February 1

2024 Calendar

February 1 is the 32nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 333 days remaining until the end of the year (334 in leap years).

Events

Up to 1900

772 - Pope Stephen III (b. 720)
1248 – Henry II, Duke of Brabant (b. 1207)
1328 – Charles IV of France (b. 1294)
1542 - Girolamo Aleandro, Italian cardinal (b. 1480)
1563 - Menas, Emperor of Ethiopia
1691 – Pope Alexander VIII (b. 1610)
1733 – Augustus III of Poland (b. 1670)
1734 - John Floyer, English physician and writer (b. 1649)
1743 - Giuseppe Ottavio Pitoni, Italian composer (b. 1657)
1750 - Bakar of Georgia, Georgian prince and politician (b. 1699)
1793 - William Wildman Shute Barrington, English statesman (b. 1717)
1851 – Mary Shelley, British writer of Frankenstein (b. 1797)
1871 - Alexander Serov, Russian composer (b. 1820)
1873 - Matthew Fontaine Maury, American naval officer (b. 1806)
1893 - George Henry Sanderson, Mayor of San Francisco (b. 1824)
1897 - Constantin von Ettingshausen, Austrian geologist and botanist (b. 1826)

1901 – 1950

1904 - Iceland gets increased autonomy from Denmark.
1908 – King Carlos I of Portugal and his son, Prince Luis Filipe are killed in Terreiro do Paco, Lisbon.
1913 – New York City's Grand Central Terminal opens as the world's largest train station.
1915 - Photographs are required in United Kingdom passports for the first time.
1918 – Russia adopts the Gregorian calendar.
1919 – The first Miss America is crowned (New York City).
1920 – The Royal Canadian Mounted Police begin operations.
1924 – The United Kingdom recognizes the USSR.
1929 – Frenchman Charles Rigoulet is the first weightlifter to lift over 400 pounds (181 kg) in the "clean and jerk" method.
1933 - Paul von Hindenburg dissolves the Reichstag under recommendation from Adolf Hitler.
1942 – World War II: Vidkun Quisling is appointed Premier of Norway by the Nazi occupiers.
1942 - Voice of America begins broadcasting.
1946 – Trygve Lie of Norway is picked to be the first United Nations Secretary-General.
1946 - Hungary is declared a republic with Zoltan Tildy as President.
1948 - The Federation of Malaya is founded.

1951 – 2000

1953 – In the night following January 31 large parts of the Netherlands, Belgium, and the southeastern United Kingdom are flooded after heavy storms.
1958 – Merger of Egypt and Syria to form the United Arab Republic, which lasted until 1961.
1959 - Neuchatel and Vaud become the first cantons of Switzerland to allow women to vote.
1960 – Four black students stage a sit-in at a lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina.
1964 - The Beatles have their first US Number One - "I Want to Hold Your Hand".
1965 - Hamilton River in Labrador, Canada, is renamed Churchill River, after Winston Churchill, who had died just over a week earlier.
1968 – Vietnam War: NLF officer Nguyen Van Lem is executed by Nguyen Ngoc Loan a South Vietnamese National Police Chief. The execution was videotaped and photographed by Eddie Adams and helped sway public opinion against the war.
1970 - Two trains collide in Benavidez, Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. With 236 people being killed, this is the deadliest accident in Argentine rail travel.
1972 - Kuala Lumpur becomes a city by Royal Charter.
1974 - Kuala Lumpur is declared a federal territory of Malaysia.
1974 – In São Paulo, Brazil, a fire in a 25-story office building kills 189 and injures 293. Kuala Lumpur declared a Federal Territory.
1978 – Director Roman Polanski skips bail and flees to France after pleading guilty to charges of engaging in sex with a 13-year-old girl.
1978 - In Finland, Urho Kekkonen is elected to a fifth term in-a-row as President.
1979 – Convicted bank robber Patty Hearst is released from prison after her sentence was commuted by President Jimmy Carter.
1979 – Ayatollah Khomeini is welcomed back into Tehran, Iran after nearly 15 years of exile.
1982 – Senegal and The Gambia form a loose confederation known as Senegambia.
1985 - Aeroflot Flight 7841 crashes shortly after take-off from Minsk, killing 58 people.
1989 - Boulder and Kalgoorlie in Western Australia form the city of Kalgoorlie-Boulder.
1991 - USAir Flight 1493 and SkyWest Flight 5569 collide on the runway at Los Angeles International Airport, killing 34 people.
1992 – The Chief Judicial Magistrate of Bhopal court declares Warren Anderson, ex-CEO of Union Carbide, a fugitive under Indian law for failing to appear in the Bhopal Disaster case.
1993 - Gary Bettman becomes the first commissioner of the NHL.
1994 – In Portland, Oregon Tonya Harding's ex-husband Jeff Gillooly pleads guilty for his role in attacking figure skater Nancy Kerrigan.
1995 – Manic Street Preachers lyricist Richey James Edwards goes missing from the Embassy Hotel in London, UK.
1996 – The Communications Decency Act is passed by the U.S. Congress.
1998 - Lillian E. Fishburne becomes the first female African American to be promoted to the rank of Rear Admiral.
1999 – North Dakota Public Radio is launched.

From 2001

2002 – Hildegard Knef, German actress (b. 1925)
2002 - Daniel Pearl, American journalist
2003 - Deaths in the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster:
- Michael P. Anderson, American astronaut (b. 1959)
- David M. Brown, American astronaut (b. 1956)
- Kalpana Chawla, Indian astronaut (b. 1961)
- Laurel Clark, American astronaut (b. 1961)
- Rick D. Husband, American astronaut (b. 1957)
- Willie McCool, American astronaut (b. 1961)
- Ilan Ramon, Israeli astronaut (b. 1954)
2004 – Ally MacLeod, Scottish footballer (b. 1931)
2007 – Gian Carlo Menotti, Italian-born composer (b. 1911)
2007 – Ahmed Abu Laban, Danish Muslim leader (b. 1946)
2009 – Lukas Foss, German-born composer (b. 1922)
2010 – Steingrimur Hermannsson, Prime Minister of Iceland (b. 1928)
2010 – Justin Mentell, American actor (b. 1982)
2012 – Wislawa Szymborska, Polish poet (b. 1923)
2012 – Angelo Dundee, American boxing trainer (b. 1921)
2012 - Don Cornelius, American TV host (b . 1936)
2013 - Ed Koch, 105th Mayor of New York City (b. 1924)
2013 - Barney, pet dog of George W. Bush (b. 2000)
2013 - Robin Sachs, British actor (b. 1951)
2014 - Luis Aragonés, Spanish footballer and manager (b. 1938)
2014 - Maximilian Schell, Austrian-Swiss actor, director and screenwriter (b. 1930)
2014 - Vasily Ivanovich Petrov, Marshal of the Soviet Union (b. 1917)
2014 - Rene Ricard, American poet (b. 1946)
2015 - Aldo Ciccolini, Italian-French pianist (b. 1925)
2015 - Ann Mara, American football team owner (b. 1929)
2015 - Monty Oum, American animator (b. 1981)
2016 - Thomas Tigue, American politician (b. 1945)
2016 - Paul Pholeros, Australian architect (b. 1953)
2017 - E. Ahamed, Indian politician (b. 1938)
2017 - Albano Bortoletto Cavallin, Brazilian archbishop (b. 1930)
2017 - Sandy Gandhi, Indian-Australian comedian (b. 1958)
2017 - Desmond Carrington, English actor (b. 1926)
2017 - Stig Grybe, Swedish actor (b. 1928)
2017 - Ken Morrison, English businessman (b. 1931)
2017 - Cor van der Hoeven, Dutch footballer (b. 1921)
2017 - Asim Basu, Indian theatre director (b. 1935)
2017 - Lars-Erik Berenett, Swedish actor (b. 1942)
2017 - Ken Morrison, English businessman (b. 1931)
2017 - Edward Tipper, American World War II veteran (b. 1921)
2018 - Niranjan Bhagat, Indian poet (b. 1926)
2018 - Hazar Khan Bijarani, Pakistani politician (b. 1946)
2018 - Dennis Edwards, American singer (b. 1943)
2018 - Barys Kit, Belarussian mathematician, physicist, chemist and rocket scientist (b. 1910)
2018 - Su Bai, Chinese archaeologist (b. 1922)
2018 - Omar Aggad, Palestinian-Saudi businessman (b. 1927)
2018 - John Jacob Lavranos, South African botanist (b. 1926)

Births

1901 – 1925

1901 – Frank Buckles, American World War I veteran and supercentenarian (d. 2011)
1901 – Clark Gable, American actor (d. 1960)
1902 – Langston Hughes, American writer (d. 1967)
1904 - Franciska Gaal, Jewish-Hungarian cabaret artist and actress (d. 1973)
1904 – S. J. Perelman, humorist, writer (d. 1979)
1905 – Emilio G. Segré, Italian physicist (d. 1989)
1906 - Adetokunbo Ademola, Chief Justice of Nigeria (d. 1993)
1907 – Günter Eich, lyricist (d. 1972)
1908 – George Pal, director, producer (d. 1980)
1909 - George Beverly Shea, Canadian-American singer-songwriter (d. 2013)
1910 – Ngapoi Ngawang Jigme, Tibetan politician (d. 2009)
1915 – Stanley Matthews, English footballer (d. 2000)
1915 - Alicia Rhett, American actress (d. 2014)
1915 - Victor Shem-Tov, Bulgarian-Israeli politician (d. 2014)
1917 - Eiji Sawamura, Japanese baseball player
1918 – Dame Muriel Spark, Scottish writer (d. 2006)
1921 – Peter Sallis, English actor (d. 2017)
1921 - Ann Z. Caracristi, American cryptanalyst (d. 2016)
1921 - Winton M. Blount, United States Postmaster General (d. 2002)
1922 – Renata Tebaldi, Italian soprano (d. 2004)
1924 - Richard Hooker, American writer (d. 1997)
1924 - Emmanuel Scheffer, German-born Israeli footballer and coach (d. 2012)
1925 – Alfred Grosser, political scientist and publicist

1926 – 1950

1927 - Galway Kinnell, American poet and academic (d. 2014)
1927 – Günter Guillaume, German spy (d. 1995)
1928 – Tom Lantos, American politician (d. 2008)
1928 (or 1929) – Stuart Whitman, American actor
1930 - Maria Helena Walsh, Argentine writer and journalist (d. 2011)
1930 – Shahabuddin Ahmed, former President of Bangladesh
1930 - Hussein Muhammad Ershad, former President of Bangladesh
1931 – Iajuddin Ahmed, former President of Bangladesh (d. 2012)
1931 – Boris Yeltsin, President of Russia (d. 2007)
1932 - Hassan al-Turabi, Sudanese religious and political leader (d. 2016)
1933 - Wendell R. Anderson, former Governor of Minnesota
1934 - Nicolae Breban, Romanian writer
1934 - Ninan Koshy, Indian thinker, theologian and social analyst (d. 2015)
1934 - Bob Shane, American singer
1935 – Dieter Kühn, writer
1936 - Azie Taylor Morton, American politician, 36th Treasurer of the United States (d. 2003)
1937 – Don Everly, American musician
1937 – Garrett Morris, American comedian
1938 – Sherman Hemsley, American comedian and actor (d. 2012)
1939 – Ekaterina Maximova, Russian ballerina (d. 2009)
1939 – Fritjof Capra, Austrian physicist, philosopher and writer
1939 - Joe Sample, American pianist and composer (d. 2014)
1939 - Claude François, French singer and composer (d. 1978)
1939 - Yuri Rost, Russian photographer, journalist and traveller
1940 – Bibi Besch, Austrian-American actress (d. 1996)
1941 - Jerry Spinelli, American writer
1941 - Teofil Codreanu, Romanian footballer (d. 2016)
1942 – Terry Jones, British actor and writer (Monty Python's Flying Circus) (d. 2020)
1942 - Muna Wassef, Syrian actress
1943 - Rosemarie Frankland, Welsh actress and model (d. 2000)
1944 - Petru Popescu, Romanian-American writer, director, movie producer and writer
1944 - Dick Snyder, American basketball player
1944 – Mike Enzi, United States Senator for Wyoming (d. 2021)
1946 – Bart Braverman, American actor
1946 - Elisabeth Sladen, English actress (d. 2011)
1947 - Adam Ingram, Scottish politician
1947 – Jessica Savitch, American journalist (d. 1983)
1948 – Rick James, American musician, composer (d. 2004)
1949 - Franco Causio, Italian footballer
1950 - Mike Campbell, American guitarist and producer
1950 - Ali Haydar Konca, Turkish politician
1950 - Alan Moller, American meteorologist, storm chaser and photographer (d. 2014)

1951 – 1975

1951 - John McNally, Scottish politician
1951 - Andrew Smith, English politician
1952 - Roger Y. Tsien, Chinese-American cell biologist and Nobel Prize winner (d. 2016)
1953 - Periko Alonso, Spanish footballer
1954 – Bill Mumy, American actor and musician
1955 - Endang Rahayu Sedyaningsih, Indonesian politician (d. 2012)
1955 - Ernie Camacho, American baseball player
1956 - Brahmanandam, Indian actor
1956 – Exene Cervenka, American musician (X)
1956 - Mike Kitchen, Canadian ice hockey player
1957 - Renae Jacobs, American voice actress
1957 - Walter Schachner, Austrian footballer
1958 - William Dufris, American voice actor and audiobook narrator (d. 2020)
1958 - Ryo Horikawa, Japanese guitarist
1958 - Margie Abbott, wife of Prime Minister of Australia Tony Abbott
1958 - Eleanor Laing, Scottish lawyer and politician
1961 - Daniel M. Tani, American engineer and astronaut
1962 - Adel al-Jubeir, Saudi politician
1962 – Tomoyasu Hotei, Japanese rock guitarist
1963 - Takashi Murakami, Japanese artist
1964 - Linus Roache, British actor
1964 – Jani Lane, American musician (d. 2011)
1965 – Brandon Lee, American actor (d. 1993)
1965 – Princess Stéphanie of Monaco
1965 – Sherilyn Fenn, American actress
1966 - Vasilis Dimitriades, Greek footballer
1966 – Michelle Akers, American soccer player
1968 – Lisa Marie Presley, American actress
1968 – Pauly Shore, American comedian
1969 – Gabriel Batistuta, Argentine footballer
1969 – Joshua Redman, American jazz musician
1969 - Brian Krause, American actor
1969 - Nino Salukvadze, Georgian sports shooter
1969 - Andrew Breitbart, American conservative publicist and journalist (d. 2012)
1971 – Zlatko Zahovič, Slovenian footballer
1971 – Michael C. Hall, American actor
1972 - Leymah Gbowee, Liberian peace activist and Nobel Peace Prize winner
1972 – Christian Ziege, German footballer
1972 - Johan Wadem, Belgian footballer
1973 - Oscar Perez, Mexican footballer
1974 - Roberto Heras, Spanish cyclist
1974 - Walter McCarty, American basketball player
1975 - Katerina Thanou, Greek athlete
1975 – Big Boi, American musician (Outkast)

From 1976

1976 - Katrin Jakobsdottir, Icelandic politician, Prime Minister of Iceland
1977 - Kevin Kilbane, English-Irish footballer
1977 - Libor Sionko, Czech footballer
1978 - K'naan, Somali singer
1978 – Julie Roberts, American country music singer
1979 – Juan Silveira dos Santos, Brazilian footballer
1980 – Otilino Tenorio, Ecuadorean footballer (d. 2005)
1980 - Mike Ribeiro, Canadian ice hockey player
1980 - Héctor Luna, Dominican baseball player
1981 – Graeme Smith, South African cricketer
1982 - Daisy Betts, Australian actress
1982 – Gavin Henson, Welsh rugby player
1982 - Shoaib Malik, Pakistani cricketer
1982 - Kim Jong-wook, South Korean singer
1983 - Andrew VanWyngarden, American musician
1984 – Darren Fletcher, Scottish footballer
1984 - Lee Thompson Young, American actor (d. 2013)
1985 - Karine Sergerie, Canadian taekwondo world champion
1985 – Dean Shiels, Northern Irish footballer
1986 - Jorrit Bergsma, Dutch speed skater
1986 – Lauren Conrad, American television personality
1986 – Johan Vonlanthen, Swiss footballer
1987 – Giuseppe Rossi, Italian footballer
1987 - Heather Morris, American actress and dancer
1987 - Sebastian Boenisch, Polish footballer
1987 - Ronda Rousey, American mixed martial artist, judoka and actress
1989 - Alfred Finnbogason, Icelandic footballer
1990 - Dan Gosling, English footballer
1990 – Laura Marling, English singer-songwriter
1994 - Harry Styles, English singer (One Direction)
1994 - Skylar Laine, American singer-songwriter
1995 - Oliver Heldens, Dutch DJ, musician and producer
1996 - Dionne Bromfield, English singer-songwriter
2000 - Paris Smith, American actress and singer

Deaths

1901 – 2000

1903 - George Gabriel Stokes, Irish physicist (b. 1819)
1908 – King Carlos I of Portugal (b. 1863)
1908 – Luis Filipe, Prince Royal of Portugal (b. 1887)
1922 - William Desmond Taylor, American actor and director (b. 1872)
1928 - Hughie Jennings, American baseball player and manager (b. 1869)
1936 – Georgios Kondylis, Greek general and Prime Minister (b. 1878)
1941 - Walter Abbott, English footballer (b. 1877)
1944 – Piet Mondrian, Dutch artist (b. 1872)
1945 – Prince Kiril of Bulgaria (b. 1895)
1949 - Nicolae Dumitru Cocea, Romanian journalist, novelist, critic and activist (b. 1880)
1957 – Friedrich Paulus, German general (b. 1890)
1958 – Clinton Davisson, American physicist (b. 1888)
1966 – Buster Keaton, American actor (b. 1895)
1976 – Werner Heisenberg, German physicist (b. 1901)
1976 – George Whipple, American doctor, won the 1934 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1878)
1980 - Gastone Nencini, Italian cyclist (b. 1930)
1981 - Geirr Tveitt, Norwegian composer (b. 1908)
1986 – Alva Myrdal, Swedish politician and diplomat (b. 1902)
1987 - Alessandro Blasetti, Italian director (b. 1900)
1988 – Heather O'Rourke, American child actress (b. 1975)
1989 - Elaine de Kooning, American painter (b. 1918)
1995 - Richey James Edwards, Welsh singer and musician (b. 1967)
1999 - Baris Manco, Turkish musician (b. 1943)

Observances

Start of Black History Month (Canada and United States)
Start of LGBT History Month (UK)
Freedom Day (United States)
Heroes Day (Rwanda)
Imbolc, a cross-quarter day in the Celtic calendar
St. Brigid's Day (Ireland)
Basque region - The alluvial Pheasant Island is controlled by Spain from this date until July 31