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).
Holidays
- Air Force Day (Nicaragua)
- Anniversary of the Abolition of Slavery (Mauritius)
- Christian Feast Day:
- Earliest day on which Constitution Day can fall, while February 7 is the latest; celebrated on the first Monday in February. (Mexico)
- Earliest day on which National Wear Red Day can fall, while February 7 is the latest; celebrated on the first Friday in February. (United States)
- Federal Territory Day (Kuala Lumpur, Labuan and Putrajaya, Malaysia)
- Heroes Day (Rwanda)
- Imbolc (Ireland, Scotland, Isle of Man, and some Neopagan groups in the Northern hemisphere)
- Memorial Day of the Republic (Hungary)
- National Freedom Day (United States)
- The first day of Quebec Winter Carnival, celebrated until February 17 (Quebec City)
- The start of Black History Month (United States and Canada)
- The start of LGBT History Month (United Kingdom)
- The start of National Bird-Feeding Month (United States)
History
In 481, Vandal king Huneric organised a conference between Catholic and Arian bishops at Carthage.
In 1327, Teenaged Edward III is crowned King of England, but the country is ruled by his mother Queen Isabella and her lover Roger Mortimer.
In 1329, King John of Bohemia captures Medvėgalis, an important fortress of the pagan Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and baptizes 6,000 – The First Peace of Thorn is signed in Thorn, Monastic State of the Teutonic Knights (Prussia).
In 1411, The First Peace of Thorn is signed in Thorn (Toruń), Monastic State of the Teutonic Knights (Prussia).
In 1662, The Chinese general Koxinga seizes the island of Taiwan after a nine-month siege.
In 1713, The Kalabalik or Tumult in Bendery results from the Ottoman sultan‘s order that his unwelcome guest, King Charles XII of Sweden, be seized.
In 1790, In New York City, the Supreme Court of the United States convenes for the first time.
In 1793, French Revolutionary Wars: France declares war on the United Kingdom and the Netherlands.
In 1796, The capital of Upper Canada is moved from Newark to York.
In 1814, Mayon Volcano in the Philippines erupts, killing around 1,200 people, the most devastating eruption of the volcano.
In 1835, Slavery is abolished in Mauritius.
In 1851, Mary Shelley, English author (b. 1797) dies. She was an English novelist, short story writer, dramatist, essayist, biographer, and travel writer, best known for her Gothic novel Frankenstein: or, The Modern Prometheus (1818). She also edited and promoted the works of her husband, the Romantic poet and philosopher Percy Bysshe Shelley. Her father was the political philosopher William Godwin, and her mother was the philosopher and feminist Mary Wollstonecraft. Mary Godwin’s mother died when she was eleven days old; afterwards, she and her older half-sister, Fanny Imlay, were raised by her father. When Mary was four, Godwin married his neighbour, Mary Jane Clairmont. Godwin provided his daughter with a rich, if informal, education, encouraging her to adhere to his liberal political theories. In 1814, Mary Godwin began a romantic relationship with one of her father’s political followers, the married Percy Bysshe Shelley. Together with Mary’s stepsister, Claire Clairmont, they left for France and travelled through Europe; upon their return to England, Mary was pregnant with Percy’s child. Over the next two years, she and Percy faced ostracism, constant debt, and the death of their prematurely born daughter. They married in late 1816 after the suicide of Percy Shelley’s first wife, Harriet. In 1816, the couple famously spent a summer with Lord Byron, John William Polidori, and Claire Clairmont near Geneva, Switzerland, where Mary conceived the idea for her novel Frankenstein. The Shelleys left Britain in 1818 for Italy, where their second and third children died before Mary Shelley gave birth to her last and only surviving child, Percy Florence. In 1822, her husband drowned when his sailing boat sank during a storm near Viareggio. A year later, Mary Shelley returned to England and from then on devoted herself to the upbringing of her son and a career as a professional author. The last decade of her life was dogged by illness, probably caused by the brain tumour that was to kill her at the age of 53. Until the 1970s, Mary Shelley was known mainly for her efforts to publish Percy Shelley’s works and for her novel Frankenstein, which remains widely read and has inspired many theatrical and film adaptations. Recent scholarship has yielded a more comprehensive view of Mary Shelley’s achievements. Scholars have shown increasing interest in her literary output, particularly in her novels, which include the historical novels Valperga (1823) and Perkin Warbeck (1830), the apocalyptic novel The Last Man (1826), and her final two novels, Lodore (1835) and Falkner (1837). Studies of her lesser-known works such as the travel book Rambles in Germany and Italy (1844) and the biographical articles for Dionysius Lardner’s Cabinet Cyclopaedia (1829–46) support the growing view that Mary Shelley remained a political radical throughout her life. Mary Shelley’s works often argue that cooperation and sympathy, particularly as practised by women in the family, were the ways to reform civil society. This view was a direct challenge to the individualistic Romantic ethos promoted by Percy Shelley and the Enlightenment political theories articulated by her father, William Godwin.
In 1861, American Civil War: Texas secedes from the United States.
In 1865, President Abraham Lincoln signs the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.
In 1876, A murder conviction effectively forces the violent Pennsylvanian Irish anti-owner coal miners, the “Molly Maguires“, to disband.
In 1884, The first volume (A to Ant) of the Oxford English Dictionary is published.
In 1893, Thomas A. Edison finishes construction of the first motion picture studio, the Black Maria in West Orange, New Jersey.
In 1897, Shinhan Bank, the oldest bank in South Korea, opens in Seoul.
In 1908, King Carlos I of Portugal and his son, Prince Luis Filipe, are killed in Terreiro do Paco, Lisbon.
In 1918, Russia adopts the Gregorian Calendar.
In 1920, The Royal Canadian Mounted Police begins operations.
In 1924, The United Kingdom recognizes the USSR.
In 1942, World War II: Josef Terboven, Reichskommissar of German-occupied Norway, appoints Vidkun Quisling the Minister President of the National Government.
In 1942, World War II: U.S. Navy conducts Marshalls-Gilberts raids, the first offensive action by the United States against Japanese forces in the Pacific Theater.
In 1942, Voice of America, the official external radio and television service of the United States government, begins broadcasting with programs aimed at areas controlled by the Axis powers.
In 1946, Trygve Lie of Norway is picked to be the first United Nations Secretary General.
In 1946, The Parliament of Hungary abolishes the monarchy after nine centuries, and proclaims the Hungarian Republic.
In 1953, North Sea flood of 1953 (Dutch, Watersnoodramp, literally “flood disaster”) was a major flood caused by a heavy storm, that occurred on the night of Saturday, 31 January 1953 and morning of Sunday, 1 February 1953. The floods struck the Netherlands, Belgium, England and Scotland.
In 1957, Felix Wankel‘s first working prototype (DKM 54) of the Wankel engine runs at the NSU research and development department Versuchsabteilung TX in Germany
In 1960, Four black students stage the first of the Greensboro sit-ins at a lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina.
In 1965, The Hamilton River in Labrador, Canada is renamed the Churchill River in honour of Winston Churchill.
In 1966, Hedda Hopper, American actress and columnist (b. 1885) dies. She was one of America’s best-known gossip columnists, notorious for feuding with her arch-rival Louella Parsons. She had been a moderately successful actress of stage and screen for years before being offered the chance to write the column “Hedda Hopper’s Hollywood” for the Los Angeles Times in 1938. In the McCarthy era she named suspected communists. Hopper continued to write gossip to the end, her work appearing in many magazines and later on radio..
In 1966, Buster Keaton, American actor (b. 1895) dies. Joseph Frank “Buster” Keaton (October 4, 1895 – February 1, 1966) was an American comic actor, filmmaker, producer and writer. He was best known for his silent films, in which his trademark was physical comedy with a consistently stoic, deadpan expression, earning him the nickname “The Great Stone Face”. Buster Keaton (his lifelong stage name) was recognized as the seventh-greatest director by Entertainment Weekly. In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked Keaton the 21st-greatest male star. Critic Roger Ebert wrote of Keaton’s “extraordinary period from 1920 to 1929, [when] he worked without interruption on a series of films that make him, arguably, the greatest actor-director in the history of the movies.” His career declined afterward with a dispiriting loss of his artistic independence when he was hired on to MGM which fueled a crippling alcoholism that ruined his family life. However, he recovered in the 1940s, remarried and revived his career to a degree as an honored comic performer for the rest of his life, earning an Academy Honorary Award in 1958. Orson Welles stated that Keaton’s The General is “the greatest comedy ever made, the greatest Civil War film ever made, and perhaps the greatest film ever made.” A 2002 worldwide poll by Sight & Sound ranked Keaton’s The General as the 15th best film of all time. Three other Keaton films received votes in the magazine’s survey: Our Hospitality, Sherlock, Jr., and The Navigator.
In 1968, Vietnam War: The execution of Viet Cong officer Nguyen Van Lem by South Vietnamese National Police Chief Nguyen Ngoc Loan is videotaped and photographed by Eddie Adams. This image helped build opposition to the Vietnam War.
In 1968, Canada’s three military services, the Royal Canadian Navy, the Canadian Army and the Royal Canadian Air Force, are unified into the Canadian Forces.
In 1968, The New York Central Railroad and the Pennsylvania Railroad are merged to form the ill-fated Penn Central Transportation.
In 1972, Kuala Lumpur becomes a city by a royal charter granted by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia.
In 1974, A fire in the 25-story Joelma Building in Sao Paulo, Brazil kills 189 and injures 293.
In 1974, Kuala Lumpur is declared a Federal Territory.
In 1978, Director Roman Polanski skips bail and flees the United States to France after pleading guilty to charges of having sex with a 13-year-old girl.
In 1979, Convicted bank robber Patty Hearst is released from prison after her sentence is commuted by President Jimmy Carter.
In 1979, The Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini returns to Tehran, Iran after nearly 15 years of exile.
In 1982, Senegal and the Gambia form a loose confederation known as Senegambia.
In 1989, The Western Australian towns of Kalgoorlie and Boulder amalgamate to form the City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder.
In 1990, Humanitas publishing house is founded in Bucharest, shortly after the Romanian Revolution, by the philosopher Gabriel Liiceanu.
In 1991, A runway collision between USAir Flight 1493 and SkyWest Flight 5569 at Los Angeles International Airport results in the deaths of 34 people, and injuries to 30 others.
In 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.
In 1993, Gary Bettman becomes the NHL’s first commissioner
In 1994, Punk rock band Green Day releases their album Dookie, which would eventually sell over 20 million copies worldwide.
In 1996, The Communications Decency Act is passed by the U.S. Congress.
In 1998, Rear Admiral Lillian E. Fishburne becomes the first female African American to be promoted to rear admiral.
In 2001, Putrajaya, the Malaysian administrative city, is declared a Federal Territory.
In 2002, Daniel Pearl, American journalist and South Asia Bureau Chief of the Wall Street Journal, kidnapped January 23, 2002, is beheaded and mutilated by his captors.
In 2003, Space Shuttle Columbia on mission STS-107 disintegrates during reentry into the Earth’s atmosphere, killing all seven astronauts aboard.
In 2003, crew of the Space Shuttle Columbia die.
- – Michael P. Anderson, American pilot and astronaut (b. 1959)
- – David M. Brown, American captain and astronaut (b. 1956)
- – Kalpana Chawla, Indian-American astronaut (b. 1961)
- – Laurel Clark, American surgeon, captain, and astronaut (b. 1961)
- – Rick Husband, American pilot and astronaut (b. 1957)
- – William C. McCool, American navy officer and astronaut (b. 1961)
- – Ilan Ramon, Israeli pilot and astronaut (b. 1954)
In 2004, 251 people are trampled to death and 244 injured in a stampede at the Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia.
In 2004, Janet Jackson‘s breast is exposed during the half-time show of Super Bowl XXXVIII, resulting in US broadcasters adopting a stronger adherence to Federal Communications Commission censorship guidelines.
In 2005, King Gyanendra of Nepal carries out a coup d’état to capture the democracy, becoming Chairman of the Councils of ministers.
In 2009, The first cabinet of Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir was formed in Iceland, making her the country’s first female prime minister and the world’s first openly LGBT head of government. No wonder the population isn’t growing.
In 2012, At least 72 people are killed and over 500 injured as a result of clashes between fans of Egyptian football teams Al-Masry and Al-Ahly in the city of Port Said.
In 2013, The Shard, the tallest building in the European Union, is opened to the public.
In 2016, Martin O’Malley suspended his longshot Democratic presidential campaign Monday night as early results showed he gained little traction in the first-in-the-nation caucuses in Iowa, a state where his campaign pinned their hopes.
In 2016, Fincher Will Not Seek Re-election: “I have decided not to seek re-election to the 8th Congressional District seat this year,” Fincher, R-Frog Jump, said in a written statement. “I am humbled by the opportunity to serve the people of West Tennessee, but I never intended to become a career politician. The last six years have been the opportunity of a lifetime, and I am honored to have been given the chance to serve. I will be returning to Frog Jump and my family and business.”
In 2018, Mayor Megan Barry said Wednesday she had an extramarital affair with the police officer in charge of her security detail, an extraordinary admission that rocks the popular Nashville mayor’s first term.
In 2021, A coup d’état in Myanmar removes Aung San Suu Kyi from power and restores military rule.
