On this day...

1678 John Bunyan's "The Pilgrim's Progress" is published
1735 First opera performed in America, "Flora," in Charleston, SC
1804 First US land-grant college, Ohio University, Athens, Ohio, chartered
1815 Treaty of peace with Great Britain proclaimed
1834 First US labor newspaper, The Man, published, NYC
1857 Insurrection of Chinese in Sarawak, Borneo
1861 President Jefferson Davis is inaugurated at Montgomery, Alabama (CSA)
1861 Victor Emmanuel II becomes first king of Italy
1865 Evacuation of Charleston, SC; Sherman's troops burn the city
1865 Union troops force Confederates to abandon Fort Anderson, NC
1885 Mark Twain's "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn," published
1908 First US postage stamps in coils issued
1915 Germany begins a blockade of England
1922 Kenesaw Mountain Landis resigns his judgeship to become baseball commissioner
1930 Pluto discovered by Clyde Tombaugh
1936 NHL record 32 points scored, NY Americans (28) & Mont Maroons (24)
1947 24 die in a train crash in Gallitzin, PA
1951 3 City College of NY basketball players admit to accepting bribes
1951 Nepal becomes a constitutional monarchy
1953 Premier of first 3-D feature film-"Bwana Devil" (NYC)
1955 Baghdad Pact signed, making Turkey & Iraq a defense alliance
1960 8th Winter Olympic games open in Squaw Valley, California
1962 France & Algerian Moslems negotiate truce to end 7 year war
1965 27 copper miners die in avalanche, Granduc Mountain, BC
1965 Frank Gifford announces his retirement from football for broadcasting
1965 Gambia gains independence from Britain (National Day)
1967 Softball pitcher Eddie Feigner strikes out 6 straight major leaguers
1968 British adopt year-round daylight savings time
1968 David Gilmour joins rock group Pink Floyd
1970 Chicago 7 defendants found innocent of inciting to riot
1973 54-kg octopus measuring 7 meters across captured in Hood Canal, Washington
1973 Belgian Emile Puttemans runs 3000m in record 7:39.2
1978 First Iron Man Triathlon (swim, bike ride, marathon) held, Kona, Hawaii
1979 Miniseries "Roots: The Next Generations" premiers on ABC TV
1979 Snow falls in the Sahara
1983 NBA Indiana Pacers begin a 28 game road losing streak
1988 Anthony M. Kennedy becomes a Supreme Court Justice

Birthdays which occurred on February 18th:

1559 Isaac Casaubon, naturalized English classical scholar, theologian
1745 Count Alessandro Giuseppe Antonio Anastasio Volta, inventor (battery)
1775 Thomas Girtin, London, artist, watercolorist
1795 George Peabody, US, merchant/philanthropist
1836 Ramakrishna, Hindu saint; preached unity of all religions
1848 Louis Comfort Tiffany, glassmaker
1853 August Belmont, Jr., breeder of Man 'O War/founded NY Jockey Club
1859 Sholem Aleichem [Solomon Rabinowitz], author (Fiddler on Roof)
1884 Burt Mustin, Pittsburgh PA, actor (All in the Family, Andy Griffith Show)
1888 Gladys Cooper, England, actress (Margaret-The Rogues)
1890 Adolphe Menjou, Pittsburgh, actor (Front Page, Star is Born)
1890 Edward Arnold, NYC, actor (Mr. Smith Goes to Washington)
1892 Wendell Wilke, presidential candidate
1895 George "The Gipper" Gipp, Notre Dame football star
1907 Billy Dewolfe, Wollaston Mass, actor (Good Morning World)
1909 Wallace Stegner, novelist/critic (Pulitzer-1971-Angle of Repose)
1914 Pee Wee King, Milwaukee, country singer
1917 Phyllis Calvert, London, actress (Man in Grey)
1920 Bill Cullen, Pittsburgh PA, TV game show host
1920 Jack Palance, Lattimer PA, actor
1925 George Kennedy, NYC, actor (Cool Hand Luke, Airport)
1931 Toni Morrison, Ohio, novelist (Tar Baby, Beloved, Song of Solomon)
1932 Milos Forman, Italy, director (One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest)
1933 Kim Novak, Chicago, actress (Vertigo, Of Human Bondage)
1933 Mary Ure, England, model/actress (Reflection of Fear, Windom's Way)
1933 Yoko Ono, Tokyo Japan
1938 Manny Mota, baseball outfielder (LA Dodgers)
1945 Judy Rankin, St Louis Mo, LPGA golfer (Vare Trophy 1976-77)
1947 Dennis De Young, rock vocalist (Styx)
1949 Cybill Shepherd, Memphis TN, actress (Moonlighting, Last Picture Show)
1949 Jess Walton, actress (Jill Abbott-Young & Restless)
1950 John Hughes, director (Breakfast Club, Ferris Bueller)
1952 Juice Newton [Judy Cohen], Virginia, singer (Angel of the Morning)
1953 Derek Pellicci, rocker (Little River Band-Help Is On It's Way)
1953 Robin Bachman, guitarist (Bachman Turner Overdrive)
1954 John Travolta, Englewood NJ, actor (Primary Colors, Grease)
1957 Vanna White, Conway SC, TV game show hostess (Wheel of Fortune)
1960 Andy Moog, NHL Goalie (Stars, Oilers, Bruins,)
1964 Matt Dillon, actor (Flamingo Kid, Something About Mary)
1968 Molly Ringwald, Roseville California, actress (16 Candles, Pretty in Pink)


Deaths which occurred on February 18th:

1478 Duke of Clarence, forced drowning in a wine barrel
1546 Martin Luther, biblical scholar, religious reformer, dies at 62
1564 Michelangelo, Italian painter/sculptor/architect/poet
1917 Charles E. Barber, US Chief Engraver (1879-1917)
1967 Robert Oppenheimer, creator of atomic bomb
1977 Andy Devine [Jeremiah Schwartz], actor (Andy's Gang), dies at 71
1978 Charlotte Greenwood, actress (Oklahoma, Moon over Miami), dies at 84
1982 Tina Carver, actress, dies at 58