February 5

Birthdays:

1987 ~ Darren Criss, American actor best known for his role Blaine Anderson in the television series Glee.

1962 ~ Jennifer Jason Leigh, American actress.

1948 ~ Christopher Guest, British and American film director and actor.

1948 ~ Barbara Hershey, American actress.

1948 ~ Tom Wilkinson, English actor.

1946 ~ Charlotte Rampling, English actress.

1941 ~ Stephen J. Cannell (d. Sept. 30, 2010), American scriptwriter and movie producer.  He died at age 69 of cancer.

1940 ~ H.R. Giger (né Hans Rudolf Giger, d. May 12, 2014), Swiss artist who made monsters.  He died at age 74 from injuries suffered in a fall.

1939 ~ Jane Bryant Quinn, American journalist.

1934 ~ Hank Aaron (né Henry Louis Aaron), American baseball player.

1928 ~ Andrew Greeley (d. May 29, 2013), American Catholic maverick priest who chided his church.  He also wrote novels of straying priests and detective thrillers.  He died at age 85.

1927 ~ Ruth Fertel (d. Apr. 16, 2002), founder of Ruth’s Chris Steak House.  She was a Louisiana businesswoman, born and raised in New Orleans.  She died at age 75.

1926 ~ Arthur Ochs Sulzberger (d. Sept. 29, 2012), American newspaper chief who published the Pentagon Papers the New York Times.  He died at age 86.

1919 ~ Cornelia Clark Fort (d. Mar. 21, 1943), First American female pilot to be killed during US Military service.  She was 24 years old at the time of her death.

1919 ~ Andreas Papandreou (d. June 23, 1996), Prime Minister of Greece.  He died at age 77.

1919 ~ Red Buttons (né Aaron Chwatt, d. July 13, 2006), American actor.  He died at age 87.

1915 ~ Robert Hofstadter (d. Nov. 17, 1990), American physicist and recipient of the 1961 Nobel Prize in Physics.  He died in Stanford, Connecticut at age 75.

1914 ~ William S. Burroughs (d. Aug. 2, 1997), American author.  He died at age 83.

1914 ~ Alan Lloyd Hodgkin (d. Dec. 20, 1998), British biophysicist and recipient of the 1963 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.  He died at age 84.

1906 ~ John Carradine (né Richmond Reed Carradine, d. Nov. 27, 1988), American actor.  He died at age 82.  His body was buried at sea.

1900 ~ Adlai Stevenson, II (d. July 14, 1965), American politician and 5^th US Ambassador to the United Nations.  He was the Democratic candidate for President in the 1952 presidential campaign.  He had previously served as the Governor of Illinois.  He died at age 65.

1878 ~ André Citroën (d. July 3, 1935), French industrialist and founder of the Citroën Company.  He died of stomach cancer at age 57.

1858 ~ Mahlon Pitney (d. Dec. 9, 1924), Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court.  He was appointed to the High Court by President William Taft.  He served on the Court from March 1912 through December 1922.  He was born in Morristown, New Jersey.  He died at age 66, two years after his retirement from the Court.

1848 ~ Belle Starr (née Myra Maybell Shirely Reed Starr, d. February 3, 1889), American Wild West outlaw.  She was killed 2 days before her 41^st birthday under mysterious circumstances.  Her murderer was never found.

1788 ~ Sir Robert Peel, 2^nd Baronet (d. July 2, 1850), Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.  He served two terms as Prime Minister, the first from December 1834 to April 1835 during the reign of King William IV, and second from August 1841 until June 1846 during the reign of Queen Victoria.  He died at age 62.

1784 ~ Nancy Hanks Lincoln (d. Oct. 5, 1818), American mother of Abraham Lincoln.  She died at age 34.

1725 ~ James Otis, Jr. (d. May 23, 1783), early American lawyer and patriot.  He died at age 58 after being struck by lightening.

1608 ~ Gaspar Schott (d. May 22, 1666), German mathematician and Jesuit priest.  He died at age 66.

Events that Changed the World:

2017 ~ The New England Patriots beat the Atlanta Falcons in a score of 34 to 28 in Super Bowl LI, which was held in Houston, Texas.

2008 ~ A series of major tornados swept across the Southern United States, killing at least 57 people.

2000 ~ Russian forces massacred over 60 civilians in Grozny, Chechnya.

1997 ~ The so-called Big Three Banks in Switzerland announced the creation of a $71M fund to assist Holocaust survivors and their families.

1994 ~ Byron De La Beckwith (1920 ~ 2001) was convicted of the 1963 murder of civil rights leader Medgar Evers (1925 ~ 1963).

1988 ~ Manuel Noriega (1934 ~ 2017) was indicted in drug smuggling and money laundering charges.

1978 ~ The Great Blizzard of 1978 swept through the American mid-west and Great Lakes region bring heavy snow and winds up to 100 miles per hour.

1976 ~ A swine flu outbreak began at Fort Dix, New Jersey.

1975 ~ In Lima, Peru, the police forces went on strike, which resulted in massive riots throughout the city.  The riots, known as the Limazo was suppressed by the military dictatorship.

1971 ~ The Apollo 14 mission landed on the moon.

1958 ~ Gamal Abdel Nasser (1918 ~ 1970) was nominated as the first president of the United Arab Republic.

1939 ~ Generalísimo Francisco Franco (1892 ~ 1975) became the dictator of Spain.

1937 ~ President Franklin D. Roosevelt announced his plan to pack the Supreme Court by increasing the number of justices who could serve on the United States Supreme Court at any given time.  This would have given him authority to appoint additional justices who would, presumably support his policies.

1919 ~ United Artists studio was created by Charlie Chaplin (1889 ~ 1977), Mary Pickford, (1892 ~ 1979) Douglas Fairbanks (1883 ~ 1939) and D.W. Griffith (1875 ` 1948).

1917 ~ The United States Congress passed the Immigration Act of 1917, which banned immigration from nearly all south and southeast Asia.  The Act was passed over President Woodrow Wilson’s veto.

1909 ~ Belgian chemist Leo Baekeland (1863 ~ 1944) created Bakelite, the first synthetic plastic.

1900 ~ The United States and the United Kingdom signed the first Hay-Pauncefote Treaty for the Panama Canal.

1885 ~ King Leopold II (1835 ~ 1909) of Belgium established the Congo has his personal possession.

1852 ~ The Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia opened to the public.  It is one of the oldest and largest museums in the world.

1778 ~ South Carolina became the second state to ratify the Articles of Confederation.

1631 ~ Roger Williams (1603 ~ 1683) immigrated to Boston, Massachusetts from London, England.

62 ~ Pompeii, Italy was struck by an earthquake.

Good-Byes:

2015 ~ Val Logsdon Fitch (b. Mar. 10, 1923), American physicist and recipient of the 1980 Nobel Prize in Physics.  He died at age 91.

2013 ~ Stuart Freeborn (b. Sept. 5, 1914), British makeup artist who gave Star Wars life.  He died at age 98.

2011 ~ James Brian Jacques (b. June 15, 1939), British milkman and writer who sold 20 million books.  He died at age 71.

1999 ~ Wassily Leontief (b. Aug. 5, 1905), Russian economist and recipient of the 1973 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences.  He died at age 92.

1988 ~ Dorothy Lewis Bernstein (b. Apr. 11, 1914), American mathematician.  She died at age 73 in Providence, Rhode Island.

1981 ~ Ella Grasso (b. May 10, 1919), 83^rd Governor of Connecticut.  She served as Governor from January 1975 through December 31, 1980.  She died of ovarian cancer at age 61.

1972 ~ Marianne Moore (b. Nov. 15, 1887), American poet.  She died at age 84.

1967 ~ Leon Leonwood Bean (b. Oct. 13, 1872), American inventor, author, outdoor enthusiast and founder of L.L. Bean’s sporting goods store.  He died at age 94.

1953 ~ Iuliu Maniu (b. Jan. 8, 1873), Prime Minister of Romania.  He served for three terms as Prime Minister between 1928 and 1933.  He died less than a month after his 80^th birthday.

1947 ~ Hans Fallada (né Rudolf Wilhelm Friedrich Ditzen, b. July 21, 1893), German novelist best known for his novel, Every Man Dies Alone.  He died at age 53.

1931 ~ Athanasios Eftaxias (b. 1849), 118^th Prime Minister of Greece.

1881 ~ Thomas Carlyle (b. Dec. 4, 1795), Scottish writer, historian, and mathematician.  He died at age 85.

1819 ~ Hannah Hoes Van Buren (b. Mar. 8, 1783), wife of U.S. President Martin Van Buren.  Even though she died before her husband became president, she is sometimes considered to be a First Lady.  She died of tuberculosis at about a month before her 36^th birthday.

1818 ~ Charles XIII of Sweden (b. Oct. 7, 1748).  He died at age 69.

1661 ~ Shunzhi Emperor (b. Mar. 15, 1638), 3^rd Emperor of the Qing Dynasty.  He died at age 22.