On this day 4th February

Some notable facts about this date, for more, visit http://www.onthisday.com

Facts

211 Roman Emperor Septimius Severus dies, leaving the Roman Empire in the hands of his two quarrelsome sons, Caracalla and Geta

960 Coronation of Zhao Kuangyin as Emperor Taizu of the Song, initiating three centuries of Song Dynasty dominance in southern China

1789 1st US electoral college chooses George Washington as President and John Adams as Vice-President

1844 World's oldest known Bible, "The Codex Sinaiticus" (Sinai Bible), is discovered or stolen in Egypt by Constantin von Tischendorf

1865 Robert E. Lee is named general-in-chief of Confederate forces

1969 The Palestine National Congress appoints Yasser Arafat chairman of the PLO

1988 Panamanian General Manuel Noriega indicted by US federal grand jury for drug trafficking and racketeering

2004 Mark Zuckerberg launches Facebook from his Harvard dormitory room

2014 Same-sex marriage is legalized in Scotland

Deaths

211 Lucius Septimius Severus, Emperor of Rome (193-211), dies at 64

1553 Caspar Othmayr, composer, dies at 37

1746 Robert Blair, Scottish poet (Grave), dies at 46

1880 James Donnelly, Irish-Canadian patriarch of the "Black Donnellys", murdered in the Black Donnelly massacre at 63

1943 Frank Calder, 1st NHL president, dies

1959 Una O'Connor, actress (Banjo, Invisible Man), dies at 78

1975 Louis Jordan, American musician, songwriter and bandleader (Caldonia), dies of a heart attack at 66

1987 Liberace, pianist (Liberace Show, Evil Chandell-Batman), dies at 67

1991 Bob Leslie, actor (Cinderella, Mako: Jaws of Death), dies at 64

2000 Phil Tonken, American radio and television announcer (b. 1919)

2006 Betty Friedan, American writer and feminist, dies of congestive heart failure at 85

2016 Dave Mirra, American BMX rider, commits suicide at 41

Sport

1924 1st Winter Olympic games close at Chamonix, France

1932 3rd Winter Olympic games open in Lake Placid, NY

1990 Richard Hadlee takes his 400th Test Cricket wicket (Sanjay Manjrekar)

2001 51st NHL All-Star Game: North America beats World 14-12 at Denver, Colorado

Films and TV

1924 George Kelly's play "Show-Off," premieres in New York City

1952 1st African American executive of a major TV station (Jackie Robinson-WNBC NY)

1994 10th Soap Opera Digest Awards - Days of Our Lives wins

Born on this day

1948 Alice Cooper, [Vincent Furnier], rocker (School's Out), born in Detroit, Michigan

1988 Jeff Horn, Australian professional boxer (WBO welterweight title 2017), born in Brisbane, Australia

A Couple of Pics from those no longer with us

Liberace

Dave Mirra