February 5

Events

• 1576 - Henry of Navarre converts to Roman Catholicism in order to ensure his right to the throne of France
• 1631 - Roger Williams emigrates to Boston
• 1778 - South Carolina becomes the first state to ratify the Articles of Confederation
• 1782 - Spanish defeat British forces and capture Minorca.
• 1846 - The The Oregon Spectator[?] becomes the first newspaper on the Pacific coast of the United States.
• 1885 - King Leopold II of Belgium establishes the Congo as a personal possession.
• 1881 - Phoenix, Arizona is incorporated.
• 1917 - The constitution of Mexico is adopted.
• 1919 - Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks and D.W. Griffith launch United Artists
• 1924 - UTC: Hourly time signals from Greenwich Observatory[?] are broadcasted for the first time.
• 1937 - President Franklin D. Roosevelt proposes a plan to enlarge the Supreme Court of the United States.
• 1945 - World War II: General Douglas MacArthur returns to Manila
• 1953 - The movie Peter Pan[?] premieres (Roxy Theatre, New York City).
• 1958 - Gamel Abdel Nasser is nominated to be the first president of the United Arab Republic.
• 1961 - The Sunday Telegraph[?] publishes its first issue.
• 1962 - French President Charles De Gaulle calls for allowing Algeria to be an independent nation.
• 1971 - Apollo 14 lands on the Moon.
• 1972 - Bob Douglas[?] becomes the first African American elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame.
• 1988 - Manuel Noriega is indicted on drug smuggling[?] and money laundering charges
• 1991 - A Michigan court bars Dr. Jack Kevorkian from assisting in suicides
• 1994 - Byron De La Beckwith is convicted of the 1963 murder of civil rights leader Medgar Evers.
• 1997 - The so-called "Big Three" banks in Switzerland announce the creation of a $71 million fund to aid Holocaust survivors and their families.
• 1997 - Morgan Stanley and Dean Witter[?] investment banks announce a $10 billion merger.
• 1999 - Mike Tyson is sentenced to a year's imprisonment, fined $5,000, and ordered to serve 2 years probation and perform 200 hours of community service for the August 31, 1998 assault on two people after a car accident.
• 2001 - Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman announced that they had separated.
• 2003 - U.S. plan to invade Iraq: Colin Powell addresses the UN Security Council on Iraq.

Births

• 1788 - Robert Peel, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (+ 1850)
• 1808 - Carl Spitzweg, painter (+ 1885)
• 1837 - Dwight L. Moody, evangelist
• 1840 - John Boyd Dunlop[?], inventor (+ 1921)
• 1848 - Joris-Karl Huysmans, author (+ 1907)
• 1848 - Belle Starr, outlaw (+ 1889)
• 1878 - André Citroën[?], automobile pioneer (+ 1935)
• 1900 - Adlai Stevenson, politician (+ 1965)
• 1904 - Walter Gross[?], cabaretist (+ 1989)
• 1906 - John Carradine[?], actor (+ 1988)
• 1908 - Daisy and Violet Hilton[?], conjoined twins, actresses (+ 1969)
• 1914 - William S. Burroughs, American author (+ 1997)
• 1919 - Andreas Papandreou[?], Greek politician (+ 1996)
• 1919 - Red Buttons[?], actor
• 1928 - Andrew Greeley, priest, novelist
• 1929 - Fred Sinowatz[?], politician
• 1934 - Hank Aaron, Baseball Hall of Famer
• 1935 - Sandra Paretti[?], author (+ 1994)
• 1940 - H.R. Giger, artist
• 1942 - Roger Staubach[?], Football Hall of Famer
• 1943 - Nolan Bushnell, video game pioneer
• 1943 - Craig Morton[?], American football star
• 1944 - Michael Mann, director, writer, producer
• 1944 - Al Kooper[?], musician
• 1945 - Charlotte Rampling[?], actress
• 1947 - Darrell Waltrip[?], automobile racer
• 1948 - Christopher Guest, actor, writer, director, composer
• 1948 - Barbara Hershey[?], actress
• 1964 - Laura Linney[?], actress
• 1964 - Duff McKagen[?], Guns N'Roses
• 1969 - Bobby Brown, singer

Deaths

• 1946 - George Arliss, actor
• 1991 - Dean Jagger[?], actor
• 1993 - Joseph L. Mankiewicz[?], writer, producer, director

Holidays and observances

• Catholicism - Feast day of St. Agatha[?].

February 4 - February 6 - January 5 - March 5 - Historical anniversaries