February 3

February 3 in recent years

2024 (Saturday)

2023 (Friday)

2022 (Thursday)

2021 (Wednesday)

2020 (Monday)

2019 (Sunday)

2018 (Saturday)

2017 (Friday)

2016 (Wednesday)

2015 (Tuesday)

February 3 is the 34th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar; 331 days remain until the end of the year (332 in leap years).

Events

• 1112 – Ramon Berenguer III of Barcelona and Douce I of Provence marry, uniting the fortunes of those two states.
• 1377 – More than 2,000 people of the Italian city of Cesena are slaughtered by Papal Troops (Cesena Bloodbath).
• 1451 – Sultan Mehmed II inherits the throne of the Ottoman Empire.
• 1488 – Bartolomeu Dias of Portugal lands in Mossel Bay after rounding the Cape of Good Hope, becoming the first known European to travel so far south.
• 1509 – The Portuguese navy defeats a joint fleet of the Ottoman Empire, the Republic of Venice, the Sultan of Gujarat, the Mamlûk Burji Sultanate of Egypt, the Zamorin of Calicut, and the Republic of Ragusa at the Battle of Diu in Diu, India.
• 1534 – Irish rebel Silken Thomas is executed by the order of Henry VIII in London, England.
• 1637 – Tulip mania collapses in the United Provinces (now the Netherlands) as sellers could no longer find buyers for their bulb contracts.
• 1690 – The colony of Massachusetts issues the first paper money in the Americas.
• 1706 – During the Battle of Fraustadt Swedish forces defeat a superior Saxon-Polish-Russian force by deploying a double envelopment.
• 1781 – American Revolutionary War: British forces seize the Dutch-owned Caribbean island Sint Eustatius.
• 1783 – American Revolutionary War: Spain recognizes United States independence.
• 1787 – Militia led by General Benjamin Lincoln crush the remnants of Shays' Rebellion in Petersham, Massachusetts.
• 1807 – A British military force, under Brigadier-General Sir Samuel Auchmuty captures the Spanish Empire city of Montevideo, now the capital of Uruguay.
• 1809 – The Territory of Illinois is created by the 10th United States Congress.
• 1813 – José de San Martín defeats a Spanish royalist army at the Battle of San Lorenzo, part of the Argentine War of Independence.
• 1830 – The sovereignty of Greece is confirmed in a London Protocol.
• 1834 – Wake Forest University is established.
• 1852 – Justo José de Urquiza defeats Juan Manuel de Rosas at the Battle of Caseros.
• 1870 – The Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified, guaranteeing voting rights to citizens regardless of race.
• 1897 – The Greco-Turkish War breaks out.
• 1900 – Governor of Kentucky William Goebel dies of wound sustained in an assassination attempt three days earlier in Frankfort, Kentucky.
• 1913 – The Sixteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified, authorizing the Federal government to impose and collect an income tax.
• 1916 – Parliament buildings in Ottawa, Canada burn down.
• 1917 – World War I: The United States breaks off diplomatic relations with Germany a day after the latter announced a new policy of unrestricted submarine warfare.
• 1918 – The Twin Peaks Tunnel in San Francisco, California begins service as the longest streetcar tunnel in the world at 11,920 feet (3,633 meters) long.
• 1931 – The Hawke's Bay earthquake, New Zealand's worst natural disaster, kills 258.
• 1943 – The USAT Dorchester is sunk by a German U-boat. Only 230 of 902 men aboard survived. The Chapel of the Four Chaplains, dedicated by President Harry Truman, is one of many memorials established to commemorate the Four Chaplains story.
• 1944 – World War II: During the Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaign, U.S. Army and Marine forces seize Kwajalein Atoll from the defending Japanese garrison.
• 1945 – World War II: As part of Operation Thunderclap, 1,000 B-17s of the Eighth Air Force bomb Berlin, a raid which kills between 2,500 to 3,000 and dehouses another 120,000.
• 1945 – World War II: The United States and the Philippine Commonwealth begin a month-long battle to retake Manila from Japan.
• 1947 – The lowest temperature in North America is recorded in Snag, Yukon.
• 1957 – Senegalese political party Democratic Rally merges into the Senegalese Party of Socialist Action (PSAS).
• 1958 – Founding of the Benelux Economic Union, creating a testing ground for a later European Economic Community.
• 1959 – Deaths of rock and roll musicians Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J. P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson, in a plane crash near Clear Lake, Iowa.
• 1960 – British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan speaks of "a wind of change", an increasing national consciousness blowing through colonial Africa, signalling that his Government is likely to support decolonisation.
• 1961 – The United States Air Forces begins Operation Looking Glass, and over the next 30 years, a "Doomsday Plane" is always in the air, with the capability of taking direct control of the United States' bombers and missiles in the event of the destruction of the SAC's command post.
• 1961 – A protest by agricultural workers in Baixa de Cassanje, Portuguese Angola, turns into a revolt, opening the Angolan War of Independence, the first of the Portuguese Colonial Wars.
• 1966 – The unmanned Soviet Luna 9 spacecraft makes the first controlled rocket-assisted landing on the Moon.
• 1967 – Ronald Ryan, the last person to be executed in Australia, is hanged in Pentridge Prison, Melbourne.
• 1969 – In Cairo, Yasser Arafat is appointed Palestine Liberation Organization leader at the Palestinian National Congress.
• 1971 – New York Police Officer Frank Serpico is shot during a drug bust in Brooklyn and survives to later testify against police corruption. Many believe the incident proves that NYPD officers tried to kill him.
• 1972 – The first day of the seven-day 1972 Iran blizzard, which would kill at least 4,000 people, making it the deadliest snowstorm in history.
• 1984 – John Buster and the research team at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center announce history's first embryo transfer, from one woman to another resulting in a live birth.
• 1984 – Space Shuttle program: STS-41-B is launched using Space Shuttle Challenger.
• 1989 – After a stroke two weeks previously, South African President P. W. Botha resigns as leader of the National Party, but stays on as president for six more months.
• 1989 – A military coup overthrows Alfredo Stroessner, dictator of Paraguay since 1954.
• 1995 – Astronaut Eileen Collins becomes the first woman to pilot the Space Shuttle as mission STS-63 gets underway from Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
• 1998 – Karla Faye Tucker is executed in Texas, becoming the first woman executed in the United States since 1984.
• 1998 – Cavalese cable car disaster: a United States Military pilot causes the death of 20 people when his low-flying plane cuts the cable of a cable-car near Trento, Italy.
• 2007 – A Baghdad market bombing kills at least 135 people and injures a further 339.

Births

• 1338 – Joanna of Bourbon (d. 1378)
• 1654 – Pietro Antonio Fiocco, Italian composer (d. 1714)
• 1677 – Jan Santini Aichel, Czech architect, designed the Karlova Koruna Chateau (d. 1723)
• 1689 – Blas de Lezo, Spanish admiral (d. 1741)
• 1690 – Richard Rawlinson, English minister (d. 1755)
• 1721 – Friedrich Wilhelm von Seydlitz, Prussian general (d. 1773)
• 1736 – Johann Georg Albrechtsberger, Austrian composer and theorist (d. 1809)
• 1747 – Samuel Osgood, American soldier, 1st United States Postmaster General (d. 1813)
• 1757 – Joseph Forlenze, Italian ophthalmologist and surgeon (d. 1833)
• 1777 – John Cheyne, Scottish physician and author (d. 1836)
• 1795 – Antonio José de Sucre, Venezuelan politician, 2nd President of Bolivia (d. 1830)
• 1807 – Joseph E. Johnston, American general (d. 1891)
• 1808 – Princess Marie of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach (d. 1877)
• 1809 – Felix Mendelssohn, German pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 1847)
• 1811 – Horace Greeley, American journalist and politician (d. 1872)
• 1817 – Achille Ernest Oscar Joseph Delesse, French geologist and mineralogist (d. 1881)
• 1821 – Elizabeth Blackwell, American physician (d. 1910)
• 1824 – Ranald MacDonald, American educator (d. 1894)
• 1826 – Walter Bagehot, English journalist and businessman (d. 1877)
• 1830 – Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury, English politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1903)
• 1842 – Sidney Lanier, American composer and poet (d. 1881)
• 1843 – William Cornelius Van Horne, American-Canadian businessman (d. 1915)
• 1857 – Giuseppe Moretti, Italian sculptor, designed the Vulcan statue (d. 1935)
• 1859 – Hugo Junkers, German engineer, designed the Junkers J 1 (d. 1935)
• 1862 – James Clark McReynolds, American lawyer and judge (d. 1946)
• 1871 – Jean-Baptiste Mimiague, French fencer (d. 1929)
• 1872 – Lou Criger, American baseball player (d. 1934)
• 1874 – Gertrude Stein, American poet and art collector (d. 1946)
• 1876 – William Tedmarsh, English-American actor (d. 1937)
• 1887 – Georg Trakl, Austrian poet (d. 1914)
• 1889 – Artur Adson, Estonian poet, playwright, and critic (d. 1977)
• 1889 – Carl Theodor Dreyer, Danish director and screenwriter (d. 1968)
• 1892 – Juan Negrín, Spanish physician and politician, 67th Prime Minister of Spain (d. 1956)
• 1893 – Gaston Julia, Algerian-French mathematician (d. 1978)
• 1894 – Norman Rockwell, American painter and illustrator (d. 1978)
• 1898 – Alvar Aalto, Finnish architect, designed the Finlandia Hall and Aalto Theatre (d. 1976)
• 1899 – Café Filho, Brazilian politician, 18th President of Brazil (d. 1970)
• 1899 – Lao She, Chinese author and playwright (d. 1966)
• 1899 – Doris Speed, English actress (d. 1994)
• 1900 – Mabel Mercer, English-American singer (d. 1984)
• 1903 – Douglas Douglas-Hamilton, 14th Duke of Hamilton, Scottish pilot and politician (d. 1973)
• 1903 – Joe Stripp, American baseball player (d. 1989)
• 1904 – Luigi Dallapiccola, Italian composer (d. 1975)
• 1904 – Pretty Boy Floyd, American gangster (d. 1934)
• 1905 – Paul Ariste, Estonian linguist and academic (d. 1990)
• 1905 – Arne Beurling, Swedish-American mathematician (d. 1986)
• 1907 – James Michener, American author (d. 1997)
• 1909 – André Cayatte, French lawyer and director (d. 1989)
• 1909 – Kurt Petter, German physician (d. 1969)
• 1909 – Simone Weil, French mystic and philosopher (d. 1943)
• 1911 – Jehan Alain, French organist and composer (d. 1940)
• 1911 – Robert Earl Jones, American actor (d. 2006)
• 1912 – Jacques Soustelle, French anthropologist (d. 1990)
• 1912 – Mary Carlisle, American actress and singer
• 1915 – Johannes Kotkas, Estonian wrestler (d. 1998)
• 1918 – Joey Bishop, American actor (d. 2007)
• 1918 – Shlomo Goren, Polish-Israeli rabbi (d. 1994)
• 1918 – Helen Stephens, American runner (d. 1994)
• 1920 – Russell Arms, American actor and singer (d. 2012)
• 1920 – Tony Gaze, Australian race car driver and pilot
• 1920 – Henry Heimlich, American physician
• 1923 – Alys Robi, Canadian singer (d. 2011)
• 1924 – E. P. Thompson, English historian and author (d. 1993)
• 1924 – Martial Asselin, Canadian politician, 25th Lieutenant Governor of Quebec (d. 2013)
• 1925 – Keith Dunstan, Australian journalist and author (d. 2013)
• 1925 – John Fiedler, American actor (d. 2005)
• 1925 – Leon Schlumpf, Swiss politician (d. 2012)
• 1926 – Shelley Berman, American actor
• 1926 – Hans-Jochen Vogel, German politician
• 1927 – Kenneth Anger, American actor, director, and screenwriter
• 1927 – Val Doonican, Irish singer
• 1927 – Joan Lowery Nixon, American journalist and author (d. 2003)
• 1927 – Blas Ople, Filipino journalist and politician (d. 2003)
• 1928 – Ingemar Haraldsson, Swedish footballer (d. 2004)
• 1928 – Frankie Vaughan, English singer and actor (d. 1999)
• 1929 – Ken Shipp, American football player and coach (d. 2012)
• 1930 – Gillian Ayres, English painter
• 1932 – Peggy Ann Garner, American actress (d. 1984)
• 1932 – Stuart Hall, Jamaican-English sociologist and theorist (d. 2014)
• 1933 – Polde Bibič, Slovenian actor (d. 2012)
• 1933 – Paul Sarbanes, American lawyer and politician
• 1933 – Than Shwe, Burmese general and politician, 8th Prime Minister of Burma
• 1934 – Juan Carlos Calabró, Argentinian actor (d. 2013)
• 1935 – Johnny "Guitar" Watson, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1996)
• 1936 – Jim Marshall, American photographer (d. 2010)
• 1936 – Bob Simpson, Australian cricketer
• 1937 – Billy Meier, Swiss author and photographer
• 1938 – Victor Buono, American actor (d. 1982)
• 1938 – Emile Griffith, Virgin Islander boxer (d. 2013)
• 1938 – Detta O'Cathain, Baroness O'Cathain, Irish businesswoman
• 1939 – Michael Cimino, American director, producer, and screenwriter
• 1940 – Fran Tarkenton, American football player
• 1941 – Neil Bogart, American record producer, founded Casablanca Records (d. 1982)
• 1941 – Dory Funk, Jr., American wrestler
• 1941 – Bridget Hanley, American actress
• 1941 – Howard Phillips, American politician (d. 2013)
• 1941 – Alan Watson, Baron Watson of Richmond, South African-English journalist and politician
• 1943 – Blythe Danner, American actress
• 1943 – Dennis Edwards, American singer (The Temptations and The Contours)
• 1943 – Shawn Phillips, American-South African singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 1944 – Trisha Noble, Australian singer and actress
• 1945 – Johnny Cymbal, Scottish-American singer-songwriter and producer (d. 1993)
• 1945 – Bob Griese, American football player
• 1947 – Paul Auster, American author
• 1947 – Dave Davies, English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (The Kinks)
• 1947 – Stephen McHattie, Canadian actor
• 1947 – Melanie Safka, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 1947 – Maev Alexander, Scottish actress
• 1948 – Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo, East Timorese bishop
• 1948 – Gavin Henderson, English trumpet player and conductor
• 1948 – Henning Mankell, Swedish author
• 1949 – Rick Hautala, American author and screenwriter (d. 2013)
• 1949 – Arthur Kane, American bass player (New York Dolls) (d. 2004)
• 1949 – Hennie Kuiper, Dutch cyclist
• 1950 – Michael W. Dickinson, English jockey and trainer
• 1950 – Morgan Fairchild, American actress
• 1950 – Pamela Franklin, Japanese-English actress
• 1950 – John Schlitt, American singer (Petra and Head East)
• 1951 – Eugenijus Riabovas, Lithuanian footballer and manager
• 1951 – Michael Ruppert, American journalist and author (d. 2014)
• 1952 – Fred Lynn, American baseball player
• 1953 – Savvas Tsitouridis, Greek politician
• 1954 – Tiger Williams, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1955 – Stephen Euin Cobb, American author
• 1955 – Mike Horner, American porn actor
• 1955 – Kirsty Wark, Scottish journalist
• 1956 – John Jefferson, American football player
• 1956 – Nathan Lane, American actor and singer
• 1956 – Lee Ranaldo, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (Sonic Youth)
• 1957 – Chico Serra, Brazilian race car driver
• 1957 – Steven Stapleton, English singer-songwriter (Nurse With Wound, Current 93)
• 1958 – Joe F. Edwards, Jr., American commander, pilot, and astronaut
• 1958 – Greg Mankiw, American economist
• 1959 – Thomas Calabro, American actor and director
• 1959 – Yasuharu Konishi, Japanese DJ, producer, and songwriter (Pizzicato Five)
• 1959 – Ferzan Özpetek, Turkish-Italian director and screenwriter
• 1959 – Lol Tolhurst, English drummer (The Cure, Presence, Easy Cure, and Levinhurst)
• 1960 – Tim Chandler, American bass player (The Swirling Eddies and The Choir)
• 1960 – Marty Jannetty, American wrestler
• 1960 – Joachim Löw, German footballer and manager
• 1960 – Malcolm Martineau, Scottish pianist
• 1960 – Kerry Von Erich, American wrestler (d. 1993)
• 1961 – Jay Adams, American skateboarder
• 1961 – Linda Eder, American singer and actress
• 1961 – Keith Gordon, American actor and director
• 1961 – Christopher Lowson, English bishop
• 1962 – Michele Greene, American actress and singer
• 1963 – Raghuram Rajan, Indian economist
• 1964 – Indrek Tarand, Estonian historian, journalist, and politician
• 1964 – Gary Webster, English actor
• 1965 – Kathleen Kinmont, American actress
• 1965 – Karlous Marx Shinohamba, Namibian politician
• 1965 – Maura Tierney, American actress
• 1966 – Frank Coraci, American director and screenwriter
• 1966 – Kostas Patavoukas, Greek basketball player
• 1967 – Dave Benson Phillips, English actor
• 1967 – Mixu Paatelainen, Finnish footballer and coach
• 1967 – Bob Taylor, English footballer
• 1968 – Vlade Divac, Serbian basketball player
• 1969 – Retief Goosen, South African golfer
• 1969 – Robert Pack, American basketball player
• 1970 – Óscar Córdoba, Colombian footballer
• 1970 – Warwick Davis, English actor
• 1970 – Ed Husic, Australian politician
• 1971 – Sean Dawkins, American football player
• 1971 – Elisa Donovan, American actress
• 1971 – Vincent Elbaz, French actor
• 1971 – Sarah Kane, English playwright (d. 1999)
• 1971 – Christian Liljegren, Swedish singer-songwriter (Narnia, Audiovision, and Divinefire)
• 1971 – Hong Seok-cheon, South Korean actor
• 1972 – Jesper Kyd, Danish composer
• 1972 – Mart Poom, Estonian footballer
• 1973 – Ilana Sod, Mexican journalist
• 1974 – Konrad Gałka, Polish swimmer
• 1974 – Julie Meadows, American porn actress
• 1974 – Miriam Yeung, Hong Kong singer and actress
• 1975 – Brad Thorn, New Zealand rugby player
• 1976 – Mathieu Dandenault, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1976 – Isla Fisher, Omani-Australian actress
• 1976 – Tim Heidecker, American comedian, actor, and singer
• 1976 – Dwayne Rudd, American football player
• 1977 – Mitra Hajjar, Iranian actress
• 1977 – Daddy Yankee, Puerto Rican rapper
• 1977 – Marek Židlický, Czech ice hockey player
• 1978 – Joan Capdevila, Spanish footballer
• 1978 – Sergei Kulichenko, Russian footballer
• 1978 – Adrian R'Mante, American actor
• 1978 – Eliza Schneider, American actress and singer
• 1979 – Becca Fitzpatrick, American author
• 1979 – Marie Zielcke, German actress
• 1980 – Kim E-Z, South Korean singer (Baby V.O.X.)
• 1980 – Sarah Lewitinn, American record producer and journalist
• 1981 – Alisa Reyes, American actress
• 1981 – Maurice Ross, Scottish footballer
• 1982 – Becky Bayless, American wrestler
• 1982 – Marie-Ève Drolet, Canadian speed skater
• 1982 – Alan Gurr, Australian race car driver
• 1982 – Jessica Harp, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (The Wreckers)
• 1982 – Bridget Regan, American actress
• 1983 – Richard Bartel, American football player
• 1983 – Silambarasan Rajendar, Indian actor, singer, and director
• 1983 – Gabriel Sargissian, Armenian chess player
• 1983 – Hillary Scott, American porn actress
• 1984 – Sara Carbonero, Spanish journalist
• 1985 – Angela Fong, Canadian wrestler and actress
• 1985 – Andrei Kostitsyn, Belarusian ice hockey player
• 1986 – Lucas Duda, American baseball player
• 1986 – David Edwards, Welsh footballer
• 1986 – Mathieu Giroux, Canadian speed skater
• 1986 – Rebel Wilson, Australian actress
• 1987 – Elvana Gjata, Albanian singer
• 1988 – Cho Kyuhyun, South Korean singer and actor (Super Junior, Super Junior-M, and Super Junior-K.R.Y)
• 1988 – Nicola Redomi, Italian footballer
• 1988 – Gregory van der Wiel, Dutch footballer
• 1989 – Julio Jones, American football player
• 1989 – Slobodan Rajković, Serbian footballer
• 1989 – Ryne Sanborn, American actor
• 1990 – Sean Kingston, American-Jamaican singer-songwriter
• 1990 – Sterling Moore, American football player
• 1991 – Nikola Hofmanova, Austrian tennis player
• 1991 – Glenn McCuen, American actor
• 1993 – Getter Jaani, Estonian singer
• 1997 – Paige Mary Hourigan, New Zealand tennis player

Deaths

• 995 – William IV, Duke of Aquitaine (b. 937)
• 699 – Werburgh, English saint (b. 650)
• 1014 – Sweyn Forkbeard, Danish husband of Gunhild of Wenden (b. 960)
• 1116 – Coloman, King of Hungary (b. 1070)
• 1399 – John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster (b. 1340)
• 1428 – Ashikaga Yoshimochi, Japanese shogun (b. 1386)
• 1451 – Murad II, Ottoman sultan (b. 1404)
• 1468 – Johannes Gutenberg, German publisher, invented the Printing press (b. 1398)
• 1549 – Sri Suriyothai, Thai wife of Maha Chakkraphat
• 1566 – George Cassander, Flemish theologian (b. 1513)
• 1619 – Henry Brooke, 11th Baron Cobham, English conspirator (b. 1564)
• 1737 – Tommaso Ceva, Italian mathematician (b. 1648)
• 1802 – Pedro Rodríguez, Conde de Campomanes, Spanish politician (b. 1723)
• 1820 – Gia Long, Vietnamese emperor (b. 1762)
• 1832 – George Crabbe, English poet, surgeon, and clergyman (b. 1754)
• 1862 – Jean-Baptiste Biot, French physicist, astronomer, and mathematician (b. 1774)
• 1866 – François-Xavier Garneau, Canadian poet, author, and historian (b. 1809)
• 1873 – Isaac Baker Brown, English gynecologist and surgeon (b. 1811)
• 1874 – Lunalilo of Hawaii (b. 1835)
• 1889 – Belle Starr, American outlaw (b. 1848)
• 1922 – John Butler Yeats, Irish illustrator (b. 1839)
• 1924 – Woodrow Wilson, American politician, 28th President of the United States, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1856)
• 1929 – Agner Krarup Erlang, Danish mathematician and engineer (b. 1878)
• 1935 – Hugo Junkers, German engineer, designed the Junkers J 1 (b. 1859)
• 1936 – Princess Sophie of Schönburg-Waldenburg (b. 1885)
• 1937 – Marija Leiko, Latvian actress (b. 1887)
• 1944 – Yvette Guilbert, French singer and actress (b. 1865)
• 1945 – Roland Freisler, German lawyer and judge (b. 1893)
• 1947 – Marc Mitscher, American admiral (b. 1887)
• 1950 – Sid Field, English actor (b. 1904)
• 1952 – Harold L. Ickes, American politician, 32nd United States Secretary of the Interior (b. 1874)
• 1955 – Vasili Blokhin, Soviet general (b. 1895)
• 1956 – Émile Borel, French mathematician (b. 1871)
• 1956 – Johnny Claes, Belgian race car driver (b. 1916)
• 1959 – The Day the Music Died
  • The Big Bopper, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1930)
  • Buddy Holly, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (The Crickets) (b. 1936)
  • Roger Peterson, American pilot (b. 1937)
  • Ritchie Valens, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1941)
• 1960 – Fred Buscaglione, Italian singer and actor (b. 1921)
• 1961 – William Morrison, 1st Viscount Dunrossil, Australian politician, 14th Governor-General of Australia (b. 1893)
• 1961 – Anna May Wong, American actress (b. 1905)
• 1964 – Albert Richardson, English architect, designed the Manchester Opera House (b. 1880)
• 1964 – C. Sittampalam, Ceylon Tamil politician (b. 1898)
• 1967 – Joe Meek, English songwriter and producer (b. 1929)
• 1969 – C. N. Annadurai Indian politician, 7th Chief Minister of Madras State (b. 1909)
• 1969 – Eduardo Mondlane Mozambican activist (b. 1920)
• 1975 – William D. Coolidge, American physicist (b. 1873)
• 1975 – Umm Kulthum, Egyptian singer-songwriter and actress (b. 1904)
• 1980 – Hanna Rovina, Israeli actress (b. 1893)
• 1985 – Frank Oppenheimer, American physicist (b. 1912)
• 1989 – John Cassavetes, American actor (b. 1929)
• 1989 – Lionel Newman, American pianist, composer, and conductor (b. 1916)
• 1991 – Harry Ackerman, American television producer (b. 1912)
• 1991 – Nancy Kulp, American actress (b. 1921)
• 1993 – Françoys Bernier, Canadian pianist and conductor (b. 1927)
• 1996 – Audrey Meadows, American actress (b. 1922)
• 1998 – Fat Pat, American rapper (Screwed Up Click) (b. 1970)
• 1998 – Karla Faye Tucker, American murderer (b. 1959)
• 2000 – Alla Rakha, Indian Tabla Player(b.1919)
• 2002 – Lucien Rivard, Canadian criminal (b. 1914)
• 2003 – Lana Clarkson, American actress and model (b. 1962)
• 2004 – Jason Raize, American actor (b. 1975)
• 2005 – Andreas Makris, Greek-American composer and violinist (b. 1930)
• 2005 – Zurab Zhvania, Georgian politician, 4th Prime Minister of Georgia (b. 1963)
• 2006 – Al Lewis, American actor (b. 1923)
• 2009 – Sheng-yen, Chinese monk and scholar, founded the Dharma Drum Mountain (b. 1930)
• 2010 – Dick McGuire American basketball player and coach (b. 1926)
• 2010 – Princess Regina of Saxe-Meiningen (b. 1925)
• 2011 – Ron Piché, Canadian baseball player (b. 1935)
• 2011 – Maria Schneider, French actress (b. 1952)
• 2012 – Karibasavaiah, Indian actor (b. 1959)
• 2012 – Toh Chin Chye, Singaporean academic and politician, 1st Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore (b. 1921)
• 2012 – John Christopher, English author (1922)
• 2012 – Ben Gazzara, American actor and director (b. 1930)
• 2012 – Terence Hildner, American general (b. 1962)
• 2012 – Raj Kanwar, Indian director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1961)
• 2012 – Zalman King, American actor, director, and producer (b. 1942)
• 2012 – Karlo Maquinto, Filipino boxer (b. 1990)
• 2012 – Andrzej Szczeklik, Polish physician and academic (b. 1938)
• 2013 – B. H. Born, American basketball player (b. 1932)
• 2013 – Cardiss Collins, American politician (b. 1931)
• 2013 – John Michael D'Arcy, American bishop (b. 1932)
• 2013 – Ichikawa Danjūrō XII, Japanese actor (b. 1946)
• 2013 – Steve Demeter, American baseball player (b. 1935)
• 2013 – Matija Duh, Slovenian motorcycle racer (b. 1989)
• 2013 – Oscar Feltsman, Ukrainian-Russian composer (b. 1921)
• 2013 – Peter Gilmore, German-English actor (b. 1931)
• 2013 – Arpad Miklos, Hungarian-American porn actor (b. 1967)
• 2013 – James Muri, American pilot (b. 1918)
• 2013 – Zlatko Papec, Croatian footballer (b. 1934)
• 2013 – Deng Wei, Chinese photographer (b. 1959)
• 2013 – Jam Mohammad Yousaf, Pakistani politician, Chief Minister of Balochistan (b. 1954)
• 2014 – Louise Brough, American tennis player (b. 1923)
• 2014 – Richard Bull, American actor (b. 1924)
• 2014 – Louan Gideon, American actress (b. 1955)
• 2014 – Óscar González, Mexican boxer (b. 1990)
• 2014 – Gloria Leonard, American porn actress (b. 1940)
• 2014 – Chiwanki Lyainga, Zambian footballer (b. 1983)
• 2014 – Joan Mondale, American wife of Walter Mondale, 32nd Second Lady of the United States (b. 1930)
• 2014 – Bill Sinkin, American activist (b. 1913)

Holidays and observances

• Christian Feast Day:
  • Aaron the Illustrious (Syriac Orthodox Church)
  • Ansgar
  • Berlinda of Meerbeke
  • Blaise
  • Celsa and Nona
  • Dom Justo Takayama (Philippines and Japan)
  • Hadelin
  • Margaret of England
  • Werburgh
  • February 3 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

• Communist Party of Vietnam Foundation Anniversary (Vietnam)
• Day of the Virgin of Suyapa (Honduras)
• Earliest day on which Shrove Tuesday can fall, while March 9 is the latest; celebrated on Tuesday before Ash Wednesday (Christianity)
• Four Chaplains Day (United States, also considered a Feast Day by the Episcopal Church)
• Heroes' Day (Mozambique)
• Martyrs' Day (São Tomé and Príncipe)
• Setsubun (Japan)
• Veterans' Day (Thailand)

External links

• BBC: On This Day
• The New York Times: On This Day
• On This Day in Canada