NEA DATEBOOK

TODAY’S HISTORY: In 1542, Catherine Howard, fifth wife of King Henry VIII, was executed on grounds of treason for committing adultery.

In 1945, Allied aircraft began bombing the German city of Dresden.

In 1960, France successfully detonated its first atomic bomb.

In 2000, the last of Charles Schulz’s original “Peanuts” comic strips ran in Sunday papers, one day after the cartoonist’s death.

TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS: Grant Wood (1891-1942), artist; Tennessee Ernie Ford (1919-1991), singer/actor; Chuck Yeager (1923-2020), aviator; Kim Novak (1933- ), actress; Stockard Channing (1944- ), actress; Jerry Springer (1944-2023), TV personality; Mike Krzyzewski (1947- ), basketball coach; Peter Gabriel (1950- ), singer-songwriter; Henry Rollins (1961- ), singer-songwriter;

Neal McDonough (1966- ), actor; Randy Moss (1977- ), football player; Mena Suvari (1979- ), actress.

TODAY’S FACT: The central event of author Kurt Vonnegut’s celebrated novel “Slaughterhouse-Five” is the Allied bombing of the city of Dresden during World War II. Experts estimate the number of civilian casualties to be 25,000.

TODAY’S SPORTS: In 1920, the Negro National League was established at a YMCA in Kansas City, Missouri, becoming the first Black professional baseball league.

TODAY’S QUOTE: “What good does it do to be afraid? It doesn’t help anything. You better try and figure out what’s happening and correct it.” — Chuck Yeager

TODAY’S NUMBER: 290 — estimated number of nuclear weapons in France’s stockpile as of 2023.

TODAY’S MOON: Between new moon (Feb. 9) and first quarter moon (Feb. 16).