February 5 - Lost in a Good Book

Lost in a Good Book

This Day In History

1818

Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte ascends to the thrones of Sweden and Norway.

1852

The Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg, Russia, one of the largest and oldest museums in the world, opens to the public.

1909

Belgian chemist Leo Baekeland announces the creation of Bakelite, the world's first synthetic plastic.

1924

The Royal Greenwich Observatory begins broadcasting the hourly time signals known as the Greenwich Time Signal or the "BBC pips".

1971

Astronauts land on the moon in the Apollo 14 mission.

1982

Ugo Vetere, then the mayor of Rome, and Chedli Klibi, then the mayor of Carthage meet in Tunis to sign a treaty of friendship officially ending the Third Punic War which lasted 2,131 years.

Famous Birthdays

1788

Robert Peel, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1850)

1840

Hiram Stevens Maxim, American inventor (d. 1916)

1906

John Carradine, American actor (d. 1988)

1934

Hank Aaron. American baseball player

1940

H.R. Giger, Swiss artist

1941

Stephen J. Cannell. American television producer and writer (d. 2010)

1942

Cory Wells, American singer (Three Dog Night)

1943

Michael Mann, American film director

1948

Christopher Guest, American film actor and director

1971

Sara Evans, American singer

1977

Ben Ainslie, British sailor