On This Day: February 8

This is the 39th day of the year.

Fact of the Day: Grammy Awards

The Grammy Awards for musical recordings were first given out in 1958 by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences in Burbank, California. The winning single recording was Nel Blu Dipinto Di Blu (Volare) by Domenico Modugno. The winning album was The Music from Peter Gunn by Henry Mancini.

Holidays

Feast day of St. Jerome Emiliani, St. John of Matha, St. Cuthman, St. Stephen of Muret, St. Elfleda, St. Nicetius or Nizier of Besançon, and St. Meingold.

Japan: Ha-Ri-Ku-Yo (Needle Mass).

Slovenia: Culture Day.

Events

1725 - Catherine I succeeded her husband, Peter the Great (who died), to become empress of Russia.

1896 - The Western (football) Conference was formed by Midwestern colleges; it later was renamed the Big 10 Conference.

1904 - The Russo-Japanese War began when Japan launched a surprise naval attack against Port Arthur, a Russian naval base in China. This followed Russia's rejection of a Japanese plan to divide Manchuria and Korea into spheres of influence.

1910 - The Boy Scouts of America was incorporated.

1915 - D.W. Griffith's silent movie epic about the Civil War, "The Birth of a Nation," premiered.

1922 - President Warren Harding had a radio installed at the White House.

1924 - The first execution by lethal gas in the United States took place at the Nevada State Prison in Carson City.

1936 - The first National Football League draft was held. The first selection was Jay Berwanger by the Philadelphia Eagles.

1969 - The last issue of the "Saturday Evening Post" was published; it started in 1821.

1974 - The last Skylab crew returned to Earth.

1993 - General Motors sued NBC after Dateline NBC allegedly rigged two crashes intended to demonstrate that some GM pickups can easily catch fire if hit in certain places. NBC settled the lawsuit the following day.

2005 - Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas agree to a cease-fire.

Births

1700 - Daniel Bernoulli, Swiss mathematician.

1820 - William Tecumseh Sherman, army officer, Civil War hero.

1828 - Jules Verne, French writer and "The Father of Science Fiction."

1834 - Dmitri Ivanovich Medeleyev, Russian chemist, developer of the periodic table of elements.

1878 - Martin Buber, the German-Jewish religious philosopher.

1920 - Lana Turner, American actress.

1925 - Jack Lemmon, American Academy Award-winning actor.

1931 - James Dean, American film actor.

1932 - John Towner Williams, American composer and conductor.

1941 - Nick Nolte, American actor.

1974 - Seth Green, American actor.

Deaths

1587 - Mary, Queen of Scots, beheaded in Fotheringay Castle for her alleged part in the conspiracy to usurp Elizabeth I.

1990 - Del Shannon (born Charles Weedon Westover), American entertainer.

1999 - Dame Iris Murdoch, Irish-born British novelist and philosopher.

2007 - Anna Nicole Smith (born Vickie Lynn Marshall), American stripper, Playboy's 1993 Playmate of the Year.