Posted by Paul Callighan on Feb 13, 2026
February 9, 1964 – With his now famous words, “Ladies and gentlemen…The Beatles”, TV host Ed Sullivan brought the British singing group to American television in a program viewed by what was then a record audience estimated at 73 million viewers.
 
February 11, 1929 – Italian dictator Benito Mussolini granted political independence to Vatican City and recognized the sovereignty of the Pope over the 110-acre site.
 
February 14, 1929 – The infamous St. Valentine’s Day massacre occurred in Chicago when seven members of the Bugs Moran gang were gunned down by five of Al Capone’s mobsters posing as police.
 
February 14, 1929 – Sir Alexander Fleming publicly announced his discovery of the mold by-product penicillin.  He accidentally unearthed one of the greatest advancements of modern medicine after leaving a plate of bacteria uncovered and mold that formed fell on his culture dish and killed the bacteria creating the first-known antibiotic.