Today in History - History - February 1st

1865General Sherman's march through South Carolina begins

1896Giacomo Puccini's Opera "La Boheme," premieres in Turin

1965Peter Jennings, 26, becomes anchor of ABC's nightly news

1978Harriet Tubman is 1st black woman honored on a US postage stamp

1981Duke Ellington's musical "Sophisticated Ladies," premieres in NYC

1992Barry Bonds signs baseball's highest single year contract ($4.7 mil)

1969Jim Morrison arrested for exposing himself in concert

196048th Australian Mens Tennis: Rod Laver beats N Fraser (57 36 63 86 86)

1923Fascists Voluntary Militia forms in Italy under Benito Mussolini

2004Super Bowl XXXVIII: New England Patriots beat Carolina Panthers, 32-29 at the Reliant Stadium MVP: Tom Brady, New England, QB

1918Muriel Spark, Edinburgh Scotland, novelist (Prime of Miss Jean Brodie)

1968Lisa Marie Presley Keough Jackson, Memphis Tenn, daughter of Elvis

1882Louis St. Laurent, Compton Quebec, (L) 12th Canadian PM (1948-57)

1931Boris Yeltsin, Ural Mts USSR, president of Russian SSR

1948Rick James (James Ambrose Johnson Jr), Buffalo New York, American funk musician

1902Langston Hughes, Joplin, Missouri, American poet (Weary Blues) and playwright (Mulatto)

1901Clark Gable, Cadiz Ohio, American actor (Gone With the Wind)

1895John Ford, Maine, director (Stagecoach, Air Mail, Quiet Man)

1840Novelist Alexandre Dumas (37) weds actress Ida Ferrier

1997Retired MLB player Johnny Bench (49) weds stockbroker Elizabeth Benton

1851Mary Shelley, novelist (Frankenstein), dies of a brain tumour at 53

1944Piet Mondrian, abstract painter (Composition in Blue), dies at 71