EVENTS:
- 1814 – Mayon Volcano in the Philippines erupts, killing around 1,200 people, the most devastating eruption of the volcano.
- 1835 – Slavery is abolished in Mauritius.
- 1865 – President Abraham Lincoln signs the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.
- 1884 – The first volume (A to Ant) of the Oxford English Dictionary is published.
- 1924 – The United Kingdom recognizes the USSR.
- 1953 – North Sea flood of 1953 (Dutch, Watersnoodramp, literally “flood disaster”) was a major flood caused by a heavy storm, that occurred on the night of Saturday, 31 January 1953 and morning of Sunday, 1 February 1953. The floods struck the Netherlands, Belgium and the United Kingdom.
- 1974 – A fire in the 25-story Joelma Building in São Paulo, Brazil kills 189 and injures 293.
- 2008 – Suicide bombings in Baghdad occur.
- 2012 – At least 72 people are killed and over 500 injured as a result of clashes between fans of Egyptian football teams Al-Masry and Al-Ahly in the city of Port Said.
- 2013 – The Shard, the tallest building in the European Union, is opened to the public.
- 2021 – A coup d’état in Myanmar removes Aung San Suu Kyi from power and restores military rule.
- 2022 – Five-year-old Moroccan boy Rayan Aourram falls into a 32-meter (105 feet) deep well in Ighran village in Tamorot commune, Chefchaouen Province, Morocco, but dies four days later, before rescue workers reached him.
BIRTHS:
- 1881 – Tip Snooke, South African cricketer (d. 1966)
- 1884 – Bradbury Robinson, American football player and physician (d. 1949)
- 1905 – Emilio G. Segrè, Italian-American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1989)
- 1915 – Stanley Matthews, English footballer and manager (d. 2000)
- 1917 – A. K. Hangal, Indian actor (d. 2012)
- 1930 – Hussain Muhammad Ershad, Indian-Bangladeshi general and politician, 10th President of Bangladesh
- 1958 – Jackie Shroff, Indian actor, singer, and producer
- 1971 – Ajay Jadeja, Indian cricketer, sportscaster, and actor
- 1977 – Lari Ketner, American football player (d. 2014)
- 1981 – Graeme Smith, South African cricketer
- 1982 – Shoaib Malik, Pakistani cricketer
- 1990 – Dan Gosling, English footballer
HOLIDAYS and OBSERVANCES:
