This Day in History

Gordonator SG

Idea 27th January 1756

Mozart is born

Famous Austrian composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is born in Salzburg.

Gordonator SG

Idea 28th January 1819

Raffles Arrives

The search for a post to protect British trade in the region brings Sir Stamford Raffles to Singapore. He anchors his fleet of eight ships off St John Island, close to the mouth of the Singapore River.

Gordonator SG

Idea 29th January 1820

King George III dies

Ten years after mental illness forced him to retire from public life, King George III, the British king who lost the American colonies, dies at the age of 82.

In 1760, 20-year-old George succeeded his grandfather, George II, as king of Great Britain and Ireland. Although he hoped to govern more directly than his predecessor had, King George III was unable to find a minister he could trust, until 1770, when he appointed Lord North as his chief minister. Lord North proved able to manage Parliament and willing to follow royal leadership, but George's policy of coercion against the American colonists led to the outbreak of the American War for Independence.

The subsequent loss of England's most profitable colonies contributed to growing opposition to the king, but in 1784 his appointment as prime minister, William Pitt (the younger), succeeded in winning a majority in Parliament. After Pitt's ascendance, the king retired from active participation in government, except for occasional interference in major issues such as Catholic Emancipation, which was defeated in 1801.

In 1765, the king suffered a short nervous breakdown and in the winter of 1788-89 a more prolonged mental illness. By 1810, he was permanently insane. It has been suggested that he was a victim of the hereditary disease porphyria, a defect of the blood that can cause mental illness when not treated. He spent the rest of his life in the care of his devoted wife, Charlotte Sophia, whom he had married in 1761. Following his retirement from public life, his son, the Prince of Wales, was named regent and upon his father's death in 1820 ascended to the throne as King George IV.

Gordonator SG

Idea 30th January 1948

Gandhi assassinated

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, the political and spiritual leader of the Indian independence movement, is assassinated in New Delhi by a Hindu fanatic.

Gordonator SG

31th January 1971

Apollo 14 departs for the moon

Apollo 14, piloted by astronauts Alan B. Shepard Jr., Edgar D. Mitchell, and Stuart A. Roosa, is successfully launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on a manned mission to the moon. On February 5, after suffering some initial problems in docking the lunar and command modules, Shepard and Mitchell descended to the lunar surface on the third U.S. moon landing. Upon stepping out of the lunar module, Shepard, who in 1961, aboard Freedom 7, was the first American in space, became the fifth astronaut to walk on the moon. Shepard and Mitchell remained on the lunar surface for nearly 34 hours, conducting simple scientific experiments, such as hitting golf balls into space with Shepard's golf club, and collecting 96 pounds of lunar samples. On February 9, Apollo 14 safely returned to Earth.

Gordonator SG

Idea 1st February 1960

HDB set up

The Housing and Development Board is formed by the enactment of the Housing and Development Act. Mr Lim Kim San is appointed its chairman.

Gordonator SG

Idea 2nd February 11943

Battle of Stalingrad ends

On this day, the last German troops in the Soviet city of Stalingrad surrender to the Red Army, ending one of the pivotal battles of World War II.

Gordonator SG

Idea 3rd February 1924

Woodrow Wilson dies

Woodrow Wilson, the 28th president of the United States, dies in Washington, D.C., at the age of 67.

In 1912, Governor Wilson of New Jersey was elected president in a landslide Democratic victory over Republican incumbent William Howard Taft and Progressive Party candidate Theodore Roosevelt. The focal point of President Wilson's first term in office was the outbreak of World War I and his efforts to find a peaceful end to the conflict while maintaining U.S. neutrality. In 1916, he was narrowly reelected president at the end of a close race against Charles Evans Hughes, his Republican challenger.

Gordonator SG

Idea 4th February 1789

First U.S. President elected

George Washington, the commander of the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War, is unanimously elected the first president of the United States by all 69 presidential electors who cast their votes. John Adams of Massachusetts, who received 34 votes, was elected vice president. The electors, who represented 10 of the 11 states that had ratified the U.S. Constitution, were chosen by popular vote, legislative appointment, or a combination of both four weeks before the election.

Gordonator SG

Idea 5th February 1919

Chaplin, Pickford, Fairbanks and Griffith launch United Artists

On this day in 1919, Hollywood superstars Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, and director D.W. Griffith launch the United Artists Corporation, agreeing to share full financial and artistic control. The leading film artists of their era, the partners established the company seeking complete creative freedom in their work. United Artists was the first studio to be controlled by artists, not businessmen.

Gordonator SG

Idea 6th February 1994

6 digit postal code

The Telecommunication Authority of Singapore (TAS) approves a new 6 digit postal code, which will replace the present 4 digit system. TAS says the 6 digit code is necessary to facilitate quick and efficent delivery.

Gordonator SG

Idea 7th Fenruary 1984

First human satellite

While in orbit 170 miles above Earth, Navy Captain Bruce McCandless becomes the first human being to fly untethered in space when he exits the U.S. space shuttle Challenger and maneuvers freely, using a bulky white rocket pack of his own design. McCandless orbited Earth in tangent with the shuttle at speeds greater than 17,500 miles per hour and flew up to 320 feet away from the Challenger. After an hour and a half testing and flying the jet-powered backpack and admiring Earth, McCandless safely reentered the shuttle.

Gordonator SG

Idea 8th February 2002

Ex-President Ong dies

Former president and duputy prime minister Ong Teng Cheong dies at the age of 66 after a long battle with cancer. He was Singapore's first elected president.

Gordonator SG

Idea 9th February 1825

Presidential election decided in the House

As no presidential candidate received a majority of electoral votes in the election of 1824, the U.S. House of Representatives votes to elect John Quincy Adams, who won fewer votes than Andrew Jackson in the popular election, as president of the United States. Adams was the son of John Adams, the second president of the United States.

Gordonator SG

10th February 1793

The French and Indian War ends

The Seven Years' War, a global conflict known in America as the French and Indian War, ends with the signing of the Treaty of Paris by France, Great Britain, and Spain.

In the early 1750s, France's expansion into the Ohio River valley repeatedly brought the country into armed conflict with the British colonies. In 1756, the British formally declared war against France.

Gordonator SG

Idea 11th February 1945

YALTA CONFERENCE ENDS

On February 11, 1945, a week of intensive bargaining by the leaders of the three major Allied powers ends in Yalta, a Soviet resort town on the Black Sea. It was the second conference of the "Big Three" Allied leaders--U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin--and the war had progressed mightily since their last meeting, which had taken place in Tehran in late 1943.

Gordonator SG

Idea 12th February 1912

Last emperor of China abdicates

On February 12, 1912, Hsýan-T'ung, the last emperor of China, is forced to abdicate following Sun Yat-sen's republican revolution. A provisional government was established in his place, ending 267 years of Manchu rule in China and 2,000 years of imperial rule. The former emperor, only six years old, was allowed to keep up his residence in Beijing's Forbidden City, and he took the name of Henry Pu Yi.

Pu Yi was enthroned as emperor in 1908 after his uncle, the Kuang-hsý emperor, died. He reigned under a regency and underwent training to prepare him for his coming rule. However, in October 1911, his dynasty fell to Sun Yat-sen's revolution, and four months later he abdicated. The new Chinese government granted him a large government pension and permitted him to live in the imperial palace until 1924, when he was forced into exile.

Gordonator SG

Idea 13th February 1861

First Medal of Honor action

Colonel Bernard J.D. Irwin

The earliest military action to be revered with a Medal of Honor award is performed by Colonel Bernard J.D. Irwin, an assistant army surgeon serving in the first major U.S.-Apache conflict.

Near Apache Pass, in southeastern Arizona, Irwin, an Irish-born doctor, volunteered to go to the rescue of Second Lieutenant George N. Bascom, who was trapped with 60 men of the U.S. Seventh Infantry by the Chiricahua Apaches.

Irwin and 14 men, initially without horses, began the 100-mile trek to Bascom's forces riding on mules. After fighting and capturing Apaches along the way and recovering stolen horses and cattle, they reached Bascom's forces on February 14 and proved instrumental in breaking the siege.

Although Irwin's bravery in this conflict was the earliest Medal of Honor action, the award itself was not created until 1862, and it was not until January 21, 1894, that Irwin received the nation's highest military honor.

Gordonator SG

Idea 14th Februart 1929

The St. Valentine's Day Massacre

Al Capone

Three men dressed as police officers enter gangster Bugs Moran's headquarters on North Clark Street in Chicago, line seven of Moran's henchmen against a wall, and shoot them to death. The St. Valentine's Day Massacre, as it is now called, was the culmination of a gang war between arch rivals Al Capone and Bugs Moran.

Gordonator SG

Idea 15th February 1942

Singapore Falls

Singapore falls to the Japanses. British Prime Minister Winston Churchill describes the defeat as "the worst diaster and largest capitulation in British history".

Idea 15th February 1989

Soviet Pullout

Soviet troops withdraw from Afghanistan, 9 years after they swept into the country to prop up the pro-communist regime.

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