660BC According to tradition, Emperor Jimmu founded Japan and established his capital in Yamato on February 11, 660BC. He is said to have been a direct descendant of the sun goddess Amaterasu and the storm god Susanoo. In modern Japan, Jimmu's accession is marked as National Foundation Day on February 11.
55 On February 11, 55 the Roman emperor Nero was hosting a dinner when his 13-year-old stepbrother and rival Britannicus keeled over and died as the water used to cool his wine had been poisoned (his taster forgot to taste it). The other dinner guests faced a dilemma. Should they take no notice and carry on tucking into their meal or should they call a doctor and risk offending the paranoid emperor. Nero dismissed the murder by claiming that the boy suffered from epilepsy.
1650 French mathematician and philosopher René Descartes was employed as tutor to the 19 year old Queen Christina of Sweden. Descartes was a late riser and accustomed to meditating in a warm bed until 11.00 am. However the teenage headstrong Swedish queen insisted on taking her philosophy lessons from him at the unearthly and uncomfortably chilly hour of 5.00 am. Descartes passed away from pneumonia on February 11, 1650, five months after arriving in Sweden.
1742 The United Kingdom's first Prime Minister Sir Robert Walpole resigned on February 11, 1742 over the alleged rigging of the Chippenham by-election. Walpole served 20 years and 314 days as Prime Minister, the longest single term and longer even than the accumulated terms of other British PMs who held the office more than once.
1808 Anthracite coal was first experimentally burned as a residential heating fuel in the US on February 11, 1808, by Judge Jesse Fell in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, on an open grate in a fireplace. Anthracite is the most metamorphosed type of coal It has the highest carbon content, the fewest impurities, and the highest calorific content of all types of coal except for graphite.
1847 Thomas Edison was born in Milan, Ohio on February 11, 1847 and grew up in Port Huron, Michigan. His shingle maker father, Samuel, was involved in a plot to overthrow the Canadian government but managed to flee back to the USA. (Thomas was named after the barge captain Alva Bradley who helped smuggle his family to Milan). With 1,093 U.S. patents in his name, he was one of the most prolific inventors in history. Edison's inventions included the light bulb, the phonograph, and the motion picture camera.
1851 As part of the celebration of the separation of Victoria from New South Wales, the initial first-class cricket match in Australia started on February 11, 1851 at the Launceston Racecourse in Van Diemen's Land (now Tasmania). The match between teams from Van Diemen's Land and Port Phillip District (now Victoria), lasted two days and ended with the Tasmanian team winning by three-wickets.
1852 Britain's first flushing public toilet for women opened near the Strand in London on February 11, 1852. Only 82 females used it in the first twelve months, indicating that the concept of public toilets was not widely accepted or understood at the time. Nonetheless, the introduction of this facility was an important milestone in the development of public sanitation and hygiene, and it paved the way for the widespread adoption of similar facilities in other cities around the world.
1858 Saint Bernadette had the first of several visions of the Virgin Mary in a grotto at Lourdes on February 11, 1858. A few days after the ninth visitation, a spring began to flow from a patch dug by Bernadette. An old stone mason with a blind eye bathed it in the spring's water and as others also followed her example it was soon reported to have healing properties. The grotto soon became a center of pilgrimage. Many sick people who were dipped in the water of the spring were cured.
1896 Oscar Wilde's play Salome tells in one act the Biblical story of the stepdaughter of the tetrarch Herod Antipas. The play was written in French but was banned in 1892 by Lord Chamberlain on the grounds of portraying biblical characters. It was eventually premiered in Paris on February 11, 1896, while Wilde was in prison.
1910 When Chinese communist revolutionary and political leader Mao Zedong finished primary education at the age of 13 his father had him married to the 17-year-old Luo Yixiu, uniting their land-owning families. Mao refused to recognize her as his wife, becoming a fierce critic of arranged marriage and temporarily moving away. Luo was locally disgraced and died on February 11, 1910.
1916 American anarchist Emma Goldman was arrested on February 11, 1916 for giving speeches explaining birth control. After her arrest, she was fined $100, and rather than paying the fine, she chose to spend two weeks in a prison workhouse.
1918 American physicist Lawrence Harding "Larry" Johnston was born on February 11, 1918. He was the only man to witness all three atomic explosions in 1945: the Trinity nuclear test and the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
1929 Following the incorporation of the Papal States into a united Italy in 1870, successive popes were a "voluntary prisoner of the Vatican" refusing to leave their small remaining grounds as a protest. In the late 1920s Benito Mussolini decided to sign an agreement with the Holy See, called the Lateran Treaty. The State of the Vatican City was created by the Lateran Treaty, signed on February 11, 1929, forming the sovereign territory of the Holy See.
1938 The BBC aired an adaptation of Karel Čapek's play R.U.R on February 11, 1938. It was the first science fiction television program ever broadcast. First performed in Czechoslovakia in 1920, R.U.R (Rossum's Universal Robots) is set in a future world where robots are created to perform manual labor, and it explores the themes of technological progress, the relationship between humans and machines, and the consequences of creating artificial life.
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| Detail of Emperor Jinmu - Stories from "Nihonki" by Ginko Adachi. |
55 On February 11, 55 the Roman emperor Nero was hosting a dinner when his 13-year-old stepbrother and rival Britannicus keeled over and died as the water used to cool his wine had been poisoned (his taster forgot to taste it). The other dinner guests faced a dilemma. Should they take no notice and carry on tucking into their meal or should they call a doctor and risk offending the paranoid emperor. Nero dismissed the murder by claiming that the boy suffered from epilepsy.
1650 French mathematician and philosopher René Descartes was employed as tutor to the 19 year old Queen Christina of Sweden. Descartes was a late riser and accustomed to meditating in a warm bed until 11.00 am. However the teenage headstrong Swedish queen insisted on taking her philosophy lessons from him at the unearthly and uncomfortably chilly hour of 5.00 am. Descartes passed away from pneumonia on February 11, 1650, five months after arriving in Sweden.
1742 The United Kingdom's first Prime Minister Sir Robert Walpole resigned on February 11, 1742 over the alleged rigging of the Chippenham by-election. Walpole served 20 years and 314 days as Prime Minister, the longest single term and longer even than the accumulated terms of other British PMs who held the office more than once.
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| Portrait of Robert Walpole (1676–1745) |
1808 Anthracite coal was first experimentally burned as a residential heating fuel in the US on February 11, 1808, by Judge Jesse Fell in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, on an open grate in a fireplace. Anthracite is the most metamorphosed type of coal It has the highest carbon content, the fewest impurities, and the highest calorific content of all types of coal except for graphite.
1847 Thomas Edison was born in Milan, Ohio on February 11, 1847 and grew up in Port Huron, Michigan. His shingle maker father, Samuel, was involved in a plot to overthrow the Canadian government but managed to flee back to the USA. (Thomas was named after the barge captain Alva Bradley who helped smuggle his family to Milan). With 1,093 U.S. patents in his name, he was one of the most prolific inventors in history. Edison's inventions included the light bulb, the phonograph, and the motion picture camera.
1851 As part of the celebration of the separation of Victoria from New South Wales, the initial first-class cricket match in Australia started on February 11, 1851 at the Launceston Racecourse in Van Diemen's Land (now Tasmania). The match between teams from Van Diemen's Land and Port Phillip District (now Victoria), lasted two days and ended with the Tasmanian team winning by three-wickets.
1852 Britain's first flushing public toilet for women opened near the Strand in London on February 11, 1852. Only 82 females used it in the first twelve months, indicating that the concept of public toilets was not widely accepted or understood at the time. Nonetheless, the introduction of this facility was an important milestone in the development of public sanitation and hygiene, and it paved the way for the widespread adoption of similar facilities in other cities around the world.
1858 Saint Bernadette had the first of several visions of the Virgin Mary in a grotto at Lourdes on February 11, 1858. A few days after the ninth visitation, a spring began to flow from a patch dug by Bernadette. An old stone mason with a blind eye bathed it in the spring's water and as others also followed her example it was soon reported to have healing properties. The grotto soon became a center of pilgrimage. Many sick people who were dipped in the water of the spring were cured.
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| The Grotto of Massabielle By BRUNNER Emmanuel, Manu25 |
1896 Oscar Wilde's play Salome tells in one act the Biblical story of the stepdaughter of the tetrarch Herod Antipas. The play was written in French but was banned in 1892 by Lord Chamberlain on the grounds of portraying biblical characters. It was eventually premiered in Paris on February 11, 1896, while Wilde was in prison.
1910 When Chinese communist revolutionary and political leader Mao Zedong finished primary education at the age of 13 his father had him married to the 17-year-old Luo Yixiu, uniting their land-owning families. Mao refused to recognize her as his wife, becoming a fierce critic of arranged marriage and temporarily moving away. Luo was locally disgraced and died on February 11, 1910.
1916 American anarchist Emma Goldman was arrested on February 11, 1916 for giving speeches explaining birth control. After her arrest, she was fined $100, and rather than paying the fine, she chose to spend two weeks in a prison workhouse.
1918 American physicist Lawrence Harding "Larry" Johnston was born on February 11, 1918. He was the only man to witness all three atomic explosions in 1945: the Trinity nuclear test and the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
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| Johnston with the Fat Man plutonium core on Tinian in 1945 |
1929 Following the incorporation of the Papal States into a united Italy in 1870, successive popes were a "voluntary prisoner of the Vatican" refusing to leave their small remaining grounds as a protest. In the late 1920s Benito Mussolini decided to sign an agreement with the Holy See, called the Lateran Treaty. The State of the Vatican City was created by the Lateran Treaty, signed on February 11, 1929, forming the sovereign territory of the Holy See.
1938 The BBC aired an adaptation of Karel Čapek's play R.U.R on February 11, 1938. It was the first science fiction television program ever broadcast. First performed in Czechoslovakia in 1920, R.U.R (Rossum's Universal Robots) is set in a future world where robots are created to perform manual labor, and it explores the themes of technological progress, the relationship between humans and machines, and the consequences of creating artificial life.
1946 The Revised Standard Version New Testament was published on February 11, 1946. It was intended to be a readable and literally accurate modern English translation of The Bible, and was the first serious challenge to the popularity of the Authorized King James Version. The Old Testament (and thus the full Protestant Bible) was completed six years later.
1975 Margaret Thatcher only entered the Conservative leadership campaign because Keith Joseph was ruled out of the contest over a controversial speech suggesting that mothers in social classes 4 and 5 have too many children. On February 11, 1975, Thatcher beat four male candidates in the Conservative Party leadership election to become the first woman to lead a major political party in Britain. She became UK's first female Prime Minister after winning the 1979 general election.
1975 Margaret Thatcher only entered the Conservative leadership campaign because Keith Joseph was ruled out of the contest over a controversial speech suggesting that mothers in social classes 4 and 5 have too many children. On February 11, 1975, Thatcher beat four male candidates in the Conservative Party leadership election to become the first woman to lead a major political party in Britain. She became UK's first female Prime Minister after winning the 1979 general election.
1986 US Senator William Proxmire of Wisconsin wanted the US to ratify the UN Genocide Convention. He gave a speech on the need to ratify it each day the Senate was in session from 1967-1986 (a total of 3,211 times) until the US Senate finally ratified it on February 11, 1986 in an 83-11 vote.
1989 After 27 years as a political prisoner, Nelson Mandela was finally released from Victor Verster Prison near Paarl, South Africa on February 11, 1990. Schooled in a biblical ethos, Mandela was able to forgive those who allowed him to languish in a tiny prison cell for 27 years to which the up-and-coming lawyer had been sentenced because of his determination to win justice for South Africa's oppressed black community.
2008 The Blue Mustang, a 32-foot tall sculpture of a blue horse at Denver International Airport, was designed by sculptor Luis Jiménez . He was unable to complete the project after the head fell on him and severed an artery in his leg, killing him in 2006. Jiménez's staff and family finished the job and it was unveiled at Denver International Airport on February 11, 2008.
1989 After 27 years as a political prisoner, Nelson Mandela was finally released from Victor Verster Prison near Paarl, South Africa on February 11, 1990. Schooled in a biblical ethos, Mandela was able to forgive those who allowed him to languish in a tiny prison cell for 27 years to which the up-and-coming lawyer had been sentenced because of his determination to win justice for South Africa's oppressed black community.
2008 The Blue Mustang, a 32-foot tall sculpture of a blue horse at Denver International Airport, was designed by sculptor Luis Jiménez . He was unable to complete the project after the head fell on him and severed an artery in his leg, killing him in 2006. Jiménez's staff and family finished the job and it was unveiled at Denver International Airport on February 11, 2008.
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