February 7

Events

• 1301 - Edward of Caernarvon (later King Edward II of England) becomes the first Prince of Wales
• 1550 - Julius III becomes Pope
• 1613 - Mikhail Romanov becomes Tsar of Russia
• 1795 - The 11th Amendment to the United States Constitution is passed
• 1882 - In Mississippi City[?] the last heavyweight boxing championship bareknuckle fight takes place.
• 1898 - Emile Zola is brought to trial for libel for publishing J'Accuse[?]
• 1900 - The British Labour Party is formed
• 1904 - A fire in Baltimore, Maryland destroys over 1,500 buildings in 30 hours.
• 1943 - World War II: In the United States it is announced that shoe rationing will go into effect in two days.
• 1944 - World War II: In Anzio[?], Italy Nazi forces launch a counteroffensive.
• 1962 - The United States Government bans all US-related Cuban imports and exports.
• 1964 - The Beatles arrived on their first visit to the United States
• 1971 - Women gain the right to vote in Switzerland
• 1974 - Grenada becomes independent from the United Kingdom.
• 1977 - The Soviet Union launches Soyuz 24[?].
• 1984 - Astronauts Bruce McCandless II[?] and Robert L. Stewart[?] make the first untethered space walk.
• 1985 - "New York, New York[?]" becomes the official city anthem of New York City.
• 1986 - 28 years of one-family rule end in Haiti, when President Jean-Claude Duvalier flees the Caribbean nation.
• 1990 - Collapse of the Soviet Union: The Central Committee of the Soviet Communist Party[?] agrees to give up its monopoly of power
• 1991 - Haiti's first democratically-elected president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, is sworn in.
• 1992 - The European Union is formed
• 1998 - The 1998 Winter Olympic Games open in Nagano, Japan

Births

• 1478 - Sir Thomas More, statesman and humanist, author of Utopia (+ 1535)
• 1812 - Charles Dickens, novelist (+ 1870)
• 1834 - Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev, chemist and inventor of the Periodic table of the chemical elements
• 1867 - Laura Ingalls Wilder, author of Little House on the Prairie (+ 1957)
• 1883 - Eubie Blake, musician, composer (+ 1983)
• 1885 - Sinclair Lewis, author (+ 1951)
• 1904 - Ernst Ginsberg[?], actor and film director (+ 1964)
• 1905 - Paul Nizan[?], author (+ 1940)
• 1908 - Buster Crabbe, Olympic Games swimming gold medalist, actor
• 1910 - Max Bense[?], philosopher (+ 1990)
• 1920 - An Wang, computer pioneer (+ 1990)
• 1922 - Hattie Jacques, actress (+ 1980)
• 1926 - Konstantin Feoktistov, cosmonaut
• 1927 - Juliette Greco[?], singer and actor
• 1932 - Gay Talese[?], author
• 1943 - Gareth Hunt[?]. actor
• 1945 - Pete Postlethwaite, actor
• 1953 - Lige Curry[?], musician (P Funk)
• 1962 - Garth Brooks, country music star
• 1962 - Eddie Izzard, actor, comic
• 1967 - Chris Rock, comedian, actor
• 1978 - Ashton Kutcher[?], actor

Deaths

• 1837 - King Gustav IV Adolf of Sweden
• 1873 - Sheridan Le Fanu, writer
• 1920 - Aleksandr Vasilevich Kolchak, Russian military commander
• 1938 - Harvey Firestone[?], manufacturer
• 1979 - Josef Mengele, Nazi war criminal
• 1980 - Secondo Campini, Italian jet pioneer
• 1993 - Lillian Gish, actress
• 1998 - Lawrence Sanders[?], author
• 1999 - King Hussein of Jordan
• 1999 - Bobby Troup[?], musician, actor
• 2000 - Big Pun, singer
• 2000 - Doug Henning[?], magician
• 2001 - Anne Morrow Lindbergh, author, aviator
• 2001 - Dale Evans[?], actress, singer

Holidays and observances

• Bahá'í Faith - Feast of Mulk (Dominion) - First day of the 18th month of the Bahá'í Calendar

February 6 - February 8 - January 7 - March 7 - more historical anniversaries