DP Features

Moments in Time

January 31, 2010

Moments in Time

The History Channel

• On Feb. 2, 1847, the first woman of a group of pioneers commonly known as the Donner Party dies after they become snowbound while crossing the Sierra Nevada mountains. The disastrous trip west ended up killing 42 people and turned many of the survivors into cannibals.

• On Feb. 1, 1884, the first portion of the Oxford English Dictionary is published. Plans for the dictionary began in 1857 when it was estimated the project would take 10 years to finish. In fact, it took more than 70 years before the 125th and final portion was published in 1928.

• On Feb. 6, 1911, Rolls-Royce adopted the “Spirit of Ecstasy” mascot, the silver-winged hood ornament that has become the company’s symbol.

• On Feb. 3, 1944, American forces invade and take control of the Marshall Islands, long occupied by the Japanese and used by them as a base for military operations. The Marshalls, east of the Caroline Islands in the western Pacific Ocean, had been in Japanese hands since World War I.

• On Feb. 4, 1959, Lawrence Taylor, one of the greatest defensive players in NFL history, is born in Williamsburg, Va. Taylor went on to play his entire 13-season professional career with the New York Giants and is credited with redefining the position of outside linebacker and terrorizing a generation of NFL quarterbacks.

• On Feb. 7, 1964, “Beatlemania” arrives at New York’s Kennedy Airport. It was the first visit to the United States by the Beatles, a British rock-and-roll quartet that had just scored its first No. 1 U.S. hit six days before with “I Want to Hold Your Hand.” The “Fab Four” were greeted by 3,000 screaming fans, who caused a near riot when The Beatles stepped off the plane and onto American soil.

• On Feb. 5, 1989, the last Russian troops withdraw from the capital city of Kabul. Soviet armed forces entered Afghanistan in December 1979 to support that nation’s pro-Soviet communist government in its battles with Muslim rebels. By the time the Soviets started to withdraw in early 1989, more than 13,000 Russian soldiers were dead and another 22,000 had been wounded.

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