Arts Festival in Hong Kong (Fans of painting will like. Held every February/March. It is an annual series of cultural programmes in Hong Kong, with many performances from other parts of the world)
1994 – Aldrich Ames and his wife are charged by the United States Department of Justice with spying for the Soviet Union.
1983 – The notorious Broadway flop Moose Murders opens and closes on the same night at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre.
1980 – Miracle on Ice: In Lake Placid, New York, the United States hockey team defeats the Soviet Union hockey team 4–3.
1959 – Lee Petty wins the first Daytona 500.
1944 – World War II: American aircraft mistakenly bomb the Dutch towns of Nijmegen, Arnhem, Enschede and Deventer, resulting in 800 dead in Nijmegen alone.
1924 – U.S. President Calvin Coolidge becomes the first President to deliver a radio address from the White House.
1909 – The sixteen battleships of the Great White Fleet, led by USS Connecticut, return to the United States after a voyage around the world.
1907 – Robert Baden-Powell made the first scouting camp in Brownsea, England.
1899 – Filipino forces led by General Antonio Luna launch counterattacks for the first time against the American forces during the Philippine–American War. The Filipinos fail to regain Manila from the Americans.
1879 – In Utica, New York, Frank Woolworth opens the first of many of five-and-dime Woolworth stores.
1872 – The Prohibition Party holds its first national convention in Columbus, Ohio, nominating James Black as its presidential nominee.
1856 – The United States Republican Party opens its first national convention in Pittsburgh.
1855 – The Pennsylvania State University is founded in State College, Pennsylvania (as the Farmers' High School of Pennsylvania).
1853 – Washington University in St. Louis is founded as Eliot Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri.
1847 – Mexican–American War: The Battle of Buena Vista: Five thousand American troops defeat 15,000 Mexicans troops.
1819 – By the Adams–Onís Treaty, Spain sells Florida to the United States for five million U.S. dollars.
Births
1986 – Rajon Rondo, American basketball player. Rajon Pierre Rondo (born February 22, 1986) is an American professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA).
1980 – Shamari Fears, American singer-songwriter and actress. Shamari DeVoe (née Fears) (born February 22, 1980) is the lead singer in the R&B group Blaque.
1978 – Gus Sorola, American actor and podcast host. He is best known for his work with Rooster Teeth.
1975 – Drew Barrymore, American actress, director, producer, and screenwriter. She achieved fame as a child actress with her role in E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982).
1972 – Michael Chang, American tennis player and coach. Chang won a total of 34 top-level professional singles titles, was a three-time Grand Slam runner-up, and reached a career-best ranking of world No. 2 in 1996.
1969 – Thomas Jane, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter. Thomas Jane (born Thomas Elliott III; February 22, 1969) is an American actor.
1968 – Bradley Nowell, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (d. 1996), was an American musician and the lead singer and guitarist of the ska punk band Sublime. Born and raised in Belmont Shore, Long Beach, California, Nowell developed an interest in music at a young age.
1968 – Jayson Williams, American basketball player and sportscaster. In 2010, Williams pleaded guilty to assault in the accidental shooting death of a limousine driver.
1968 – Jeri Ryan, American model and actress, was nominated four times for a Saturn Award and won in 2001. She will reprise her role as Seven of Nine in Star Trek: Picard.
1966 – Rachel Dratch, American actress and comedian. Born and raised in Lexington, Massachusetts, she graduated from Dartmouth College in 1988 and moved to Chicago, Illinois, to study improvisational theatre at The Second City and ImprovOlympic.
1965 – Chris Dudley, American basketball player and politician. A journeyman center, he was known primarily for his defensive skill as a rebounder and shot blocker.
1965 – Pat LaFontaine, American ice hockey player. Patrick Michael LaFontaine (born February 22, 1965) is an American former ice hockey center in the National Hockey League (NHL) who spent his entire career playing for the league's New York State-based teams.
1964 – Ed Boon, American video game designer, co-created Mortal Kombat, was employed for over 15 years at Midway Games and since 2011 has worked for Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment in its company NetherRealm Studios.
1963 – Vijay Singh, Fijian-American golfer. Vijay Singh, CF (Fiji Hindi: विजय सिंह pronounced ; born 22 February 1963), nicknamed "The Big Fijian", is an Indo-Fijian professional golfer.
1959 – Kyle MacLachlan, American actor. MacLachlan's other film roles include Lloyd Gallagher in The Hidden (1987), Ray Manzarek in The Doors (1991), Cliff Vandercave in The Flintstones (1994), Zack Carey in Showgirls (1995), and the voice of Riley's father in Inside Out (2015).
1958 – Dave Spitz, American bass player and songwriter. Dave "The Beast" Spitz (born February 22, 1958) is an American musician best known for having played bass guitar for the heavy metal group Black Sabbath from 1985 to 1987, appearing on the albums Seventh Star and being credited for (but not playing on) The Eternal Idol.
1956 – Hugh Hewitt, American lawyer, academic, and radio host. Hugh Hewitt (born February 22, 1956) is an American radio talk show host with the Salem Radio Network and an attorney, academic, and author.
1952 – Albert Bryant, Jr., American general. Albert "Al" Bryant Jr. (born February 22, 1952) is a retired United States Army brigadier general, best known for service as the Chief of Western Hemisphere Operations during and in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks and for his tenure as the Assistant Division Commander of the 4th Infantry Division at the time of the division's detection and capture of deposed Iraqi president Sadaam Hussein.
1952 – Bill Frist, American physician and politician. He later served two terms as a Republican United States Senator representing Tennessee.
1952 – Cyrinda Foxe, American model and actress (d. 2002), was an American actress, model and publicist, best known for her role in Andy Warhol's Bad (1977). She was married to both David Johansen of the proto-punk band New York Dolls and Steven Tyler of the hard rock band Aerosmith.
1952 – Wayne Levi, American golfer. Wayne John Levi (born February 22, 1952) is an American professional golfer.
1951 – Ellen Greene, American singer and actress. From 2007 to 2009, she starred as Vivian Charles on the ABC series Pushing Daisies.
1950 – Julius Erving, American basketball player and sportscaster. Julius Winfield Erving II (born February 22, 1950), commonly known by the nickname Dr.
1947 – Harvey Mason, American drummer. Harvey William Mason (born February 22, 1947) is an American jazz drummer, record producer, and member of the band Fourplay.
1944 – Christopher Meyer, English diplomat, British Ambassador to the United States. Sir Christopher John Rome Meyer, KCMG (born 22 February 1944) is a British former diplomat who served as the Ambassador to the United States (1997–2003), Ambassador to Germany (1997) and the chairman of the Press Complaints Commission (2003–2009).
1944 – Jonathan Demme, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2017). He is best known for directing the psychological horror The Silence of the Lambs (1991), for which he won the Academy Award for Best Director.
1944 – Robert Kardashian, American lawyer and businessman (d. 2003), was an American attorney and businessman. He gained national recognition as O.
1940 – Chet Walker, American basketball player. Chester Walker (born February 22, 1940) is an American former professional basketball player.
1938 – Ishmael Reed, American poet, novelist, essayist. Ishmael Scott Reed (born February 22, 1938) is an American poet, novelist, essayist, songwriter, playwright, editor and publisher, who is known for his satirical works challenging American political culture.
1938 – Steve Barber, American baseball player (d. 2007), was an American Major League Baseball (MLB) left-handed pitcher. He pitched for the Baltimore Orioles and six other teams in 1960–74.
1937 – Joanna Russ, American author and activist (d. 2011), was an American writer, academic and radical feminist. She is the author of a number of works of science fiction, fantasy and feminist literary criticism such as How to Suppress Women's Writing, as well as a contemporary novel, On Strike Against God, and one children's book, Kittatinny.
1937 – Tommy Aaron, American golfer, was a member of the PGA Tour during the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. Aaron is best known for winning the 1973 Masters Tournament.
1936 – J. Michael Bishop, American microbiologist and immunologist, Nobel Prize laureate. Sloan Prize.
1934 – Sparky Anderson, American baseball player and manager (d. 2010), was an American Major League Baseball (MLB) player, coach, and manager. He managed the National League's Cincinnati Reds to the 1975 and 1976 championships, then added a third title in 1984 with the Detroit Tigers of the American League.
1933 – Ernie K-Doe, American R&B singer (d. 2001), was an African-American rhythm-and-blues singer best known for his 1961 hit single "Mother-in-Law", which went to number 1 on the Billboard pop chart in the U.S.
1932 – Ted Kennedy, American soldier, lawyer, and politician (d. 2009), was an American politician who served as a U.S. Senator from Massachusetts for almost 47 years, from 1962 until his death in 2009.
1930 – Marni Nixon, American soprano and actress (d. 2016), was an American soprano and ghost singer for featured actresses in movie musicals. She is now recognized as the singing voice of leading actresses on the soundtracks of several musicals, including Deborah Kerr in The King and I, Natalie Wood in West Side Story, and Audrey Hepburn in My Fair Lady, although her roles were concealed from audiences when the films were released.
1929 – James Hong, American actor and director. James Hong (traditional Chinese: 吳漢章; simplified Chinese: 吴汉章; pinyin: Wú Hànzhāng; Jyutping: Ng4 Hon3zoeng1; born February 22, 1929) is an American actor, voice actor, producer, and director of Chinese descent.
1929 – Rebecca Schull, American stage, film, and television actress. Rebecca Schull (born February 22, 1929) is an American stage, film and television actress, best known for her role as Fay Cochran in the NBC sitcom Wings (1990–1997).
1928 – Clarence 13X, American religious leader, founded the Nation of Gods and Earths (d. 1969), was an American religious leader and founder of the Five-Percent Nation, better known as Clarence 13X and Allah. He was born in Virginia, and moved to New York City as a young man before serving in the United States Army during the Korean War.
1928 – Paul Dooley, American actor. Paul Dooley (born Paul Brown; February 22, 1928) is an American actor, writer and comedian.
1928 – Texas Johnny Brown, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2013), was an American blues guitarist, songwriter and singer, best known for his composition "Two Steps from the Blues". In a lengthy career, he worked with Joe Hinton, Amos Milburn, Ruth Brown, Bobby Bland, Lavelle White, Buddy Ace and Junior Parker.
1927 – Guy Mitchell, American singer (d. 1999), was an American pop singer and actor, successful in his homeland, the UK, and Australia. He sold 44 million records, including six million-selling singles.
1925 – Edward Gorey, American illustrator and poet (d. 2000). John Gorey (February 22, 1925 – April 15, 2000) was an American writer and artist noted for his illustrated books.
1925 – Gerald Stern, American poet and academic. Since 2009, Stern has been distinguished poet-in-residence and a member of the faculty of Drew University's graduate programme for a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in poetry.
1922 – Joe Wilder, American trumpet player, composer, and bandleader (d. 2014), was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. His Grandchildren are Bleu Roberson, Lilly Townsend and Grey’cia Roberson(Last named after his middle name)
1918 – Don Pardo, American radio and television announcer (d. 2014), was an American radio and television announcer whose career spanned more than seven decades.
1918 – Sid Abel, Canadian-American ice hockey player, coach, and manager (d. 2000), was a Canadian Hall of Fame hockey player, coach and general manager in the National Hockey League, most notably for the Detroit Red Wings, and was a member of three Stanley Cup-winning teams in 1943, 1950, and 1952. In 2017 Abel was named one of the '100 Greatest NHL Players' in history.
1917 – Reed Crandall, American illustrator (d. 1982), was an American illustrator and penciller of comic books and magazines. He was best known for the 1940s Quality Comics' Blackhawk and for stories in EC Comics during the 1950s.
1915 – Gus Lesnevich, American boxer (d. 1964), was an American boxer who held the World Light Heavyweight Championship.
1914 – Renato Dulbecco, Italian-American virologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2012), was an Italian–American virologist who won the 1975 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work on oncoviruses, which are viruses that can cause cancer when they infect animal cells. He studied at the University of Turin under Giuseppe Levi, along with fellow students Salvador Luria and Rita Levi-Montalcini, who also moved to the U.S. with him and won Nobel prizes.
1907 – Sheldon Leonard, American actor, director, and producer (d. 1997), was an American film and television actor, producer, director, and writer.
1892 – Edna St. Vincent Millay, American poet and playwright (d. 1950). She received the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1923, the third woman to win the award for poetry, and was also known for her feminist activism.
1889 – Olave Baden-Powell, English scout leader, founded the Girl Guides (d. 1977), was the first Chief Guide for Britain and the wife of Robert Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell, the founder of Scouting and Girl Guides. She outlived her husband, who was 32 years her senior, by over 35 years.
1888 – Owen Brewster, American captain and politician, 54th Governor of Maine (d. 1961), was an American politician from Maine. Brewster, a Republican, served as the 54th Governor of Maine from 1925 to 1929, in the U.S.
1883 – Marguerite Clark, American actress (d. 1940), was an American stage and silent film actress. As a movie actress, at one time, Clark was second only to Mary Pickford in popularity.
1881 – Joseph B. Ely, American lawyer and politician, 52nd Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1956), was an American lawyer and Democratic politician from Massachusetts. As a conservative Democrat, Ely was active in party politics from the late 1910s, helping to build, in conjunction with David I.
1876 – Zitkala-Sa, American author and activist (d. 1938), was a Yankton Dakota Sioux writer, editor, translator, musician, educator, and political activist. She wrote several works chronicling her struggles with cultural identity and the pull between the majority culture she was educated within and her Dakota Sioux culture into which she was born and raised.
1874 – Bill Klem, American baseball player and umpire (d. 1951), was a National League (NL) umpire in Major League Baseball from 1905 to 1941. He worked 18 World Series, which is a major league record.
1863 – Charles McLean Andrews, American historian, author, and academic (d. 1943), was one of the most distinguished American historians of his time as a leading authority on American colonial history. He wrote 102 major scholarly articles and books, as well as over 360 book reviews, newspaper articles, and short items.
1857 – Robert Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell, English general, co-founded The Scout Association (d. 1941), was a British Army officer, writer, founder and first Chief Scout of the world-wide Boy Scout Movement, and founder, with his sister Agnes, of the world-wide Girl Guide / Girl Scout Movement. Baden-Powell authored the first editions of the seminal work Scouting for Boys, which was an inspiration for the Scout Movement.
1825 – Jean-Baptiste Salpointe, French-American archbishop (d. 1898), was the first Bishop of Arizona and the second Archbishop of Santa Fe.
1819 – James Russell Lowell, American poet and critic (d. 1891), was an American Romantic poet, critic, editor, and diplomat. He is associated with the Fireside Poets, a group of New England writers who were among the first American poets that rivaled the popularity of British poets.
1778 – Rembrandt Peale, American painter and curator (d. 1860), was an American artist and museum keeper. A prolific portrait painter, he was especially acclaimed for his likenesses of presidents George Washington and Thomas Jefferson.
1732 – George Washington, American general and politician, 1st President of the United States (d. 1799), was an American political leader, military general, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Previously, he led Patriot forces to victory in the nation's War for Independence.
Deaths
2016 – Sonny James, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1928)
2016 – Yolande Fox, American model and singer, Miss America 1951 (b. 1928)
2014 – Leo Vroman, Dutch-American hematologist, poet, and illustrator (b. 1915)
2014 – Trebor Jay Tichenor, American pianist and composer (b. 1940)
2012 – Marie Colvin, American journalist (b. 1956)
2007 – Dennis Johnson, American basketball player and coach (b. 1954)
2004 – Andy Seminick, American baseball player, coach, and manager (b. 1920)
2002 – Chuck Jones, American animator, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1912)
2002 – Jonas Savimbi, Angolan general, founded UNITA (b. 1934)
1999 – William Bronk, American poet and academic (b. 1918)
1998 – Abraham A. Ribicoff, American lawyer and politician, 4th United States Secretary of Health and Human Services (b. 1910)
1997 – Joseph Aiuppa, American gangster (b. 1907)
1995 – Ed Flanders, American actor (b. 1934)
1994 – Papa John Creach, American violinist (b. 1917)
1987 – Andy Warhol, American painter and photographer (b. 1928)
1987 – David Susskind, American talk show host and producer (b. 1920)
1976 – Florence Ballard, American singer (b. 1943)
1973 – Winthrop Rockefeller, American colonel and politician, 37th Governor of Arkansas (b. 1912)
1965 – Felix Frankfurter, Austrian-American lawyer and jurist (b. 1882)
1961 – Nick LaRocca, American trumpet player and composer (b. 1889)
1890 – John Jacob Astor III, American businessman and philanthropist (b. 1822)
Remind me of this day