This day in .....

1 February 1964 – The Beatles have their first number one hit in the United States with "I Want to Hold Your Hand".

I Want to Hold Your Hand

For other uses, see I Want to Hold Your Hand (disambiguation).

"I Want to Hold Your Hand" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles. Written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, and recorded in October 1963, it was the first Beatles record to be made using four-track equipment.

With advance orders exceeding one million copies in the United Kingdom, "I Want to Hold Your Hand" would have gone straight to the top of the British record charts on its day of release (29 November 1963) had it not been blocked by the group's first million-seller "She Loves You", their previous UK single, which was having a resurgence of popularity following intense media coverage of the group. Taking two weeks to dislodge its predecessor, "I Want to Hold Your Hand" stayed at number 1 for five weeks and remained in the UK top 50 for 21 weeks in total.^[1]

It was also the group's first American number 1 hit, entering the Billboard Hot 100 chart on 18 January 1964 at number 45 and starting the British invasion of the American music industry. By 1 February it topped the Hot 100, and stayed there for seven weeks before being replaced by "She Loves You". It remained on the Billboard chart for 15 weeks.^[2] "I Want to Hold Your Hand" became the Beatles' best-selling single worldwide selling more than 12 million copies.^[3] In 2013, Billboard magazine named it the 44th biggest hit of "all-time" on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.^[4]

1. ^ Gambaccini 1991, pp. 27.
2. ^ Harry 1985, pp. 66.
3. ^ Harry 2000, p. 561.
4. ^ Bronson, Fred (2 August 2012). "Hot 100 55th Anniversary: The All-Time Top 100 Songs". Billboard. Retrieved 9 August 2013.

Read More

 

2 February 1901 – Funeral of Queen Victoria.

Queen Victoria

British monarch who reigned 1837–1901

For other uses, see Queen Victoria (disambiguation) and Victoria of the United Kingdom (disambiguation).

"Victoria Regina" redirects here. For the play, see Victoria Regina (play).

Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death. On 1 May 1876, she adopted the additional title of Empress of India.

Victoria was the daughter of Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn, the fourth son of King George III. Both the Duke and the King died in 1820, and Victoria was raised under close supervision by her mother, Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. She inherited the throne at the age of 18, after her father's three elder brothers had all died, leaving no surviving legitimate children. The United Kingdom was already an established constitutional monarchy, in which the sovereign held relatively little direct political power. Privately, Victoria attempted to influence government policy and ministerial appointments; publicly, she became a national icon who was identified with strict standards of personal morality.

Victoria married her first cousin Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha in 1840. Their nine children married into royal and noble families across the continent, tying them together and earning her the sobriquet "the grandmother of Europe". After Albert's death in 1861, Victoria plunged into deep mourning and avoided public appearances. As a result of her seclusion, republicanism temporarily gained strength, but in the latter half of her reign, her popularity recovered. Her Golden and Diamond Jubilees were times of public celebration.

Her reign of 63 years and seven months was longer than that of any of her predecessors and is known as the Victorian era. It was a period of industrial, cultural, political, scientific, and military change within the United Kingdom, and was marked by a great expansion of the British Empire. She was the last British monarch of the House of Hanover. Her son and successor, Edward VII, initiated the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, the line of his father.

Read More

 

3 February 2007 – A Baghdad market bombing kills at least 135 people and injures a further

3 February 2007 Baghdad market bombing

The 3 February 2007 Baghdad market bombing was the detonation of a large truck bomb in a busy market in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad on 3 February 2007. The suicide attack killed at least 135 people and injured 339 others.^[1]

The bomb, estimated to be about one ton in weight, brought down at least 10 buildings and coffee shops and obliterated market stalls in a largely Shi‘ite enclave less than a half mile from the Tigris River.^[2]

1. ^ ^{a b} "Terror takes toll on market, vendors". The Washington Times. 7 February 2007. Retrieved 7 February 2007.
2. ^ Oppel, Jr., Richard A.; Qais Mizher (3 February 2007). "Dozens Killed in Baghdad Bombing". The New York Times. Retrieved 3 February 2007.

Read More

 

4 February 1859 – The Codex Sinaiticus is discovered in Egypt.

Codex Sinaiticus

Handwritten copy of the Bible in Greek

Codex Sinaiticus (Greek: Σιναϊτικός Κώδικας, Sinaïtikós Kṓdikas, Hebrew: קודקס סינאיטיקוס‎; Shelfmarks and references: London, Brit. Libr., Additional Manuscripts 43725; Gregory-Aland nº א [Aleph] or 01, [Soden δ 2]) or "Sinai Bible" is one of the four great uncial codices, ancient, handwritten copies of the Greek Bible. The codex is a celebrated historical treasure.^[1]

The codex is an Alexandrian text-type manuscript written in uncial letters on parchment in the 4th century. Scholarship considers the Codex Sinaiticus to be one of the best Greek texts of the New Testament,^[2] along with the Codex Vaticanus. Until Constantin von Tischendorf's discovery of the Sinaiticus text, the Codex Vaticanus was unrivaled.^[3]

The Codex Sinaiticus came to the attention of scholars in the 19th century at Saint Catherine's Monastery in the Sinai Peninsula, with further material discovered in the 20th and 21st centuries. Although parts of the codex are scattered across four libraries around the world, most of the manuscript is held today in the British Library in London, where it is on public display.^[4][5] Since its discovery, study of the Codex Sinaiticus has proven to be useful to scholars for critical studies of biblical text.

While large portions of the Old Testament are missing, it is assumed that the codex originally contained the whole of both Testaments.^[6] About half of the Greek Old Testament (or Septuagint) survived, along with a complete New Testament, the entire Deuterocanonical books, the Epistle of Barnabas and portions of The Shepherd of Hermas.^[2]

1. ^ Sinai: The Site & the History by Mursi Saad El Din, Ayman Taher, Luciano Romano 1998 ISBN 0-8147-2203-2 page 101
2. ^ ^{a b} Aland, Kurt; Barbara Aland (1995). The Text of the New Testament: An Introduction to the Critical Editions and to the Theory and Practice of Modern Textual Criticism, trans. Erroll F. Rhodes. Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. p. 107. ISBN 978-0-8028-4098-1.
3. ^ Scrivener, Frederick Henry Ambrose (1875). Six Lectures on the Text of the New Testament and the Ancient Manuscripts. Cambridge. p. 26. ISBN 978-1-4097-0826-1.
4. ^ Aland, Kurt; Aland, Barbara (1995). The Text of the New Testament: An Introduction to the Critical Editions and to the Theory and Practice of Modern Textual Criticism. Erroll F. Rhodes (trans.). Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. pp. 107–108. ISBN 978-0-8028-4098-1.
5. ^ "Liste Handschriften". Münster: Institute for New Testament Textual Research. Retrieved 16 March 2013.
6. ^ "Sacred Texts: Codex Sinaiticus". www.bl.uk. Retrieved 2017-01-27.

Read More

 

5 February 1971 – Astronauts land on the moon in the Apollo 14 mission.

Apollo 14

Third manned mission to land on the Moon

Apollo 14 was the eighth manned mission in the United States Apollo program, and the third to land on the Moon. It was the last of the "H missions," targeted landings with two-day stays on the Moon with two lunar EVAs, or moonwalks.

Commander Alan Shepard, Command Module Pilot Stuart Roosa, and Lunar Module Pilot Edgar Mitchell launched on their nine-day mission on Sunday, January 31, 1971, at 4:03:02 p.m. EST. Liftoff was delayed forty minutes and two seconds, due to launch site weather restrictions, the first such delay in the Apollo program.^[2]

Shepard and Mitchell made their lunar landing on February 5 in the Fra Mauro formation – originally the target of the aborted Apollo 13 mission. During the two lunar EVAs, 94.35 pounds (42.80 kg) of Moon rocks were collected,^[3] and several scientific experiments were performed. Shepard hit two golf balls on the lunar surface with a makeshift club he had brought with him. Shepard and Mitchell spent 33​¹⁄₂ hours on the Moon, with almost 9​¹⁄₂ hours of EVA.

In the aftermath of Apollo 13, several modifications had been made to the service module electrical power system to prevent a repeat of that accident, including a redesign of the oxygen tanks and the addition of a third tank. The launch had been scheduled for October 1, 1970,^[4] and was delayed about four months.^[5]

While Shepard and Mitchell were on the surface, Roosa remained in lunar orbit aboard the command and service module Kitty Hawk, performing scientific experiments and photographing the Moon, including the landing site of the future Apollo 16 mission. He took several hundred seeds on the mission, many of which were germinated on return, resulting in the so-called Moon trees. Shepard, Roosa, and Mitchell landed in the Pacific Ocean on February 9.

1. ^ Orloff, Richard W. (September 2004) [First published 2000]. "Table of Contents". Apollo by the Numbers: A Statistical Reference. NASA History Division, Office of Policy and Plans. NASA History Series. Washington, D.C.: NASA. ISBN 0-16-050631-X. LCCN 00061677. NASA SP-2000-4029. Archived from the original on September 6, 2007. Retrieved July 17, 2013.
2. ^ Wheeler, Robin (2009). "Apollo lunar landing launch window: The controlling factors and constraints". Apollo Flight Journal. NASA. Archived from the original on April 2, 2009. Retrieved July 17, 2013.
3. ^ Orloff, Richard W. (September 2004) [First published 2000]. "Extravehicular Activity". Apollo by the Numbers: A Statistical Reference. NASA History Division, Office of Policy and Plans. The NASA History Series. Washington, D.C.: NASA. ISBN 0-16-050631-X. LCCN 00061677. NASA SP-2000-4029. Retrieved August 1, 2013. For some reason, the total reported does not match the sum of the two EVAs.
4. ^ "Next Moon flight to await solving Apollo's woes". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). UPI. April 18, 1970. p. 1A.
5. ^ "Astronauts, families visit on launch eve". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). Associated Press. January 30, 1971. p. 1A.

Read More

 

6 January 1947 – Pan American Airlines becomes the first commercial airline to offer a round-the-world ticket.

Pan American World Airways

"Pan Am" and "Pan American Airways" redirect here. For other uses, see Pan Am (disambiguation) and Pan American Airways (disambiguation).

Pan American World Airways, originally founded as Pan American Airways^[1] and commonly known as Pan Am, was the principal and largest international air carrier and unofficial flag carrier of the United States from 1927 until its collapse on December 4, 1991. It was founded in 1927 as a scheduled air mail and passenger service operating between Key West, Florida and Havana, Cuba. The airline is credited for many innovations that shaped the international airline industry, including the widespread use of jet aircraft, jumbo jets, and computerized reservation systems.^[2] It was also a founding member of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), the global airline industry association.^[3]

Identified by its blue globe logo ("The Blue Meatball"),^[4] the use of the word "Clipper" in its aircraft names and call signs, and the white uniform caps of its pilots, the airline was a cultural icon of the 20th century. In an era dominated by flag carriers that were wholly or majority government-owned, it was also the unofficial overseas flag carrier of the United States. During most of the jet era, Pan Am's flagship terminal was the Worldport located at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City.^[2]

1. ^ britannica.com Pan American World Airways, Inc.: American Airline Company
2. ^ ^{a b} Guy Norris & Mark Wagner (September 1, 1997). "Birth of a Giant". Boeing 747: Design and Development Since 1969. Zenith Imprint. pp. 12–13. ISBN 0-7603-0280-4.
3. ^ Airliner World (IATA: A new mandate in a changed world), p. 32, Key Publishing, Stamford, November 2011
4. ^ Green, Richard P.; Carroll, James J. (2000). Investigating Entrepreneurial Opportunities. SAGE Publications. p. 108. ISBN 9780803959422.

Read More

 

2 February 1962 – The United States bans all Cuban imports and exports.

United States embargo against Cuba

U.S president Dwight D. Eisenhower (left), and leader of Cuba Fidel Castro (right)

Economic sanctions imposed by the US on Cuba in 1958 and again in 1960.

The United States currently imposes a commercial, economic, and financial embargo against Cuba. The United States first imposed an embargo on the sale of arms to Cuba on March 14, 1958, during the Fulgencio Batista regime. Again on October 19, 1960 (almost two years after the Cuban Revolution had led to the deposition of the Batista regime) the U.S. placed an embargo on exports to Cuba except for food and medicine after Cuba nationalized American-owned Cuban oil refineries without compensation. On February 7, 1962 the embargo was extended to include almost all exports.^[1]

As of 2018^[update], the Cuban embargo is enforced mainly through six statutes: the Trading with the Enemy Act of 1917, the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, the Cuban Assets Control Regulations of 1963, the Cuban Democracy Act of 1992, the Helms–Burton Act of 1996, and the Trade Sanctions Reform and Export Enhancement Act of 2000.^[2] The stated purpose of the Cuban Democracy Act of 1992 is to maintain sanctions on Cuba as long as the Cuban government refuses to move toward "democratization and greater respect for human rights".^[3] The Helms–Burton Act further restricted United States citizens from doing business in or with Cuba, and mandated restrictions on giving public or private assistance to any successor government in Havana unless and until certain claims against the Cuban government were met. In 1999 President Bill Clinton expanded the trade embargo by also disallowing foreign subsidiaries of U.S. companies to trade with Cuba. In 2000 Clinton authorized the sale of "humanitarian" U.S. products to Cuba.

In Cuba the embargo is called el bloqueo, "the blockade". Despite the term bloqueo (blockade), there has been no physical naval blockade of the country by the United States since the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962.^[4] The United States does not block Cuba's trade with third parties: other countries are not under the jurisdiction of U.S. domestic laws, such as the Cuban Democracy Act (although, in theory, the U.S. could penalize foreign countries that trade with Cuba, a possibility which has been condemned by the United Nations General Assembly as an "extraterritorial" measure that contravenes "the sovereign equality of States, non-intervention in their internal affairs and freedom of trade and navigation as paramount to the conduct of international affairs"^[5]). Cuba can, and does, conduct international trade with many third-party countries;^[6] Cuba has been a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO) since 1995.^[7]

Beyond criticisms of human rights in Cuba, the United States holds $6 billion worth of financial claims against the Cuban government.^[8] The pro-embargo position is that the U.S. embargo is, in part, an appropriate response to these unaddressed claims.^[9] The Latin America Working Group argues that pro-embargo Cuban-American exiles, whose votes are crucial in the U.S. state of Florida, have swayed many politicians to adopt views similar to their own.^[10] Some business leaders, including James E. Perrella, Dwayne O. Andreas, and Peter Blyth, have opposed the Cuban-American views, arguing that trading freely would be good for Cuba and the United States.^[11]

As of 2018^[update], the embargo, which limits American businesses from conducting trade with Cuban interests, remains in effect and is the most enduring trade embargo in modern history. Despite the existence of the embargo, the United States is the fifth-largest exporter to Cuba (6.6% of Cuba's imports come from the US).^[12] Cuba must, however, pay cash for all imports, as credit is not allowed.^[13]

The UN General Assembly has, since 1992, passed a resolution every year condemning the ongoing impact of the embargo and declaring it in violation of the Charter of the United Nations and of international law. In 2014, out of the 193-nation assembly, 188 countries voted for the nonbinding resolution, the United States and Israel voted against and the Pacific Island nations Palau, Marshall Islands and Micronesia abstained.^[2][14] Human-rights groups including Amnesty International,^[2] Human Rights Watch,^[15] and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights^[16]

have also been critical of the embargo. Critics^[which?] of the embargo say that the embargo laws are too harsh, citing the fact that violations can result in up to 10 years in prison.

1. ^ "Case Studies in Economic Sanctions and Terrorism: US v. Gta 5 (1960– : Castro)" (PDF). Peterson Institute for International Economics. October 2011. Retrieved December 29, 2013.
2. ^ ^{a b c} "The US Embargo Against Cuba: Its Impact on Economic and Social Rights". Amnesty International. September 2009. Retrieved December 29, 2013.
3. ^ "Cuban Democracy Act of 1992". U.S. Department of State. Archived from the original on August 5, 2012.
4. ^ "515 - The President's News Conference November 20, 1962". White House Audio Recordings, 1961-1963. John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum.
5. ^ "Speakers Denounce Cuban Embargo as 'Sad Echo' of Failed Cold War Politics; General Assembly, for Twentieth Year, Demands Lifting of Economic Blockade". Un.org. Retrieved December 6, 2013.
6. ^ "European Union, Trade in goods with Cuba" (PDF). Trade.ec.europa.eu. Retrieved December 6, 2013.
7. ^ "Cuba - Member information". WTO. Retrieved December 6, 2013.
8. ^ "U.S. Claims Against Cuba Buyer Beware". The Poblete DC, 08/04/08
9. ^ "Cuba's Economic Sanctions and Property Rights". Focus. May 21, 2012.
10. ^ "Ignored Majority – The Moderate Cuban-American Community" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on March 27, 2009.
11. ^ "Eyes on Cuba: U.S. Business and the Embargo". Foreign Affairs.
12. ^ "Cuba". The World Factbook. Cia.gov. Retrieved June 9, 2012.
13. ^ "End embargo on Cuba, US is urged". BBC News. September 2, 2009. Retrieved May 26, 2010.
14. ^ "For 23rd time, U.N. nations urge end to U.S. embargo on Cuba". Reuters. Retrieved September 28, 2015.
15. ^ "Cuba: A Step Forward on US Travel Regulations". Human Rights Watch. January 19, 2011. Retrieved January 5, 2014.
16. ^ "IACHR Annual Report 2011". Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. Retrieved January 5, 2014.

Read More

 

8 February 1971 – The NASDAQ stock market index opens for the first time.

NASDAQ

The Nasdaq Stock Market (/ˈnæzˌdæk/ (listen), also known as Nasdaq) is an American stock exchange. It is the second-largest stock exchange in the world by market capitalization, behind only the New York Stock Exchange located in the same city.^[2] The exchange platform is owned by Nasdaq, Inc.,^[3] which also owns the Nasdaq Nordic (formerly known as OMX) and Nasdaq Baltic stock market network and several U.S. stock and options exchanges

1. ^ "Nasdaq Companies". Archived from the original on February 13, 2011. Retrieved December 1, 2018.
2. ^ "Monthly Reports". World-Exchanges.org. World Federation of Exchanges. Archived from the original on August 17, 2014. Retrieved June 3, 2015.
3. ^ "Nasdaq – Business Solutions & Services". Business.nasdaq.com. Archived from the original on October 20, 2016. Retrieved October 23, 2016.

Read More

 

9 February 1900 – The Davis Cup competition is established

Davis Cup

For the album by Walter Davis Jr., see Davis Cup (album).

2018 Davis Cup Final - opening ceremony

The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men's tennis. It is run by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and is contested annually between teams from competing countries in a knock-out format. It is described by the organisers as the "World Cup of Tennis", and the winners are referred to as the World Champion team.^[1] The competition began in 1900 as a challenge between Great Britain and the United States. By 2016, 135 nations entered teams into the competition.^[2] The most successful countries over the history of the tournament are the United States (winning 32 tournaments and finishing as runners-up 29 times) and Australia (winning 28 times, including four occasions with New Zealand as Australasia, and finishing as runners-up 19 times). The present champions are Croatia, who beat France to win their second title in 2018.

The women's equivalent of the Davis Cup is the Fed Cup. Australia, the Czech Republic, and the United States are the only countries to have held both Davis Cup and Fed Cup titles in the same year. The Hopman Cup, a third competition for mixed teams, carries less prestige, but is a popular curtain raiser to the tennis season. Only the Czechs have won all three competitions in one calendar year, doing so in 2012.

1. ^ "Andy Murray wins Davis Cup for Great Britain - BBC Sport". BBC Sport.
2. ^ "Davis Cup Format". www.daviscup.com. Retrieved 20 January 2016. In 2016, 130 nations have entered Davis Cup by BNP Paribas

Read More

 

10 February 1940 – Tom and Jerry make their debut with Puss Gets the Boot.

Tom and Jerry

This article is about the animal cartoon series. For other uses, see Tom and Jerry (disambiguation).

Tom and Jerry is an American comedy slapstick cartoon series created in 1940 by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera. It centers on a rivalry between the title characters Tom, a cat, and Jerry, a mouse. Many episodes also feature several recurring characters.

In its original run, Hanna and Barbera produced 114 Tom and Jerry shorts for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer from 1940 to 1958.^[1] During this time, they won seven Academy Awards for Animated Short Film, tying for first place with Walt Disney's Silly Symphonies with the most awards in the category. After the MGM cartoon studio closed in 1957, MGM revived the series with Gene Deitch directing an additional 13 Tom and Jerry shorts for Rembrandt Films from 1961 to 1962. Tom and Jerry then became the highest-grossing animated short film series of that time, overtaking Looney Tunes. Chuck Jones then produced another 34 shorts with Sib Tower 12 Productions between 1963 and 1967. Three more shorts were produced, The Mansion Cat in 2001, The Karate Guard in 2005, and A Fundraising Adventure in 2014, making a total of 164 shorts.

A number of spin-offs have been made, including the television series The Tom and Jerry Show (1975), The Tom and Jerry Comedy Show (1980–82), Tom and Jerry Kids (1990–93), Tom and Jerry Tales (2006–08), and The Tom and Jerry Show (2014–present). The first feature-length film based on the series, Tom and Jerry: The Movie, was released in 1992, and 13 direct-to-video films have been produced since 2002.

1. ^ Jones, Paul (2015-02-17). "Tom and Jerry's 75th anniversary proves cat and mouse games never get old". Radio Times. Retrieved 2018-02-10.

Read More

 

11 February 1929 – Kingdom of Italy and the Vatican sign the Lateran Treaty.

Lateran Treaty

The Lateran Treaty (Italian: Patti Lateranensi; Latin: Pacta Lateranensia) was one of the Lateran Pacts of 1929 or Lateran Accords, agreements made in 1929 between the Kingdom of Italy and the Holy See, settling the "Roman Question". They are named after the Lateran Palace, where they were signed on 11 February 1929. The Italian parliament ratified them on 7 June 1929. It recognized Vatican City as an independent state, with the Italian government, at the time led by Benito Mussolini as prime minister, agreeing to give the Roman Catholic Church financial compensation for the loss of the Papal States.^[1] In 1947, the Lateran Treaty was recognized in the Constitution of Italy^[2] as regulating the relations between the state and the Catholic Church.

1. ^ A History of Western Society (Tenth ed.). Bedford/St. Martin's. p. 900.
2. ^ Constitution of Italy, article 7.

Read More

 

12 February 1961 – The Soviet Union launches Venera 1 towards Venus.

Venera 1

Venera 1 (Russian: Венера-1 meaning Venus 1), also known as Venera-1VA No.2 and occasionally in the West as Sputnik 8 was the first spacecraft to fly past Venus, as part of the Soviet Union's Venera programme.^[1] Launched in February 1961, it flew past Venus on 19 May of the same year; however, radio contact with the probe was lost before the flyby, resulting in it returning no data.

1. ^ NSSDC Spacecraft 1961-003A (NASA Goddard Space Center), accessed August 9, 2010

Read More

 

13 February 1955 – Israel obtains four of the seven Dead Sea Scrolls.

Dead Sea Scrolls

For the travelling exhibition, see Dead Sea Scrolls: Life and Faith in Ancient Times.

Ancient Jewish religious, mostly Hebrew, manuscripts found in the Qumran Caves in the West Bank] near the Dead Sea

The Dead Sea Scrolls (also Qumran Caves Scrolls) are ancient Jewish religious, mostly Hebrew, manuscripts found in the Qumran Caves in the West Bank near the Dead Sea.^[1] Scholarly consensus dates these scrolls from the last three centuries BCE and the first century CE.^[2] The texts have great historical, religious, and linguistic significance because they include the second-oldest known surviving manuscripts of works later included in the Hebrew Bible canon, along with deuterocanonical and extra-biblical manuscripts which preserve evidence of the diversity of religious thought in late Second Temple Judaism. Almost all of the Dead Sea Scrolls collection is currently under the ownership of the Government of the state of Israel, and housed in the Shrine of the Book on the grounds of the Israel Museum.

1. ^ "The Digital Library: Introduction". Leon Levy Dead Sea Scrolls Digital Library. Retrieved 2014-10-13.
2. ^ Cite error: The named reference Israel Museum Jerusalem was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

Read More

 

14 February 1946 – The Bank of England is nationalized.

Bank of England

Central bank of the United Kingdom

"English bank" redirects here. For banking in England, see Banking in the United Kingdom. For the corpus linguistics project, see Bank of English.

The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694 to act as the English Government's banker, and still one of the bankers for the Government of the United Kingdom, it is the world's eighth-oldest bank. It was privately owned by stockholders from its foundation in 1694 until it was nationalised in 1946.^[2][3]

The Bank became an independent public organisation in 1998, wholly owned by the Treasury Solicitor on behalf of the government,^[4] but with independence in setting monetary policy.^[5][6][7][8]

The Bank is one of eight banks authorised to issue banknotes in the United Kingdom, has a monopoly on the issue of banknotes in England and Wales and regulates the issue of banknotes by commercial banks in Scotland and Northern Ireland.^[9]

The Bank's Monetary Policy Committee has a devolved responsibility for managing monetary policy. The Treasury has reserve powers to give orders to the committee "if they are required in the public interest and by extreme economic circumstances", but such orders must be endorsed by Parliament within 28 days.^[10] The Bank's Financial Policy Committee held its first meeting in June 2011 as a macroprudential regulator to oversee regulation of the UK's financial sector.

The Bank's headquarters have been in London's main financial district, the City of London, on Threadneedle Street, since 1734. It is sometimes known as The Old Lady of Threadneedle Street, a name taken from a satirical cartoon by James Gillray in 1797.^[11] The road junction outside is known as Bank junction.

As a regulator and central bank, the Bank of England has not offered consumer banking services for many years, but it still does manage some public-facing services such as exchanging superseded bank notes.^[12] Until 2016, the bank provided personal banking services as a privilege for employees.^[13]

1. ^ Bank of England (2 August 2018). "Monetary Policy Committee voted unanimously to raise Bank Rate to 0.75%". Retrieved 2 August 2018.
2. ^ "House of Commons Debate 29th October 1945, Second Reading of the Bank of England Bill". Hansard.millbanksystems.com. Retrieved 12 October 2012.
3. ^ "Bank of England Act 1946" (PDF). Retrieved 12 October 2012.
4. ^ "Freedom of Information – disclosures". Bank of England. Retrieved 29 September 2013.
5. ^ 1 June 1998, The Bank of England Act 1998 (Commencement) Order 1998 s 2
6. ^ "BBC On This Day - 6-1997: Brown sets Bank of England free". Retrieved 14 September 2014.
7. ^ "Bank of England - About the Bank". Retrieved 14 September 2014.
8. ^ "Bank of England: Relationship with Parliament". Archived from the original on 8 July 2009. Retrieved 14 September 2014.
9. ^ "The Bank of England's Role in Regulating the Issue of Scottish and Northern Ireland Banknotes". Bank of England website. Retrieved 31 October 2011.
10. ^ "Act of Parliament gives devolved responsibility to the MPC with reserve powers for the Treasury". Opsi.gov.uk. Retrieved 10 May 2010.
11. ^ Bank of England, "Who is The Old Lady of Threadneedle Street?". Accessed 15 January 2018.
12. ^ "Exchanging for an individual at the Bank of England counter". Bank of England. Retrieved 8 November 2016.
13. ^ Topham, Gwyn. "Bank of England to close personal banking service for employees". The Guardian. Retrieved 8 November 2016.

Read More

 

15 February 1971 – The decimalisation of British coinage is completed on Decimal Day.

Decimal Day

An introductory pack of the new currency.

On 15 February 1971, known as Decimal Day, the United Kingdom and Ireland decimalised their currencies.

Under the old currency of pounds, shillings and pence, the pound was made up of 240 pence (denoted by the letter d for Latin denarius and now referred to as "old pence"), with 12 pence in a shilling and 20 shillings (denoted by s for Latin solidus) in a pound.

The loss of value of the currency meant that the "old" penny, with the same diameter as the US half-dollar, had become of relatively low value.

Read More

 

16 February 1933 – The Blaine Act ends Prohibition in the United States.

Prohibition in the United States

"The Noble Experiment" redirects here. For the rum distillery, see The Noble Experiment (distillery).

Not to be confused with Abolitionism in the United States.

Detroit police inspecting equipment found in a clandestine brewery during the Prohibition era

Every Day Will Be Sunday When the Town Goes Dry (1918–1919)

Prohibition in the United States was a nationwide constitutional ban on the production, importation, transportation, and sale of alcoholic beverages from 1920 to 1933.

During the nineteenth century, alcoholism, family violence, and saloon-based political corruption prompted prohibitionists, led by pietistic Protestants, to end the alcoholic beverage trade to cure the ill society and weaken the political opposition. One result was that many communities in the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries introduced alcohol prohibition, with the subsequent enforcement in law becoming a hotly debated issue. Prohibition supporters, called "drys", presented it as a victory for public morals and health.

Promoted by the "dry" crusaders, the movement was led by pietistic Protestants and social Progressives in the Prohibition, Democratic, and Republican parties. It gained a national grass roots base through the Woman's Christian Temperance Union. After 1900, it was coordinated by the Anti-Saloon League. Opposition from the beer industry mobilized "wet" supporters from the Catholic and German Lutheran communities. They had funding to fight back, but by 1917–18 the German community had been marginalized by the nation's war against Germany, and the brewing industry was shut down in state after state by the legislatures and finally nationwide under the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution in 1920. Enabling legislation, known as the Volstead Act, set down the rules for enforcing the federal ban and defined the types of alcoholic beverages that were prohibited. For example, religious use of wine was allowed. Private ownership and consumption of alcohol were not made illegal under federal law, but local laws were stricter in many areas, with some states banning possession outright.

Criminal gangs were able to gain control of the beer and liquor supply for many cities. By the late-1920s a new opposition mobilized nationwide. Wets attacked prohibition as causing crime, lowering local revenues, and imposing "rural" Protestant religious values on "urban" United States.^[1] Prohibition ended with the ratification of the Twenty-first Amendment, which repealed the Eighteenth Amendment on December 5, 1933. Some states continued statewide prohibition, marking one of the last stages of the Progressive Era.

Research shows that prohibition reduced overall alcohol consumption by half during the 1920s, and consumption remained below pre-Prohibition levels until the 1940s, suggesting that Prohibition did socialize a significant proportion of the population in temperate habits, at least temporarily.^[2][3] Rates of liver cirrhosis "fell by 50% early in Prohibition and recovered promptly after Repeal in 1933."^[4][2][5] Criticism remains that Prohibition led to unintended consequences such as a century^{[citation needed]} of Prohibition-influenced legislation and the growth of urban crime organizations, though some scholars have argued that violent crime did not increase dramatically,^[2] while others have argued that crime during the Prohibition era was properly attributed to increased urbanization, rather than the criminalization of alcohol use.^[6][7] As an experiment it lost supporters every year, and lost tax revenue that governments needed when the Great Depression began in 1929.^[8]

1. ^ Margaret Sands Orchowski (2015). The Law that Changed the Face of America: The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 32. ISBN 9781442251373.
2. ^ ^{a b c} Mark H. Moore (16 October 1989). "Actually, Prohibition Was a Success". The New York Times. Retrieved 29 May 2017.
3. ^ Jack S. Blocker et al. eds (2003). Alcohol and Temperance in Modern History: An International Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO. p. 23. ISBN 9781576078334.CS1 maint: Extra text: authors list (link)
4. ^ Cite error: The named reference MacCounReuter2001 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
5. ^ Jack S. Blocker, Jr (February 2006). "Did Prohibition Really Work? Alcohol Prohibition as a Public Health Innovation". American Journal of Public Health. 96 (2): 233–243. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2005.065409. PMC 1470475. PMID 16380559.
6. ^ Philip J. Cook, Stephen Machin, Olivier Marie, Giovanni Mastrobuoni (4 October 2013). Lessons from the Economics of Crime: What Reduces Offending?. MIT Press. p. 56. ISBN 9780262019613. Proponents of legalization often draw on anecdotal evidence from the prohibition era to argue that the increase in crime during prohibition occurred directly because of the criminalization of alcohol. Owens (2011), however, offers evidence to the contrary--exploiting state-level variation in prohibition policy, she finds that violent crime trends were better explained by urbanization and immigration, rather than criminalization/decriminalization of alcohol.CS1 maint: Uses authors parameter (link)
7. ^ Cite error: The named reference PinardPagani2000 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
8. ^ Hall, Wayne (2010). "What are the policy lessons of National Alcohol Prohibition in the United States, 1920–1933?". Addiction. 105 (7): 1164–1173. doi:10.1111/j.1360-0443.2010.02926.x. PMID 20331549.

Read More

 

17 February 1867 – The first ship passes through the Suez Canal.

Suez Canal

canal in Egypt between the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea

The southern terminus of the Suez Canal at Suez on the Gulf of Suez (Red Sea)

The Suez Canal (Arabic: قناة السويس‎ qanāt as-suwēs) is a sea-level waterway in Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea through the Isthmus of Suez. Constructed by the Suez Canal Company between 1859 and 1869, it was officially opened on 17 November 1869. The canal offers watercraft a shorter journey between the North Atlantic and northern Indian Oceans via the Mediterranean and Red Seas by avoiding the South Atlantic and southern Indian Oceans, reducing the journey by approximately 6,000 kilometres (3,700 mi)^{[citation needed]}. It extends from the northern terminus of Port Said to the southern terminus of Port Tewfik at the city of Suez. Its length is 193.30 km (120.11 mi), including its northern and southern access channels. In 2012, 17,225 vessels traversed the canal (average 47 per day).^[1]

The original canal was a single-lane waterway with passing locations in the Ballah Bypass and the Great Bitter Lake.^[2] It contains no locks system, with seawater flowing freely through it. In general, the canal north of the Bitter Lakes flows north in winter and south in summer. South of the lakes, the current changes with the tide at Suez.^[3]

The canal is owned and maintained by the Suez Canal Authority^[4] (SCA) of Egypt. Under the Convention of Constantinople, it may be used "in time of war as in time of peace, by every vessel of commerce or of war, without distinction of flag".^[5]

In August 2014, construction was launched to expand and widen the Ballah Bypass for 35 km (22 mi) to speed the canal's transit time. The expansion was planned to double the capacity of the Suez Canal from 49 to 97 ships a day.^[6] At a cost of $8.4 billion, this project was funded with interest-bearing investment certificates issued exclusively to Egyptian entities and individuals. The "New Suez Canal", as the expansion was dubbed, was opened with great fanfare in a ceremony on 6 August 2015.^[7]

On 24 February 2016, the Suez Canal Authority officially opened the new side channel. This side channel, located at the northern side of the east extension of the Suez Canal, serves the East Terminal for berthing and unberthing vessels from the terminal. As the East Container Terminal is located on the Canal itself, before the construction of the new side channel it was not possible to berth or unberth vessels at the terminal while the convoy was running.^[8]

1. ^ "Yearly Number & Net Tone by Ship Type, Direction & Ship Status". Suez Canal. Archived from the original on 2010-02-15. Retrieved 23 Apr 2014.
2. ^ Suez Canal Authority
3. ^ The Red Sea Pilot. Imray Laurie Norie & Wilson. 1995. p. 266.
4. ^ "Official Web Site of the Suez Canal Authority". Missing or empty |url= (help)
5. ^ Constantinople Convention of the Suez Canal of 2 March 1888 still in force and specifically maintained in Nasser's Nationalization Act.
6. ^ "New Suez Canal project proposed by Egypt to boost trade". Cairo News.Net. Retrieved 7 August 2014.
7. ^ Tadros, Sherine (6 August 2015). "Egypt Opens New £6bn Suez Canal". Sky News. Retrieved 6 August 2015.
8. ^ "Egypt opens East Port Said side channel for navigation - Xinhua". News.xinhuanet.com. Retrieved 12 March 2016.

Read More

 

18 February 1954 – The first Church of Scientology is established in Los Angeles.

Church of Scientology

The Church of Scientology is a multinational network and hierarchy of numerous ostensibly independent but interconnected^[1] corporate entities and other organizations devoted to the practice, administration and dissemination of Scientology, a new religious movement. The Church of Scientology International (CSI) is officially the Church of Scientology's parent organization, and is responsible for guiding local Scientology churches.^[2][3][4] At a local level, every church is a separate corporate entity set up as a licensed franchise and has its own board of directors and executives.^[5][6][7][8] The first Scientology church was incorporated in December 1953 in Camden, New Jersey by L. Ron Hubbard.^[9][10] Its international headquarters are located at the Gold Base, in an unincorporated area of Riverside County, California. The location at Gilman Hot Springs is private property and not accessible by the public.^[11] Scientology Missions International is under CSI and oversees Scientology missions, which are local Scientology organizations smaller than churches.^[12][13] The Church of Spiritual Technology (CST) is the organization which owns all the copyrights of the estate of L. Ron Hubbard.^[1]

The highest authority in the Church of Scientology is the Religious Technology Center (RTC). The RTC claims to only be the "holder of Scientology and Dianetics trademarks", but is in fact the main Scientology executive organization.^[1] RTC chairman David Miscavige is widely seen as the effective head of Scientology.^[1]

All Scientology management organizations are controlled exclusively by members of the Sea Org, which is a legally nonexistent paramilitary organization for the "elite, innermost dedicated core of Scientologists".^[1][12] David Miscavige is the highest-ranking Sea Org officer, holding the rank of captain.

Although in some countries it has attained legal recognition as a religion,^[14] the movement has been the subject of a number of controversies, and has been accused by critics of being both a cult and a commercial enterprise.^[15]

1. ^ ^{a b c d e} Urban, Hugh B. (2015). New Age, Neopagan, and New Religious Movements: Alternative Spirituality in Contemporary America. Univ of California Press. p. 144. ISBN 0520281179.
2. ^ Melton, J. Gordon (Sep 2000). The Church of Scientology (Studies in Contemporary Religions, 1). Signature Books in cooperation with CESNUR. Since 1981, all of the churches and organizations of the church have been brought together under the Church of Scientology International. CSI provides a visible point of unity and guides the individual churches, especially in the area of applying Hubbard's teaching and technology in a uniform fashion.
3. ^ "At the top of the structure is the Church of Scientology International (CSI), the mother church for all Scientology. Located in Los Angeles, CSI provides overall direction, planning and guidance for the network of churches, missions, field auditors and volunteer ministers which comprise the Scientology hierarchy it spans, and ensures these various organizations are all working effectively together." What is Scientology? Published 1998 Bridge Publications ISBN 978-1-57318-122-8
4. ^ "description of the Scientology ecclesiastical structure on www.rtc.org". Rtc.org. Retrieved 2011-11-22.
5. ^ Mikael Rothstein (2009). James R. Lewis, ed. Scientology. Oxford University Press USA. p. 98. ISBN 978-0-19-533149-3.
6. ^ The Church of Scientology (Studies in Contemporary Religions, 1) By J. Gordon Melton Publisher: Signature Books in cooperation with CESNUR, September 2000 ISBN 978-1-56085-139-4 "The various missions, churches, and organizations, all autonomous corporations which fellowship with the larger movement, receive licenses to use the church's trademarks, service marks, and copyrights of Hubbard's published and unpublished works from RTC."
7. ^ "Each church corporation is organized on a nonprofit basis with its own board of directors and executives responsible for its activities. What is Scientology? Published 1998 Bridge Publications ISBN 978-1-57318-122-8
8. ^ "description of the individual Scientology churches on www.rtc.org". Rtc.org. Retrieved 2011-11-22.
9. ^ Atack, Jon (1990). A Piece of Blue Sky. New York, NY: Carol Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-8184-0499-3.
10. ^ Hubbard, L. Ron. "Pulpateer". Church of Scientology International. Archived from the original on July 30, 2007. Retrieved June 7, 2006.
11. ^ Janet Reitman Inside Scientology: The Story of America's Most Secretive Religion, p. 318, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2011 ISBN 0547549237, 9780547549231
12. ^ ^{a b} Davis, Derek; Hankins, Barry (2003). New Religious Movements and Religious Liberty in America. Baylor University Press. pp. 48–49. ISBN 0918954924.
13. ^ Flinn, Frank K. (2003). "Scientology". In Karen Christensen, and David Levinson. Encyclopedia of Community: From the Village to the Virtual World. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. pp. 1209–11.
14. ^ Weird, Sure. A Cult, No. Washington Post By Mark Oppenheimer, August 5, 2007
15. ^ The Thriving Cult of Greed and Power TIME magazine, May. 06, 1991 by Richard Behar. The investigation paints a picture of a depraved yet thriving enterprise.

Read More

 

19 February 2003 – An Ilyushin Il-76 military aircraft crashes near Kerman, Iran, killing 275.

2003 Iran Ilyushin Il-76 crash

The 2003 Iran Ilyushin Il-76 crash occurred on 19 February 2003, when an Ilyushin Il-76 crashed in mountainous terrain near Kerman in Iran. The Aerospace Force of the Army of the Guardians of the Islamic Revolution aircraft, registration 15-2280, was flying from Zahedan to Kerman when it crashed 35 kilometres (22 mi) southeast of Kerman.^[1] The aircraft was carrying members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard, a special force that is independent from the Iranian Army, on an unknown mission.^[2]

Strong winds were reported in the region of the crash when the aircraft disappeared from the radar screens; approximately at the same time, villagers in the area described hearing a loud explosion.^[3] There were no survivors among the 275 occupants on board the aircraft.^{[1][nb 1]}

1. ^ ^{a b} Accident description for 15-2280 at the Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved on 24 November 2014.
2. ^ Cite error: The named reference Fog halts Iran air crash search was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
3. ^ ^{a b} Cite error: The named reference Iranian plane crash kills 302 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
4. ^ Cite error: The named reference Iran plane crash kills 302 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

Cite error: There are <ref group=nb> tags on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=nb}} template (see the help page).

Read More

 

20 February 1872 – The Metropolitan Museum of Art opens in New York City.

Metropolitan Museum of Art

Art museum in New York City, New York

Not to be confused with Museum of Modern Art.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met",^[a] is the largest art museum in the United States. With 7.06 million visitors to its three locations in 2016, it was the third most visited art museum in the world, and the fifth most visited museum of any kind.^[8] Its permanent collection contains over two million works,^[9] divided among seventeen curatorial departments. The main building, on the eastern edge of Central Park along Museum Mile in Manhattan 's Upper East Side is by area one of the world's largest art galleries. A much smaller second location, The Cloisters at Fort Tryon Park in Upper Manhattan, contains an extensive collection of art, architecture, and artifacts from Medieval Europe. On March 18, 2016, the museum opened the Met Breuer museum at Madison Avenue on the Upper East Side; it extends the museum's modern and contemporary art program.

The permanent collection consists of works of art from classical antiquity and ancient Egypt, paintings, and sculptures from nearly all the European masters, and an extensive collection of American and modern art. The Met maintains extensive holdings of African, Asian, Oceanian, Byzantine, and Islamic art. The museum is home to encyclopedic collections of musical instruments, costumes, and accessories, as well as antique weapons and armor from around the world. Several notable interiors, ranging from first-century Rome through modern American design, are installed in its galleries.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art was founded in 1870 for the purposes of opening a museum to bring art and art education to the American people. It opened on February 20, 1872, and was originally located at 681 Fifth Avenue.

1. ^ "Today in Met History: April 13". The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Archived from the original on January 17, 2015. Retrieved 2015-01-16.
2. ^ "The Metropolitan Museum of Art: About". Artinfo. 2008. Archived from the original on September 26, 2011. Retrieved 2013-02-18.
3. ^ Cite error: The named reference Met History was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
4. ^ "The world's most popular exhibition? Ancient sculptures in Tokyo versus Modern masters in Paris". The Art Newspaper. March 26, 2018.
5. ^ National Park Service (2007-01-23). "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service.
6. ^ "Metropolitan Museum of Art". National Historic Landmark summary listing. National Park Service. Archived from the original on October 9, 2012. Retrieved 2013-02-18.
7. ^ "A New Strategy at The Met". Archived from the original on March 22, 2017. Retrieved 2017-03-22.
8. ^ "The World's 20 most popular museums", CNN.com, June 22, 2017
9. ^ "Metropolitan Museum Launches New and Expanded Web Site" Archived November 28, 2016, at the Wayback Machine, press release, The Met, January 25, 2000

Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).

Read More