Calendar for February 21st, 2010

2006: Mardi Gras/Shrove Tuesday

2011: George Washington's Birthday (observed)

2001: Washington's Birthday (observed)

International Mother Language Day

2001: Family Day (Alta., Ont., Sask.)

1866: Lucy Hobbs Taylor became the first woman to graduate from a dental school, the Ohio College of Dental Surgery in Cincinnati, Ohio

1878: First telephone book issued

1885: The Washington Monument was dedicated by President Arthur in Washington, D.C. It took 102 years to complete, beginning in 1783 when Congress proposed it. It was the largest man-made structure in the world at the time

Born 1903: Anais Nin (novelist)

Born 1907: W.H. Auden (poet)

1925: First issue of The New Yorker published

Born 1946: Alan Rickman (actor)

Born 1953: William Petersen (actor)

Died 1965: Malcolm X assassinated in NYC

1972: President Nixon became the first U.S. president to visit a country not diplomatically recognized by the U.S. when he visited China

Born 1979: Jennifer Love Hewitt (actress)

Born 1989: Corbin Bleu (actor)

Died 1991: Dame Margot Fonteyn (ballerina)

Died 2004: President George W. Bush's dog, Spotty, died at the age of 15. She was born in 1989 in the White House. Her mother was Millie, the well-known dog of Bush's parents, former President George H.W. Bush and his wife, Barbara. She is believed to be the only pet to live in the White House twice

Died 2004: Bart Howard (songwriter known for writing Fly Me to the Moon)