February 23 in Pop Culture History

February 23rd History, Trivia, and Fun Facts

February 23rd History Highlights

  • 1893 – Rudolph Diesel received the German patent for his engine.
  • 1945 – American Marines lifted the flag at Iwo Jima.
  • February 23, 1964 Birthday (fictional) Dana Scully, X-Files
  • 1991 – A ground war began in Iraq (Operation Desert Storm)
  • 1997 – Scientists announced the first successful cloning of an animal, a lamb named Dolly.
  • If you were born on February 23rd,
    You were likely conceived the week of… June 2nd (prior year)

February 23rd is…

Dog Biscuit Appreciation Day
National Banana Bread Day
National Tile Day
Rationalization Day
Single Tasking Day
World Understanding and Peace Day

February 23rd Birthday Quotes

“I feel like love is the thing we were created for, yet it’s the place we struggle the most.”
– Niecy Nash

“Man is always something more than what he knows of himself. He is not what he is simply once and for all, but is a process.”
– Karl Jaspers

“People quit on jobs. They quit on marriages. They quit on school. There’s an immediacy of this day and age that doesn’t lend itself to being committed to anything.”
– Emily Blunt

“I’m always changing the words. A screenwriter writes for somebody to read, but we are paid to take it off the page, to make it spoken. People stammer, they stutter, they take pauses, they drop stuff. It must drive writers crazy. But I’m making the character real.”
– Peter Fonda

“The function of the university is not simply to teach bread-winning, or to furnish teachers for the public schools or to be a center of polite society; it is, above all, to be the organ of that fine adjustment between real life and the growing knowledge of life, an adjustment which forms the secret of civilization.”
– W.E.B. Du Bois

“The ability to communicate with everybody, regardless of who are you are, is a great thing.”
– Bobby Bonilla

“Prove yourself brave, truthful, and unselfish, and someday, you will be a real boy.”
– The Blue Fairy

February 23rd Birthdays

1868 – W.E.B. Du Bois, American sociologist, historian, and activist (died in 1963)
1883 – Karl Theodor Jaspers, German philosopher (died in 1969)
1889 – Victor Fleming, American director, cinematographer, and producer (died in 1949)
1938 – Paul Morrissey, American director and producer
1940 – Peter Fonda, American actor (died in 2019)
1951 – Ed “Too Tall” Jones, American football player
1955 – Howard Jones, English singer-songwriter
1963 – Bobby Bonilla, American baseball player
1970 – Niecy Nash, American actress and producer
1971 – Melinda Messenger, English model and television host
1979 – S.E. Cupp, American journalist and author
1981 – Josh Gad, American actor
1983 – Emily Blunt, English actress
1994 – Dakota Fanning, American actress

February 23rd History

1455 – Traditional date for the publication of the Gutenberg Bible, the first Western book printed with movable type. Ironically, if there were newspapers at the time, we could be more confident about the date.

1739 – Richard Palmer was identified by his former school teacher, as the outlaw Dick Turpin.

1792 – The Humane Society of Massachusetts was incorporated.

1836 – The Siege of the Alamo (prelude to the Battle of the Alamo) began in San Antonio, Texas.

1896 – The Tootsie Roll was introduced by Leo Hirshfield, in New York.

1903 – Cuba leased Guantanamo Bay to the United States “in perpetuity”.

1905 – Chicago attorney Paul Harris and three other businessmen met for lunch to form the Rotary Club, the world’s first service club.

1927 – Federal Radio Commission (FRC, later replaced by the Federal Communications Commission, FCC) which was to regulate the use of radio frequencies in the United States was established.

1940 – Pinocchio was released in theaters.

1941 – Plutonium was first produced and isolated by Dr. Glenn T. Seaborg

1945 – During the Battle for Iwo Jima, U.S. Marines from the 3rd Platoon, E Company, 2nd Battalion, 28th Regiment of the 5th Division take the crest of Mount Suribachi, the island’s highest peak, and raised the U.S. flag. The photo would later become world-famous as well as win a Pulitzer Prize.

1947 – The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) was founded.

1954 – The first mass inoculation of children against polio with Jonas Salk’s vaccine began in Pittsburgh, PA.

1955 – First meeting of the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO).

1964 – The Beatles appeared in the Ed Sullivan Show for the third time.

February 23, 1964 Birthday (fictional) Dana Scully, X-Files, TV

1967 – The Beatles made a taped appearance on American Bandstand, where they premiered their new music videos for the songs “Penny Lane” and “Strawberry Fields Forever”

1975 – There was an energy crisis in the US in 1975, so daylight savings time started two months early – Feb 23rd instead of April.

1978 -Both Barbra Streisand’s Love Theme from A Star Is Born (Evergreen) and Debby Boone’s You Light Up My Life were awarded the Best Song Grammy – the first and only tie in that category in Grammy history.

1980 – #1 Hit February 23, 1980 – March 21, 1980: Queen – Crazy Little Thing Called Love

1987 – The light from Supernova 1987A, in the Large Magellanic Cloud, reached the Earth.

1991 – #1 Hit February 23, 1991 – March 8, 1991: Whitney Houston – All The Man That I Need

1991 – Operation Desert Storm began in Iraq.

1997 – NBC aired Schindler’s List, completely uncensored.

2002 – #1 Hit February 23, 2002 – March 8, 2002: Ja Rule featuring Ashanti – Always on Time

February 23, 2005 – The Apple iPod mini (2nd generation) was released.

Today’s Random Trivia and Shower Thoughts

Every day I encounter dozens of individuals without speaking a word to each other. But when I log on to my computer I post a comment that could be viewed by hundreds, even thousands of people that I may never see in person.

“An empty stomach is not a good political adviser.” – Albert Einstein

TV Quotes… “Denny Crane” (Denny Crane) on “Boston Legal”

The biggest film of 1977: Star Wars Ep. IV: A New Hope (Action/Adventure) earned ~ $461,000,000

A group of ‘gods’ is called a Pantheon.

From my Idea Book: Get the actors that played the original kids from Barney and Friends. Make an adult comedy where they meet back up with Barney and get into shenanigans.

Any five consecutive months (except February) add up to 153 days.

Speedo originated in 1914 under the brand name ‘Fortitude’. It didn’t become known by its now-famous brand name until 1928.

Jeannette Rankin, the first Congresswoman, served just two non-consecutive terms starting in 1917 and 1941, and was the only person to vote against the declaration of war in both WWI and WWII.

Zombie Nation’s hit single “Kerncraft” synth riff comes directly from the Commodore 64 game “Lazy Jones.”

Sliced bread was invented in 1928 and was referred to as the ‘best thing since bagged bread’.

Sam Houston is the only person to be elected governor of two different states (TN and TX).

“Become vengeance, David. Become wrath.” – John Doe in Se7en #moviequotes

The State Motto of California is “Eureka! I have found it.”

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