February 8
1587 - Mary Queen of Scots was beheaded at Fotheringhay Castle in England after she was implicated in a plot to murder her cousin, Queen Elizabeth I.
1693 - College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia received its charter, becoming the second institution of higher learning in the United States.
1837 - The U.S. Senate selected Richard Mentor Johnson of Kentucky to serve as vice president under President Martin Van Buren after no candidate received a majority of electoral votes. (Johnson is the only vice president ever selected by the Senate under the provisions of the 12th Amendment.)
1870 - The National Weather Service was established under the U.S. Army Signal Corps.
1904 - The Russo-Japanese War began when the Japanese launched a surprise attack on the Russian fleet at Port Arthur in northeast China.
1910 - The Boy Scouts of America were incorporated.
1915 - D.W. Griffith's controversial silent film epic about the Civil War, "The Birth of a Nation," premiered in Los Angeles.
1922 - President Warren G. Harding had a radio installed in the White House.
1924 - The gas chamber was used for the first time as a means of execution in the United States; gangster Gee Jon was put to death at the Nevada State Prison in Carson City.
1952 - Queen Elizabeth II proclaimed her accession to the British throne following the death of her father, King George VI.
1960 - Work began on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, located on Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Street in Los Angeles.
1960 - The payola (pay for broadcast airplay) hearings opened in the U.S. House of Representatives.
1965 - Eastern Air Lines Flight 663, a DC-7, crashed shortly after takeoff from New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport, killing all 84 people on board.
1968 - Three college students died in a confrontation with highway patrolmen in Orangeburg, South Carolina, during a civil rights protest against a whites-only bowling alley.
1971 - NASDAQ, the world's first electronic stock exchange, held its first trading day.
1973 - Senate leaders named seven members of a select committee to investigate the Watergate scandal, including its chairman, Democrat Sam J. Ervin of North Carolina.
1980 - President Jimmy Carter revealed his plan to reinstate selective service draft registration.
1993 - General Motors sued NBC, alleging that the program "Dateline NBC" had rigged two crashes to show that GM pickups were prone to fires. (NBC settled the lawsuit the following day.)
1996 - In a ceremony at the Library of Congress, President Bill Clinton signed legislation revamping the telecommunications industry, saying it would "bring the future to our doorstep."
1999 - The Senate heard closing arguments in President Bill Clinton's impeachment trial.
2007 - Model and tabloid sensation Anna Nicole Smith died at age 39 of an accidental drug overdose.
2010 - Michael Jackson's personal physician, Dr. Conrad Murray, pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter in the death of the pop superstar in Los Angeles Superior Court. (Murray was convicted and sentenced to four years in jail.)
2012 - Washington state lawmakers voted to approve same-sex marriage.
2017 - Britain’s House of Commons gave its final approval to a bill authorizing the government to start exit talks with the European Union, despite fears by opposition lawmakers that the U.K. was setting out on a rocky path to Brexit with a sketchy roadmap.
2020 - The U.S. Embassy in Beijing said a 60-year-old U.S. citizen who’d been diagnosed with the coronavirus had died on Feb. 5 in Wuhan; it was apparently the first American fatality from the virus.
2021 - On the even of Donald Trump's historic second impeachment trial, lawyers for the former president insisted he was not guilty of inciting a violent mob at the Capitol to try to overturn the election; prosecutors said Trump must be convicted for this "most grievous constitutional crime" even after leaving the White House.
2021 - Electric automaker Tesla said it had invested around $1.5 billion in Bitcoin and planned to soon begin accepting the digital currency as payment.
Birthdays
25 - Kathryn Newton (actress)
30 - Karle Warren (actor)
32 - Bethany Hamilton (surfer)
32 - Klay Thompson (basketball player)
33 - Dani Harmer (actress)
33 - Sophie Bennett (actress)
33 - Julio Jones (football player)
34 - Ryan Pinkston (actor)
38 - Cecily Strong (actress/comedian)
41 - Jim Parrack (actor)
42 - William Jackson Harper (actor)
48 - Joshua Morrow (actor)
48 - Seth Green (actor)
50 - Paul "The Big Show" Wight (professional wrestler)
51 - Susan Misner (actress)
52 - Stephanie Courtney (comedian)
52 - Alonzo Mourning (basketball player)
53 - Mary McCormack (actress)
54 - Missy Yager (actress)
61 - Vince Neil (singer)
63 - Henry Czerny (actor)
66 - Marques Johnson (basketball player)
67 - John Grisham (author)
69 - Mary Steenburgen (actress)
73 - Brooke Adams (actress)
74 - Ron Tyson (singer)
79 - Creed Bratton (actor)
80 - Robert Klein (comedian)
81 - Nick Nolte (actor)
82 - Ted Koppel (broadcast journalist)
90 - John Williams (composer)
========================================
Today in Sports History - February 8
1896 - The Western Conference is formed by representatives of . (The conference was later renamed the Big Ten Conference.)
1936 - The first National Football League (NFL) draft was held. Jay Berwanger of the University of Chicago was the first to be selected. He went to the Philadelphia Eagles.
1950 - The Associated Press named Jim Thorpe and Baby Didrikson Zaharias the greatest male and female athletes of the first half of the 20th century.
1960 - Bill Russell of the Boston Celtics becomes the first player in NBA history to record 50 rebounds (51) in a game.
1963 - The AFL's Dallas Texans officially become the Kansas City Chiefs.
1984 - Kareem Abdul-Jabbar broke Wilt Chamberlains record of 12,681 goals. He scored 15,836 goals before retiring in 1989.
1986 - Spud Webb of the Atlanta Hawks, at 5' 7" tall, wins the NBA's Slam Dunk competition during All-Star Game festivities.
1996 - Charles Barkley became the 22nd player in NBA history to reach 20,000 points.
1996 - The NFL and city of Cleveland allow Art Modell to move his franchise to Baltimore, but he must leave the "Browns" name behind.
1997 - Scotty Bowman won his 1,000th NHL regular season game as a coach.
1997 - Mike Gartner (Phoenix Coyotes) became only the sixth player in NHL history to get 600 career goals and 600 career assists.
1998 - The first female ice hockey game in Olympic history was played. Finland beat Sweden 6-0.
2003 - Mario Lemieux (Pittsburgh Penguins) became the second fastest NHL player to reach 1,000 career assists.
1587 - Mary Queen of Scots was beheaded at Fotheringhay Castle in England after she was implicated in a plot to murder her cousin, Queen Elizabeth I.
1693 - College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia received its charter, becoming the second institution of higher learning in the United States.
1837 - The U.S. Senate selected Richard Mentor Johnson of Kentucky to serve as vice president under President Martin Van Buren after no candidate received a majority of electoral votes. (Johnson is the only vice president ever selected by the Senate under the provisions of the 12th Amendment.)
1870 - The National Weather Service was established under the U.S. Army Signal Corps.
1904 - The Russo-Japanese War began when the Japanese launched a surprise attack on the Russian fleet at Port Arthur in northeast China.
1910 - The Boy Scouts of America were incorporated.
1915 - D.W. Griffith's controversial silent film epic about the Civil War, "The Birth of a Nation," premiered in Los Angeles.
1922 - President Warren G. Harding had a radio installed in the White House.
1924 - The gas chamber was used for the first time as a means of execution in the United States; gangster Gee Jon was put to death at the Nevada State Prison in Carson City.
1952 - Queen Elizabeth II proclaimed her accession to the British throne following the death of her father, King George VI.
1960 - Work began on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, located on Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Street in Los Angeles.
1960 - The payola (pay for broadcast airplay) hearings opened in the U.S. House of Representatives.
1965 - Eastern Air Lines Flight 663, a DC-7, crashed shortly after takeoff from New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport, killing all 84 people on board.
1968 - Three college students died in a confrontation with highway patrolmen in Orangeburg, South Carolina, during a civil rights protest against a whites-only bowling alley.
1971 - NASDAQ, the world's first electronic stock exchange, held its first trading day.
1973 - Senate leaders named seven members of a select committee to investigate the Watergate scandal, including its chairman, Democrat Sam J. Ervin of North Carolina.
1980 - President Jimmy Carter revealed his plan to reinstate selective service draft registration.
1993 - General Motors sued NBC, alleging that the program "Dateline NBC" had rigged two crashes to show that GM pickups were prone to fires. (NBC settled the lawsuit the following day.)
1996 - In a ceremony at the Library of Congress, President Bill Clinton signed legislation revamping the telecommunications industry, saying it would "bring the future to our doorstep."
1999 - The Senate heard closing arguments in President Bill Clinton's impeachment trial.
2007 - Model and tabloid sensation Anna Nicole Smith died at age 39 of an accidental drug overdose.
2010 - Michael Jackson's personal physician, Dr. Conrad Murray, pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter in the death of the pop superstar in Los Angeles Superior Court. (Murray was convicted and sentenced to four years in jail.)
2012 - Washington state lawmakers voted to approve same-sex marriage.
2017 - Britain’s House of Commons gave its final approval to a bill authorizing the government to start exit talks with the European Union, despite fears by opposition lawmakers that the U.K. was setting out on a rocky path to Brexit with a sketchy roadmap.
2020 - The U.S. Embassy in Beijing said a 60-year-old U.S. citizen who’d been diagnosed with the coronavirus had died on Feb. 5 in Wuhan; it was apparently the first American fatality from the virus.
2021 - On the even of Donald Trump's historic second impeachment trial, lawyers for the former president insisted he was not guilty of inciting a violent mob at the Capitol to try to overturn the election; prosecutors said Trump must be convicted for this "most grievous constitutional crime" even after leaving the White House.
2021 - Electric automaker Tesla said it had invested around $1.5 billion in Bitcoin and planned to soon begin accepting the digital currency as payment.
Birthdays
25 - Kathryn Newton (actress)
30 - Karle Warren (actor)
32 - Bethany Hamilton (surfer)
32 - Klay Thompson (basketball player)
33 - Dani Harmer (actress)
33 - Sophie Bennett (actress)
33 - Julio Jones (football player)
34 - Ryan Pinkston (actor)
38 - Cecily Strong (actress/comedian)
41 - Jim Parrack (actor)
42 - William Jackson Harper (actor)
48 - Joshua Morrow (actor)
48 - Seth Green (actor)
50 - Paul "The Big Show" Wight (professional wrestler)
51 - Susan Misner (actress)
52 - Stephanie Courtney (comedian)
52 - Alonzo Mourning (basketball player)
53 - Mary McCormack (actress)
54 - Missy Yager (actress)
61 - Vince Neil (singer)
63 - Henry Czerny (actor)
66 - Marques Johnson (basketball player)
67 - John Grisham (author)
69 - Mary Steenburgen (actress)
73 - Brooke Adams (actress)
74 - Ron Tyson (singer)
79 - Creed Bratton (actor)
80 - Robert Klein (comedian)
81 - Nick Nolte (actor)
82 - Ted Koppel (broadcast journalist)
90 - John Williams (composer)
========================================
Today in Sports History - February 8
1896 - The Western Conference is formed by representatives of . (The conference was later renamed the Big Ten Conference.)
1936 - The first National Football League (NFL) draft was held. Jay Berwanger of the University of Chicago was the first to be selected. He went to the Philadelphia Eagles.
1950 - The Associated Press named Jim Thorpe and Baby Didrikson Zaharias the greatest male and female athletes of the first half of the 20th century.
1960 - Bill Russell of the Boston Celtics becomes the first player in NBA history to record 50 rebounds (51) in a game.
1963 - The AFL's Dallas Texans officially become the Kansas City Chiefs.
1984 - Kareem Abdul-Jabbar broke Wilt Chamberlains record of 12,681 goals. He scored 15,836 goals before retiring in 1989.
1986 - Spud Webb of the Atlanta Hawks, at 5' 7" tall, wins the NBA's Slam Dunk competition during All-Star Game festivities.
1996 - Charles Barkley became the 22nd player in NBA history to reach 20,000 points.
1996 - The NFL and city of Cleveland allow Art Modell to move his franchise to Baltimore, but he must leave the "Browns" name behind.
1997 - Scotty Bowman won his 1,000th NHL regular season game as a coach.
1997 - Mike Gartner (Phoenix Coyotes) became only the sixth player in NHL history to get 600 career goals and 600 career assists.
1998 - The first female ice hockey game in Olympic history was played. Finland beat Sweden 6-0.
2003 - Mario Lemieux (Pittsburgh Penguins) became the second fastest NHL player to reach 1,000 career assists.
