1984 - Astronauts Bruce McCandless II and Robert L. Stewart make the first untethered space walk.
• 1985 - "New York, New York" becomes the official city anthem of New York City.
• 1986 - 28 years of one-family rule end in Haiti, when President Jean-Claude Duvalier flees the Caribbean nation.
• 1990 - Collapse of the Soviet Union: The Central Committee of the Soviet Communist Party agrees to give up its monopoly of power.
• 1991 - Haiti's first democratically-elected president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, is sworn in.
• 1992 - The European Union is formed.
• 1998 - The 1998 Winter Olympic Games open in Nagano, Japan.
• 1999 - Crown Prince Abdullah becomes the ruler of Jordan on the death of his father, King Hussein.

Births

• 1478 - Sir Thomas More, statesman and humanist, author of Utopia, (d. 1535)
• 1812 - Charles Dickens, novelist, (d. 1870)
• 1834 - Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev, chemist and inventor of the Periodic table of the chemical elements, (d. 1907)
• 1867 - Laura Ingalls Wilder, author of Little House on the Prairie, (d. 1957)
• 1883 - Eubie Blake, musician, composer, (d. 1983)
• 1885 - Sinclair Lewis, author, (d. 1951)
• 1904 - Ernst Ginsberg, actor and film director, (d. 1964)
• 1905 - Paul Nizan, author, (d. 1940)
• 1908 - Buster Crabbe, Olympic Games swimming gold medalist, actor, (d. 1983)
• 1910 - Max Bense, philosopher, (d. 1990)
• 1914 - Ramon Mercader, assassin of Leon Trotsky, (d. 1978)
• 1920 - An Wang, computer pioneer, (d. 1990)
• 1922 - Hattie Jacques, actress, (d. 1980)
• 1926 - Konstantin Feoktistov, cosmonaut
• 1927 - Juliette Greco, singer and actor
• 1927 - Vladimir Kuts, Soviet long-distance runner
• 1932 - Gay Talese, author
• 1943 - Gareth Hunt. actor
• 1945 - Pete Postlethwaite, actor
• 1953 - Lige Curry, musician (P Funk)
• 1954 - Dieter Bohlen German Composer and Performer (Modern Talking)
• 1962 - Garth Brooks, country music star
• 1962 - Eddie Izzard, actor, comic
• 1967 - Chris Rock, comedian, actor
• 1968 - Peter Bondra, hockey player
• 1974 - Steve Nash, Canadian NBA star
• 1978 - Ashton Kutcher, actor

Deaths

• 780 - Nicetas, Patriarch of Constantinople
• 1837 - King Gustav IV Adolf of Sweden, (b. 1778)
• 1873 - Sheridan Le Fanu, writer, (b. 1814)
• 1920 - Aleksandr Vasilevich Kolchak, Russian military commander, (b. 1874)
• 1938 - Harvey Firestone, manufacturer, (b. 1868)
• 1979 - Josef Mengele, Nazi war criminal, (b. 1911)
• 1980 - Secondo Campini, Italian jet pioneer, (b. 1904)
• 1993 - Lillian Gish, actress, (b. 1893)
• 1998 - Lawrence Sanders, author
• 1999 - King Hussein of Jordan, (b. 1935)
• 1999 - Bobby Troup, musician, actor
• 2000 - Big Pun, singer, (b. 1971)
• 2000 - Doug Henning, magician, (b. 1947)
• 2001 - Anne Morrow Lindbergh, author, aviator, (b. 1906)
• 2001 - Dale Evans, actress, singer
• 2003 - Augusto Monterroso, author
• 2004 - John Hench, Artistic designer for Walt Disney
• 2004 - Rebeca Martinez, girl born with two heads, died of complications from surgery to remove extra head (b. 2003)

Holidays and observances

• Bahá'í Faith - Feast of Mulk (Dominion) - First day of the 18th month of the Bahá'í Calendar

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Referenced By