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February
23 – February 29
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| We start with February 23. On this day Russians celebrate Defender
of the Fatherland Day. Fatherland is the place you are born in, it can
feed you and it can amaze you with its beauty. There is one thing it can’t
do, though. That is to defend itself... That’s the duty of those who eat
its bread, drink its water and enjoy the beauties of its nature. February
23 once was celebrated as Army Day, but in case of an enemy attack, everyone,
not only professional soldiers, stand up like one to defend their country.
Born on February 23, 1758 was Vasily Kapnits, a Russian dramatist and poet, who came down hard on graft, court arbitrariness and serfdom. Also born on this day were: Cesar Ritz, the founder of the Paris hotel whose name is synonymous with luxury and elegance, in 1850; the avant-garde artist of the Black Quadrangle fame, Kazimir Malevich, in 1878. Malevich is credited by many as the first to discover color and form as independent means of expression. Also born on February 23rd was the Oscar-winning American film director Victor Fleming, the maker of “Gone With the Wind”, one of the greatest films of all time, in 1883; and American physicist Allan MacLeod Cormack, in 1924. The winner of the 1979 Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine, Allan McLeod Cormack, along with Godfrey Hounsfield, developed the theoretical foundations that made computerized axial tomography scanning possible. Also born on February 23, but in 1929, was the Patriarch of Moscow and
All Russia, Alexi II (Alexei Elected Russian Orthodox Patriarch in 1990, Alexi II is working hard to establish a new relationship between Church and State, restore moral and religious culture and bring down the artificial barriers separating the secular and church cultures, between secular science and religion. We are now going to February 24. The invincible Russian naval commander, Admiral Fyodor Ushakov, was born on this day in 1744. On February 24, of 1848 tens of thousands of Parisians took to the streets in the first worker-led popular uprising in history, forcing the abdication of the last French King Louis Philippe. Those events went down in history as the February Revolution… On this day in 1964 Cassius Clay scores a sixth-round win over Sonny Liston for the heavyweight boxing championships of the world, in Miami, Florida. Soon after that Clay switched to Islam taking up the name of Mohammad Ali. And on February 24 of 1997 the Edinburgh-based doctor Ian Wilmore and his team made international headlines cloning Dolly the sheep, the first mammal to be cloned from an adult cell. The sheep was named after the famous American singer and actress Dolly Parton. We are moving now to February 25… Enrico Caruso, thought to be the greatest dramatic tenor of all time,
was born on this day in 1873 Virginia Rivero, an Argentinean, gave birth right in the middle of a car crash on this day in 1999. Her daughter became the youngest human in history to get into a traffic accident. Well, let’s see what we have on February 26… Napoleon escaped from the island of Elba on this day in 1815 and on March 1 he landed in the south of France. From there, with just a thousand of supporters in tow, he marched on Paris. On this day in 1848 the 29-year-old German philosopher Karl Marx published The Communist Manifesto in London. The Manifesto has since become a major influence on the people’s minds everywhere. February 27… The first Russian embassy in London opened on this day in 1557. On February 27, 1922 the US Supreme Court unanimously upheld the 19th amendment guaranteeing the women’s suffrage rights. And on this day in 1933 the Nazis set fire to the Reichstag, or German parliament, blaming it on the Communists who were forced deep into the underground. Let’s now move on to February 28. Westminster Abbey opened in London on this day in the year 1066. The Spanish conquistador Hernando Cortez executes the last Aztec Emperor Cuautemoc on this day in 1525. On February 28 of 1780 Russian Empress Catherine II urges the European nations to endorse the American colonies independence struggle against British dominion. The British acknowledge Egypt’s independence on this day in 1922 and Sultan Fuad II becomes King. And Sweden’s Prime Minister Olof Palme was shot and killed in Stockholm
on this day in 1986 while on And we finally arrive at February 29… The St.Gothard railway tunnel was completed under the Alps on this day in 1880 linking Switzerland and Italy. And the legendary Canadian hockey player Henri Richard, dubbed as Pocket Rocket for his small height and dazzling speed, was born on this day in 1936. Henri Richard carved out an extraordinary career of his own and with an unrivaled 11 Stanley Cup wins, he rightfully takes his spot in the legendary Hockey Hall of Fame. |
Ridiger).
He comes from a family of aristocrats who were in civil and military service
to Russia (among them 1812 war hero, Adjutant General, Count Fyodor Ridiger.)
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his
way home from a movie theater.
