February 15th in History

1804: New Jersey becomes last northern state to abolish slavery
1936: Hitler announces building of Volkswagen
1942: Singapore surrenders to Japanese forces
1971: Britain changes its currency to the decimal system
1974: Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn arrives in Switzerland after being expelled from the USSR
1989: Soviet military occupation of Afghanistan ends

February 15th birthdays

1564: Galileo Galilei, Italian scientist and astronomer
1882: John Barrymore, American actor.
1931: Claire Bloom, English actress
1951: Jane Seymour, English actress
1954: Matt Groening, American cartoonist.