February 22 in Pop Culture History

February 22nd History, Trivia, and Fun Facts

February 22nd History Highlights

  • 1651 – St. Peter’s Flood (I): A storm surge flooded the Frisian (Germany/Netherlands) coast, drowning 15,000 people.
  • 1856 – The United States Republican Party opened its first national convention in Pittsburgh.
  • 1878 – In Utica, New York, Frank Woolworth opened the first five-and-dime Woolworth store.
  • 1956 – Montgomery, Alabama arrested several civil rights protestors and bus boycotters, including Martin Luther King, Jr., Rosa Parks and E.D. Nixon.
  • 1980 – Winter Olympics: Miracle on Ice: In Lake Placid, New York, the United States hockey team defeats the Soviet Union hockey team 4-3.
  • February 22, 2012 – PlayStation Vita released, Video Game Console.
  • If you were born on February 22nd,
    You were likely conceived the week of… June 1st (prior year)

February 22nd Is…

Cook a Sweet Potato Day
George Washington’s (real) Birthday
National Margarita Day
National Wildlife Day
Recreational Sports and Fitness Day
Walk The Dog Day

February 22nd Birthday Quotes

“I hold the maxim no less applicable to public than to private affairs, that honesty is always the best policy.”
– George Washington

“An artist will sooner and with more certainty, establish the character of skeletons, than the most learned anatomist, whose eye has not been accustomed to seize on every peculiarity.”
– Rembrandt Peale

I honor the man who is willing to sink
Half his present repute for the freedom to think,
And, when he has thought, be his cause strong or weak,
Will risk t’other half for the freedom to speak,
Caring naught for what vengeance the mob has in store,
Let that mob be the upper ten thousand or lower.

– James Russell Lowell

“People who live in the past generally are afraid to compete in the present. I’ve got my faults, but living in the past is not one of them. There’s no future in it.”
– Sparky Anderson

“Life is very interesting… in the end, some of your greatest pains, become your greatest strengths.”
– Drew Barrymore

“I am glad that I paid so little attention to good advice; had I abided by it I might have been saved from some of my most valuable mistakes.”
Edna St. Vincent Millay

“You have a Happiness Switch in you that you can switch on at any time. All you have to do is stop switching it off in order to blackmail yourself or others.”
– Robert Young

“Having the presence of mind to react to any situation on stage is what makes the best performers keep their spontaneity intact.”
– Marni Nixon

February 22nd Birthdays

1732 – George Washington, American patriot, general and politician, 1st President of the United States (died in 1799)
1778 – Rembrandt Peale, American painter (died in 1860)
1788 – Arthur Schopenhauer, German philosopher (died in 1860)
1819 – James Russell Lowell, American poet (died in 1891)
1839 – Francis Pharcellus Church, American writer/editor (died in 1906)
1857 – Robert Baden-Powell, British founder of the boy Scouts (and Girl Guides) (died in 1941)
1892 – Edna St. Vincent Millay (aka Nancy Boyd), American poet and playwright (died in 1950)
1907 – Sheldon Leonard, American actor, director and producer (died in 1997)
1907 – Robert Young, American actor (died in 1998)
1908 – Sir John Mills, English actor (died in 2005)
1917 – Reed Crandall, American comic book and magazine illustrator (died in 1982)
1918 – Don Pardo, American radio and television announcer (died in 2014)
1918 – Robert Wadlow, American, tallest man ever recorded at 8 feet, 11.1 inches tall (died on 1940)
1927 – Guy Mitchell, American singer (died in 1999)
1928 – Texas Johnny Brown, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (died in 2013)
1930 – Marni Nixon, American soprano and actress (died in 2016)
1932 – Edward Kennedy, American politician (died in 2009)
1933 – Ernie K-Doe, American R&B singer (died in 2001)
1934 – Sparky Anderson, American baseball manager (died in 2010)
1945 – Oliver (William Oliver Swofford), American pop singer (died in 2000)
1950 – Julius Erving, American basketball player and sportscaster
1953 – Nigel Planer, English actor
1959 – Kyle MacLachlan, American actor
1962 – Steve Irwin, Australian zoologist and television host (died in 2006)
1964 – Ed Boon, American video game designer, co-created Mortal Kombat
1968 – Jeri Ryan, American model and actress
1974 – James Blunt, English singer-songwriter
1975 – Drew Barrymore, American actress, director, producer and screenwriter

February 22nd History

1620 – Popcorn was introduced to the English colonists by an Indian named Quadequina.

1632 – Galileo’s Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems was published.

1651 – St. Peter’s Flood (I): A storm surge flooded the Frisian (Germany/Netherlands) coast, drowning 15,000 people.

1759 – Today is the day that middle class 27-year-old George Washington married a rich widow (also 27) Martha Dandridge Curtis, and became a wealthy man (he was already a war hero).

1819 – Spanish minister Do Luis de Onis and U.S. Secretary of State John Quincy Adams signed the Florida Purchase Treaty, giving the United States control of all of Florida.

1853 – Washington University in St. Louis was founded as Eliot Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri.

1855 – Pennsylvania State University was founded in State College, Pennsylvania (as the Farmers’ High School of Pennsylvania)

1872 – The Prohibition Party held its first national convention in Columbus, Ohio, nominating James Black as its presidential nominee.

1879 – The first F.W. Woolworth’s Five& Dime opened in Utica, NY. It became the first chain store.

1892 – Lady Windermere’s Fan, by Oscar Wilde, was first performed at the St James’s Theatre in London.

1893 – The Record of a Sneeze was filmed by Thomas Edison. It was the first film ‘close up‘.

1924 – President Calvin Coolidge delivered the first presidential radio broadcast from the White House.

1934 – It Happened One Night premiered in theaters.

1956 – Elvis Presley debuted on the music charts with Heartbreak Hotel.

1959 – Lee Petty defeated Johnny Beauchamp in a photo finish at the brand new Daytona International Speedway in Florida to win the first-ever Daytona 500.

1960 – #1 Hit February 22, 1960 – April 24, 1960: Percy Faith – Theme from ‘A Summer Place’

1974 – Samuel Byrck unsuccessfully attempted to assassinate President Richard Nixon.

1975 – #1 Hit February 22, 1975 – February 28, 1975: Average White Band – Pick Up the Pieces

1978 – Rock band The Police appeared in a television commercial for Wrigley’s chewing gum

1980 – The ‘Miracle on Ice’ – The US Men’s Hockey Team won a 4-3 victory over the Soviet Union at the Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York. Two days later, the Americans went on to beat Finland and take home the gold medal.

1983 – Broadway Flop: Moose Murders opened and closes on the same night at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre.

1990 – Best New Artist Grammy was awarded to song and dance performers Milli Vanilli.

1997 – #1 Hit February 22, 1997 – March 21, 1997: Spice Girls – Wannabe

2006 – iTunes sold its BILLIONTH music download. 16-year-old Alex Ostrovsky of West Bloomfield bought “Speed of Sound” by Coldplay. He later got a phone call from Steve Jobs and won a lot of iPod and Mac stuff.

2006 – At least six men staged Britain’s biggest bank robbery ever stealing the equivalent of 92 million American dollars from a security depot in Tonbridge, Kent.

February 22, 2012 – PlayStation Vita released, Video Game Console.

Today’s Random Trivia and Shower Thoughts

The Blues Brothers Bluesmobile is a 1974 Dodge Monaco.

During Matha Stewart’s incarceration at Alderson Federal Prison Camp, her prison nickname was “M. Diddy”

If Home Alone were made today, the film would be over in 20 minutes thanks to cell phones and the internet.

The Commodore 64 is the best selling computer in history.

Pizza Uno first created the first Deep-Dish Pizza in 1943.

After watching so many movies, if a guy pulled up and said “No time to explain, get in” – I would.

“Success without honor is an unseasoned dish; it will satisfy your hunger, but it won’t taste good.” – Joe Paterno

Roulette Odds: Red: Payoff: 1:1 True Odds: 47.37%

Earth has about 760 thunderstorms every hour.

The 1895 Chicago Times-Herald race was the first automobile race held in the US. Only two of the six cars finished.

I went to recall something from my memory bank, however, it had collected a significant amount of interest and now I can’t stop thinking about it.

The official definition of 1 second is based on a quantum mechanical phenomenon: “the duration of 9,192,631,770 oscillations of a Caesium 133 atom’s outermost electron”.

Spanish is the third most spoken language in the world.

In a future Superman movie, there should be a scene where Superman has to hurry to get somewhere and when he gets there, realizes he put on his underwear outside his pants.

The Capital of Uruguay is Montevideo

Ten percent of all the photos ever taken were taken in the last 12 months. #ireadthatonline

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