On This Day: February 11

This is the 42nd day of the year.

Fact of the Day: Julia Child

Starting on February 11, 1963, Julia Child demystified French cooking and entertained viewers as "The French Chef" on WGBH-TV, Boston. Her show was a great success on PBS stations and Child filmed 200 programs, with her trademark trilling voice, signing off with "Bon appetit!" Child's show, along with her book Mastering the Art of French Cooking (1961, coauthored with Simone Beck and Louisette Bertholle), introduced millions of Americans to classic French ways of preparing and enjoying food.

Holidays

Feast day of Saints Saturninus and Dativus, St. Benedict of Aniane, St. Gregory II, pope, St. Caedmon, St. Pascal, pope, St. Lazarus of Milan, St. Lucius of Adrianople, and St. Severinus of Agaunum.

Japan: National Foundation Day.

Cameroon: Youth Day.

Iran: National Day.

Events

1254 - The British Parliament first convened.

1531 - King Henry VIII was recognized as supreme head of the Church of England.

1812 - The term "gerrymandering" was coined when Massachusetts Governor Elbridge Gerry signed a re-districting law favoring his party.

1815 - News of the Treaty of Ghent, ending the War of 1812, finally reached the United States.

1929 - The Lateran Treaty was signed with Italy, recognizing the independence and sovereignty of Vatican City.

1945 - The Yalta Conference ended, at which the Allied leaders planned the final defeat of Germany and agreed on the establishment of the United Nations.

1975 - Margaret Thatcher became the first woman to lead the British Conservative Party.

1989 - Reverend Barbara C. Harris became the first woman consecrated as a bishop in the Episcopal Church.

1990 - South African black activist Nelson Mandela was freed after 27 years in captivity.

2006 - Vice President Dick Cheney accidentally shoots a friend during a quail hunting trip on a southern Texas ranch.

Births

1800 - William Henry Fox Talbot, British photography pioneer, producer of the first book with photographic illustrations.

1847 - Thomas Alva Edison, prolific American inventor; claimed 1,093 patented ideas.

1855 - Josephine Marshall Jewell Dodge, American educator, pioneer of day care for children.

1926 - Leslie Nielsen, Canadian actor and absurdist comedian.

1934 - Mary Quant, British fashion designer.

1941 - Sérgio Mendes, Brazilian musician.

1962 - Sheryl Crow, nine-time Grammy-winning American musician.

1972 - Kelly Slater, American professional surfer.

Deaths

1963 - Sylvia Plath, American poet.

1976 - Lee J. Cobb (born Leo Jacoby), American actor.

2006 - Peter Benchley, American novelist, journalist, and screenwriter.