We are the 40th day of the year and we are celebrating the Apollines.
Saint Apollonia died in Alexandria (Egypt) in 249, suffering martyrdom by fire.
The sun rises one minute earlier today at 8:11 a.m. and sets one minute later at 5:59 p.m.
February 9
1450: death at 38 of Agnès Sorel, "
the Lady of beauty
", favorite of Charles VII
1881: Death of the Russian writer Fedor Dostoyevsky
1894: the Belgian Adolphe Sax, inventor of the saxophone, dies in Paris
1942: the French liner "
Normandie
" is destroyed by fire in New York
1950: Republican US Senator Joseph McCarthy launches a "
witch hunt
" against the Communists (McCarthyism)
1953: creation of the “
Le Livre de poche
” collection
1969: the Boeing 747 makes its first flight
Read alsoThe last 747 leaves the Boeing factories, the end of an industrial epic that has revolutionized air transport
1975: death of singer Pierre Dac
1992: state of emergency in Algeria
2018: South Korean President Moon Jae-in and sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un exchange a historic handshake during the opening ceremony of the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics in South Korea
2020:
South Korean director Bong Joon-ho 's film "
Parasite " becomes Oscar legend by becoming the first foreign-language feature film to win the "
best picture
" award
2022: a study published in the journal Science suggests that a “
sapiens
” population was already in western Europe 54,000 years ago, a dozen millennia earlier than the commonly accepted date
some birthdays
Mia Farrow, American actress born in 1945
Gérard Lenorman, singer born in 1945
Zhang Ziyi, Chinese actress born in 1979
The saying of the day
"
At Sainte-Apolline, a sure omen, winter is on its way, or is coming to an end
"