See what makes February 29 special at Famous Daily.
History, birthdays, holiday, and a quote!
What happened on February 29
- February 29, 1288 It becomes legal in Scotland for a woman to propose marriage to a man.
- February 29, 1504 Christopher Columbus uses a lunar eclipse to frighten hostile Jamaican natives into providing his crew with food.
- February 29, 1504 Columbus uses a lunar eclipse to frighten hostile Jamaican Indians
- February 29, 1528 "Patrick Hamilton, student of Parid, Louvain, St Andrews, Marburg, Abbot of Fearn, burned at St Andrew for heresy, the first Reformation martyr in Scotland"
- February 29, 1692 "Sarah Good & Tituba, an Indian servant, accused of witchcraft, Salem"
- February 29, 1696 English ex-premier Earl Danby accused of corruption
- February 29, 1704 "French & Indians attack Deerfield MA, kill 50, abduct 100"
- February 29, 1704 "Queen Anne's War: French forces and Native Americans attack and destroy Deerfield, Massachusetts, killing 100 men, women, and children."
- February 29, 1712 "February 29 is followed by February 30 in Sweden, in a move to abolish the Swedish calendar for a return to the Old style."
- February 29, 1720 "Queen Ulrika Eleonora of Sweden abdicates in favour of her husband, who becomes King Frederick I."
- February 29, 1784 Marquis de Sade transferred from Vincennes fortress to the Bastille
- February 29, 1796 "Jay's Treaty proclaimed, settles some differences with England"
- February 29, 1816 Dutch (King) Willem II marries Russian grand-duchess Anna Paulowna
- February 29, 1848 Neufchatel declares independence of Switzerland
- February 29, 1856 Hostilities in Russo-Turkish War cease
- February 29, 1864 "American Civil War: Kilpatrick-Dahlgren Raid fails - Plans to free 15,000 Union soldiers being held near Richmond, Virginia are thwarted."
- February 29, 1880 Gotthard railway tunnel between Switzerland & Italy opens
- February 29, 1892 Britain & US sign treaty on seal hunting in Bering Sea
- February 29, 1892 "St. Petersburg, Florida incorporated."
- February 29, 1904 "Theodore Roosevelt, appoints 7 man committee to study Panama Canal"
- February 29, 1908 Dutch scientists produce solid helium
- February 29, 1916 "Child labor: In South Carolina, the minimum working age for factory, mill, and mine workers is raised from twelve to fourteen years old."
- February 29, 1932 Failed coup attempt by fascist Lapua Movement in Finland
- February 29, 1932 "TIME magazine features eccentric American politician William ""Alfalfa"" Murray on its cover after Murray stated his intention to run for President of the United States."
- February 29, 1936 "Baby Snooks, played by Fanny Brice, debuts on the radio program The Ziegfeld Follies of the Air."
- February 29, 1936 FDR signs 2nd neutrality act
- February 29, 1940 """Gone with the Wind,"" wins 8 Oscars"
- February 29, 1940 Finland initiates Winter War peace negotiations
- February 29, 1940 "For her role as Mammy in Gone with the Wind, Hattie McDaniel becomes the first African American to win an Academy Award."
- February 29, 1940 "Gone with the Wind picks up eight Academy Awards, including the Oscar for Best Picture."
- February 29, 1940 Hattie McDaniel becomes first black woman to win an Oscar
- February 29, 1940 "In a ceremony held in Berkeley, California, due to the war, physicist Ernest Lawrence receives his 1939 Nobel Prize in Physics from the Sweden's Consul General in San Francisco."
- February 29, 1944 5 leaders of Indonesia Communist Party sentenced to death
- February 29, 1944 "US troop land on Los Negros, Admirality Islands"
- February 29, 1944 World War II: The Admiralty Islands are invaded in the American General Douglas MacArthur-led Operation Brewer.
- February 29, 1948 "Stern-group bomb Cairo-Haifa train, 27 British soldiers died"
- February 29, 1952 Dick Button wins his 5th consecutive world figure skating title
- February 29, 1952 The island of Heligoland is restored to German authority.
- February 29, 1956 Islamic Republic established in Pakistan
- February 29, 1956 President Eisenhower announces he would seek a 2nd term
- February 29, 1960 "An earthquake in Morocco kills over 3,000 people and nearly destroys Agadir in the southern part of the country."
- February 29, 1960 "Earthquake kills 1/3 of Agadir Morocco population (12,000) in 15 seconds"
- February 29, 1960 Hugh Hefner opens the first Playboy Club in Chicago.
- February 29, 1960 "JFK makes ""missile gap"" the Presidential campaign issue"
- February 29, 1960 "Playboy Club, featuring bunnies, opens in Chicago"
- February 29, 1964 "Frank Rugani sets badminton shuttlecock distance record, 24.3 meters"
- February 29, 1964 "In Sydney, Australian swimmer Dawn Fraser sets a new world record in the 100-meter freestyle swimming competition (58.9 seconds)."
- February 29, 1964 LBJ reveals US secretly developed the A-11 jet fighter
- February 29, 1964 North Carolina high school basketball teams play to 56-54 score in 13 overtime
- February 29, 1968 "Beatles' ""Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band"" wins Grammy"
- February 29, 1968 Dr. Jocelyn Bell Burnell announces the discovery of the first pulsar (a star that emits regular radio waves).
- February 29, 1968 First pulsar discovered (CP 1919 by Jocelyn Burnell at Cambridge)
- February 29, 1968 US end regular flights with nuclear bombs
- February 29, 1972 "Hank Aaron becomes first baseball player to sign for $200,000 a year"
- February 29, 1972 "Jack Anderson discloses Dita Beard (ITT) memo indicating antitrust charges were dropped for $400,000 contribution to Republican Party"
- February 29, 1972 "Vietnam War: Vietnamization - South Korea withdraws 11,000 of its 48,000 troops from Vietnam."
- February 29, 1980 Gordie Howe becomes first NHL player to score 800 career goals
- February 29, 1980 "Michael Bracey ends 59 hours 55 minutes trapped in an elevator, England"
- February 29, 1980 "Yigal Allon, former Israeli foreign minister and supporter of Israeli independence, dies at age 61."
- February 29, 1984 Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau announces he is leaving office after serving over 15 years.
- February 29, 1988 Mark Greatbatch scores 107 vs England on Test Cricket debut
- February 29, 1988 Nazi document implicates Waldheim in WWII deportations
- February 29, 1988 "NYC Mayor Koch calls Reagan a ""WIMP"" in the war on drugs"
- February 29, 1988 South African archbishop Desmond Tutu is arrested along with 100 clergymen during a five-day anti-apartheid demonstration in Cape Town
- February 29, 1992 Dawn Coe wins LPGA Women's Kemper Golf Open
- February 29, 1992 The Professional Spring Football League begins
- February 29, 1996 "A Peruvian Boeing 737 crashes in the Andes, killing all 123 people aboard."
- February 29, 1996 "Daniel Green is convicted of murdering the father of basketball star Michael Jordan during a 1993 holdup, and is sentenced to life in prison."
- February 29, 1996 Kenya defeat West Indies (all out 93) in Cricket World Cup
- February 29, 1996 Novelist Joan Collins awarded US $1 million from Random House for breach of contract.
- February 29, 1996 "Soyuz TM-23, lands"
- February 29, 2000 "Six year old Dedrick Owens shoots and kills Kayla Rolland, also six years old, at Theo J. Buell Elementary School in Mount Morris Township, Michigan. Rolland is currently the youngest victim of a school shooting [1]"
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