History of 2 February

1983 – The final edition of Garry Trudeau’s comic strip, “Doonesbury”, appeared in 726 newspapers. “Doonesbury” began running again in September 1984.
1983 – The musical “Annie” closed on Broadway at the Uris Theatre after 2,377 performances.
1985 – The Rebels of UNLV beat Utah State in three overtime periods. The final score of 142-140 set a new NCAA record for total points in a basketball game (282). The game took over three hours to play.
1991 – Sharon Pratt Dixon was sworn in as mayor of Washington, DC. She was the first black woman to head a city of that size and prominence.
1996 – AT&T announced that it would eliminate 40,000 jobs over three years.
1998 – Russia began circulating new rubles in an effort to keep inflation in check and promote confidence.
2004 – NASA’s Stardust space probe collected samples from the comet Wild 2. The samples returned to Earth on January 15, 2006.
2008 – The price of oil hit $100 per barrel for the first time.
2012 – The ferry MV Rabaul Queen sinks off the coast of Papua New Guinea near the Finschhafen District, with an estimated 146-165 dead.

Celebrating Birthday Today

1982 – Sergio Castaño Ortega, Spanish footballer
1982 – Kelly Mazzante, American basketball player
1982 – Kan Mi-Youn, South Korean singer, model, and host
1983 – Ronny Cedeño, Venezuelan baseball player
1983 – Carolina Klüft, Swedish heptathlete, and jumper
1983 – Jordin Tootoo, Canadian ice hockey player
1983 – Vladimir Voskoboinikov, Estonian footballer
1984 – Rudi Wulf, New Zealand rugby player
1985 – Silvestre Varela, Portuguese footballer
1986 – Gemma Arterton, English actress and singer
1987 – Anthony Fainga’a, Australian rugby player
1987 – Saia Fainga’a, Australian rugby player
1987 – Mimi Page, American singer-songwriter and composer
1987 – Gerard Piqué, Spanish footballer
1987 – Javon Ringer, American football player
1989 – Harrison Smith, American football player
1991 – Nathan Delfouneso, English footballer
1991 – Gregory Mertens, Belgian footballer (d. 2015)
1993 – Ravel Morrison, English footballer
1993 – Bobby Decordova-Reid English born Jamaican international footballer, forward
1995 – Paul Digby, English footballer
1995 – Aleksander Jagiełło, Polish footballer
1995 – Arfa Karim, Pakistani student and computer prodigy (d. 2012)
1996 – Harry Winks, English international footballer, midfielder