1258 Baghdad was the largest city in the world for much of the Islamic Golden Age, peaking at a population of more than a million. It was overrun on February 10, 1258 by the Mongols, who destroyed the irrigation system. Baghdad's resulting decline lasted for many centuries due to frequent plagues and multiple successive empires.
1355 A tavern dispute between Oxford University students and townsfolk on February 10, 1355 turned into a riot that left about 90 people dead. It started when some students didn't like the wine they were served and threw a pint of the drink at a tavern owner. The townsfolk eventually stormed the school.
1567 Mary Queen of Scot's second husband The Earl of Darnley was murdered on February 10, 1567 while lying in bed ill with smallpox when his house was blown up by gunpowder. Suspicion for the murder fell on the Earl of Bothwell who became her third husband and his supporters, as well as Mary herself. However, Bothwell was acquitted in a show trial and became Mary's third husband.
1763 France formally ceded much of its North American land to the British in the Treaty of Paris, after Great Britain's victory over France and Spain during the Seven Years' War. The treaty signed February 10, 1763 marked the beginning of an era of British dominance outside Europe. The following year, New France was renamed the Province of Quebec.
1787 William Bradley known more commonly as Giant Bradley or the Yorkshire Giant, was born on February 10, 1787. By 18, he had shot up to 7ft 8in (233 cms). His teachers punished naughty boys by making Bradley lift them up and put them on high ceiling beams in the classroom until they learned their lesson.
1840 Prince Albert and Queen Victoria were married in the Chapel Royal at St James’s Palace on February 10, 1840 and had a two day honeymoon at Windsor Castle. Their wedding cake was 9 feet around, weighed 300 pounds and was 14 inches high. Albert was not only the Queen's companion, but also an important political adviser. Having found a partner, Victoria no longer relied on the Whig ladies at her court for companionship.
1841 The Honiton christening gown is an item of baptismal clothing used by the British royal family at every christening. The original gown was created for the christening of Victoria, Princess Royal, on February 10, 1841 and was used by the royal family until 2004, when it was retired for conservation. In total, the original gown was used by 62 royal children over a period of 163 years.
1844 French magician Alexander Herrmann, also known as Herrmann the Great, was born on February 10, 1844. The model for the look of a 'typical' magician—a man with wavy hair, a top hat, a goatee, and a tailcoat—came from him.
1863 Charles Sherwood Stratton, better known by his stage name "General Tom Thumb", was a little person who achieved great fame as a performer under circus pioneer P.T. Barnum. Stratton married his fellow dwarf Lavinia Warren on February 10, 1863. Their wedding took place at New York City's Grace Episcopal Church and the wedding reception was held at the Metropolitan Hotel. The couple stood atop a grand piano at the reception to greet some 10,000 guests.
1865 Seven months after joining the US Navy, Henry Morton Stanley jumped ship on February 10, 1865 in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Stanley set out to tour the world with a colleague, but after reaching Turkey they were robbed; beaten and broke they had to rely on the generosity of the American consul for their passage home. After the Civil War, Stanley turned to journalism. In 1869 he received instructions from The New York Herald to undertake the relief of Dr. David Livingstone,
 |
| Oxford wine riot, as depicted on a 1907 postcard |
1567 Mary Queen of Scot's second husband The Earl of Darnley was murdered on February 10, 1567 while lying in bed ill with smallpox when his house was blown up by gunpowder. Suspicion for the murder fell on the Earl of Bothwell who became her third husband and his supporters, as well as Mary herself. However, Bothwell was acquitted in a show trial and became Mary's third husband.
1763 France formally ceded much of its North American land to the British in the Treaty of Paris, after Great Britain's victory over France and Spain during the Seven Years' War. The treaty signed February 10, 1763 marked the beginning of an era of British dominance outside Europe. The following year, New France was renamed the Province of Quebec.
1787 William Bradley known more commonly as Giant Bradley or the Yorkshire Giant, was born on February 10, 1787. By 18, he had shot up to 7ft 8in (233 cms). His teachers punished naughty boys by making Bradley lift them up and put them on high ceiling beams in the classroom until they learned their lesson.
 |
| William Bradley aged 18 and half years. Wikipedia Commoms |
1840 Prince Albert and Queen Victoria were married in the Chapel Royal at St James’s Palace on February 10, 1840 and had a two day honeymoon at Windsor Castle. Their wedding cake was 9 feet around, weighed 300 pounds and was 14 inches high. Albert was not only the Queen's companion, but also an important political adviser. Having found a partner, Victoria no longer relied on the Whig ladies at her court for companionship.
1841 The Honiton christening gown is an item of baptismal clothing used by the British royal family at every christening. The original gown was created for the christening of Victoria, Princess Royal, on February 10, 1841 and was used by the royal family until 2004, when it was retired for conservation. In total, the original gown was used by 62 royal children over a period of 163 years.
 |
| Princess Margaret of Connaught wears the British gown in 1882, held by Queen Victoria. |
1844 French magician Alexander Herrmann, also known as Herrmann the Great, was born on February 10, 1844. The model for the look of a 'typical' magician—a man with wavy hair, a top hat, a goatee, and a tailcoat—came from him.
1863 Charles Sherwood Stratton, better known by his stage name "General Tom Thumb", was a little person who achieved great fame as a performer under circus pioneer P.T. Barnum. Stratton married his fellow dwarf Lavinia Warren on February 10, 1863. Their wedding took place at New York City's Grace Episcopal Church and the wedding reception was held at the Metropolitan Hotel. The couple stood atop a grand piano at the reception to greet some 10,000 guests.
 |
| Charles Sherwood Stratton and Lavinia Warren wedding photo. |
1865 Seven months after joining the US Navy, Henry Morton Stanley jumped ship on February 10, 1865 in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Stanley set out to tour the world with a colleague, but after reaching Turkey they were robbed; beaten and broke they had to rely on the generosity of the American consul for their passage home. After the Civil War, Stanley turned to journalism. In 1869 he received instructions from The New York Herald to undertake the relief of Dr. David Livingstone,
1867 Princess Alexandra, the wife of Edward VII, suffered from rheumatic fever during the birth of Louise, Princess Royal on February 10, 1867. The illness combined with labor almost killed her, and although she recovered, the rheumatic fever left her with a permanent pronounced limp. Her gait was later emulated by young women to whom she was a style and fashion icon. They went around fake limping, dubbed the "Alexandra Limp." Shopkeepers at the time sold pairs of shoes with one high heel and one low.
1890 Doctor Zhivago author Boris Pasternak was born into a wealthy assimilated Ukrainian Jewish family in Moscow, Russia on February 10, 1890. His father was the Post-Impressionist artist, Leonid Pasternak, professor at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture. Leonid Pasternak was a friend of Leo Tolstoy, and for months he lived in Yasnaya Polyana, and painted many portraits of the great writer, also illustrating his novels War and Peace and Resurrection.
1890 Doctor Zhivago author Boris Pasternak was born into a wealthy assimilated Ukrainian Jewish family in Moscow, Russia on February 10, 1890. His father was the Post-Impressionist artist, Leonid Pasternak, professor at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture. Leonid Pasternak was a friend of Leo Tolstoy, and for months he lived in Yasnaya Polyana, and painted many portraits of the great writer, also illustrating his novels War and Peace and Resurrection.
1899 Herbert Hoover met Lou Henry at Stanford University and they started courting. Both were 24 years old when they married on February 10, 1899, at the home of the bride's parents in Monterey, California. The couple were Quakers, but because there was no Quaker Meeting in Monterey, they were married in a civil ceremony performed by Father Ramon Mestres, a Roman Catholic priest of the Cathedral of San Carlos Borromeo.
1906 The dreadnought was the predominant type of battleship in the early 20th century. The first of the kind, the Royal Navy's HMS Dreadnought, was launched by King Edward VII on February 10, 1906. It represented such a marked advance in naval technology that her name came to be associated with an entire generation of battleships.
1912 The English surgeon Joseph Lister died on February 10, 1912. Lister showed that antiseptic procedures were impressively successful in reducing post-operative infections and his methods were soon adopted in Germany. Britain was slower at adopting his techniques, some surgeons were utilizing them in the 1870s but many were still ignoring elementary sanitary precautions and by 1890 half of the hospitalized cases were still dying of infections caught in the hospital.
1919 The Inter-Allied Women's Conference opened in Paris on February 10, 1919. A parallel conference to the Paris Peace Conference, it marked the first time women were granted formal participation in an international treaty negotiation.
1920 General Józef Haller de Hallenburg first performed the symbolic wedding of Poland to the sea on February 10, 1920, at the port of Puck (Putzig). The ceremony symbolized the restored Polish access to the Baltic Sea that was lost in 1793 by the Partitions of Poland.
1940 The cartoon cat and mouse Tom and Jerry made their debut on February 10, 1940, in an animated short released by MGM entitled Puss Gets The Boot. On this first release to the theaters the cat and mouse were called Jasper and Jinx. The names of "Tom" and "Jerry" were suggested by animator John Carr who won $50 in a competition among studio members to come up with names.
1942 The first gold record was presented to Glenn Miller on February 10, 1942 by his RCA Victor label in 1942 to celebrate the sales of over a million copies of "Chattanooga Choo Choo." At this point, a gold record was simply a promotional tool for record companies to honor their artists.
1966 Reggae legend Bob Marley married Constantia "Rita" Anderson in Kingston, Jamaica, on February 10, 1966. He had four children with Rita and another eight with other women. During an assassination attempt on Bob Marley, his wife, Rita, was shot in the head—doctors said that her thick dreadlocks saved her life.
1970 ZZ Top played their first ever concert on February 10, 1970 at a Knights of Columbus Hall on the old U.S. 90 outside of Houston. When the curtains opened there was just one person in the audience. Billy Gibbons recalled to Q magazine: "We shrugged and pressed onwards. We took a break halfway through, went out and bought him a Coke."
1996 IBM supercomputer Deep Blue became the first computer to defeat a world chess champion in a classical game, when it bested Garry Kasparov on February 10, 1996. Kasparov won the six game match 4-2, but Deep Blue got its revenge in the re-match the following year, winning 3.5 - 2.5.
2009 On February 10, 2009 two communications satellites, from the US (Iridium 33) and Russia (Kosmos-2251), collided and destroyed each other. It was the first time two man-made satellites had collided by accident.
2014 The actress and diplomat Shirley Temple died on February 10, 2014 from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and pneumonia at her Woodside, California home, at the age of 85. Temple was a lifelong smoker but she avoided displaying her habit in public because she did not want to set a bad example for her fans.
1966 Reggae legend Bob Marley married Constantia "Rita" Anderson in Kingston, Jamaica, on February 10, 1966. He had four children with Rita and another eight with other women. During an assassination attempt on Bob Marley, his wife, Rita, was shot in the head—doctors said that her thick dreadlocks saved her life.
1970 ZZ Top played their first ever concert on February 10, 1970 at a Knights of Columbus Hall on the old U.S. 90 outside of Houston. When the curtains opened there was just one person in the audience. Billy Gibbons recalled to Q magazine: "We shrugged and pressed onwards. We took a break halfway through, went out and bought him a Coke."
1996 IBM supercomputer Deep Blue became the first computer to defeat a world chess champion in a classical game, when it bested Garry Kasparov on February 10, 1996. Kasparov won the six game match 4-2, but Deep Blue got its revenge in the re-match the following year, winning 3.5 - 2.5.
2009 On February 10, 2009 two communications satellites, from the US (Iridium 33) and Russia (Kosmos-2251), collided and destroyed each other. It was the first time two man-made satellites had collided by accident.
2014 The actress and diplomat Shirley Temple died on February 10, 2014 from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and pneumonia at her Woodside, California home, at the age of 85. Temple was a lifelong smoker but she avoided displaying her habit in public because she did not want to set a bad example for her fans.
2016 An 18 month-old German Shepherd named Luna fell off a boat in the Pacific Ocean on February 10, 2016. She swam two miles to the nearby San Clemente Island, and survived for five weeks by eating mice before she was rescued by a team of Navy staffers. Luna was found to be slightly under-nourished, but in perfect condition otherwise.
2017 The Snuggie is a type of blanket with sleeves, which became popular in the United States in the late 2000s and early 2010s. The company that produced the Snuggie argued that it should be classified as a blanket in order to avoid paying the higher import taxes on garments. On February 10, 2017, the U.S. Court of International Trade ruled that the Snuggie should be classified as a blanket, rather than a garment, based on its characteristics and intended use.
Comments
Post a Comment