Happy 77th birthday to funnyman Monty Python Flying Circus member Terry Jones...
Today is Friday, February 1, 2019. 47 days until spring, and a mere 641 days until the next presidential election.
- Sunrise: 7:14am
- Sunset: 5:33pm ...giving us 10 hours and 20 minutes of daylight. 14% of the waning crescent moon now visible, rising at 5:02am.
Tides at the Golden Gate
- High: 8:52am/11:03pm
- Low: 2:47am/3:50pm
Special celebrations & commemorations today…
- Confederal Agreement Day - Senegal
- Federal Territory Day - Malaysia
- San Cecilio - Spain
- St. Brigid's Day - patron of cattle, chicken farmers, dairymaids.
- Bubble Gum Day
- Baked Alaska Day
- Candy-Making Day
- Car Insurance Day
- Change Your Password Day
- Give Kids A Smile Day
- Hula in The Coola Day
- International Day of Black Women in The Arts
- International Face & Body Art Day
- Spunky Old Broads Day
- Wear Red Day
- Working Naked Day
- World Hijab Day
On this day in…
1788 - Isaac Briggs and William Longstreet patented the steamboat.
1790 - TheU.S. Supreme Court convened for the first time in New York City.
1793 - France declared war on Britain and Holland.
1793 - Ralph Hodgson patented oiled silk.
1842 - In New York City, the "City Despatch Post" began operations. It was a private company that was the first to introduce adhesive postage stamps in the western hemisphere. The company was bought by the U.S. government a few months later and renamed "United States City Despatch Post."
1861 -Texas voted to secede from the Union.
1862 - "The Battle Hymn of the Republic," by Julia Ward Howe was first published in the "Atlantic Monthly."
1865 - U.S. President Abraham Lincoln signed a Joint Resolution submitting the proposed 13th Amendment to the states.
1867 - In theU.S., bricklayers start working 8-hour days.
1884 - The first edition of the Oxford English Dictionary was published.
1893 - Thomas A. Edison completed work on the world's first motion picture studio in West Orange,NJ.
1896 - Puccini's opera "La Boheme" premiered in Turin.
1898 - The Travelers Insurance Company of Hartford,CT, issued the first automobile insurance policy. Dr. Truman Martin of Buffalo,NY, paid $11.25 for the policy, which gave him $5,000 in liability coverage.
1900 - Eastman Kodak Co. introduced the $1 Brownie box camera.
1913 - Grand Central Terminal (also known as Grand Central Station) opened in New York City,NY. It was the largest train station in the world.
1919 - The first Miss America was crowned in New York City.
1920 - The first armored car was introduced.
1920 - Canada's Royal North West Mounted Police changed their name to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. The organization was commissioned in 1873.
1921 - Carmen Fasanella registered as a taxicab owner and driver in Princeton, New Jersey. Fasanella retired November 2, 1989 after 68 years and 243 days of service.
1929 - Weightlifter Charles Rigoulet of France achieved the first 400 pound ‘clean and jerk’ as he lifted 402-1/2 pounds.
1930 - The Times published its first crossword puzzle.
1946 - Norwegian statesman Trygve Lie was chosen to be the first secretary-general of the United Nations.
1951 - The first telecast of an atomic explosion took place.
1951 - The first X-ray moving picture process was demonstrated.
1957 - P.H. Young became the first black pilot on a scheduled passenger airline.
1958 - The United Arab Republic was formed by a union of Egypt and Syria. It was broken 1961.
1960 - Four black college students began a sit-in protest at a lunch counter in Greensboro,NC. They had been refused service.
1968 - During the Vietnam War, South Vietnamese National Police Chief Brig. Gen. Nguyen Ngoc Loan executed a Viet Cong officer with a pistol shot to the head. The scene was captured in a news photograph.
1979 - Patty Hearst was released from prison after serving 22 months of a seven-year sentence for bank robbery. Her sentence had been commuted byU.S. President Carter.
1979 - Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini was welcomed in Tehran as he ended nearly 15 years of exile.
1987 - Terry Williams won the largest slot machine payoff, at the time, winning $4.9 million after getting four lucky 7s on a machine in Reno,NV.
1991 - A USAir jetliner crashed atop a commuter plane at Los Angeles International Airport. 35 people were killed.
1994 - Jeff Gillooly pled guilty in Portland,OR, for his role in the attack on figure skater Nancy Kerrigan. Gillooly, Tonya Harding's ex-husband, struck a plea bargain under which he confessed to racketeering charges in exchange for testimony implicating Harding.
1996 - Visa and Mastercard announced security measures that would make it safe to shop on the Internet.
1999 - Former White House intern Monica Lewinsky gave a deposition that was videotaped for senators weighing impeachment charges againstU.S. President Clinton.
2001 - Three Scottish judges found Abdel Basset al-Mergrahi guilty of the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, which killed 270 people. The court said that Megrahi was a member of the Libyan intelligence service. Al-Amin Khalifa, who had been co-accused, was acquitted and freed.
2003 - NASA's space shuttle Columbia exploded while re-entering the Earth's atmosphere. All seven astronauts on board were killed.
Today’s birthday celebrants include (or included)...
- Victor Herbert 1859 - Cellist, conductor
- John Ford (Sean Aloysius O’Feeney) 1894 - Director
- Clark Gable 1901 - Actor
- Langston Hughes 1902 - Author
- S.J. (Sidney) Perelman 1904 - Writer, screenwriter
- Renata Tebaldi 1922 - Opera singer
- Stuart Whitman 1928 - Actor ("Cimarron Strip", "The Longest Day")
- Boris Yeltsin 1931 - Russian president 1991-1999
- Bob Shane 1934 - Singer (The Kingston Trio)
- Garrett Morris 1937 - Actor, comedian
- Don Everly 1937 - Singer (The Everly Brothers)
- Ray Sawyer 1937 - Singer (Dr. Hook and The Medicine Show)
- Sherman Hemsley 1938 - Actor ("The Jeffersons")
- Joe Sample 1939 - Jazz musician
- Del McCoury 1939 - Bluegrass singer
- Terry Jones 1942 - Comedian ("Monty Python" series)
- Mike Campbell 1951 - Rock musician (Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers)
- Rick James 1952 - Singer (Songs: "Cold Blooded" and "Super Freak")
- Bill Mumy 1954 - Actor ("Twilight Zone-The Movie", "The Rockford Files", writer, producer
- Sherilynn Fenn 1965 - Actress ("Twin Peaks")
- Princess Stephanie of Monaco (Stéphanie Marie Elisabeth Grimaldi) 1965 on.
- Lisa Marie Presley 1968 - Musician, daughter of Elvis Presley
- Pauly Shore 1970 - Comedian, actor ("Encino Man")
- Jarrett Lennon 1982 - Actor ("Freaks and Geeks")
- Harry Styles 1994