Thursday 1st of February 1691

241st Pope Alexander VIII dies of natural causes at the age of 81 in Vatican City, Rome, Lazio, Italy.

Saturday 1st of February 1851

Writer Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley known her novel Frankenstein dies of a brain tumour at the age of 54 in Chester Square, London, Belgravia, Greater London, United Kingdom.

Thursday 1st of February 1872

Mass murderer Andrew Philip Kehoe is born in Tecumseh, Michigan, United States.

Sunday 1st of February 1874

Poet and writer Hugo Laurenz August Hofmann von Hofmannsthal is born in Salesianergasse 12, Wien, Landstraße, Wien, Austria.

Wednesday 1st of February 1893

Serial killer Friedrich Schumann aka Der Massenmörder vom Falkenhager See is born in Berlin, Spandau, Berlin, Germany.

Friday 1st of February 1895

Film director John Ford is born as John Martin 'Jack' Feeney in Cape Elizabeth, Maine, United States.

Friday 1st of February 1901

Actor Clark William Gable aka The King of Hollywood is born in Cádiz, Ohio, United States.

Gable was mistakenly listed as a female on his birth certificate.

Saturday 1st of February 1908

King Carlos I of Portugal aka o Diplomata aka o Martirizado and his son Prince Luis are shot dead by revolutionary republicans Alfredo Costa and Manual Buiça at the age of 45 in Praça do Comércio, Lisboa, Lisboa e Vale do Tejo, Portugal.

The assassins were shot dead by the King's bodyguards. An innocent bystander was also killed in the confusion.

Saturday 1st of February 1908

Kidnapper and child murderer William Edward Hickman aka The Fox known for the murder of Marion Parker is born in Sebastian County, Arkansas, United States.

Wednesday 1st of February 1922

Actor and film director William Desmond Taylor is shot dead by persons unknown at the age of 50 in Alvarado Court Apartments, 404-B South Alvarado Street, Los Angeles, Westlake, California, United States.

More than a dozen individuals were eventually named as suspects by both the press and the police. Newspaper reports at the time were both overwhelmingly sensationalised and speculative, even fabricated, and the murder was used as the basis for much subsequent 'true crime' fiction. Suspects included Taylor's valet and cook Edward F. Sands, valet Henry Peavey who found Taylor's body, actress and Taylor's lover Mabel Normand, neighbour Faith Cole MacLean who might have mistaken Taylor for a burglar, general manager of Paramount Pictures Charles Eyton, child star and teen screen idol Mary Miles Minter, Minter's mother Charlotte Shelby and film actress Margaret Gibson. Gibson reportedly confessed to murdering Taylor shortly before she died in 1964.

Friday 1st of February 1929

Murderess Ada Bonner LeBoeuf is executed by hanging at the age of 38 in St. Mary Parish jail, Franklin, Louisiana, United States.

LeBoeuf was hanged side to side with her lover Dr. Tom Dreher. LeBoeuf was the first white woman to be hanged in Louisiana.

Sunday 1st of February 1931

First President of the Russian Federation Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin is born in Butka, Sverdlovsk Oblast, Russia.

Wednesday 1st of February 1933

Luxury call girl Rosemarie Rosalie Marie Auguste Nitribitt is born in Düsseldorf, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany.

Friday 1st of February 1935

Double murderer Kenneth Louis Neu is executed by hanging at the age of 25 in .

While awaiting execution Neu sang in his cell and composed a verse 'I’m fit as a fiddle and ready to hang'.

Monday 1st of February 1937

Singer-songwriter Don Isaac Donald Everly known from The Everly Brothers is born in Brownie, Kentucky, United States.

Wednesday 1st of February 1939

Musician Claude Antoine Marie François aka Cloclo is born in Ismaïlia, Al Isma'iliyah, Egypt.

Tuesday 1st of February 1944

Painter Piet Pieter Cornelis Mondriaan dies of pneumonia at the age of 72 in New York City, New York, United States.

Thursday 1st of February 1945

96 pilgrims die in Mexico City-San Juan de Los Lagos extra passenger train collision in Cazadero, Queretaro, .

Sunday 1st of February 1959

28-year-old August Norry is shot dead by murderess Penny Bjorkland in San Bruno Mountains, San Francisco, California, United States.

"Just to see if I could do it and not worry about it and I've felt better since I killed him."

Friday 1st of February 1963

95 die in Middle East Airlines Vickers 754D Viscount Flight 265 and Turkish Air Force C-47 collision in Ankara, Anatolia, Turkey.

There were 87 casualties on the ground.

Saturday 1st of February 1964

Serial killer Vladimir Ionesyan aka Mosgaz aka Iwan the Axeman is executed by the firing squad at the age of 27 in Moscow, Central Federal District, Russia.

Tuesday 1st of February 1966

Actor, film director and stunt performer Buster Joseph Frank Keaton aka The Great Stone Face dies of lung cancer at the age of 71 in Woodland Hills, California, United States.

Wednesday 1st of February 1967

47-year-old Serial killer Łucjan Staniak aka The Red Spider of Katowice is arrested in Katowice, Województwo Katowice, Poland.

Thursday 1st of February 1968

Singer-songwriter Lisa Marie Presley is born in Baptist Memorial Hospital, 6019 Walnut Grove Road, Memphis, Tennessee, United States.

Sunday 1st of February 1970

236 die in express and local train collision in Benavídez station, Buenos Aires, Gran Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Friday 1st of February 1974

188 die in Joelma Building fire in Joelma Building, 225 Avenue Nove de Julho, São Paulo, Região Sudeste, Brazil.

40 individuals jumped to escape the conditions inside and in failed attempts to grasp unreachable fire ladders. None of these jumpers survived.

Friday 1st of February 1974

45-year-old Great Train Robber Ronnie Ronald Arthur Biggs is arrested in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Biggs could not be extradited because his girlfriend, nightclub dancer Raimunda de Castro, was pregnant.

Friday 1st of February 1974

22-year-old Linda Ann Healy is abducted, raped and beaten to death by serial killer Ted Bundy aka The Only Living Witness in 5517 NE 12th Street, Seattle, Washington, United States.

Healy was Bundy's first deadly victim, her skull and mandible were recovered at a Taylor Mountain dump site.

Wednesday 1st of February 1978

45-year-old Film director Roman Polanski skips bail and flees the country after pleading guilty to charges of engaging in sex with 13-year-old Samantha Geimer during a photo shoot for French Vogue magazine in March 1977 in Los Angeles, California, United States.

Thursday 1st of February 1979

25-year-old Newspaper heiress, kidnap victim and member of the Symbionese Liberation Army Patty Patricia Campbell Hearst is granted an official clemency order by President Carter and released in Federal Correctional Institution, Dublin, California, United States.

Sunday 1st of February 1981

Aircraft designer and manufacturer Donald Wills Douglas dies of unknown causes at the age of 89 in Palm Springs, California, United States.

Wednesday 1st of February 1984

42-year-old Willi Fleischer is beaten to death by serial killer Kurt-Friedhelm Steinwegs aka Die Bestie vom Niederrhein in Süchteln, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany.

Steinwegs cut off Fleischer's penis; "Ich habe denen den elften Finger abgeschnitten, weil ich wissen wollte, wie das Ding funktioniert, wie das Pipi da rauskommt".

Friday 1st of February 1985

Manager Ernst Zimmermann is shot in the head by two members of Die Rote Armee Fraktion at the age of 56 in Gauting, Bayern, Germany.

The assassination was carried out in the name of Kommando Patsy O'Hara.

Friday 1st of February 1991

46-year-old Serial killer Arthur John Shawcross aka The Genesee River Killer is sentenced to 10 consecutive terms of 25 years to life in Rochester, New York, United States.

Friday 1st of February 2002

Actress and singer Hildegard Frieda Albertine Knef dies of lung cancer and pneumonia at the age of 77 in Berlin, Berlin, Germany.

Sunday 1st of February 2004

36-year-old Serial killer Yang Xinhai aka The Monster Killer is found guilty of 67 murders and 23 rapes and sentenced to death by the City Intermediate People's Court in Luohe, Henan, China.

Sunday 1st of February 2004

A closed door in Singapore, Singapore.

Friday 1st of February 2008

Double murderer Masahiko Matsubara is executed by hanging at the age of 63 in Osaka, Kinki, Japan.

Friday 1st of February 2008

Murderer Takashi Mochida is executed by hanging at the age of 65 in Tokyo Detention House, Tokyo, Katsushika, Kantō, Japan.

Friday 1st of February 2008

Double murderer Keishi Nago is executed by hanging at the age of 37 in Fukuoka Detention Center, Fukuoka, Kyushu, Japan.

Monday 1st of February 2010

119 die in Iran Air Tours Tupolev Tu-154 Flight 956 crash in Khorramabad, Lorestan, Iran.