^B{^#!16!23 February^N! Feast day of St Polycarp of Smyrna, St Dositheus, St Milburga, St Alexander Akimites, St Boisil, and St Willigis.
^B{1732^B} First performance of Handel's ^I{Oratorio^I}, in London, England. ^B{1820^B} Discovery of the Cato Street conspiracy; following a tip-off, police arrested revolutionaries who planned to blow up the British Cabinet. ^B{1836 ^B}The siege of the Alamo began, under the Mexican general Santa Anna. ^B{1863^B} Lake Victoria was proclaimed to be the source of the River Nile by British explorers John Speke and J A Grant. ^B{1898^B} Emile Zola was imprisoned for writing his open letter ^I{J'accuse/I accuse^I}, accusing the French government of anti-Semitism and of wrongly imprisoning the army officer Captain Alfred Dreyfus. ^B{1919^B} Benito Mussolini founded the Italian Fascist Party. ^B{1970^B} Guyana became an independent republic within the Commonwealth. ^B{1981^B} Spanish Fascist army officers led by Lt Colonel Antonio Tejero attempted a coup in the Cortes (parliament).
^B{^I{^#!14!Born ^N}Samuel Pepys, English civil servant and diarist, ^B{1633^B}; George Frederick Handel, German-born British composer, ^B{1685^B}; Victor Fleming, US film director who made ^I{The Wizard of Oz^I}, ^B{1883^B}; Erich KΣstner, German children's author, ^B{1899^B}; Peter Fonda, US film actor, ^B{1940^B}.
^B{^I{^#!14!Died ^N}Joshua Reynolds, English painter, ^B{1792^B}; John Keats, English poet, ^B{1821^B}; Karl Gauss, German mathematician and astronomer, ^B{1855^B}; Nellie Melba, Australian opera singer, ^B{1931^B}; Edward Elgar, English composer, ^B{1994^B}; Stan Laurel, English-born US film comedian, ^B{1965^B}; Adrian Boult, English conductor, ^B{1983^B}; Andy Warhol, US Pop artist, ^B{1987^B}.
