DAILY ALMANAC
Today is Saturday, Feb. 11, the 42nd day of 2023. There are 323 days left in the year. On this date in:
660 B.C.: Tradition holds that Japan was founded as Jimmu ascended the throne as the country’s first emperor.
1847: American inventor Thomas Alva Edison was born in Milan, Ohio.
1937: A six-week-old sit-down strike against General Motors ended, with the company agreeing to recognize the United Automobile Workers Union.
1945: President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet leader Josef Stalin signed the Yalta Agreement, in which Stalin agreed to declare war against Imperial Japan following Nazi Germany’s capitulation.
1963: American author and poet Sylvia Plath was found dead in her London flat, a suicide; she was 30.
1975: Margaret Thatcher was elected leader of Britain’s opposition Conservative Party.
1979: Followers of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini seized power in Iran.
1990: South African Black activist Nelson Mandela was freed after 27 years in captivity.
2006: Vice President Dick Cheney accidentally shot and wounded Harry Whittington, a companion during a weekend quail-hunting trip in Texas.
2008: The Pentagon charged Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and five other detainees at Guantanamo Bay with murder and war crimes in connection with the Sept. 11 attacks.
2011: Egypt exploded with joy after pro-democracy protesters brought down President Hosni Mubarak, whose resignation ended three decades of authoritarian rule.
2020: The World Health Organization gave the official name of COVID-19 to the disease caused by the coronavirus that had emerged in the Chinese city of Wuhan.
Singer Jimmy Carter of The Blind Boys of Alabama is 91. Actor Tina Louise (“Gilligan’s Island”) is 89. Musician Sergio Mendes is 82. Actor Philip Anglim (“The Thorn Birds”) is 71. Actor
Catherine Hickland (“One Life To Live”) is 67. Drummer David Uosikkinen of The Hooters is 67. Actor Carey Lowell (“Law & Order”) is 62. Singer Sheryl Crow is 61. Actor Jennifer Aniston is 54. Actor Damian Lewis (“Billions”) is 52. Singer D’angelo is 49. Actor Brice Beckham (“Mr. Belvedere”) is 47. Vocalist
Mike Shinoda of Linkin Park and of Fort Minor is 46. Singer-actor Brandy (“Moesha”) is 44. Bassist
Jon Jones of Eli Young Band is 43. Actor Matthew Lawrence (“Boy Meets World”) is 43. Singer Kelly Rowland (Destiny’s Child) is 42. Actor Natalie Dormer (“Game of Thrones”) is 41. Singer Aubrey O’day (Danity Kane) is 39. Actor Taylor Lautner is 31.