February 22

February 22 in recent years

2024 (Thursday)

2023 (Wednesday)

2022 (Tuesday)

2021 (Monday)

2020 (Saturday)

2019 (Friday)

2018 (Thursday)

2017 (Wednesday)

2016 (Monday)

2015 (Sunday)

February 22 is the 53rd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar; 312 days remain until the end of the year (313 in leap years).

Events

Pre-1600

• 1076 – Having received a letter during the Lenten synod of 14–20 February demanding that he abdicate, Pope Gregory VII excommunicates Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor.
• 1316 – The Battle of Picotin, between Ferdinand of Majorca and the forces of Matilda of Hainaut, ends in victory for Ferdinand.
• 1371 – Robert II becomes King of Scotland, beginning the Stuart dynasty.
• 1495 – King Charles VIII of France enters Naples to claim the city's throne.

1601–1900

• 1632 – Ferdinando II de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, the dedicatee, receives the first printed copy of Galileo's Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems.
• 1651 – St. Peter's Flood: A storm surge floods the Frisian coast, drowning 15,000 people.
• 1744 – War of the Austrian Succession: The Battle of Toulon causes several Royal Navy captains to be court-martialed, and the Articles of War to be amended.
• 1770 – British customs officer Ebenezer Richardson fires blindly into a crowd during a protest in North End, Boston, fatally wounding 11-year-old Christopher Seider; the first American fatality of the American Revolution.
• 1797 – The last Invasion of Britain begins near Fishguard, Wales.
• 1819 – By the Adams–Onís Treaty, Spain sells Florida to the United States for five million U.S. dollars.
• 1847 – Mexican–American War: The Battle of Buena Vista: Five thousand American troops defeat 15,000 Mexican troops.
• 1848 – The French Revolution of 1848, which would lead to the establishment of the French Second Republic, begins.
• 1856 – The United States Republican Party opens its first national convention in Pittsburgh.
• 1862 – American Civil War: Jefferson Davis is officially inaugurated for a six-year term as the President of the Confederate States of America in Richmond, Virginia. He was previously inaugurated as a provisional president on February 18, 1861.
• 1872 – The Prohibition Party holds its first national convention in Columbus, Ohio, nominating James Black as its presidential nominee.
• 1879 – In Utica, New York, Frank Woolworth opens the first of many of five-and-dime Woolworth stores.
• 1881 – Cleopatra's Needle, a 3,500-year-old Ancient Egyptian obelisk is erected in Central Park, New York.
• 1889 – President Grover Cleveland signs a bill admitting North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana and Washington as U.S. states.
• 1899 – Filipino forces led by General Antonio Luna launch counterattacks for the first time against the American forces during the Philippine–American War. The Filipinos fail to regain Manila from the Americans.

1901–present

• 1904 – The United Kingdom sells a meteorological station on the South Orkney Islands to Argentina; the islands are subsequently claimed by the United Kingdom in 1908.
• 1909 – The sixteen battleships of the Great White Fleet, led by USS Connecticut, return to the United States after a voyage around the world.
• 1921 – After Russian forces under Baron Roman von Ungern-Sternberg drive the Chinese out, the Bogd Khan is reinstalled as the emperor of Mongolia.
• 1942 – World War II: President Franklin D. Roosevelt orders General Douglas MacArthur out of the Philippines as the Japanese victory becomes inevitable.
• 1943 – World War II: Members of the White Rose resistance, Sophie Scholl, Hans Scholl, and Christoph Probst are executed in Nazi Germany.
• 1944 – World War II: American aircraft mistakenly bomb the Dutch towns of Nijmegen, Arnhem, Enschede and Deventer, resulting in 800 dead in Nijmegen alone.
• 1944 – World War II: The Soviet Red Army recaptures Krivoi Rog.
• 1946 – The "Long Telegram", proposing how the United States should deal with the Soviet Union, arrives from the US embassy in Moscow.
• 1957 – Ngô Đình Diệm of South Vietnam survives a communist shooting assassination attempt in Buôn Ma Thuột.
• 1958 – Following a plebiscite in both countries the previous day, Egypt and Syria join to form the United Arab Republic.
• 1959 – Lee Petty wins the first Daytona 500.
• 1972 – The Official Irish Republican Army detonates a car bomb at Aldershot barracks, killing seven and injuring nineteen others.
• 1973 – Cold War: Following President Richard Nixon's visit to the People's Republic of China, the two countries agree to establish liaison offices.
• 1974 – The Organisation of the Islamic Conference summit begins in Lahore, Pakistan. Thirty-seven countries attend and twenty-two heads of state and government participate. It also recognizes Bangladesh.
• 1974 – Samuel Byck attempts to hijack an aircraft at Baltimore/Washington International Airport with the intention of crashing it into the White House to assassinate Richard Nixon, but commits suicide after being wounded by police.
• 1979 – Saint Lucia gains independence from the United Kingdom.
• 1980 – Miracle on Ice: In Lake Placid, New York, the United States hockey team defeats the Soviet Union hockey team 4–3.
• 1983 – The notorious Broadway flop Moose Murders opens and closes on the same night at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre.
• 1986 – Start of the People Power Revolution in the Philippines.
• 1994 – Aldrich Ames and his wife are charged by the United States Department of Justice with spying for the Soviet Union.
• 1995 – The Corona reconnaissance satellite program, in existence from 1959 to 1972, is declassified.
• 1997 – In Roslin, Midlothian, British scientists announce that an adult sheep named Dolly has been successfully cloned.
• 2002 – Angolan political and rebel leader Jonas Savimbi is killed in a military ambush.
• 2005 – The 6.4 M_w  Zarand earthquake shakes the Kerman Province of Iran with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe), leaving 612 people dead and 1,411 injured.
• 2006 – At approximately 6:44 a.m. local Iraqi time, explosions occurred at the al-Askari Shrine in Samarra, Iraq. The attack on the shrine, one of the holiest sites in Shia Islam, caused the escalation of sectarian tensions in Iraq into a full-scale civil war.
• 2006 – The Securitas depot robbery was the UK's largest heist. Almost £53m (about $92.5 million or €78 million) was stolen from a Securitas depot in Tonbridge, Kent.
• 2011 – New Zealand's second deadliest earthquake strikes Christchurch, killing 185 people.
• 2011 – Bahraini uprising: Tens of thousands of people march in protest against the deaths of seven victims killed by police and army forces during previous protests.
• 2012 – A train crash in Buenos Aires, Argentina, kills 51 people and injures 700 others.
• 2014 – President Viktor Yanukovych of Ukraine is impeached by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine by a vote of 328–0, fulfilling a major goal of the Euromaidan rebellion.
• 2015 – A ferry carrying 100 passengers capsizes in the Padma River, killing 70 people.
• 2018 – A man throws a grenade at the U.S. embassy in Podgorica, Montenegro. He dies at the scene from a second explosion, with no one else hurt.

Births

Pre-1600

• 1040 – Rashi, French rabbi and author (d. 1105)
• 1403 – Charles VII of France (d. 1461)
• 1440 – Ladislaus the Posthumous, Hungarian king (d. 1457)
• 1500 – Rodolfo Pio da Carpi, Italian cardinal (d. 1564)
• 1514 – Tahmasp I, Iranian shah (d. 1576)
• 1520 – Moses Isserles, Polish rabbi (d. 1572)
• 1550 – Charles de Ligne, 2nd Prince of Arenberg (d. 1616)
• 1592 – Nicholas Ferrar, English scholar (d. 1637)

1601–1900

• 1631 – Peder Syv, Danish historian (d. 1702)
• 1649 – Bon Boullogne, French painter (d. 1717)
• 1715 – Charles-Nicolas Cochin, French artist (d. 1790)
• 1732 – George Washington, American general and politician, 1st President of the United States (d. 1799)
• 1749 – Johann Nikolaus Forkel, German musicologist and theorist (d. 1818)
• 1778 – Rembrandt Peale, American painter and curator (d. 1860)
• 1788 – Arthur Schopenhauer, German philosopher and author (d. 1860)
• 1796 – Alexis Bachelot, French priest and missionary (d. 1837)
• 1796 – Adolphe Quetelet, Belgian mathematician, astronomer, and sociologist (d. 1874)
• 1805 – Sarah Fuller Flower Adams, English poet and hymnwriter (d. 1848)
• 1806 – Józef Kremer, Polish historian and philosopher (d. 1875)
• 1817 – Carl Wilhelm Borchardt, German mathematician and academic (d. 1880)
• 1819 – James Russell Lowell, American poet and critic (d. 1891)
• 1824 – Pierre Janssen, French astronomer and mathematician (d. 1907)
• 1825 – Jean-Baptiste Salpointe, French-American archbishop (d. 1898)
• 1836 – Mahesh Chandra Nyayratna Bhattacharyya, Indian scholar and academic (d. 1906)
• 1840 – August Bebel, German theorist and politician (d. 1913)
• 1849 – Nikolay Yakovlevich Sonin, Russian mathematician and academic (d. 1915)
• 1857 – Robert Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell, English general, co-founded The Scout Association (d. 1941)
• 1857 – Heinrich Hertz, German physicist, philosopher, and academic (d. 1894)
• 1860 – Mary W. Bacheler, American physician and Baptist medical missionary (d. 1939)
• 1863 – Charles McLean Andrews, American historian, author, and academic (d. 1943)
• 1864 – Jules Renard, French author and playwright (d. 1910)
• 1874 – Bill Klem, American baseball player and umpire (d. 1951)
• 1876 – Zitkala-Sa, American author and activist (d. 1938)
• 1879 – Johannes Nicolaus Brønsted, Danish chemist and academic (d. 1947)
• 1880 – Eric Lemming, Swedish athlete (d. 1930)
• 1881 – Joseph B. Ely, American lawyer and politician, 52nd Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1956)
• 1881 – Albin Prepeluh, Slovenian journalist and politician (d. 1937)
• 1882 – Eric Gill, English sculptor and illustrator (d. 1940)
• 1883 – Marguerite Clark, American actress (d. 1940)
• 1886 – Hugo Ball, German author and poet (d. 1927)
• 1887 – Savielly Tartakower, Polish journalist, author, and chess player (d. 1956)
• 1887 – Pat Sullivan, Australian-American animator and producer (d. 1933)
• 1888 – Owen Brewster, American captain and politician, 54th Governor of Maine (d. 1961)
• 1889 – Olave Baden-Powell, English scout leader, first World Chief Guide (d. 1977)
• 1889 – R. G. Collingwood, English historian and philosopher (d. 1943)
• 1891 – Vlas Chubar, Russian economist and politician (d. 1939)
• 1892 – Edna St. Vincent Millay, American poet and playwright (d. 1950)
• 1895 – Víctor Raúl Haya de la Torre, Peruvian politician (d. 1979)
• 1897 – Karol Świerczewski, Polish general (d. 1947)
• 1899 – George O'Hara, American actor and screenwriter (d. 1966)
• 1900 – Luis Buñuel, Spanish-Mexican director and producer (d. 1983)

1901–present

• 1903 – Morley Callaghan, Canadian author and playwright (d. 1990)
• 1903 – Frank P. Ramsey, English economist, mathematician, and philosopher (d. 1930)
• 1906 – Constance Stokes, Australian painter (d. 1991)
• 1907 – Sheldon Leonard, American actor, director, and producer (d. 1997)
• 1907 – Robert Young, American actor (d. 1998)
• 1908 – Rómulo Betancourt, Venezuelan politician, 56th President of Venezuela (d. 1981)
• 1908 – John Mills, English actor (d. 2005)
• 1910 – George Hunt, English footballer (d. 1996)
• 1914 – Renato Dulbecco, Italian-American virologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2012)
• 1915 – Gus Lesnevich, American boxer (d. 1964)
• 1918 – Sid Abel, Canadian-American ice hockey player, coach, and manager (d. 2000)
• 1918 – Don Pardo, American radio and television announcer (d. 2014)
• 1918 – Robert Wadlow, American man, the tallest person in recorded history (d. 1940)
• 1921 – Jean-Bédel Bokassa, Central African general and politician, 2nd President of the Central African Republic (d. 1996)
• 1921 – Giulietta Masina, Italian actress (d. 1994)
• 1921 – Marshall Teague, American race car driver (d. 1959)
• 1922 – Zenaida Manfugás, Cuban pianist (d. 2012)
• 1922 – Joe Wilder, American trumpet player, composer, and bandleader (d. 2014)
• 1923 – François Cavanna, French author and editor (d. 2014)
• 1923 – Bleddyn Williams, Welsh rugby player and sportscaster (d. 2009)
• 1925 – Edward Gorey, American illustrator and poet (d. 2000)
• 1925 – Gerald Stern, American poet and academic (d. 2022)
• 1926 – Kenneth Williams, English actor and screenwriter (d. 1988)
• 1927 – Florencio Campomanes, Filipino political scientist and chess player (d. 2010)
• 1927 – Guy Mitchell, American singer (d. 1999)
• 1928 – Clarence 13X, American religious leader, founded the Nation of Gods and Earths (d. 1969)
• 1928 – Texas Johnny Brown, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2013)
• 1928 – Paul Dooley, American actor
• 1928 – Bruce Forsyth, English singer and television host (d. 2017)
• 1929 – James Hong, American actor and director
• 1929 – Rebecca Schull, American stage, film, and television actress
• 1930 – Marni Nixon, American soprano and actress (d. 2016)
• 1932 – Ted Kennedy, American soldier, lawyer, and politician (d. 2009)
• 1932 – Zenaida Manfugás, Cuban-born American-naturalized pianist (d. 2012)
• 1933 – Sheila Hancock, English actress and author
• 1933 – Katharine, Duchess of Kent
• 1933 – Ernie K-Doe, American R&B singer (d. 2001)
• 1933 – Bobby Smith, English footballer (d. 2010)
• 1934 – Sparky Anderson, American baseball player and manager (d. 2010)
• 1936 – J. Michael Bishop, American microbiologist and immunologist, Nobel Prize laureate
• 1937 – Tommy Aaron, American golfer
• 1937 – Joanna Russ, American author and activist (d. 2011)
• 1938 – Steve Barber, American baseball player (d. 2007)
• 1938 – Tony Macedo, Gibraltarian born English footballer
• 1938 – Ishmael Reed, American poet, novelist, essayist
• 1940 – Judy Cornwell, English actress
• 1940 – Chet Walker, American basketball player
• 1941 – Hipólito Mejía, Dominican politician, 52nd President of the Dominican Republic
• 1942 – Christine Keeler, English model and dancer (d. 2017)
• 1943 – Terry Eagleton, English philosopher and critic
• 1943 – Horst Köhler, Polish-German economist and politician, 9th President of Germany
• 1943 – Dick Van Arsdale, American basketball player
• 1943 – Tom Van Arsdale, American basketball player
• 1943 – Otoya Yamaguchi, Japanese assassin of Inejiro Asanuma (d. 1960)
• 1944 – Jonathan Demme, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2017)
• 1944 – Mick Green, English guitarist (d. 2010)
• 1944 – Robert Kardashian, American lawyer and businessman (d. 2003)
• 1944 – Christopher Meyer, English diplomat, British Ambassador to the United States (d. 2022)
• 1944 – Tom Okker, Dutch tennis player and painter
• 1945 – Oliver, American pop singer (d. 2000)
• 1946 – Kresten Bjerre, Danish footballer and manager (d. 2014)
• 1947 – Pirjo Honkasalo, Finnish director, cinematographer, and screenwriter
• 1947 – Harvey Mason, American drummer
• 1947 – John Radford, English footballer and manager
• 1947 – Frank Van Dun, Belgian philosopher and theorist
• 1948 – John Ashton, American actor
• 1948 – Dennis Awtrey, American basketball player
• 1949 – John Duncan, Scottish footballer and manager (d. 2022)
• 1949 – Niki Lauda, Austrian racing driver (d. 2019)
• 1949 – Olga Morozova, Russian tennis player and coach
• 1950 – Julius Erving, American basketball player and sportscaster
• 1950 – Lenny Kuhr, Dutch singer-songwriter
• 1950 – Miou-Miou, French actress
• 1950 – Genesis P-Orridge, English singer-songwriter (d. 2020)
• 1950 – Julie Walters, English actress and author
• 1951 – Ellen Greene, American singer and actress
• 1952 – Bill Frist, American physician and politician
• 1952 – Joaquim Pina Moura, Portuguese Minister of Economy and Treasury and MP (d. 2020)
• 1952 – Saufatu Sopoanga, Tuvaluan politician, 8th Prime Minister of Tuvalu (d. 2020)
• 1953 – Nigel Planer, English actor and screenwriter
• 1955 – David Axelrod, American journalist and political adviser
• 1955 – Tim Young, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1957 – Willie Smits, Dutch microbiologist and engineer
• 1958 – Dave Spitz, American bass player and songwriter
• 1959 – Jiří Čunek, Czech politician
• 1959 – Kyle MacLachlan, American actor
• 1959 – Bronwyn Oliver, Australian sculptor (d. 2006)
• 1960 – Thomas Galbraith, 2nd Baron Strathclyde, Scottish politician, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
• 1961 – Akira Takasaki, Japanese guitarist, songwriter, and producer
• 1962 – Steve Irwin, Australian zoologist and television host (d. 2006)
• 1963 – Andrew Adonis, Baron Adonis, English journalist and politician, Secretary of State for Transport
• 1963 – Devon Malcolm, Jamaican-English cricketer
• 1963 – Vijay Singh, Fijian-American golfer
• 1964 – Diane Charlemagne, English singer-songwriter (d. 2015)
• 1964 – Andy Gray, English footballer and manager
• 1965 – Chris Dudley, American basketball player
• 1965 – Kieren Fallon, Irish jockey
• 1965 – Pat LaFontaine, American ice hockey player
• 1966 – Rachel Dratch, American actress and comedian
• 1967 – Paul Lieberstein, American actor, screenwriter, director, and producer
• 1967 – Psicosis II, Mexican wrestler
• 1968 – Shawn Graham, Canadian politician, 31st Premier of New Brunswick
• 1968 – Jeri Ryan, American model and actress
• 1968 – Kazuhiro Sasaki, Japanese baseball player
• 1968 – Jayson Williams, American basketball player and sportscaster
• 1969 – Thomas Jane, American actor
• 1969 – Brian Laudrup, Danish footballer and sportscaster
• 1969 – Marc Wilmots, Belgian footballer and manager
• 1971 – Lea Salonga, Filipino actress and singer
• 1972 – Michael Chang, American tennis player and coach
• 1972 – Claudia Pechstein, German speed skater
• 1972 – Haim Revivo, Israeli footballer
• 1972 – Ben Sasse, American politician and college administrator
• 1973 – Philippe Gaumont, French cyclist (d. 2013)
• 1973 – Juninho Paulista, Brazilian footballer
• 1973 – Scott Phillips, American musician and songwriter
• 1974 – James Blunt, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 1974 – Chris Moyles, English radio and television host
• 1975 – Drew Barrymore, American actress, director, producer, and screenwriter
• 1977 – Hakan Yakin, Swiss footballer
• 1979 – Brett Emerton, Australian footballer
• 1979 – Lee Na-young, South Korean actress
• 1980 – Jeanette Biedermann, German singer-songwriter and actress
• 1983 – Brian Duensing, American baseball player
• 1983 – Shaun Tait, Australian cricketer
• 1984 – Tommy Bowe, Irish rugby player
• 1984 – Branislav Ivanović, Serbian footballer
• 1985 – Hamer Bouazza, Algerian footballer
• 1985 – Georgios Printezis, Greek basketball player
• 1985 – Zach Roerig, American actor
• 1986 – Rajon Rondo, American basketball player
• 1987 – Han Hyo-joo, South Korean actress and model
• 1987 – Sergio Romero, Argentine footballer
• 1988 – Jonathan Borlée, Belgian sprinter
• 1989 – Franco Vázquez, Argentine footballer
• 1991 – Khalil Mack, American football player
• 1992 – Dixon Machado, Venezuelan baseball player
• 1994 – Nam Joo-hyuk, South Korean model and actor
• 1994 – Elfrid Payton, American basketball player
• 1995 – Devonte' Graham, American basketball player
• 1996 – Kia Nurse, Canadian basketball player
• 1997 – Jerome Robinson, American basketball player
• 1997 – Ilya Samsonov, Russian ice hockey player

Deaths

Pre-1600

• 556 – Maximianus, bishop of Ravenna (b. 499)
• 606 – Sabinian, pope of the Catholic Church
• 793 – Sicga, Anglo-Saxon nobleman and regicide
• 845 – Wang, Chinese empress dowager
• 954 – Guo Wei, Chinese emperor (b. 904)
• 965 – Otto, duke of Burgundy (b. 944)
• 970 – García I, king of Pamplona
• 978 – Lambert, count of Chalon (b. 930)
• 1071 – Arnulf III, count of Flanders
• 1072 – Peter Damian, Italian cardinal
• 1079 – John of Fécamp, Italian Benedictine abbot
• 1111 – Roger Borsa, king of Sicily (b. 1078)
• 1297 – Margaret of Cortona, Italian penitent (b. 1247)
• 1371 – David II, king of Scotland (b. 1324)
• 1452 – William Douglas, 8th Earl of Douglas (b. 1425)
• 1500 – Gerhard VI, German nobleman (b. 1430)
• 1511 – Henry, duke of Cornwall (b. 1511)
• 1512 – Amerigo Vespucci, Italian cartographer and explorer (b. 1454)

1601–1900

• 1627 – Olivier van Noort, Dutch explorer (b. 1558)
• 1674 – Jean Chapelain, French poet and critic (b. 1595)
• 1680 – La Voisin, French occultist (b. 1640)
• 1690 – Charles Le Brun, French painter and theorist (b. 1619)
• 1731 – Frederik Ruysch, Dutch physician and anatomist (b. 1638)
• 1732 – Francis Atterbury, English bishop (b. 1663)
• 1770 – Christopher Seider, first American killed in the American Revolution (b. 1758)
• 1799 – Heshen, Chinese politician (b. 1750)
• 1816 – Adam Ferguson, Scottish historian and philosopher (b. 1723)
• 1875 – Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, French painter and illustrator (b. 1796)
• 1875 – Charles Lyell, Scottish geologist (b. 1797)
• 1888 – Anna Kingsford, English physician and activist (b. 1846)
• 1890 – John Jacob Astor III, American businessman and philanthropist (b. 1822)
• 1890 – Carl Bloch, Danish painter and academic (b. 1834)
• 1897 – Charles Blondin, French tightrope walker and acrobat (b. 1824)
• 1898 – Heungseon Daewongun, Korean king (b. 1820)

1901–present

• 1903 – Hugo Wolf, Austrian composer (b. 1860)
• 1904 – Leslie Stephen, English historian, author, and critic (b. 1832)
• 1913 – Ferdinand de Saussure, Swiss linguist and author (b. 1857)
• 1913 – Francisco I. Madero, Mexican president and author (b. 1873)
• 1923 – Théophile Delcassé, French politician, French Minister of Foreign Affairs (b. 1852)
• 1939 – Antonio Machado, Spanish-French poet and author (b. 1875)
• 1942 – Stefan Zweig, Austrian journalist, author, and playwright (b. 1881)
• 1943 – Christoph Probst, German activist (b. 1919)
• 1943 – Hans Scholl, German activist (b. 1918)
• 1943 – Sophie Scholl, German activist (b. 1921)
• 1944 – Kasturba Gandhi, Indian activist (b. 1869)
• 1944 – Fritz Schmenkel, anti-Nazi German who joined Soviet partisans (b. 1916)
• 1945 – Osip Brik, Russian avant garde writer and literary critic (b. 1888)
• 1958 – Abul Kalam Azad, Indian scholar and politician, Indian Minister of Education (b. 1888)
• 1960 – Paul-Émile Borduas, Canadian-French painter and critic (b. 1905)
• 1961 – Nick LaRocca, American trumpet player and composer (b. 1889)
• 1965 – Felix Frankfurter, Austrian-American lawyer and jurist (b. 1882)
• 1971 – Frédéric Mariotti, French actor (b. 1883)
• 1973 – Jean-Jacques Bertrand, Canadian lawyer and politician, 21st Premier of Quebec (b. 1916)
• 1973 – Elizabeth Bowen, Anglo-Irish author (b. 1899)
• 1973 – Katina Paxinou, Greek actress (b. 1900)
• 1973 – Winthrop Rockefeller, American colonel and politician, 37th Governor of Arkansas (b. 1912)
• 1976 – Angela Baddeley, English actress (b. 1904)
• 1976 – Florence Ballard, American singer (b. 1943)
• 1980 – Oskar Kokoschka, Austrian painter, poet and playwright (b. 1886)
• 1982 – Josh Malihabadi, Indian-Pakistani poet and author (b. 1898)
• 1983 – Adrian Boult, English conductor (b. 1889)
• 1983 – Romain Maes, Belgian cyclist (b. 1913)
• 1985 – Salvador Espriu, Spanish author, poet, and playwright (b. 1913)
• 1985 – Efrem Zimbalist, Russian violinist, composer, and conductor (b. 1889)
• 1986 – John Donnelly, Australian rugby league player (b. 1955)
• 1987 – David Susskind, American talk show host and producer (b. 1920)
• 1987 – Andy Warhol, American painter and photographer (b. 1928)
• 1992 – Markos Vafiadis, Greek general and politician (b. 1906)
• 1994 – Papa John Creach, American violinist (b. 1917)
• 1995 – Ed Flanders, American actor (b. 1934)
• 1997 – Joseph Aiuppa, American gangster (b. 1907)
• 1998 – Abraham A. Ribicoff, American lawyer and politician, 4th United States Secretary of Health and Human Services (b. 1910)
• 1999 – William Bronk, American poet and academic (b. 1918)
• 1999 – Menno Oosting, Dutch tennis player (b. 1964)
• 2002 – Chuck Jones, American animator, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1912)
• 2002 – Jonas Savimbi, Angolan general, founded UNITA (b. 1934)
• 2004 – Andy Seminick, American baseball player, coach, and manager (b. 1920)
• 2005 – Lee Eun-ju, South Korean actress and singer (b. 1980)
• 2005 – Simone Simon, French actress (b. 1910)
• 2006 – S. Rajaratnam, Singaporean politician, 1st Senior Minister of Singapore (b. 1915)
• 2007 – George Jellicoe, 2nd Earl Jellicoe, English politician, Leader of the House of Lords (b. 1918)
• 2007 – Dennis Johnson, American basketball player and coach (b. 1954)
• 2012 – Sukhbir, Indian author and poet (b. 1925)
• 2012 – Frank Carson, Irish-English comedian and actor (b. 1926)
• 2012 – Marie Colvin, American journalist (b. 1956)
• 2012 – Rémi Ochlik, French photographer and journalist (b. 1983)
• 2013 – Atje Keulen-Deelstra, Dutch speed skater (b. 1938)
• 2013 – Jean-Louis Michon, French-Swiss scholar and translator (b. 1924)
• 2013 – Wolfgang Sawallisch, German pianist and conductor (b. 1923)
• 2014 – Charlotte Dawson, New Zealand–Australian television host (b. 1966)
• 2014 – Trebor Jay Tichenor, American pianist and composer (b. 1940)
• 2014 – Leo Vroman, Dutch-American hematologist, poet, and illustrator (b. 1915)
• 2015 – Chris Rainbow, Scottish singer-songwriter and producer (b. 1946)
• 2016 – Yolande Fox, American model and singer, Miss America 1951 (b. 1928)
• 2016 – Sonny James, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1928)
• 2018 – Forges, Spanish cartoonist (b. 1942)
• 2019 – Brody Stevens, American comedian and actor (b. 1970)
• 2019 – Morgan Woodward, American actor (b. 1925)
• 2021 – Lawrence Ferlinghetti, American poet, painter (b. 1919)

Holidays and observances

• Birthday of Scouting and Guiding founder Robert Baden-Powell and Olave Baden-Powell, and its related observance:
  • Founder's Day or "B.-P. day" (World Organization of the Scout Movement)
  • World Thinking Day (World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts)
• Christian feast day:
  • Baradates
  • Eric Liddell (Episcopal Church (USA))
  • Feast of the Chair of Saint Peter (Roman Catholic Church)
  • Margaret of Cortona
  • February 22 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
• Crime Victims Day (Europe)
• Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Saint Lucia from the United Kingdom in 1979.
• Founding Day (Saudi Arabia)
• Washington's Birthday, federal holiday in the United States. A holiday on February 22 as well as the third Monday in February.
• National Cat Day (Japan)

External links

• BBC: On This Day
• The New York Times: On This Day
• Historical Events on February 22