Historical Events
- Feb 1 "Street Corner Symphony" closes at Brooks Atkinson NYC after 79 performances
- Feb 1 Australian Open Men's Tennis: Petr Korda of Czechoslovakia wins his first and only Grand Slam event; beats Marcelo Rios of Chile 6-2, 6-2, 6-2
- Feb 1 Lillian E. Fishburne became the first female African American to be promoted to rear admiral.
- Feb 1 NFL Pro Bowl, Aloha Stadium, Honolulu, HI: AFC beats NFC, 29-24; MVP: Warren Moon, Seattle Seahawks, QB, HI
- Feb 2 Daniel Baldwin hospitalized in NYC for cocaine overdose
- Feb 2 Philippine DC-9 crashes apparently killing all 104 on board
- Feb 3 Cavalese cable car disaster: 20 people killed after NATO aircraft severs a cable car line
Ciccarelli's 600th Goal
Feb 3 Florida Panther Dino Ciccarelli is 9th NHLer to score 600 career goals
- Feb 3 Former teacher Mary Kay LeTourneau (36) violates probation with the 14 year-old father of her baby
- Feb 3 Karla Faye Tucker is executed in Texas, first woman executed in the United States since 1984
- Feb 3 NY Yankees replace general manager Bob Watson with Brian Cashman
Princess of Wales Stamp
Feb 3 Stamps commemorating Diana, Princess of Wales, go on sale in Britain
- Feb 4 An earthquake measuring 6.1 on the Richter Scale in northeast Afghanistan kills more than 5,000
Gates Hit by Pie
Feb 4 Bill Gates gets a pie thrown in his face in Brussels, Belgium
- Feb 5 Alberto Acciarito convicted of harassing his ex-wife Ingrid Rossellini
- Feb 5 Author Tom Clancy confirms he signed agreement to purchase Minnesota Vikings for slightly more than $200 million, an NFL franchise record
Kerrigan, Harding Interview
Feb 5 Nancy Kerrigan and Tonya Harding talk on FOX (Taped Dec 22nd)
- Feb 6 Former teacher Mary Kay LeTourneau (36) who violated probation by seeing the 14-year-old father of her baby, sentenced to 7 years
- Feb 6 In Corsica, the prefect Claude Erignac is assassinated in Ajaccio, presumably by Yvan Colonna.
- Feb 6 Sierra Leone military junta is removed, and President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah is restored to office after 9 months in exile
- Feb 6 Twins trade Chuck Knoblauch to NY Yankees for $3M & 4 minor leaguers
Washington National Airport
Feb 6 Washington National Airport is renamed Ronald Reagan National Airport
- Feb 7 NHL's Dallas Stars retire Neal Broten's #7
- Feb 7 XVIII Winter Olympic Games open in Nagano, Japan
48th NBA All-Star Game
Feb 8 48th NBA All-Star Game, Madison Square Garden, NYC: East beats West, 135-114; MVP: Michael Jordan, Chicago Bulls, F
- Feb 8 Finland beats Sweden, 6-0 at the Aqua Wing Arena in Nagano, Japan in the first female ice hockey game played in Olympic history
- Feb 8 NHL stops season stops to accommodate the Nagano Winter Olympics; returns February 24
6th ESPY Awards
Feb 9 6th ESPY Awards: Ken Griffey Jr, Mia Hamm win
Georgian President Survives
Feb 9 Failed assassination attempt on Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze
- Feb 10 AOL raises monthly flat rate internet access from $19.95 to $21.95
- Feb 10 Olympic figure skater Peggy Fleming undergoes breast cancer surgery
- Feb 10 Voters in Maine repeal a gay rights law passed in 1997 becoming the first U.S. state to abandon the law
- Feb 11 48th Berlin International Film Festival: "Central Station" wins the Golden Bear
Radio Station Dangles $5m
Feb 11 KVBC-FM (Las Vegas) offers Monica Lewinsky $5m for an exclusive tell-all, she ignores the request
- Feb 11 Lyrics to "Candle in the Wind 1997" auctioned for $442,500
- Feb 12 "Freak" opens at Cort Theater NYC
- Feb 12 250-car Italy pile-up due to fog, 4 die & 50 hurt
- Feb 12 Dallas Cowboys sign Chan Gailey as their 4th head coach
- Feb 12 US district judge T Hogan declares line-item veto law unconstitutional
- Feb 14 29th NAACP Image Awards: "Soul Food" wins Outstanding Motion Picture
- Feb 14 Authorities in the United States announce that Eric Robert Rudolph is a suspect in an Alabama abortion clinic bombing.
Daytona 500
Feb 15 40th Daytona 500: Dale Earnhardt's only Daytona win in his 20th start; snaps a 59-race winless streak
Angel of the North
Feb 15 The Angel of the North, a large-scale steel sculpture 20 m (66 ft) tall by Antony Gormley is installed at Gateshead, northern England
- Feb 16 Tellabs Inc acquires Coherent Communications Systems for $670 million
- Feb 17 Larry Wayne Harris & Bill Levitt arrested for possession of anthrax
- Feb 17 NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft overtakes Pioneer 10 to become the farthest object from earth in space
- Feb 17 US Naval Academy cadet Diane Zamora, 20, convicted of capital murder
- Feb 17 USA Women's Ice Hockey Team beats Canada and wins the first Olympic Gold medal
Music History
Feb 18 Andrea Bocelli makes his operatic debut as Rodolfo in "La bohème" at the Teatro Comunale in Cagliari
- Feb 18 Two white separatists are arrested in Nevada and accused of plotting a biological attack on New York City subways.
- Feb 19 Soyuz TM-26 lands
- Feb 19 US hockey team destroys their rooms at Olympic village in Japan
- Feb 20 American world champion Tara Lipinski wins Olympic figure skating gold medal ahead of teammate Michelle Kwan at the Nagano Winter Games
Event of Interest
Feb 20 UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan lands in Baghdad, for peace negotiations
- Feb 20 US movie box office hits quickest $1 billion for year (51 days)
Olympic Games
Feb 20 Vancouver Canucks' right wing Pavel Bure scores 5 goals for Russia in a 7-4 semi-final win over Finland at the Nagano Winter Olympics
- Feb 22 "King & I" closes at Neil Simon Theater NYC after 781 performances
- Feb 22 Petr Svoboda scores the winner as the Czech Republic claims its first ever Olympic ice hockey gold medal with a 1-0 victory over Russia in Nagano, Japan
- Feb 22 XVIII Winter Olympic Games close in Nagano Japan
- Feb 23 Howard Stern Radio Show premieres in Charleston, South Carolina on WAVF 96.1 FM
Bin Laden's Fatwa
Feb 23 Osama bin Laden publishes a fatwa declaring jihad against all Jews and Crusaders
- Feb 23 Tornadoes in Florida kills at least 31
- Feb 23 US Supreme Court lets Megan's Law (sex offenders information) stand
Knighthood
Feb 24 Elton John is knighted by Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace in London
- Feb 25 40th Grammy Awards: "Sunny Came Home" best song, Paula Cole best new artist
- Feb 25 Switzerland's 1st legal brothel opens in Zurich
Film & TV History
Feb 26 Oprah Winfrey found not guilty in beef defamation trial brought by Texas cattlemen
- Feb 26 Steven M Gluckstern completes sale of NY Islanders
- Feb 26 Total solar eclipse in Venezuela-Pacific Ocean (4m09)
Soul Train Music Awards
Feb 27 12th Soul Train Music Awards: Puff Daddy, Whitney Houston win
- Feb 27 14th Soap Opera Digest Awards - General Hospital wins
- Feb 27 Apple discontinues development of the Newton computer
- Feb 27 Britain's House of Lords agrees to end 1,000 years of male precedence by giving a monarch's first-born daughter the same claim to the throne as any first born son
- Feb 27 FBI arrests 10 most wanted suspected serial killer Tony Ray Amati
- Feb 27 NE Patriot David Meggett arrested in Toronto on sex assault charges
- Feb 28 "View From the Bridge" closes at Criterion Theater NYC
- Feb 28 First flight of RQ-4 Global Hawk, the first unmanned aerial vehicle certified to file its own flight plans and fly regularly in U.S. civilian airspace.
- Feb 28 Kosovo War: Serbian police begin the offensive against the Kosovo Liberation Army in Kosovo.
Sports History
Feb 28 Vancouver Canucks Mark Messier is 4th NHLer to get 1,600 points
Famous Birthdays
- Feb 1 Jazz Chisholm Jr., Bahamian MLB player (Florida Marlins), born in Nassau, Bahamas
Khalid [Donnel Robinson] (26 years old)
Feb 11 American R&B singer-songwriter ("Location"; "Better"; "Young Dumb & Broke"), born in Fort Stewart, Georgia
![Khalid [Donnel Robinson]](/images/people/khalid-donnel-robinson.jpg?w=200)
- Feb 11 Margo Hayes, American rock climber, born in Boulder, Colorado
- Feb 14 Arpad Flynn Busson, son of model Elle MacPherson, born in New York City
- Feb 16 Mr Jefferson, Virginia, 1st cloned calf
- Feb 25 Brendon Baerg, American actor
Famous Weddings
Sharon Stone
Feb 14 Golden Globe Award-winning actress Sharon Stone (40) weds San Francisco Examiner executive editor Phil Bronstein (47) in Beverly Hills, California
- Feb 20 American warrior monk "Kung Fu" actor David Carradine (61) weds actress Marina Anderson (45) on the Laramie Street set on the back lot of Warner Bros. Studio in Hollywood; divorce in 2001
- Feb 22 Singer-songwriter Tori Amos (34) weds British sound engineer Mark Hawley (34) in West Wycombe, England
Famous Divorces
Pamela Anderson & Tommy Lee
Feb 28 "Baywatch" actress Pamela Anderson (31) divorces Motley Crue drummer Tommy Lee (35) after 3 years of marriage
Famous Deaths
- Feb 1 Sheila Watson, Canadian writer (Double Hook), dies at 88 [1]
- Feb 2 Roger L. Stevens, American real estate magnate, Broadway theater producer (West Side Story) and fundraiser (John F. Kennedy Center), dies at 87 [1]
- Feb 3 Karla Faye Tucker, American murderer, executed at 38
- Feb 5 Timothy "Tim" Kelly, American guitarist (Slaughter), dies in a car accident at 35
- Feb 6 Carl Wilson, American rock vocalist and guitarist (Beach Boys), dies of lung cancer at 51
- Feb 6 Falco [Johann Hoelzel], Austrian singer (Rock Me Amadeus), dies at 40
- Feb 6 Haroun Tazieff, French vulcanologist and geologist (b. 1914)
- Feb 6 Nazim al-Kudsi, Syrian PM (1949, 1950-51)/pres (1961-63), dies
- Feb 7 Lawrence Sanders, American author (b. 1920)
Enoch Powell (1912-1998)
Feb 8 British Conservative MP and shadow cabinet member infamous for his "Rivers of Blood" speech, dies at 85
- Feb 8 Julian Lincoln Simon, American economist and author (b. 1932)
- Feb 8 William Lambert, American Pulitzer prize-winning reporter, dies at 78
- Feb 9 Ken Weekes, West Indian cricket batsman (2 Tests, top score 137; first Test cricketer born in US), dies at 86
- Feb 10 Buddy the Wonder Dog, dog (Air Bud), dies of cancer at 9
- Feb 10 Maurice Schumann, French Minister of Foreign Affairs (1969-73), dies at 86
- Feb 13 Jo Clayton, author, Cancer Died, Drums of Chaos, dies at 58
- Feb 14 Claude Prey, French composer, dies at 72
- Feb 15 Arthur Cohn, American composer and writer on music, dies at 87
- Feb 15 Martha Gellhorn, American novelist and journalist who was one of the first female war correspondents (Reuters), dies at 89
- Feb 15 Samuel Curran, British physicist (invented scintillation counter, 1st Vice Chancellor Strathclyde University - UK's 1st technological university), dies at 85
- Feb 17 Bob Merrill, American composer and lyricist (People, Mambo Italiano), commits suicide at 72
- Feb 17 Ernst Jünger, German soldier (WWI and WWII), author (Storm of Steel), and entomologist, dies at 102
- Feb 18 Harry Caray, American Baseball Hall of Fame broadcaster (Chicago Cubs), dies of heart attack complications at 83
- Feb 18 Mya Than Tint, Myanmarese author, dies of brain hemorrhage at 69
- Feb 18 Robbie James, Welsh soccer midfielder (46 caps; Queens Park Rangers, Swansea City, Bradford City), dies from a heart attack at 40
- Feb 19 (Louis) "Grandpa" Jones, American country music singer and banjo wizard (Hee Haw), dies at 84
- Feb 20 Martindale Sidwell, English organist and conductor, dies at 82
- Feb 22 Abraham Ribicoff, American politician (b. 1910)
- Feb 22 Athol Rowan, South African cricket spin bowler (15 Tests, 54 wickets, BB 5/68; Transvaal), dies at 77
- Feb 22 Jose Maria de Areilza, Sp minister of foreign affairs (1975-76), dies
- Feb 22 Sandy Hume, American correspondent (Fox News), commits suicide at 28
- Feb 23 Philip Abbott, American character actor (The FBI, Sweet Bird of Youth), dies at 73
- Feb 24 Antonio Prohias, Cuban-born cartoonist (b. 1921)
- Feb 24 Henny Youngman, American comedian and violinist (Take my wife ... please), dies at 91
- Feb 25 B.A. Santamaria, Australian political activist and journalist, dies at 82
- Feb 25 Celestine Tate Harrington, a quadriplegic street musician and writer.
- Feb 25 Luigi Veronesi, Italian abstract artist (Campo Grafico), dies at 90
- Feb 25 Rockin' Sidney [Simien], American zydeco and R&B singer-songwriter, accordionist, guitarist, organist, and harmonica player ("My Toot-Toot"; "You Ain't Nothing But Fine"), dies of throat cancer at 59
- Feb 25 Umberto Mastroianni, Italian sculptor, dies at 87
- Feb 26 Pete Livesey, English rock climber, dies of cancer at 54
- Feb 26 Theodore Schultz, American agricultural economist (1979 Nobel Prize for Economics for development economics), dies at 95 [1]
George H. Hitchings (1905-1998)
Feb 27 American medical doctor (Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, 1988), dies at 92 [1]
- Feb 27 J. T. Walsh, American actor (Good Morning, Vietnam, Pleasantville), dies of a heart attack at 54
- Feb 28 Arkady Shevchenko, Soviet diplomat eho defe tef to the US (Foreign Ministry, 1958-73; United Nations Under-Secretary, 1973-78), dies of a heart attack at 67
- Feb 28 Dermot Morgan, Irish actor and comedian (Father Ted Crilly-Father Ted), dies of a heart attack at 45
