Anniversaries and commemorations come and go daily. Most of us, even the best historians, miss most occasions. If we think of history as events then we are faced with a continually showering in the grains of sand. Nevertheless, we do pick out certain patterns in the remembrance of historical dates. The blog here reminds us of some dates where the local, state, national, and global perspectives entwine.
On 14, Wednesday February 1844, Robert Themptander, 4th Prime Minister of Sweden, born (d. 1897)
On 14, Sunday February 1869, Charles Thomson Rees Wilson, Scottish physicist, Nobel laureate, born (d. 1959)
On 14, Wednesday February 1894, Jack Benny, American actor, comedian, born (d. 1974)
On 14, Wednesday February 1894, Myra Bradwell, American lawyer, political activist,, died (b. 1831)
On 14, Friday February 1919, The Polish–Soviet War begins, with the Battle of Bereza Kartuska.
On 14, Friday February 1919, Pál Luthár, Slovene teacher, cantor and writer, died (b. 1839)
On 14, Monday February 1944, WWII: An anti-Japanese revolt breaks out on Java.
On 14, Monday February 1944, Carl Bernstein, American journalist, born
On 14, Monday February 1944, Sir Alan Parker, English film director, producer, actor and writer, born
On 14, Saturday February 1959, Renée Fleming, American soprano, born
On 14, Saturday February 1959, Baby Dodds, American jazz musician, died (b. 1898)
On 14, Friday February 1969, Pope Paul VI issues Mysterii Paschalis, a motu proprio, deleting many names from the Roman calendar of saints (including Valentine, who was celebrated on this day).
On 14, Friday February 1969, Vito Genovese, Italian-American mobster, died (b. 1897)
On 14, Wednesday February 1979, In Kabul, Muslim extremists kidnap the American ambassador to Afghanistan, Adolph Dubs, who is later killed during a gunfight between his kidnappers and police.
On 14, Wednesday February 1979, Following her 1972 sex reassignment surgery, musician Wendy Carlos legally changes her name from Walter. She reveals this information in an interview in the May 1979 issue of Playboy magazine.
On 14, Wednesday February 1979, Jocelyn Quivrin, French actor, born (d. 2009), born
On 14, Wednesday February 1979, Reginald Maudling, British politician, died (b. 1917)
On 14, Tuesday February 1989, Union Carbide agrees to pay $470,000,000 to the Indian government for damages in the 1984 Bhopal disaster.
On 14, Tuesday February 1989, The Satanic Verses controversy: Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, Supreme Leader of Iran, born (d. June 3), issues a fatwa calling for the death of Indian-born British author Salman Rushdie and his publishers for issuing the novel The Satanic Verses (1988).
On 14, Tuesday February 1989, The first of 24 Global Positioning System satellites is placed into orbit.
On 14, Tuesday February 1989, James Bond, American ornithologist, died (b. 1900)
On 14, Tuesday February 1989, Vincent Crane, British musician (Atomic Rooster), died (b. 1943)
On 14, Monday February 1994, During a Four Corners programme on the ABC, Liberals speak of a possible leadership change.
On 14, Monday February 1994, Christopher Lasch, American historian, moralist, and social critic, died (b. 1932)
On 14, Monday February 1994, Andrei Chikatilo, Russian serial killer (executed), died (b. 1936)
On 14, Sunday February 1999, Stadium Australia is opened to the public for the first time.
On 14, Sunday February 1999, Tyler Adams, American footballer, born
On 14, Sunday February 1999, Buddy Knox, American singer and songwriter, died (b. 1933)
On 14, Sunday February 1999, John Ehrlichman, American Watergate scandal figure, died (b. 1925)
On 14, Friday February 2014, Marshall Browne, 78, crime fiction writer, died
On 14, Friday February 2014, Tom Finney, English footballer, died (b. 1922)
Other On This Day days in history
Neville Buch
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