Historical Events
- Feb 5 Yankees purchase 20 acres in Bronx for Yankee Stadium
"The Kid"
Feb 6 Charlie Chaplin releases his first full-length feature - "The Kid", a silent film starring Charlie Chaplin & 6-year old Jackie Coogan
Churchill Appointed Minister of Colonies
Feb 12 Winston Churchill becomes British Minister of Colonies
Music History
Feb 17 Arthur Honegger's chamber piece "Pastorale D'ete" premieres
- Feb 18 British troops occupy Dublin
- Feb 20 Riza Khan Pahlevi seizes control of Iran
- Feb 21 Constituent Assembly of the Democratic Republic of Georgia adopts the country's first constitution
- Feb 21 The London Conference on the Near East begins: the issue is the Allies' 1920 Treaty of Sevres, which had given part of Turkish Asia Minor to Greece
- Feb 23 1st US transcontinental air mail flight arrives in NYC from San Francisco
- Feb 24 1st transcontinental flight in 24 hrs flying time arrives in Florida
- Feb 25 Tbilisi, capital of the Democratic Republic of Georgia, occupied by Bolshevist Russia
- Feb 25 The Living Buddha, Hutuktu, is crowned King of Mongolia as the country declares independence from China
- Feb 26 The USSR signs treaties respecting the integrity of Persia and of Afghanistan
- Feb 27 The Fascists incite a riot in Florence, Italy
- Feb 27 The International Working Union of Socialist Parties is founded in Vienna
Figure Skating History
Feb 27 US Female Figure Skating championship won by Theresa Weld Blanchard; US male Figure Skating championship won by Sherwin Badger
Famous Birthdays
- Feb 1 Peter Sallis, British actor (Wallace and Gromit, Last of the Summer Wine), born in Twickenham, England (d. 2017)
Betty Friedan (1921-2006)
Feb 4 American writer (The Feminine Mystique), and feminist (1st President of NOW, 1966-70), born in Peoria, Illinois
- Feb 5 John Pritchard, British conductor (Cologne Opera, 1978-89; San Francisco Opera, 1986-89), born in Walthamstow, Essex, England (d. 1989)
- Feb 5 Ken Adam, British film production designer (James Bond sets), born in Berlin, Germany (d. 2016)
- Feb 6 Bob Scott, New Zealand rugby union fullback (17 Tests; Auckland RU), born in Wellington, New Zealand (d. 2012)
- Feb 7 Athol Rowan, South African cricket spin bowler (15 Tests, 54 wickets, BB 5/68; Transvaal), born in Johannesburg, South Africa (d. 1998)
Lana Turner (1921-1995)
Feb 8 American pin-up model and actress (Peyton Place; The Postman Always Rings Twice; Imitation of Life), born in Wallace, Idaho
- Feb 8 Nexhmije Hoxha, Albanian wife of dictator Enver Hoxha 'Lady Macbeth of Albania', born in Manastir, Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (d. 2020)
- Feb 8 Walter "Hoot" Evers, American baseball outfielder (MLB All-Star 1948, 50 Detroit Tigers), born in St. Louis, Missouri (d. 1991)
- Feb 9 Charles Montgomery Monteith, Irish publisher (Faber & Faber - published "Lord of the Flies"), born in Lisburn, Northern Ireland (d. 1995)
- Feb 10 Adrian Cruft, British composer, born in London, England (d. 1987)
- Feb 11 Edward Seidensticker, American scholar (d. 2007)
- Feb 11 Lloyd Bentsen, American politician (Senator-D-Texas, 1971-93, 1989 Democrat VP nominee), born in Mission, Texas (d. 2006)
- Feb 13 Henk van Galen Last, Dutch journalist (d. 1989)
- Feb 13 Wardell Gray, American swing and bebop jazz tenor saxophonist, born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma (d. 1955)
- Feb 14 Hugh Downs, American TV journalist (20/20, Concentration), born in Akron, Ohio (d. 2020)
- Feb 14 Jeanne Demessieux, French organist and composer (Te Deum), born in Montpellier, France (d. 1968)
- Feb 14 Skeezix, of "Gasoline Alley" discovered on Wallets' doorstep (cartoon strip character featured in Chicago Tribune)
- Feb 15 Radha Krishna Choudhary, Indian historian and writer (d. 1985)
- Feb 16 Araucaria [John Galbraith Graham], British crossword compiler (The Guardian) and priest, born in Oxford, England (d. 2013)
- Feb 16 Esther Bubley, American photographer, born in Phillips, Wisconsin (d. 1998)
Hua Guofeng (1921-2008)
Feb 16 Chairman of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (1976-81) and Premier of the People's Republic of China (1976-80), born in Jiaocheng County, Shanxi
- Feb 16 Jean Behra, French Formula One driver, born in Nice, France (d. 1959)
Vera-Ellen (1921-1981)
Feb 16 American actress and dancer (White Christmas; Big Leaguer; On the Town), born in Norwood, Ohio
- Feb 19 Andries Treurnicht [Dr No], South African politician (founder of the South African Conservative Party), born in Piketberg, South Africa (d. 1993)
- Feb 19 Claude Rene Georges Pascal, French composer, born in Paris, France (d. 2017)
Joseph A. Walker (1921-1966)
Feb 20 American experimental physicist, World War II and NASA test pilot (1st spaceplane flights to edge of outer space), born in Washington, Pennsylvania
- Feb 20 Mervin Shiner, American honky-tonk country and hillbilly singer, and guitarist, born in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania (d. 2023)
- Feb 20 Ruth Gipps, British prolific conductor and composer, born in Bexhill-on-Sea, England (d. 1999)
- Feb 21 Richard Whitcomb, American NASA aerodynamicist, invented the supercritical wing and devised the area rule, born in Evanston, Illinois (d. 2009) [1]
- Feb 22 David Greene, British television director, born in Manchester, England (d. 2003)
- Feb 22 Giulietta Masina, Italian actress (La Strada; Nights of Cabiria; The White Sheik) and wife of director Federico Fellini, born in San Giorgio di Piano, Italy (d. 1994)
Jean-Bédel Bokassa (1921-1996)
Feb 22 President (1966-76) and later Emperor (1976-79) of the Central African Republic, born in Bobangui, then French Equatorial Guinea
- Feb 22 Marshall Teague, American auto racer (Daytona Road Course Strictly Stock Car winner 1951, 52; AAA National Stock Car champion 1952, 54), born in Daytona Beach, Florida (d. 1959)
- Feb 22 Wayne Booth, American literary critic, born in American Fork, Utah (d. 2005)
- Feb 24 Abe Vigoda, American actor (Barney Miller - "Fish"; The Godfather), born in New York City (d. 2016)
- Feb 24 Douglass Watson, American actor (Satan Murders, Another World), born in Jackson, Georgia (d. 1989)
- Feb 24 Gaston Reiff, Belgian athlete (Olympic gold 5,000m 1948), born in Braine-l'Alleud, Belgium (d. 1992)
- Feb 24 Ingvar Lidholm, Swedish composer (Toccata e Canto), born in Jönköping, Sweden (d. 2017)
- Feb 24 Ludvik Aschkenazy, Czech writer (Brutus), (d. 1986)
- Feb 25 Andy Pafko, Boyceville, Wisconsin, MLB player (Chicago Cubs), (d. 2013)
- Feb 26 Betty Hutton [Elizabeth June Thornburg], American actress, dancer, singer and comedian (Greatest Show on Earth), born in Battle Creek, Michigan (d. 2007)
- Feb 27 András Szőllősy, Hungarian composer, and musicologist (cataloged works of Béla Bartók), born in Orăştie, Hungary (d. 2007)
- Feb 27 Michael Fox, American actor (Perry Mason, Quincy, Dallas, Bold & the Beautiful), born in Yonkers, New York (d. 1996)
- Feb 28 Donald H. White, American composer (Lyric Suite for Euphonium and Winds; Tuba Sonata) and educator, born in Narberth, Pennsylvania (d. 2016)
- Feb 28 Pierre Clostermann, French World War II pilot (d. 2006)
- Feb 28 Saul Zaentz, American record company executive (Fantasy), and film producer (One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest; Amadeus; The Unbearable Lightness Of Being; The English Patient), born in Passaic, New Jersey (d. 2014)
- Feb 28 Vladimir Sommer, Czech composer, born in Dolní Jiřetín, Czech Republic (d. 1997)
Famous Weddings
Jack Haley
Feb 25 Actor Jack Haley (22) weds Florence McFadden
Famous Deaths
- Feb 2 Luigi Mancinelli, Italian conductor, cellist and composer, dies at 72
- Feb 3 Max Wilhelm Zach, Polish-American violinist and conductor (Boston Symphony 1896-1907; St. Louis Symphony, 1907-21), dies at 56
- Feb 4 Xavier Mellery, Belgian painter and illustrator, dies at 75
- Feb 8 Pyotr Alexeyevich Kropotkin, Russian activist and anarchist, dies at 78
- Feb 12 Charles Leslie, English cricketer (4 Tests England v Australia 1882-83), dies at 59
- Feb 13 Willem P C Knuttel, Dutch bibliography/librarian, dies at 67
- Feb 15 Hans Haym, German conductor, dies at 60
- Feb 22 Salim Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah, Emir of Kuwait (b. 1864)
- Feb 26 Carl Menger, Austrian economist (marginal utility theory, subjective theory of value), dies at 81
- Feb 27 Schofield Haigh, English cricket fast bowler (11 Tests, 24 wickets, BB 6/11; Yorkshire CCC), dies from a stroke at 49
