On This Day in History - February 6th - Almanac

Today is Monday, Feb. 6, the 37th day of 2023 with 328 to follow.

The moon is waning. Morning stars are Mars, Mercury and Uranus. Evening stars are Jupiter, Mars, Neptune, Saturn, Uranus and Venus.

Those born on this date are under the sign of Aquarius. They include England's Queen Anne in 1665; statesman Aaron Burr in 1756; baseball great George Herman "Babe" Ruth in 1895; former U.S. President Ronald Reagan in 1911; Eva Braun, mistress of Adolf Hitler, in 1912; actor Zsa Zsa Gabor in 1917; actor Patrick Macnee in 1922; actor Rip Torn in 1931; actor Mamie Van Doren in 1931 (age 92); French film director Francois Truffaut in 1932; actor Mike Farrell in 1939 (age 84); TV newsman Tom Brokaw in 1940 (age 83); handgun control activist Sarah Brady in 1942; singer Fabian Forte in 1943 (age 80); actor Michael Tucker in 1945 (age 78); Jamaican reggae singer/songwriter Bob Marley in 1945; singer Natalie Cole in 1950; actor Kevin Whately in 1951 (age 72); actor/director Robert Townsend in 1957 (age 66); actor Kathy Najimy in 1957 (age 66); singer W. Axl Rose in 1962 (age 61); singer Gordon Downie in 1964; singer Rick Astley in 1966 (age 57); actor Brian Stepanek in 1971 (age 52); actor Alice Eve in 1982 (age 41); actor Crystal Reed in 1985 (age 38); actor Dane DeHaan in 1986 (age 37); actor Dominic Sherwood in 1990 (age 33); singer Tinashe Kachingwe in 1993 (age 30); actor Charlie Heaton in 1994 (age 29).

On this date in history:

In 1819, Singapore was founded with the establishment of a British East India Co. trading post.

In 1865, Gen. Robert E. Lee was appointed commander in chief of the armies of the Confederacy.

In 1928, a young woman claiming to be Anastasia, daughter of the slain Russian Czar Nicholas, arrived in the United States. In the 1990s, DNA testing conducted on the woman's remains concluded she wasn't a member of the Romanov family, which was executed in 1918. The woman's story inspired a French play and a later American movie.

In 1943, U.S. Army Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower was named commander of Allied expeditionary forces in North Africa.

In 1952, Princess Elizabeth became sovereign of Great Britain upon the death of her father, King George VI. She was crowned Queen Elizabeth II on June 2, 1953.

In 1958, a British airliner crashed upon takeoff from a Munich, Germany, airport. The crash killed 23 people, including eight members of the Manchester United soccer team.

In 1987, broad no-smoking rules took effect for 890,000 employees in 6,800 U.S. federal buildings nationwide.

In 1992, a military transport plane crashed into a restaurant and hotel in Evansville, Ind., killing 16 people.

In 2001, Ariel Sharon was elected prime minister of Israel.

In 2004, a suicide bomber detonated explosives in a suitcase on a Moscow subway car, killing 39 people and injuring about 200.

In 2006, U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales told Congress that President George W. Bush was within his legal rights when he authorized warrantless surveillance of people in the United States by the National Security Agency.

In 2014, Jay Leno ended his 22-year stint as host of The Tonight Show. Jimmy Fallon took over hosting duties, moving the talk show from Burbank, Calif., to New York City.

In 2016, a magnitude-6.4 earthquake rocked Taiwan, leaving at least 117 dead and 550 people injured when several buildings collapsed.

In 2018, SpaceX launched the world's most powerful rocket, the Falcon Heavy, for the first time, sending Elon Musk's Tesla Roadster -- complete with a dummy in a spacesuit listening to David Bowie's "Space Oddity" -- into space.

In 2022, Queen Elizabeth II became the first British monarch to mark 70 years on the throne, celebrating the milestone later in the year with a Platinum Jubilee.

A thought for the day: "It's hard to beat a person who never gives up." -- American baseball star Babe Ruth