This month, that year

2018: A blood bank is inaugurated at Bidhannagar Sub-divisional Hospital in DD Block on February 13. Chief minister Mamata Banerjee announced the opening from Krishnanagar and MLA Sujit Bose was present at the site to cut the ceremonial ribbon. The project cost around Rs 90 lakh.

1916: The foundation for the main campus of Banaras Hindu University is laid by Viceroy Lord Hardinge on February 4. This would be the first university in India set up by an individual’s effort — educationist Madan Mohan Malaviya’s. To promote its expansion, Gandhi, A.J.C. Bose, C.V. Raman, P.C. Roy deliver lectures here between February 5 and 8. The institute goes on to become the largest residential university in Asia.

1931: Freedom fighters Chandrasekhar Azad and Sukhdev Raj are surrounded by British forces in Allahabad on February 27. In a long shootout, Azad kills three policemen and helps Sukhdev escape. Wounded and trapped, Azad lives up to his pledge of never getting captured alive. He shoots himself dead with his last bullet.

1959: Anna Chandy becomes the first female judge in an Indian high court when appointed to the Kerala High Court on February 9. A Syrian Christian from Trivandrum, Chandy was also the first woman in her state to get a law degree. She worked to promote women’s rights too.

1862: Japanese scholar Okakura Kakuzo is born on February 14. Best remembered as the author of The Book of Tea, Okakura researched on world art and culture and counted among his friends Rabindranath Tagore. In the 21st century, Salt Lake would seal this friendship with the popular auditorium Rabindra Okakura Bhavan.

1990: American born Charles Osborne creates a Guinness World Record in February when after 68 straight years he stops hiccupping. In 1922, the 28-year old had a fall while trying to butcher a hog. Thereafter the hiccups began. Doctors said his fall may have damaged the part of his brain that would stop the hiccups. It is estimated that he hiccuped more than 430 million times before they stopped naturally.

1969: Actress Madhubala dies of lung and heart diseases on February 23, at the age of 36. Known as the Marilyn Monroe of Bollywood for her beauty, short career and tragic end, Madhubala starred in classics like Mughal-e-Azam and Howrah Bridge. She also had a controversial affair with actor Dilip Kumar and marriage with singer Kishore Kumar.

1964: An underdog boxer named Cassius Clay surprises by defeating world heavyweight champion Sonny Liston at a bout on February 25. At 22, Clay becomes the youngest boxer to take the title from a reigning heavyweight champion. Soon after, he changes his name to Cassius X and then Muhammad Ali and goes on to become one of the greatest in the sport.

1994: One of the most iconic paintings of the world, The Scream by artist Edvard Munch, is stolen from the National Gallery, Oslo on February 12. The robbers leave a note saying: “Thanks for the poor security”. The gallery refuses to pay the US$1 million ransom and police eventually catch the culprits. Munch had made four versions of The Scream, the second of which too got stolen and was recovered later.