Epic Idiot's what happened
On This Day

February 5

1988
Manuel Noriega is indicted by a Miami grand jury on charges of accepting $4,600,000 in bribes from major drug dealers.

1974
Patty Hearst is kidnapped by the Symbionese Liberation Army. They demanded a ransom of $70 for every needy person in California. She later participated in a bank robbery with them for which she was convicted.

1972
Screening of airline passengers and luggage becomes mandatory in the U.S.

1932
First educational TV station, W2XAB of New York.

1918
Russian Orthodox Church formally separates from Russia following the Bolshevik Revolution.

1869
World's largest gold nugget: The Welcome Stranger, weighing more than 2,250 troy ounces, is found in Victoria, Australia.

1850
First push-key adding machine is patented, by Du Bois Parmelee.

1682
Gregorian calendar is adopted by Alsace (part of France at the time): Today's date became February 16.

1631
Roger Williams arrives in the colonies. He founded Providence, Rhode Island (1636) and established the first Baptist Church in the colonies.

1943
Nolan Kay Bushnell, American businessman, created Pong (1971) the first coin-operated video game and founded the video game company Atari (1972) and Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza Time Theaters.

1942
Roger Staubach, American Football Hall of Fame quarterback.

1934
Hank Aaron (Henry Louis Aaron), American Baseball Hall of Famer. He holds the major league record of 755 home runs.

1919     d. 2006
Red Buttons (Aaron Chwatt), American Oscar-winning actor. Film: Sayonara (1957, Oscar).

1914     d. 1997
William S. Burroughs, American author, Naked Lunch (1959).  He is credited with being the first to use "heavy metal" to describe something hip.

1906     d. 1988
John Carradine (Richmond Reed Carradine), American actor.

1878     d. 1935
Andre Gustave Citroën, French automaker, industrialist. He brought Henry Ford's mass production to the European auto industry. In 1915, during the lead up to WWI, he built a munitions plant that had a capacity of 55,000 shells a day. After the war he converted his munitions plant to produce the small, inexpensive Citroën automobile (1919).

1848     d. 1889
Belle Starr (Myra Belle Shirley), American outlaw, horse thief, "The Bandit Queen." Her 18-year-old son, Eddie Reed, is believed by some historians to be the one who killed her while she was riding in Montana.

1840     d. 1921
John Boyd Dunlop, Scottish veterinarian, patented the pneumatic tire (1888).

1788     d. 1850
Sir Robert Peel, English statesman, founder of the metropolitan police in London (c1829). The term "bobbie" is derived from his first name.

1995     b. 1935
Doug McClure, American actor. TV: The Virginian (Trampas).

1993     b. 1909
Joseph L. Mankiewicz, American Oscar-winning screenwriter, director. Film: A Letter to Three Wives (1949, Oscar) and All About Eve (1950, Oscar). He coined the phrases "my little chickadee" for W.C. Fields and "Fasten your seat belts. It's going to be a bumpy night!" for Bette Davis.

1984     b. 1926
Charles "Chuck" Cooper, American basketball player. He was the first black drafted by the NBA (1950, Boston Celtics).

1946     b. 1868
George Arliss (George Augustus Andrews), British Oscar-winning actor. Film: Disraeli (1929, Oscar).

1888     b. 1838
Anton Mauve, Dutch painter, for whom the color "mauve" is named.

1818     b. 1748
Charles XIII, King of Sweden (1809-18) and Norway (1814-18).

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