Today is Thursday, Feb. 10, the 41st day of 2005. There are 324 days left in the year.
Today’s highlight in history:
On Feb. 10, 1967, the 25th Amendment to the Constitution, dealing with presidential disability and succession, went into effect.
On this date:
In 1763, France ceded Canada to England under the Treaty of Paris, which ended the French and Indian War.
In 1840, Britain’s Queen Victoria married Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha.
In 1846, members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, the Mormons, began an exodus to the west from Illinois.
In 1942, the former French liner “Normandie” capsized in New York Harbor a day after it caught fire while being refitted for the U.S. Navy.
In 1942, RCA Victor presented Glenn Miller and his Orchestra with a “gold record” for their recording of “Chattanooga Choo Choo,” which had sold more than one million copies.
In 1949, Arthur Miller’s play “Death of a Salesman” opened at Broadway’s Morosco Theater.
In 1962, the Soviet Union exchanged captured American U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers for Rudolph Ivanovich Abel, a Soviet spy held by the United States.
In 1968, Peggy Fleming of the United States won the gold medal in ladies’ figure skating at the Winter Olympic Games in Grenoble, France.
In 1981, eight people were killed, 198 injured, when fire broke out at the Las Vegas Hilton hotel-casino.
In 1989, Ron Brown was elected chairman of the Democratic National Committee, becoming the first black to head a major U.S. political party.
Ten years ago: The House passed a GOP crime bill boosting funding for state prisons but requiring states to get tougher on violent criminals before they could receive any money.
Five years ago: The hijackers of an Afghan plane surrendered, ending a four-day standoff at Stansted airport outside London. The Federal Aviation Administration ordered inspections of MD-80, MD-90, DC-9 and 717 series jetliners after two Alaska Airlines planes were found to have equipment damage similar to that on Alaska Airlines Flight 261, which crashed off the California coast Jan. 31, killing all 88 people on board. Actor Jim Varney, best known for his comic character Ernest P. Worrell, died in White House, Tenn., at age 50.
One year ago: The White House, trying to end doubts about President Bush’s Vietnam-era military service, released documents it said proved he had met his requirements in the Texas Air National Guard. Democrat John Kerry won the Virginia and Tennessee primaries. A truck bombing in Iskandariyah, Iraq, killed 53 people. An Iranian plane crashed in the United Arab Emirates, killing 46 people.
Today’s birthdays: Opera singer Leontyne Price is 78. Actor Robert Wagner is 75. Singer Roberta Flack is 66. Singer Jimmy Merchant (Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers) is 65. Olympic gold-medal swimmer Mark Spitz is 55. Country singer Lionel Cartwright is 45. Movie director Alexander Payne (“Sideways”) is 44. ABC’s “This Week” host George Stephanopoulos is 44. Actress Laura Dern is 38. Country singer Dude Mowrey is 33. Pop singer Rosanna Taverez (Eden’s Crush) is 28. Actress Emma Roberts is 14.
Thought for today: “Be nice to people on the way up. They’re the same people you’ll pass on the way down.” — Jimmy Durante (1893-1980).