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February 5

Click here for Famous Birthdays for this day.

1782 – The Spanish captured Minorca from the British.

1783 – Sweden recognized the independence of the United States.

1846 – “The Oregon Spectator”, based in Oregon City, became the first newspaper published on the Pacific coast.

1861 – Samuel Goodale patented the moving picture peep show machine.

1885 – Congo State was established under Leopold II of Belgium, as a personal possession.

1881 – Phoenix, AZ, was incorporated.

1900 – The U.S. and Britain signed the Hay-Pauncefote Treaty, which gave the U.S. the right to build a canal in Nicaragua but not the right fortify it.

1917 – Mexico’s constitution was adopted.

1924 – The BBC time signals, or “pips”, from Greenwich Observatory were heard for the first time. They are broadcast every hour.

1931 – Maxine Dunlap became the first woman licensed as a glider pilot.

1937 – U.S. President Roosevelt proposed enlarging the U.S. Supreme Court. The plan failed.

1940 – “Amanda of Honeymoon Hill” debuted on radio.

1952 – The Baby Boomer Queen was born to change the world : ).

1953 – The Walt Disney’s film “Peter Pan” opened at the Roxy Theatre in New York City.

1958 – Gamel Abdel Nasser was formally nominated to become the first president of the United Arab Republic.

1961 – The first issue of the “Sunday Telegraph” was published.

1962 – French President Charles De Gaulle called for Algeria’s independence.

1972 – Bob Douglas became the first black man elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, MA.

1987 – The Dow Jones industrial average closed above the 2,200-point for the first time. The market closed at 2201.49.

1988 – A pair of indictments were unsealed in Florida, accusing Panama’s military leader, Gen. Manuel Antonio Noriega, of bribery and drug trafficking.

1994 – White separatist Byron De La Beckwith was convicted in Jackson, MS, of the 1963 murder of civil rights leader Medgar Evers.

1997 – Switzerland’s “Big Three” banks announced they would create a $71 million fund for Holocaust victims and their families.

1997 – Investment bank Morgan Stanley announced a $10 billion merger with Dean Witter.

1999 – Mike Tyson was sentenced to a year in jail for assaulting two people after a car accident on August 31, 1998. Tyson was also fined $5,000, had to serve 2 years of probation, and had to perform 200 hours of community service upon release.

2001 – It was announced the Kelly Ripa would be Regis Philbin’s cohost. The show was renamed to “Live! With Regis and Kelly.”

2001 – Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman announced their separation.

2003 – U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell presented evidence to the U.N. concerning Iraq’s material breach of U.N. Resolution 1441.