TODAY IN HISTORY
TODAY IS WEDNESDAY, FEB. 8,
the 39th day of 2023. There are 332 days left in the year.
TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT IN HISTORY:
On this date in 1587, Mary, Queen of Scots was beheaded in England after she was implicated in a plot to murder her cousin, Queen Elizabeth I.
In 1693, a charter was granted for the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg in the Virginia Colony.
In 1924, the first execution by gas in the U.S. took place at the Nevada State Prison in Carson City as Gee Jon, a Chinese immigrant convicted of murder, was put to death.
In 1952, Queen Elizabeth II proclaimed her accession to the British throne after the death of her father, King George VI.
In 1960, work began on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Street in Los Angeles.
In 1965, Eastern Air Lines Flight 663, a DC-7, crashed shortly after takeoff from John F. Kennedy International Airport; all 84 people on board were killed. The Supremes’ record “Stop! In the Name of Love!” was released by Motown.
In 1968, three Black students were killed in a confrontationat South Carolina State University in Orangeburg in the wake of protests over a whites-only bowling alley.
In 1973, Senate leaders named a select committee to investigate the Watergate scandal, including its chairman, Democrat Sam J. Ervin of North Carolina.
In 2020, the U.S. Embassy in Beijing said a 60-year-old U.S. citizen with the coronavirus had died Feb. 5 in Wuhan; apparently the first American fatality from the virus.
TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS: Composerconductor John Williams is 91. Broadcast journalist Ted Koppel is 83. Actor Nick Nolte is 82. Actor Mary Steenburgen is 70. Author John Grisham is 68. Retired NBA All-Star and College Basketball Hall-of-Famer Marques Johnson is 67. Actor Mary McCormack is 54. Basketball Hall-ofFamer Alonzo Mourning is 53. Actors Seth Green and Joshua Morrow are 49. Actor-comedian Cecily Strong is 39. Rock musician Jeremy Davis is 38. Hip-hop artist Anderson.Paak is 37. Actor Ryan Pinkston is 35. NBA star Klay Thompson and professional surfer Bethany Hamilton are 33.