February 13 in Pop Culture History

February 13th History, Trivia, and Fun Facts

February 13th History Highlights

  • 1741 – American Magazine was first published. It was America’s first magazine.
  • 1861 – Colonel Bernard Erwin earned the first Medal of Honor, America’s highest military honor.
  • February 13, 1937 – Prince Valiant, Comic Strip debuted
  • 1943 – Dresden, Germany was firebombed, killing an estimated 135,000 people.
  • 1961 – The Coso Artifact was discovered, a 1920s era spark plug, supposedly found in a 500,000-year-old rock.
  • If you were born on February 13th,
    You were likely conceived the week of… May 23rd (prior year)

February 13th is…

Dream Your Sweet Day
Madly in Love with Me Day
National Crab Rangoon Day
National Tortellini Day
National Wingman’s Day
World Whale Day
World Radio Day
February 13th is not particularly significant in the history of radio. World Radio Day celebrated on February 13th, is a relatively recent creation, first celebrated in 2012. The day was proclaimed by UNESCO to recognize the importance of radio as a medium for information, education, and entertainment and to celebrate the role of radio in bringing people together and promoting understanding.

February 13th Birthday Quotes

“Life is what it is, and you take what’s handed, and you work as hard as you can, and hopefully you’ll be successful, but I just don’t spend too much time worrying about that.”
– Jerry Springer

“Let them think what they think. Nobody doesn’t get stereotyped. Nobody doesn’t get scorned. Everybody’s bad news in somebody’s life.”
– Peter Tork

“I think about the meaning of pain. Pain is personal. It really belongs to the one feeling it. Probably the only thing that is your own. I like mine.”
– Henry Rollins

“I’ve liked lots of people ’til I went on a picnic jaunt with them.”
– Bess Truman

“You don’t concentrate on risks. You concentrate on results. No risk is too great to prevent the necessary job from getting done.”
– Chuck Yeager

“In love, there are no penalties and no payments, and what is given is indistinguishable from what is received.”
– Eleanor Farjeon

“One thing that really appeals to me is this idea of music being a living thing that has an evolution that, in a way, enables the artist to sell a process rather than a piece of product.”
– Peter Gabriel

“Scar tissue is stronger than regular tissue. Realize the strength, move on.”
– Henry Rollins

February 13th Birthdays

1881 – Eleanor Farjeon, English Author (died in 1965)
1883 – Hal Chase, American baseball player and manager (died in 1947)
1885 – Bess Truman, American wife of US President Harry S Truman (died in 1982)
1891 – Grant Wood, American painter (died in 1942)
1892 – Robert Jackson, American lawyer (died in 1954)
1919 – Tennessee Ernie Ford, American singer and actor (died in 1991)
1919 – Eddie Robinson, American college basketball coach (died in 2007)
1923 – Chuck Yeager, American general and pilot, the first pilot to break the sound barrier (died in 2020)
1933 – Kim Novak, American actress
1934 – George Segal, American actor
1941 – Bo Svenson, Swedish-American actor
1942 – Carol Lynley, American model and actress (died in 2019)
1942 – Peter Tork, American singer-songwriter, bass player and actor (died in 2019)
1944 – Stockard Channing, American actress
1944 – Jerry Springer, English-American television host
1946 – Richard Blumenthal, American politician
1950 – Peter Gabriel, English singer-songwriter and musician
1957 – Denise Austin, American fitness trainer
1961 – Henry Rollins, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actor
1968 – Kelly Hu, American actress
1974 – Robbie Williams, English singer-songwriter
1979 – Mena Suvari, American actress

February 13th History

1633 – Galileo Galilei arrived in Rome to face charges of heresy by the Catholic Church for advocating Copernican theory, which held that the Earth revolved around the Sun.

1689 – William and Mary were proclaimed co-rulers of England.

1741 – The first magazine was published in America – The American Magazine.

1866 – Jesse James committed the first daylight armed bank robbery in the United States during peacetime, at the Clay County Savings Association in the town of Liberty, Missouri

1895 – Oscar Wilde’s final play, The Importance of Being Earnest, opened at the St. James’ Theatre in London.

1906 -The patent (#812,554) was issued to Alfred Einhorn for his synthesis of procaine, which was given the tradename of Novocain.

1914 -The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP ) was established to protect the copyrighted musical compositions of its members.

February 13, 1937 – Prince Valiant, Comic Strip

1946 – The world’s first electronic digital computer, ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Calculator) was first demonstrated at the Moore School of Electrical Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania, by John W. Mauchly and J. Presper Eckert.

1961 – #1 Hit February 13, 1961 – February 26, 1961: Lawrence Welk – Calcutta

1965 – Sixteen-year-old Peggy Fleming won the ladies’ senior figure skating title at Lake Placid, NY.

February 13, 1967 – CBS’s As The World Turns was the first Soap Opera to broadcast in color.

1971 – #1 Hit February 13, 1971 – March 19, 1971: The Osmonds – One Bad Apple

1993 – Double Dare game show ended.

1999 – #1 Hit February 13, 1999 – March 12, 1999: Monica – Angel Of Mine

2000 – Two days after Charles M Schulz died, February 11, the last original Peanuts comic strip was printed in newspapers.

2002 – Former New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani received an honorary knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II.

2004 – Astronomer Travis Metcalfe of the Harvard – Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics believed he discovered the largest diamond in the known universe at the center of the white dwarf star, BPM 37093. Observations claim that the core of the star is a diamond crystal 4000 km in diameter.

February 13, 2015 – Bad Hair Day aired on The Disney Channel

Today’s Random Trivia and Shower Thoughts

There are two kinds of people who don’t say much: Those who are quiet and those who talk a lot.

Leather armor is the best for stealth because it is made of hide.

“That’s odd…” #famouslastwords

PD James – Real Name: PD White

From my Idea Book: Bring back Nahuatl, Latin, and Aramaic back as languages taught for credit in schools.

“Where’s the beef?” – Wendy’s ad

When someone throws a no-hitter, why is it that we’re excited for them instead of disappointed for all the guys who failed to get a hit?

The Capital of Vanuatu is Port-Vila

Alliumphobia is the fear of garlic. #vampireshaveit

The highest-grossing film never to reach number one on the U.S. charts was “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” (2002) $241,438,208.

Stir-fry cooks come from all woks of life.

“Fasten your seatbelts. It’s going to be a bumpy night.” – Margo Channing (Bette Davis)

If I can make a few people smile or laugh by saying some dumb stuff on the Internet, then that’s good enough for me.

‘Piloerection’ is the medical term for goosebumps.

“I let out a battle cry. Sure, a lot of people might have mistaken it for a sudden yelp of unmanly fear, but trust me. It was a battle cry.” – Jim Butcher

More Pop Culture History Resources