Events by Month: February

Questions

1. 15th February 196 A red-and-white maple leaf design is chosen as the new national flag of which country?

2. Leap Year Bonus: 29th February, 198 Which South-African archbishop is arrested after a five-day anti-apartheid protest in Cape Town?

3. 28th February, 195 James Watson and Francis Crick announce informally to scientists that they have discerned the structure of which important biochemical molecule?

4. 27th February 1900. Which major British social-democratic political party, symbolized by a red rose, was founded?

5. 26th February 18 From which island did Napoleon Bonaparte escape, beginning his 100 days campaign which would end with the Battle of Waterloo?

6. 25th February 194 Which guitarist, often known as 'the quiet Beatle', was born in Liverpool, England?

7. 24th February 200 Which man resigns after nearly 50 years as Cuban leader, ceding power to his brother and vice-president Raúl?

8. 23rd February 190 Cuba leased which military based to the US 'in perpetuity' - it has now become known as a controversial prison for dangerous individuals?

9. 22nd February 173 Which general and politician - the first president of the USA - was born in the Crown Colony of Virginia?

10. 21st February 184 Friedrich Engels and Karl Marx publish which of their works (perhaps their most famous), laying the foundations for new political systems across the world?

11. 20th February 196 Which American became the first person from outside of the USSR to orbit the Earth, aboard the Friendship 7 craft?

12. 19th February 167 The city of New Amsterdam is transferred from the Netherlands to England, and it was subsequently renamed as what?

13. 18th February 19 Which controversial\* dwarf planet was discovered by Clyde Tombaugh?

14. 17th February 186 The first ship passed through which waterway, built to link the Red Sea and the Mediterranean?

15. 16th February 19 British archaeologist Howard Carter unsealed the burial chamber of which now-famous Egyptian pharaoh?

16. 1st February 200 Which US Space Shuttle disintegrated on re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere, resulting in the loss of all 7 crew members on board?

17. 14th February 187 Scot, Alexander Graham Bell applied for a patent for which communications device?

18. 13th February 163 Which Italian astronomer and physicist arrived in Rome for his trial before the Catholic Inquisition?

19. 12th February 199 Which painting by Edvard Munch is stolen after four thieves break into the National Gallery of Norway?

20. 11th February 1990. Which boxer loses his world championship belts to 42/1 underdog Buster Douglas, in one of the biggest sporting upsets in history?

21. 10th February 199 IBM supercomputer Deep Blue defeats Garry Kasparov, a grandmaster in which game for the first time?

22. 9th February 196 Which band appears for the first time on the Ed Sullivan Show, performing to over 70 million US viewers?

23. 8th February 183 Which chemist, the creator of the modern periodic table, was born in central Russia?

24. 7th February 18 Which novelist - famous for works such as Nicholas Nickleby and David Copperfield - was born in Hampshire, England?

25. 6th February 195 Who becomes monarch of the United Kingdom, following the death of their father, George VI?

26. 5th February 193 Which generalísimo was sworn in as the new leader of Spain, following a bloody civil war?

27. 4th February 200 Which website was launched by Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg, from his college bedroom?

28. 3rd February 195 The Day the Music Died: which popular singer perished in a plane crash, alongside other musicians Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper?

29. 2nd February 1990. South African president F. W. de Klerk announces that the African National Congress will be unbanned, and which man would be released from prison?