What Happened in February 1995

Historical Events

  • Feb 1 Amtrak NY-Tampa run ends
  • Feb 1 Belgium's TV channel VT4 goes on the air

Stockton Surpasses Johnson

Feb 1 Utah Jazz guard John Stockton passes Magic Johnson's all-time NBA assists mark of 9,221, in a 129-98 win over the Denver Nuggets at the Delta Centre in Salt Lake City

  • Feb 1 Zimbabwe batsmen Andy (156) & Grant Flower (201) set world record brotherly stand of 269 to propel Zimbabwe to first ever victory in Test cricket in 1st Test against Pakistan in Harare
  • Feb 2 "Molière Comedies" opens at Criterion Theater NYC for 56 performances
  • Feb 2 Henry Olonga no-balled for throwing in Zimbabwe-Pakistan Test Cricket
  • Feb 2 US space shuttle Discovery launched
  • Feb 3 STS 63 (Discovery 19), launches into orbit
  • Feb 4 Australian cricketer Dean Jones completes 324* for Victoria v South Australia
  • Feb 4 Sandra Volker swims female European record 50m backstroke (27.77)
  • Feb 4 Zimbabwe's 1st Test Cricket victory, over Pakistan by an inning
  • Feb 5 Japan's Shinshinto Party wins local elections
  • Feb 5 NFL Pro Bowl, Aloha Stadium, Honolulu, HI: AFC beats NFC, 41-13; MVP: Marshall Faulk, Indianapolis Colts, RB, HI
  • Feb 5 Philip Glass' Symphony No. 3, for string orchestra, premieres with the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra conducted by Dennis Russell Davies, in Künzelsau, Germany
  • Feb 6 Greg Blewett scores his 2nd century in his 2nd Test Cricket

Strawberry Suspended

Feb 6 MLB outfielder Darryl Strawberry suspended from baseball for 60 days for positive cocaine test

Now that I've Found You

Feb 7 Bluegrass and country musician Alison Krauss releases her compilation album "Now that I've Found You"

Gooch and Gatting's Last Day

Feb 7 Last day of Test Cricket cricket for Graham Gooch & Mike Gatting

The Woman in Me

Feb 7 Mercury Nashville Records releases "The Woman in Me", the 2nd studio album by Shania Twain (Billboard Album of the Year, 1996)

  • Feb 8 6.4 earthquake at Trujillo, Colombia (46+ killed)
  • Feb 9 45th Berlin International Film Festival: "The Bait" wins the Golden Bear
  • Feb 9 Augustus and Ruth Goetz' stage drama "The Heiress" opens at Cort Theater, NYC; runs for 340 performances
  • Feb 9 Irina Privalova runs female world record 50m (5.96 sec)

Riverdance Premieres

Feb 9 Irish music and dance show "Riverdance" first opens in Dublin, Ireland with lead dancer Michael Flatley

  • Feb 9 STS-63 - 2nd mission of US/Russian Shuttle-Mir Program goes into space
  • Feb 10 Chelsi Smith, 21, (Texas), crowned 44th Miss USA
  • Feb 10 Sun Cayun pole vaults female indoor world record (4.12m)
  • Feb 10 US female Figure Skating championship won by Nicole Bobek
  • Feb 11 Danyon Loader swims world record 400m freestyle (340.46)
  • Feb 11 Sandra Volker swims European record 50m backstroke (27.67 sec)
  • Feb 11 Space shuttle STS-63 (Discovery 19), lands

Sports History

Feb 11 US male Figure Skating championship won by Todd Eldredge

  • Feb 11 West Indies score 5-660 against NZ
  • Feb 12 45th NBA All-Star Game, America West Arena, Phoenix, AZ: West beats East, 139-112; MVP: Mitch Richmond, Sacramento Kings, SG

World Record

Feb 12 Bonnie Blair skates female world record 500m (38.69 sec)

  • Feb 12 Dieter Baumann runs European record 3k indoor (7:37.51)
  • Feb 12 Jeff Rouse swims world record 50m backstroke (24.37 sec)
  • Feb 12 PRI loses and PAN wins Mexican regional elections
  • Feb 12 Sun Cayun pole vaults indoor female world record (4.13m)
  • Feb 12 Susan Auch skates female world record 500m (38.94 sec)
  • Feb 13 3rd ESPY Awards: Steve Young, Bonnie Blair win
  • Feb 13 Howard Stern radio show premieres in San Diego CA on XTRA-FM

Sports History

Feb 13 West Indies beat NZ by innings & 332, Courtney Walsh 13-55

NBA Trade

Feb 14 Portland Trail Blazers trade Clyde Drexler to the Houston Rockets, who end up winning the 1995 NBA Championship

  • Feb 14 Wellington 2-498d & 4-475 beat Canterbury 496 & 2-476d
  • Feb 15 Burundi premier Anatole Kanyenkiko resigns
  • Feb 15 Dow-Jones closes at record 3986.17
  • Feb 15 Population of People's Republic of China hits 1.2 billion
  • Feb 17 11th US Soap Opera Digest Awards - "Days of Our Lives" wins
  • Feb 17 Colin Fergusson found guilty of killing 6 people on the Long Island Rail Road in NY
  • Feb 17 Federal judge allows lawsuit claiming US tobacco makers knew nicotine was addictive & manipulated its levels to keep customers hooked

Sports History

Feb 17 Tiger Manager Sparky Anderson takes unpaid leave due to baseball strike

Daytona 500

Feb 19 37th Daytona 500: Sterling Marlin wins for 2nd straight year; 3rd driver to achieve back-to-back titles (Richard Petty, Cale Yarborough)

  • Feb 19 British composer Michael Tippett's last major work "Rose Lake," premieres at Barbican Hall in London, with the London Symphony led by Colin Davis

A Woman of Independent Means

Feb 19 Dramatic mini-series "A Woman of Independent Means" starring Sally Field, premieres on NBC-TV, airing 6 hours over 3 nights

  • Feb 19 Irina Privalova runs indoor woman's European record 200m (22.10 sec)
  • Feb 19 Kenneth Koch wins Bollingen Prize for One Train (1994) and On The Great Atlantic Rainway: Selected Poems 1950-1988 (1994)
  • Feb 19 Linford Christie runs world record 200m indoor (20.25 sec) and European record 60m indoor (6.47 sec)
  • Feb 21 CFL's Sacramento Gold Miners become San Antonio Texans
  • Feb 21 RAF-pilot Jo Salter is 1st woman to fly in a tornado
  • Feb 22 Algiers police kill at least 99 prison rioters
  • Feb 22 Steve Fossett completes 1st air balloon over Pacific Ocean (9600 km)
  • Feb 23 Antoine Nduwayo appointed Premier of Burundi
  • Feb 23 Dow Jones closes above 4,000 for 1st time (4,003.33)
  • Feb 23 Revival of Anton Chekov's stage drama "Uncle Vanya" opens at Circle in Square Theater, NYC, runs for 29 performances
  • Feb 24 The Corona reconnaissance satellite program, in existence from 1959 to 1972, is declassified.
  • Feb 25 Bomb attack on train in Assam India (27 soldiers killed)
  • Feb 25 British super middleweight Nigel Benn puts opponent Gerard McClellan in hospital
  • Feb 25 Muslim fundamentalists shoot 20 Shiite mosque goers dead
  • Feb 25 PBA National Championship Won by Scott Alexander

Sinatra's Last Performance

Feb 25 Singer Frank Sinatra performs for final time before a live audience of 1200 select guests at the Palm Desert Marriott Ballroom, in Palm Desert, California, on the closing night of his charity golf tournament

  • Feb 26 London finance house Barings collapses after huge losses in Singapore by rogue trader Nick Leeson
  • Feb 27 Car bomb explodes in Zakho, North-Iraq (54-80 killed)
  • Feb 28 Denver International Airport opens
  • Feb 28 The US Pentagon announces that it monitored Iranian installation of surface-to-air Hawk missiles in the Strait of Hormuz
1995 History

Famous Birthdays

  • Feb 2 Tom Blyth, English actor (Hunger Games: Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes), born in Birmingham, England
  • Feb 3 Aimee Lou Wood, English actress (Sex Education), born in Stockport, England
  • Feb 5 Fireboy DML [Adedamola Adefolahan], Nigerian singer-songwriter (Jealous), born in Abeokuta, Ogun state, Nigeria
  • Feb 5 Trayvon Martin, Black American teenager (shot and killed by George Zimmerman in Florida), born in Miami, Florida (d. 2012)
  • Feb 8 Jordan Todosey, Canadian actress (Degrassi: The Next Generation), born in Toronto, Ontario
  • Feb 9 Johnny Suh, Korean-American rapper (NCT 127, NCT U), born in Chicago, Illinois
  • Feb 10 Lexi Thompson, American golfer (ANA Inspiration 2014), born in Coral Springs, Florida
  • Feb 11 Luke Humphries, English darts player (PDC World C'ship 2023; World GP 2023; Grand Slam of Darts 2023; PC Finals 2023), born in Newbury, England

Megan Thee Stallion (29 years old)

Feb 15 American rapper, singer, and songwriter ("Savage"; Good News), born in San Antonio, Texas

  • Feb 16 Denzel Curry, American rapper, singer, and composer (Unlocked), born in Carol City, Florida
  • Feb 17 Madison Keys, American tennis player (US Open runner-up 2017), born in Rock Island, Illinois
  • Feb 18 Caroline Graham Hansen, Norwegian football player (Barcelona, Norway), born in Oslo, Norway
  • Feb 19 Nikola Jokić, Serbian basketball center (NBA C'ship 2023 [MVP]; NBA MVP 2001, 02; NBA All-Star 2019-22; fastest NBA triple-double 14:33s 2018; Denver Nuggets), born in Sombor, Serbia
  • Feb 21 Giveon [Evans], American R&B singer-songwriter (Take Time), born in Los Angeles, California
  • Feb 23 Andrew Wiggins, Canadian basketball small forward (2014 NBA Draft: #1 pick Cleveland Cavaliers), born in Toronto, Ontario
  • Feb 24 Rachel Levin, American YouTube personality (RCLBeauty101), born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Born in 1995

Famous Weddings

Brian Wilson

Feb 6 "The Beach Boys" leader and chief songwriter Brian Wilson (52) weds former model and car saleswoman Melinda Ledbetter (49) at Palos Verdes Peninsula in Los Angeles County, California, until her death in 2024

Yannick Noah

Feb 11 Tennis star Yannick Noah (34) weds Victoria's Secret model Heather Stewart-Whyte (25) in France

Roseanne Barr

Feb 14 Actress-comedienne Roseanne Barr (42) weds bodyguard Ben Thomas (28) at Caesars Tahoe, Nevada; divorce 2002

Pamela Anderson & Tommy Lee

Feb 19 American "Baywatch" actress Pamela Anderson (27) weds Greek-American "Mötley Crüe" drummer Tommy Lee (32) in Cancun, Mexico; divorce in 1998


Famous Deaths

  • Feb 1 Michael Cesar, American man & self-proclaimed 'Pope of Pot', dies of liver cancer at 52
  • Feb 2 Alexis d'Anjou de Bourbon-Condé, French prince/Russian, dies at 47
  • Feb 2 Andre Frossard, French publicist (Defense of Pope), dies at 80
  • Feb 2 David Kindersley, British stone letter-carver and typeface designer, dies at 79
  • Feb 2 Donald Pleasence, British actor (You Only Live Twice, Escape from New York, Halloween), dies from heart failure at 75

Fred Perry (1909-1995)

Feb 2 English tennis player/broadcaster (8 x Grand Slam singles, 6 x Grand Slam doubles titles; Davis Cup 1933, 34, 35, 36), dies of broken ribs at 85

  • Feb 2 Phillip Borsos, Tasmanian Canadian director (Mean Season), dies
  • Feb 3 Art Kane [Kanofsky], American art director (Seventeen Magazine), and portrait photographer (A Great Day In Harlem), takes his own life at 69
  • Feb 3 John Pinsent, English classical scholar (Greek mythology), dies at 72
  • Feb 3 Turner Fodrell, American blues and folk singer, and guitarist, dies at 66
  • Feb 4 Betty Davis, British dance teacher of Dame Margot Fonteyn, dies
  • Feb 4 Godfrey Brown, British athlete, 4 X 400m runner (Olympic gold 1936), dies at 79
  • Feb 4 Manohar Hardikar, Indian cricketer (batted in 2 Tests India v WI 1958-59), dies at 58
  • Feb 4 Patricia Highsmith [Plangman], American novel writer (Strangers On A Train; The Talented Mr. Ripley; The Price of Salt), dies of lung cancer at 74
  • Feb 4 Roel Wiersma, Dutch soccer star (PSV), dies at 62
  • Feb 5 Court Benson, Canadian-American actor and broadcaster, dies at 79
  • Feb 5 Doug Mcclure, US rodeo rider/actor (Trampas-Virginian), dies at 59
  • Feb 5 Frederick Craig Riddle, British violist, dies at 82
  • Feb 5 Kimberley Leston, British journalist (The Face), dies at 35
  • Feb 6 Art Taylor, American jazz drummer (Bud Powell, Red Garland, John Coltrane, Donald Byrd), bandleader (Taylor's Wailers), and writer (Notes and Tones), dies at 65
  • Feb 6 James Ingram Merrill, American poet (Braving the Elements; Scripts for the Pageant) and author, dies of a heart attack at 68
  • Feb 7 Helen Wallis, British cartographer and librarian (map curator British Museum), dies at 70
  • Feb 7 Massimo Pallottino, Italian archaeologist (Etruscologia), dies at 86
  • Feb 7 William Harry "Billy" Jones, American rock guitarist (The Outlaws), dies of self-inflicted gunshot at 45
  • Feb 8 B. G. Hooghoudt, Dutch radiotelescope builder (Dwingeloo/Westerbork), dies at 70
  • Feb 8 Clay Warnick, American choral director (Your Show Of Shows), dies at 79
  • Feb 8 J. William Fulbright, US politician (Senator-Arkansas 1945-74) and founder of the Fulbright scholarship, dies at 89
  • Feb 8 Wilhelm J. Soukop, Austrian-British sculptor, dies at 88
  • Feb 9 David Wayne, American stage and screen actor (Andromeda Strain, Adam's Rib), dies of lung cancer at 81
  • Feb 9 J. William Fulbright, American senator from Arkansas, known for opposition to the Vietnam War), dies at 89
  • Feb 10 Kenton Kilmer, American writer, dies of cancer at 85
  • Feb 10 Paul Monette, American writer, dies of AIDS at 49
  • Feb 12 Earring George Mayweather, American blues harmonica player, dies of liver cancer at 66
  • Feb 12 Nat Holman, American Basketball HOF coach (NCAA, NIT C'ships 1950 CCNY), dies at 98
  • Feb 12 Rachid Mimouni, Algerian author (L'Honneur de la Tribu), dies at 49
  • Feb 12 Terence Beckles, English pianist and teacher, dies at 82
  • Feb 12 Tony Secunda, English rock band manager (The Moody Blues), dies at 54
  • Feb 13 Abdelhafid Said, Algerian student leader, murdered
  • Feb 13 Alberto Burri, Italian abstract painter, dies at 79
  • Feb 13 Azeddine Medjoubi, head Algerian nationally theater, murdered at 49
  • Feb 13 Joan Ramsey, British wife of Michael Ramsey, Archbishop of Canterbury, dies at 84
  • Feb 13 Wilton "Bogey" Gaynair, Jamaican jazz saxophonist, dies at 68
  • Feb 14 Israël "Ischa" Meijer, Dutch journalist, critic and author (Een Dik Uur Ischa, Boezemvriend), dies of a myocardial infarction at 52
  • Feb 14 Michael V. Gazzo, American playwright (A Hatful Of Rain), and actor (The Godfather Part II; Cookie; Fear City), dies of complications from a stroke at 71
  • Feb 14 Nigel Finch, English TV director and film-maker (Chelsea Hotel; Vampyr; Stonewall), dies from AIDS-related illness at 45
  • Feb 14 Roger de Grey, British landscape painter and President of Royal Academy (1984-93), dies at 76
  • Feb 14 Siem Suurhoff, Dutch TV-director (Behind the News, Sonja), dies at 58

U Nu (1907-1995)

Feb 14 1st Prime Minister of Burma (1948-56, 1960-62), dies at 87

  • Feb 15 Joseph Ortiz, French-Algerian extremist and rebel (barricade uprising), dies at 77
  • Feb 15 Lord Taylor of Hadfield, British President of Taylor Woodrow Group, dies at 90
  • Feb 15 Nabila Diahnine, Algerian architect/feminist, murdered at 33
  • Feb 15 Sahnoun Jawhari, Tunisian Annahda-leader, dies at 40 in jail
  • Feb 15 Seymour Berry, 2nd Viscount Camrose, British Conservative Lower house leader (1941-45), dies at 85
  • Feb 16 John Everett Allen, American businessman, dies at 91
  • Feb 17 Thelma Hulbert, English painter (Le Sacre du Printemps), dies at 81
  • Feb 17 Uta Graf, German born American singer and teacher, dies at 80
  • Feb 18 Dennis "Denny" Cordell, British rock music and record producer (The Moody Blues, Leon Russell), dies of lymphoma at 51
  • Feb 18 John Rhea "Yank" Lawson, American jazz trumpeter (Dogtown Blues, Stormy Weather), dies of a heart attack at 84
  • Feb 18 Robert "Bob" Stinson, American rock guitarist (The Replacements), dies of organ failure at 35
  • Feb 19 Calder Willingham, American novelist and scriptwriter (End as a Man), dies at 72
  • Feb 19 Ian Ball, British newspaper photographer (The Independent), dies at 80 [1]
  • Feb 19 John Howard, American actor (The Philadelphia Story; My Three Sons), dies of heart failure at 81
  • Feb 19 Shlomo Averbach, Israeli ultra-orthodox rabbi, dies at 84
  • Feb 20 John Humphreys Whitfield, British scholar of Italian language & literature, dies at 88
  • Feb 20 Shlomo Averbach, Rabbi, buried in Jerusalem, 250,000 attend
  • Feb 21 Robert Bolt, British playwright (Doctor Zhivago, Bounty), dies at 70
  • Feb 22 Ed Flanders, actor (Dr Westphall-St Elsewhere), commits suicide at 60
  • Feb 22 Elfi Althoff-Jacobi, Austrian circus director, dies at 80
  • Feb 22 Emmanuel Roblès, Algerian-French novelist and playwright (Lesson Hauteurs), dies at 80
  • Feb 22 Lembarek Boumaarafi, Algerian murderer of President Boudiaf, dies

James Herriot (1916-1995)

Feb 23 British veterinarian and novelist (All Creatures Great and Small), dies of prostate cancer at 78

  • Feb 23 Melvin Franklin (né English), American R&B bass vocalist (The Temptations, 1960-94 - "Ball of Confusion"), dies of heart failure at 52
  • Feb 23 Norman Hunter, English children's writer (Professor Branestawm), dies at 95
  • Feb 23 Peter Wykeham, Royal Air Force fighter pilot, dies at 79
  • Feb 24 Richard Nicholson, musician, dies at 89
  • Feb 25 Jack Clayton, English film director (The Great Gatsby), dies at 73
  • Feb 25 Oh Jin Woo, Korean minister of defense, dies
  • Feb 25 Terence Weil, British cellist (English Chamber Orchestra; Melos Ensemble), dies at 73
  • Feb 26 Frank O’Keefe, American southern rock bassist (The Outlaws, 1968-76), dies of pain medication overdose at 44
  • Feb 26 Willie Johnson, American electric blues guitarist (Howlin' Wolf's "How Many More Years"), dies at 71
  • Feb 27 Bernard Cornfield, financier, dies at 67
  • Feb 27 Philip Sherrington, opus Dei Priest, dies at 51
  • Feb 28 (Herman) "Ace" Wallace, American St. Louis blues guitarist and singer, dies at 69
  • Feb 28 Keith Rigg, Australian cricket batsman (8 Tests, 1 x 100, HS 127; Victoria), dies at 88
  • Feb 28 Max Rudolf, German-American conductor (Cincinnati Symphony, 1958-70), and pedagogue (Curtis Institute, 1970-73 and 1980-95), dies at 92