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Almanac - Friday 2/1/19

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

 

David Latulippe is host of On the Arts, KALW's weekly radio magazine of the performing arts, as well as for Explorations in Music, and the Berkeley Symphony broadcasts. He has also hosted and produced the radio series From the Conservatory, Music from Mills, and Music at Menlo, and is principal guest host for Revolutions Per Minute.