What Happened on February 29

Historical Events

1720 – Queen Ulrica Eleonora of Sweden resigns
1768 – Polish nobleman Casimir Pulaski joins the Bar Confederation to defend the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth against Russian influence
1948 – Stern-group bomb on Cairo-Haifa train kills 27 British soldiers
1968 – US end regular flights with nuclear bombs
1980 – Future Hockey Hall of Fame right wing Gordie Howe scores in the 3rd period to become first NHL player to score 800 career goals as Hartford Whalers beat St. Louis Blues, 3-0 at Springfield Civic Center
1980 – Michael Bracey ends 59 h 55 m trapped in an elevator, England

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Famous Birthdays

1860 – Herman Hollerith, American inventor (1st electric tabulating machine), born in Buffalo, New York (d. 1929)
1924 – David Beattie, New Zealand judge, Governor-General of NZ (1980-85), born in Sydney, Australia (d. 2001)
1944 – Ene Ergma, Estonian politician
1952 – Raúl González, Mexican racewalker (Olympic gold 50k 1984; WR 1978 3:45:52 and 3:41:20), born in China, Nuevo León, Mexico
1956 – (Jonathan) “Jono” Coleman, British-Australian television and radio, writer, and comedian, born in Hackney, England (d. 2021)
1980 – Clinton Toopi, New Zealand rugby league centre (22 Tests; Auckland Warriors, Leeds Rhinos), born in Stratford, New Zealand

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Famous Deaths

1592 – Alessandro Striggio, Italian composer (b. 1540)
1744 – John Theophilus Desaguliers, French-British natural philosopher and freemason, dies at 60
1968 – Lena Blackburne, American baseball infielder, manager, coach (Chicago White Sox; discovered rubbing clay to take the shine off baseballs), dies at 81
2012 – Davy Jones, British singer and actor (The Monkees – “Daydream Believer”), dies from heart attack at 66
2020 – Éva Székely, Hungarian swimmer (Olympic gold 200m breaststroke 1952; silver 1956; first WR 400m individual medley 1953), dies at 92
2020 – Bill Roe, American sports executive (President USA Track and Field 2000-2008), dies at 69

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