Edward III of England

Burnt Candlemas was a failed invasion of Scotland in early 1356 by an English army commanded by King Edward III (pictured), and was the last campaign of the Second War of Scottish Independence. Tensions on the Anglo-Scottish border led to a military build-up in 1355. In September a nine-month truce was agreed, and most of the English left. A few days later the Scots invaded and devastated Northumberland. In early November, the Scots escaladed the walls of Berwick-on-Tweed, captured the town and laid siege to its castle. The English army retook the town and marched on Edinburgh, leaving a trail of devastation 50 to 60 miles (80 to 100 km) wide. The Scots refused battle and practised a scorched earth policy, removing or destroying all food in their own territory. The English burnt Edinburgh and thoroughly despoiled Lothian. Edward's army was supplied by sea, but a winter storm scattered his fleet, forcing the English to withdraw. In 1357 a permanent peace was agreed, largely on English terms. (Full article...)

Luke Kunin

• ... that in 2016, Luke Kunin (pictured) became the first sophomore captain of the Wisconsin Badgers men's ice hockey team since 1975?
• ... that despite experiencing midnight sun and polar night, Svalbard observes daylight saving time?
• ... that a work by Bettie Freshwater Pool was proposed to be the official state song of North Carolina?
• ... that after viewing the Coates round house, the prospective occupant's fiancée refused to marry him unless the canal company made the property more habitable?
• ... that Qadi al-Fadil began his career under the Fatimids, became Saladin's chief minister, and was renowned for the elegance of his epistolary writing?
• ... that George Balanchine only started working on his ballet Mozartiana three weeks before its premiere?
• ... that the spotted lanternfly has been used in traditional Chinese medicine to treat swelling since the 1100s?
• ... that the Connecticut Valley Railroad successfully fooled the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad into purchasing it by pretending that it planned to expand northwards?

António Costa

• The Socialist Party, led by António Costa (pictured), wins a majority of seats in the Portuguese legislative election.
• Sergio Mattarella is re-elected as president of Italy.
• In Burkina Faso, a coup d'état led by military officer Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba deposes President Roch Marc Christian Kaboré.
• Vietnamese Thiền Buddhist monk and peace activist Thích Nhất Hạnh
  dies at the age of 95.

February 2: Groundhog Day in Canada and the United States

Vineyard in Stellenbosch, South Africa

• 506 – Alaric II, King of the Visigoths, promulgated a collection of Roman law known as the Breviary of Alaric.
• 1659 – Jan van Riebeeck, the founder of Cape Town, produced the first bottle of South African wine (vineyard pictured).
• 1913 – New York City's Grand Central Terminal, the world's largest train station by number of platforms, opened immediately after midnight.
• 1942 – The first act of the Norwegian resistance movement took place with the bombing of Oslo East Station by the Osvald Group to protest the inauguration of Vidkun Quisling.
• 2009 – Omid, Iran's first domestically made satellite, was successfully launched from Semnan Space Center.