On This Day:
Monday February 6, 2012
This is the 37th day of the year, with 329 days remaining
in 2012.
Fact of the Day: swimming
In antiquity, swimming flourished in Rome, Greece, and
Japan. Greeks could fling an insult against a person by
saying that he could neither run nor swim. During the middle
ages (5-15th centuries), the skill became rare, partly
because people associated prolonged immersion in water with
contagious diseases. The breaststroke traces back to the
17th century. American Indians knew how to swim--much faster
than the British. By 1837 competitive swimming took place in
England. Swimming competitions gained popularity in America
by the end of the 19th century. Widespread, systematic
training in swimming took place during World War II in
association with combat preparation.
Holidays
New
Zealand: Waitangi Day.
Feast day of St. Paul Miki and his Companions, St. Vedast or
Vaast, St. Hidegund, St. Amand, Saints Mel and Melchu, and
St. Guarinus of Palestrina.
United
States: Arbor Day.
Events
1508
- Maximilian
I assumed the title of Holy Roman Emperor.
1693
- College
of William and Mary was chartered -- the first college
charter -- in Williamsburg,
Virginia.
1778
- During the Revolutionary
War, representatives from the United
States and France
signed the Treaty
of Amity and Commerce and the Treaty
of Alliance in Paris.
The Treaty
of Amity and Commerce recognized the United
States as an independent nation and promoted trade
between France
an
d the United
States. The Treaty
of Alliance created a military alliance against Great
Britain, stipulating American independence as a
condition of peace.
1788
- Massachusetts
became the sixth state to ratify the Constitution
of the United States of America.
1952
- Elizabeth
II acceded to the British throne upon the death of her
father, King
George VI. The coronation took place June 2, 1953.
1958
- The Munich
air disaster took place when British
European Airways Flight 609 crashed on its third
attempt to take off from a slush-covered runway at the Munich-Riem
Airport in Munich,
West
Germany.
1959
- The United
States successfully test-fired for the first time a
Titan intercontinental
ballistic missile from Cape
Canaveral.
1998
- President Bill
Clinton signed a bill changing the name of Washington
National Airport to Ronald
Reagan Washington National Airport.
2004
- An explosion ripped through a Moscow
subway killing 41 people and injuring 129 others in an
attack blamed on Chechen
separatists.
Births
1564
- Christopher
Marlowe, English poet, dramatist.
1665
- Queen
Anne, Queen of England.
1895
- George
Herman "Babe" Ruth, American baseball great.
1911
- Ronald
Reagan, 40th President of the United
States of America (1981-89), actor.
1913
- Mary
Douglas Leakey, British archaeologist,
paleoanthropologist.
1945
- Bob
Marley, Jamaican reggae musician.
1961
- Bill
Lester, American NASCAR racer.
1962
- Axl
Rose (born William Bruce Rose, Jr.), American
musician.
Deaths
1989
- Chris
Gueffroy, the last person killed escaping over the Berlin
Wall.
1991
- Danny
Thomas (born Amos Alphonsus Muzyad Yakhoob), American
nightclub comedian, television and film actor.
1993
- Arthur
Ashe, American tennis player.
1994
- Jack
Kirby (born Jacob Kurtzberg), American comic book
writer and editor.
1998
- Carl
Wilson, founding member of Beach
Boys rock group.
2007
- Frankie
Laine (born Francesco Paolo LoVecchio), American
singer.
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