Historical anniversaries are great for “On This Day in History” features and anniversary tie-ins. They’re popular with readers and viewers, editors and producers love them, they’re easy to research, and you can easily turn them into newspaper and magazine articles, films, TV/radio/theatre shows, and more.
Here are 29 newsworthy and notable historical anniversaries coming up in February 2022 (so you have time to write about them!)
We’ve randomly picked one anniversary for each day of the month from The Date-A-Base Book 2022. You’ll find hundreds more in the book. The 2023 edition is also available if you work further ahead, and the 2024 edition will be available within the next month.
1 Feb 1982 – 40 years ago
Intel released its 80286 16-bit microprocessor – also known as the 286. It was widely used in personal computers until the 1990s.
2 Feb 1922 – 100 years ago
James Joyce’s novel Ulysses was published.
3 Feb 1947 – 75 years ago
The coldest temperature ever recorded in North America: -63°C (-81.4°F) at Snag, Yukon, Canada.
4 Feb 1997 – 25 years ago
American actor and former football star O. J. Simpson was found liable for the deaths of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman at a civil trial in Santa Monica, California. On 10th February he was ordered to pay a fine of $25 million and compensation of $8.5 million.
5 Feb 1992 – 100 years ago
The first issue of Reader’s Digest was published.
6 Feb 1952 – 70 years ago
Death of George VI, King of the United Kingdom (1936–52). Succeeded by his daughter, Queen Elizabeth II.
7 Feb 1947 – 75 years ago
The first of the Dead Sea Scrolls were found in caves in Khirbat Qumran (now in the West Bank, Palestine).
8 Feb 1922 – 100 years ago
The first radio was installed in the White House.
9 Feb 1942 – 80 years ago
World War II: ‘War Time’ (year-round Daylight Saving Time) went into effect in the USA. (Ended September 1945.)
10 Feb 1942 – 80 years ago
American bandleader Glenn Miller was presented with the first ever gold record, for 1,200,000 sales of Chattanooga Choo Choo.
11 Feb 1847 – 175 years ago
Birth of Thomas Edison, American inventor and businessman. Best known for inventing the first practical incandescent light bulb, phonograph, movie camera and projector, and many more.
12 Feb 1947 – 75 years ago
Lord Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, became the last Viceroy of India. He became the first Governor-General of the Independent Dominion of India in August.
13 Feb 1982 – 40 years ago
Death of Zeng Jinlian, Chinese woman verified as the tallest woman ever recorded (8 feet 1.75 inches). (Died aged 17.)
14 Feb 1962 – 60 years ago
The First Lady of the USA, Jacqueline Kennedy, gave a televised tour of the White House.
15 Feb 1932 – 90 years ago
American entertainer George Burns and his wife Gracie Allen made their radio debut on the CBS show Robert Burns Panatella.
16 Feb 1822 – 200 years ago
Birth of Sir Francis Galton, British polymath. He made major contributions to the fields of statistics, eugenics, heredity, psychology, forensics, meteorology, and more. His method of classifying fingerprints allowed them to be used for identification, and he also devised the first weather map.
17 Feb 1992 – 30 years ago
American serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer was sentenced to 15 consecutive life terms by a court in Wisconsin. He was particularly notable for the gruesome nature of his crimes, which included cannibalism and necrophilia. (He was beaten to death by a fellow prison inmate in November 1994.)
18 Feb 1847 – 175 years ago
The first rescuers reached the surviving members of the Donner Party in the Sierra Nevada Mountains in the USA. The party was emigrating to California from the Midwest when they were delayed, became snowbound, and were forced to spend the winter in the mountains. They resorted to cannibalism to survive. 48 of the 87 members of the party survived.
19 Feb 1942 – 80 years ago
World War II: U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 authorising the military to relocate and intern Japanese Americans living along the Pacific coast.
20 Feb 1962 – 60 years ago
John Glenn became the first American astronaut to orbit the Earth. He made three orbits in the space capsule Friendship 7.
21 Feb 1947 – 75 years ago
American inventor Edwin Land demonstrated the first instant camera (the Polaroid Land Camera) at the Optical Society of America, New York.
22 Feb 1932 – 90 years ago
The first Purple Heart, a U.S. military decoration for those wounded or killed during military service, was awarded to General Douglas MacArthur.
23 Feb 1947 – 75 years ago
The International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) was founded in Geneva, Switzerland.
24 Feb 1997 – 25 years ago
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved six brands of morning-after pill for preventing pregnancy.
25 Feb 1932 – 90 years ago
Adolf Hitler became a German citizen, enabling him to run against Paul von Hindenburg in the 1932 presidential election. (Hitler had renounced his Austrian citizenship in 1925 and was stateless for 7 years.)
26 Feb 1922 – 100 years ago
Birth of Margaret Leighton, British stage, film and television actress. (Died 1976.)
27 Feb 1897 – 125 years ago
Birth of Marian Anderson, American contralto. As well being a world-famous singer, she broke several major barriers for black artists in the USA, and was the first black person to perform at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City.
28 Feb 1922 – 100 years ago
Egypt gained its independence from the UK.
29 Feb 2012 – 10 years ago
Death of Davy Jones, British pop singer and actor (The Monkees).
More anniversaries:
You’ll find hundreds more anniversaries for this month in The Date-A-Base Book 2022. The 2023 edition is also available if you work further ahead. The 2024, 2025 and 2026 editions will be released later this year. Find out more at ideas4writers.com.