Birthdays: Tallyrand, Charlie Halas a co-founder of the NFL, James Joyce, Ayn Rand, Fritz Kreisler, Jascha Heifitz, Abba Eban, Farrah Fawcett, Garth Brooks, Christie Brinkley, Tommy Smothers, Stan Getz, James Dickey, Liz Smith, Elaine Stritch, Brent Spinner is 74, Shakira born Isabelle Ripoli, is 46
Happy Groundhog Day. This morning if Paxatawney Phil sees his shadow, it means 6 more weeks of winter.
1709- William Dampier was a reformed buccaneer who wrote books about his travels. This day while cruising the South Seas he rescued a man named Sir William Selkirk, who had been marooned on the uninhabited island of Juan Fernandez for four years. It seems Selkirk had gotten into an argument with the captain of a Chilean schooner who left him there. It was a wise move, because the captain was crazy and his ship was later lost with all hands. Upon returning to London, Capt. Dampier mentioned the incident to his friend, writer Daniel DeFoe. He used it to create his most famous novel- Robinson Crusoe.
1811- Russian fur traders established Fort Ross, just north of Spanish San Francisco. It was the deepest Russian settlement into North America. In 1845 the Russian Fur Trading Company sold it to American John Sutter. Today there is a reconstructed facsimile of Fort Ross on the site.
1852- London’s first public toilet was dedicated- near 95 Fleet St.
1870- Samuel Clemens also known as Mark Twain, married Olivia Langdon or Livy.
1870- The first international news agency. Reuters, Havas and Wolf News Agencies agreed to pool their resources for the shared expense of telegraphy.
1876- The National Baseball League founded.
1910- D.W. Griffith's' In Old California', sometimes called the first Hollywood film.
1913- New York’s Grand Central Station opened.
1922- the novel "Ulysses" is published. James Joyce had finished the book months earlier but delayed publishing until his birthday, when it would be 2/2/22, which he considered lucky.
1928- The pulp magazine Weird Tales published “ The Call of Cthulhu” by H.P. Lovecraft.
1952- Chuck Jones cartoon short “Feed the Kitty”. When Chuck was young he witnessed a big dog kill a tiny kitten. It haunted him for years, so obviously this was how he hoped it should have ended.
1957- Elizabeth Taylor married producer Mike Todd. Todd was killed in a plane crash a year later. Despite her famous association with Richard Burton, Taylor later said Mike Todd was the only man she ever truly loved.
1961- In a little Greenwich Village nightclub called the Blue Angel a young stand up comic got his first debut. His name was Woody Allen
1963- In England, singer Helen Schapiro was on tour. On the lower end of her program card was a new band called the Beatles.
1966- Woody Allen married Louise Lasser. They divorced four years later.
1971- Murakami-Wolf's TV special "The Point" with Dustin Hoffman narrating and Harry Nilsson's music. In 1973, Hoffman's track was re-recorded by Ringo Starr for some reason. “Me and my Ar-row…”
1979- Sid Vicious, lead singer for the punk band The Sex Pistols, was found dead of a drug overdose. He was awaiting trial for the stabbing death of his girlfriend Nancy Spungen. He was 21.
1985- O.J. Simpson married Nicole Brown Simpson.
1997- Nationally known sportscaster Marv Albert allegedly had an evening of sex and porn with a prostitute. At one point he bit the lady on the back. He was tried for lewd behavior and his career tanked.
2006- The Cartoon Riots. A Danish newspaper printed a political cartoon of the Prophet Mohammed with his turban shaped like a bomb. This so offended people in the Muslim world, that rioting broke out in Lebanon, Iraq, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jakharta and European capitols. Grenades were thrown at Danish embassies and Danish nationals made to flee. Cartoonist Peter Westergaard dodged a Somali man who attacked him with an axe, and even today needs a bodyguard.
2014- Actor Phillip Seymour-Hoffman died of a drug overdose.
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