Sometimes I find my mind wandering over various eclectic topics ad occasionally I am inspired to write some of them down. Today I was thinking about 29th February – it’s an interesting date. But just how interesting? What interesting things have happened on or because of this interesting phenomenon?
Let’s start with the basics – why is there a
29th February?
Well, although most modern calendar years
have 365 days, a complete revolution around the Sun (one solar year) actually
takes approximately 365 days and 6 hours so an extra 24 hours thus accumulates
every four years
Leaplings
This is the name
given to those born on February 29th who, technically, only advance
in age by 1 year every 4 years.
However, in the United Kingdom, when a person
born on February 29 turns 18, they are
considered to have their birthday on March 1 in the relevant year.
Some famous Leaplings
include:
·
1468 – Pope Paul III (d. 1549)
·
1792 – Gioachino Rossini, Italian pianist and composer (d. 1868)
·
1916 –
Dinah Shore, American singer and actress (d. 1994)
·
1928 –
Joss Ackland, English actor
·
1944 –
Dennis Farina, American police officer and actor (d. 2013)
·
1956 –
Aileen Wuornos, American serial killer (d. 2002)
There have also been
some unfortunate people who have passed away on February 29th,
including:
·
1528 – Patrick Hamilton, Scottish
Protestant reformer and martyr (b. 1504)
·
1792 – Johann Andreas Stein,
German piano builder (b. 1728)
·
1868 – Ludwig I of Bavaria (b.
1786)
·
2012 –
Davy Jones, English
singer, guitarist and actor (b. 1945)
In Gilbert and Sullivan's The Pirates of Penzance,
the character Frederic was apprenticed to a band of pirates until his 21st birthday. Having passed his 21st
year, he leaves the pirate band and falls in love. However, since he was born
on February 29, his 21st birthday will not arrive until he is
eighty-eight (since 1900 was not a leap year), so he must leave his fiancée and
return to the pirates.
Aside from births and
deaths, other events that took place on February 29th include:
·
1644 – Abel Tasman's second Pacific voyage began.
·
1712 –
February 29 is followed by February 30 in Sweden, in a move to abolish the Swedish calendar for a return to the Julian calendar.
·
1720 – Ulrika Eleonora, Queen of
Sweden abdicates in favour of her husband, who becomes
King Frederick I on 24
March.
·
1892 – St. Petersburg, Florida is
incorporated.
·
1916 –
Child labor: In South Carolina, the minimum working age for factory, mill, and mine workers is raised
from twelve to fourteen years old.
·
1920 – Czechoslovak National assembly adopted the Constitution.
·
1940 –
For her performance as "Mammy" in Gone with the Wind, Hattie McDaniel becomes the first African American to win an Academy Award.
·
1960 –
The 5.7 Mw Agadir earthquake shakes
coastal Morocco with a maximum perceived intensity of X (Extreme),
destroying Agadir, and leaving 12,000 dead and another 12,000 injured.
·
1980 – Gordie Howe of the then Hartford Whalers makes NHL history as he
scores his 800th goal.
·
1988 –
South African archbishop Desmond Tutu is arrested along with 100 other clergymen
during a five-day anti-apartheid demonstration in Cape Town.
·
2012 – Tokyo Skytree construction completed. It is, as of
January 2020, the tallest tower in the world,
634 meters high, and second tallest artificial structure on Earth, next
to Burj Khalifa.
Leap Year traditions
The most famous
Leap Year tradition is probably that known as Bachelor's Day which
‘allows’ a woman to propose marriage to a man on February 29. If the man
refuses, he then is obliged to give the woman money or buy her a dress or,
in some countries, 12 pairs of gloves – supposedly to hide the woman's
embarrassment of not having an engagement ring.
The tradition is
supposed to have originated in Ireland from a deal that Saint Bridget struck with Saint Patrick.[27][28]
In Greece, it is considered unlucky to marry on a leap day.[31]
So there you have it –
some interesting facts about an interesting date.
