Historical Events
"Ulysses"
Feb 2 James Joyce's novel "Ulysses" first published by Sylvia Beach in Paris (1,000 copies)
- Feb 4 After boycotts and international pressure, Japan agrees to return Shantung Province to China
"The Garden Party"
Feb 4 First part of Katherine Mansfield's short story "The Garden Party" appears in the Saturday Westminster Gazette
- Feb 4 WGY-AM in Schenectady NY begins radio transmissions
- Feb 5 Reader's Digest magazine 1st published
- Feb 6 US, UK, France, Italy & Japan sign Washington naval arms limitation
- Feb 7 John Willard's play "Cat & the Canary" premieres in NYC
- Feb 8 Radio arrives at the White House
- Feb 9 Brazil becomes a member of the Berne Convention copyright treaty
- Feb 9 Italian government of Bonomi falls
- Feb 9 Snow on Mauna Loa, Hawaii
- Feb 9 World War Foreign Debt Commission is established by Congress to settle the problem of Allied war and postwar loans
- Feb 11 Influential arts festival Semana de Arte Moderna (Modern Art Week) opens in São Paulo - the beginning of Modernism in Brazil
- Feb 11 US intervention army leaves Honduras
Sports History
Feb 18 Kenesaw Mountain Landis resigns his federal judgeship to give full attention to job as Major League Baseball Commissioner
- Feb 18 The Capper-Volstead Act allows farmers to buy and sell cooperatively without the risk of prosecution under antitrust laws
- Feb 18 WOC-AM in Davenport IA begins radio transmissions
- Feb 19 Ed Wynn becomes 1st talent to sign as a radio entertainer
To the Ladies
Feb 20 Marc Connelly and George Kaufman's play "To the Ladies" premieres in NYC
- Feb 20 Vilnius, Lithuania, agrees to separate from Poland
- Feb 20 WOR-AM in New York City begins radio transmissions
- Feb 21 Airship "Rome" explodes at Hampton Roads, Virginia; 34 die
- Feb 21 Britain declares Egypt a sovereign state
Irish History
Feb 21 Irish Nationalist Eamon De Valera calls a convention of the Sinn Féin, declaring the Republican Government the only legitimate one in all Ireland
Back to Methusaleh
Feb 27 George Bernard Shaw's largest-scale play "Back to Methusaleh" premieres at Garrick Theatre in NYC
1st National Radio Conference
Feb 27 US Commerce Secretary Herbert Hoover convenes 1st National Radio Conference
- Feb 27 US Supreme Court unanimously upholds 19th amendment to the US Constuituent - women's right to vote
- Feb 28 KHQ-AM in Spokane WA begins radio transmissions
Famous Birthdays
- Feb 1 Bogumil Witalis Andrzejewski, Polish-British professor of Cushtic Languages, born in Poznań, Poland (d. 1994)
- Feb 1 Clifford McWatt, West Indian cricket wicketkeeper (6 Tests, 10 dismissals; British Guiana), born in Georgetown, Guyana (d. 1997)
- Feb 1 Renata Tebaldi, Italian lyric soprano, born in Pesaro, Italy (d. 2004)
- Feb 4 Pandit Bhimsen Joshi, Indian classical singer (khayal form of singing, bhajans, abhangs), born in Ron, Karnataka, India (d. 2011)
- Feb 5 Alain de Changy, Belgian racing driver (d. 1994)
- Feb 5 Bernard Kalb, American journalist, moderator, lecturer and author, one of the most respected broadcast journalists of his time (CBS News, New York Times), born in New York City (d. 2023) [1] [2]
- Feb 6 Denis Norden, British television personality, born in London (d. 2018)
- Feb 6 Felicia Montealegre, Costa Rican-American actress (Studio One; Kraft Television Workshop), and social activist, born in San José, Costa Rica (d. 1978)
- Feb 6 Patrick Macnee, British actor (The Avengers, Magnum, P.I., Sherlock Holmes), born in London, England (d. 2015)
- Feb 7 Josephine "Hattie" Jacques, British comedy actress (Carry on films, Hancock's Half Hour), born in Kent, England (d. 1980)
- Feb 8 Audrey Meadows [Cotter], American actress (The Honeymooners - "Alice Kramden"; The Jackie Gleason Show), born in New York City (d. 1996)
- Feb 8 Manuel Oltra, Spanish secular and sacred music composer, and professor (Barcelona Conservatory, 1959-87), born in Valencia, Spain (d. 2015)
- Feb 8 Yuri Averbach, Russian chess player (first centenarian FIDE Grandmaster), born in Kaluga, Russia (d. 2022)
- Feb 9 Jim Laker, English cricket spin bowler (46 Tests; 193 wickets; world best 19-90 4th Test v Australia 1956), born in Bradford, Yorkshire (d. 1986)
- Feb 9 Joe Dodge, American jazz drummer (Dave Brubeck Quartet, 1953-56), born in Monroe, Wisconsin (d. 2004)
- Feb 9 Kathryn Grayson [Zelma Hedrick], American vocalist and actress (Anchors Aweigh; Kiss Me Kate), born in Winston-Salem, North Carolina (d. 2010)
- Feb 10 Árpád Göncz, Hungarian politician, 1st post-communist President (1990-2000), born in Budapest (d. 2015)
- Feb 10 Harold Hughes, American politician, Governor of Iowa (D) and US Senator, born in Ida County, Iowa (d. 1996)
- Feb 10 Neva Patterson, American actress (The Seven Year Itch, Taxi, Nichols), born near Nevada, Iowa (d. 2010)
- Feb 11 Tudor Jarda, Romanian composer, born in Cluj (d. 2007)
- Feb 12 Elisabeth Carron, American soprano ("The Saint of Bleecker Street"; New York City Opera, 1958-73), born in Newark, New Jersey (d. 2016)
- Feb 13 Francis Pym, British politician (Foreign Secretary 1982-83), born in Abergavenny, Wales (d. 2008)
- Feb 13 Gordon Tullock, American economist (public choice theory), born in Rockford, Illinois (d. 2014)
- Feb 13 Tristram Coffin, San Marino, California, folklorist (The Book of Christmas Folklore, The Old Ball Game), (d. 2012)
- Feb 14 Murray the K [Kaufman], American disk jockey (5th Beatle), born in New York City (d. 1982)
- Feb 15 Herman Kahn, American, writer and military strategist (Thinking About the Unthinkable), born in Bayonne, New Jersey (d. 1983)
- Feb 15 John B. Anderson, American politician and 1980 Republican presidential candidate, born in Rockford, Illinois (d. 2017)
- Feb 16 Geraint Evans, Welsh bass-baritone opera singer (Das Knaben Wunderhorn), born in Cilfynydd, Wales (d. 1992)
- Feb 16 Paul van 't Veer, Dutch journalist and writer (Het Vrije Volk), born in The Hague, Netherlands (d. 1979)
- Feb 17 Enrico Banducci, American nightclub owner (d. 2007)
- Feb 18 Eric Gairy, first Prime Minister of Grenada (1974-1979), born in Dumfermlaine, Grenada (d. 1997)
- Feb 18 Helen Gurley Brown, American author/publisher and editor-in-chief of Cosmopolitan, born in Green Forest, Arkansas, (d. 2012)
- Feb 18 Juhan Smuul, Estonian author, born in Muhu, Estonia (d. 1971)
- Feb 18 Rolf "Hazy" Osterwald, Swiss jazz bandleader, trumpeter, and vibraphonist, born in Bern, Switzerland (d. 2012)
- Feb 19 Beant Singh, Indian politician (Chief Minister of Punjab), born in Patiala, Punjab (d. 1995)
- Feb 19 Fredell Lack, American concert violinist, and teacher (University of Houston, 1959-2009), born in Tulsa, Oklahoma (d. 2017)
- Feb 19 Josef Matěj, Czech trombonist, and composer (Monograms), born in Brušperk, Czechoslovakia (d. 1992)
- Feb 21 Uroš Krek, Slovenian composer, born in Ljubljana, the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (d. 2008)
- Feb 22 Andre Asriel, Austrian-German classical and film score composer, born in Vienna, Austria (d. 2019)
- Feb 22 Felix Werder, German-born Australian composer, born in Berlin, Germany (d. 2012)
- Feb 22 Jesús Iglesias, Argentine racing driver, born in Pergamino, Argentina (d. 2005)
- Feb 22 William J. Baumol, American economist (Baumol’s cost disease), born in South Bronx, New York (d. 2017)
- Feb 23 Bill Chappell Jr., American politician (Rep-D-FL, 1969-89), born in Kendrick, Florida (d. 1989)
- Feb 24 Kanwar Rai Singh, Indian cricket batsman (1 Test; Services, Southern Punjab), born in Darkati, India (d. 1993)
- Feb 24 Richard Hamilton, English early pop art painter, born in London, England (d. 2011)
- Feb 24 Steven Hill, American actor (Mission Impossible, Law & Order), born in Seattle, Washington (d. 2016)
- Feb 25 Matti Rautio, Finnish classical composer (The Blue Heron), born in Helsinki, Finland (d. 1986)
- Feb 26 (Bernard) "Bunny" Briggs, American tap dancer, born in Harlem, New York City (d. 2014)
- Feb 26 Bill Johnston, Australian cricket fast/spin bowler (40 Tests, 160 wickets @ 23.91; Victoria), born in Beeac, Australia (d. 2007)
- Feb 26 Margaret Leighton, British actress (The Go-Between, The Night of the Iguana), born in Birmingham, England (d. 1976)
- Feb 27 Hans Rookmaaker, Dutch professor and art historian (d. 1977)
- Feb 27 Jackie Kelso [John Joseph Kelson Jr], American jazz saxophonist and session musician, born in Los Angeles, California (d. 2012)
- Feb 27 Mervyn Jones, English author (Nobody's Fault, 5 Hungarian Writers), born in London, England (d. 2010)
Famous Weddings
Hermann Goering
Feb 3 German politician and future Nazi war criminal Hermann Goering (30) weds Swedish countess Carin Hulda Fock (34) until her death in 1931
Douglas MacArthur
Feb 14 Soldier Douglas MacArthur (42) marries 1st wife heiress Louise Cromwell Brooks (32)
George Halas
Feb 18 Football player George Halas (27) weds Minnie Bushing
- Feb 28 English Princess Mary marries Viscount Lascelles at Westminster Abbey
Famous Deaths
- Feb 1 William Desmond Taylor [Deane-Tanner], Irish director and actor (The Awakening, Broken Coin), murdered at 49
- Feb 1 Yamagata Aritomo, Japanese soldier and statesman (Prime Minister of Japan 1889–91,1898–1900), dies at 83
- Feb 3 Christiaan R. de Wet, South African rebel leader, politician and general in the Boer War, dies at 67
- Feb 3 John Butler Yeats, Irish painter, and father of W.B. Yeats, dies at 82
- Feb 5 James W. Tate, English composer, dies at 46
- Feb 5 Slavoljub Eduard Penkala, Croatian inventor (b. 1871)
- Feb 11 Gerard Bolland, Dutch philosopher (Bolland Society), dies at 67
- Feb 14 Heikki Ritavuori, Finnish lawyer and politician (Minister of the Interior), assassinated at 41
- Feb 15 Clara [G Meijer-]Wichmann, German-Dutch anarchist and feminist, dies at 36
- Feb 23 Albert Victor Bäcklund, Swedish physicist (b. 1845)
- Feb 24 Dmitri B. Shostakovich, father of Russian composer Dmitri D S, dies
- Feb 25 Henri Désiré Landru, French sex murderer, guillotined at 52
- Feb 28 Vicente Lleo, Spanish composer (La Corte de Faraón), dies at 51
