time machine in February...

Feb. 6, 1952

With the death of her father King George VI of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Princess Elizabeth, the oldest of two daughters, becomes queen. Queen Elizabeth II, born on April 21, 1926 with her family calling her Lilibet, is crowned at age 27 on June 2, 1953.

Feb. 2, 1887

The first Groundhog Day is celebrated at Gobbler’s Knob in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania that officially debuts a rodent meteorologist predicting the weather. Beginning a state tradition, if the groundhog comes out of its burrow and sees its shadow, it gets scared and runs back in to hide. This predicts six more weeks of winter. If it does not see its shadow, an early spring is predicted.

Feb. 8, 1910

Feb. 7, 1964

Beatlemania arrives in the United States as a Pan Am flight lands at New York’s Kennedy Airport carrying the British rock-and-roll quartet, the Beatles. Six days prior, their hit song “I Want to Hold Your Hand” scores its first No. 1 U.S. hit. The Fab Four, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, John Lennon and George Harrison, are wearing mod suits and bowl haircuts, and are greeted by 3,000 screaming fans.

Feb. 15, 1903

The first two teddy bears are put up for sale in a toy store window by owner and inventor Morris Michtom. Prior to the display, President Theodore Roosevelt gives permission to use his nickname, Teddy, in naming the bears.

The Boy Scouts of America is established and incorporated in Washington D.C. by William Boyce and grows into the world’s largest youth organization. It is modeled after the British Boy Scouts that is founded in 1908 by a cavalry officer, Lieutenant General Robert S.S. Baden-Powell.

Feb. 16, 1968

The first 911 call is officially placed. First responders recommend a simple number to be used in the event of an emergency. Though adopted by Congress, AT&T, the corporation that controls most of the U.S. phone lines, recommends the number 911 since it is easy to remember and not utilized by an area code.

Feb. 20, 1962

Astronaut John Herschel Glenn Jr. becomes the first American to orbit the Earth, after launching from Cape Canaveral aboard the Friendship 7 spacecraft. The historic flight is in response to President John F. Kennedy’s desire to put an American on the moon. Glenn is a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Marine Corps and a decorated pilot with nearly 150 combat missions.

Feb. 25, 1964

Cassius Clay, 22, becomes the new world heavweight boxing champ after he knocks out Sonny Liston in the seventh round. He would become known as Muhammed Ali, whose mantra is “float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.”