February 2 is the 33rd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar . There are 332 days remaining (333 in leap years ).
Events 962 - Translatio imperii Pope John XII crowns Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor , the first Holy Roman Emperor in nearly 40 years.1032 - Conrad II, Holy Roman Emperor becomes King of Burgundy .1119 - Callixtus II becomes Pope .1509 - Battle of Diu took place near Diu, India, between Portugal and Turkey.1536 - Spaniard Pedro de Mendoza founds Argentina .1653 - New Amsterdam (later renamed New York City ) is incorporated.1709 - Alexander Selkirk is rescued from shipwreck on a desert island, inspiring the book Robinson Crusoe Daniel Defoe .1812 - Russia establishes a fur trading colony at Fort Ross, California.1848 - Mexican-American War : The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo is signed ending the war.1848 - California Gold Rush : The first ship with Chinese emigrants seeking fortune in California 's gold country arrive in San Francisco .1870 - It is revealed that the famed Cardiff Giant was just carved gypsum and not the petrified remains of a human .1876 - The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs of Major League Baseball is formed.1878 - Greece declares war on Turkey .1880 - The first electric streetlight is installed in Wabash, Indiana .1882 - The Knights of Columbus are formed in New Haven, Connecticut .1887 - In Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania the first Groundhog Day is observed.1897 - The Pennsylvania state capitol is destroyed by fire.1899 - The Australian Premiers' Conference held in Melbourne agrees Australia's capital (Canberra ) should be located between Sydney and Melbourne.1920 - Estonia declares its independence from Russia .1920 - France occupies Memel .1925 - Dog sleds reach Nome, Alaska with diphtheria serum, inspiring the Iditarod race.1933 - Adolf Hitler dissolves the German Parliament.1935 - The polygraph machine is tested for the first time. Leonard Keeler conducted the experiment in Portage, Wisconsin .1940 - Frank Sinatra debuts with the Tommy Dorsey orchestra.1943 - World War II : The last Nazi forces surrender to the Soviets following the Battle of Stalingrad .1945 - World War II: President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill leave to meet with Soviet leader Joseph Stalin at the Yalta Conference .1952 - A tropical storm forms north of Cuba and moves northeast making landfall in Florida. It is the earliest reported formation of a tropical storm on record in the Atlantic basin.1962 - For the first time in 400 years Neptune and Pluto align.1967 - The American Basketball Association is formed.1971 - In Uganda after a coup, Idi Amin replaces President Milton Obote as leader.1972 - British embassy in Dublin destroyed in protest over Bloody Sunday 1976 - Canada .1980 - Abscam : Reports surface that FBI personnel were targeting members of the U.S. Congress in a sting operation.1982 - Hama Massacre : The government of Syria attacked the town of Hama and killed thousands of people.1989 - Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan : The last Soviet Union armored column leaves Kabul ending nine years of military occupation.1990 - Apartheid : In South Africa President F.W. de Klerk allows the African National Congress to legally function again and promises to set Nelson Mandela free.1998 - A Cebu Pacific airlines DC-9-32 crashes into a mountain near Cagayan de Oro, Philippines killing 104
Births 1494 - Bona Sforza , queen of Poland and a second wife of Sigismund I of Poland (d. 1557 )1649 - Pope Benedict XIII (d. 1730 )1650 - Nell Gwynne , English actress, royal mistress (d. 1687 )1711 - Wenzel Anton von Kaunitz , Austrian diplomat (d. 1794 )1754 - Charles Maurice de Talleyrand , French politician (d. 1838 )1803 - Albert Sidney Johnston , Confederate general (d. 1862 )1829 - Alfred Brehm , German zoologist (d. 1884 )1875 - Fritz Kreisler , Austrian violinist (d. 1962 )1878 - Alfréd Hajós , Hungarian swimmer (d. 1955 )1882 - James Joyce , Irish author (d. 1941 )1887 - Ernst Hanfstängl , pianist, politician (d. 1975 )1888 - Frederick Lane , Australian swimmer (d. 1969 )1890 - Charles Correll , American actor (d. 1972 )1895 - George Halas , American football player, coach, co-founder of the National Football League (d. 1983 )1897 - Howard Johnson , American hotelier (d. 1972 )1901 - Jascha Heifetz , Lithuanian violinist (d. 1987 )1905 - Ayn Rand , author (d. 1982 )1906 - Gale Gordon , actor (d. 1995 )1915 - Abba Eban , Israeli diplomat (d. 2002 )1923 - James Dickey , poet, author (d. 1997 )1923 - Liz Smith , gossip columnist 1923 - Red Schoendienst , American baseball player, manager 1923 - Bonita Granville , American actress (d. 1988 ) 1924 - Elfi von Dassanowsky , Austrian-American producer and musician1925 - Elaine Stritch , actress1926 - Valéry Giscard d'Estaing , French politician1927 - Stan Getz , musician (d. 1991 )1931 - Dries van Agt , Dutch politician 1931 - Judith Viorst , American author 1932 - Robert Mandan , American actor1937 - Tom Smothers , American musician, comedian, half of the Smothers Brothers 1942 - Graham Nash , musician1942 - Bo Hopkins, American actor 1942 - Christine Keeler , British model and showgirl 1944 - Geoffrey Hughes , British actor1947 - Farrah Fawcett , American actress1947 - Melanie , singer1949 - Brent Spiner , actor1949 - Ross Valory, American musician (Journey ) 1950 - Barbara Sukowa, actress1954 - Christie Brinkley , model 1963 - Eva Cassidy , American singer (d. 1996 )1966 - Robert DeLeo , American musician (Stone Temple Pilots )1967 - Arturs Irbe , Latvian ice-hockey player, goalkeeper1972 - Dana International , Israeli singer, transsexual , Eurovision Song Contest winner1972 - T-Mo, rapper 1977 - Shakira , singer1983 - Jordin Tootoo , NHL hockey player
Deaths 1648 - George Abbot , English writer (b. ca. 1603 )1769 - Pope Clement XIII (b. 1693 )1895 - Austrian general (b. 1817 )1922 - William Desmond Taylor , film director1925 - Jaap Eden , Dutch skater and cyclist1948 - Bevil Rudd , South African athlete1956 - Charles Grapewin , American actor1969 - Boris Karloff , actor (b. 1887 )1970 - Bertrand Russell , British mathematician and philosopher (b. 1872 )1979 - Sid Vicious of Sex Pistols (b. 1957 )1987 - Brazilian legendary football goalkeeper 1987 - Alistair MacLean , Scottish novelist 1992 - Bert Parks, game show host, Miss America host1995 - Donald Pleasence , actor (b. 1919 )1996 - Gene Kelly , dancer, actor, director (b. 1912 )1997 - Sanford Meisner , American actor2001 - Fast Eddie Parker, American billiards player2002 - Claude Brown, American writer2003 - Lou Harrison , composer (b. 1917 )
Holidays and observances February 1 - February 3 - January 2 - March 2 -- listing of all days
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February 2nd (1843 words)
of February has been held as the festival of the Purification of the Virgin, and it is still a holiday of the Church of England. The popular name Candlemass is derived from the ceremony which the Church of Rome dictates to be observed on this day; namely, a blessing of candles by the clergy, and a distribution of them amongst the people, by whom they are afterwards carried lighted in solemn procession. Thus the snowdrop was called the Purification Flower (also the Fair Maid of February ), from its blossoming about Candlemass; the crocus was dedicated to St. Valentine; the daisy to St. Margaret (hence called by the French La belle Marguerite); the Crown Imperial to St. Edward, king of the West Saxons, whose day is the 18
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