1934 - Actor/director Bill Bixby is born Wilfred Bailey Bixby in San Francisco, California. He will go on to appear in Disney's 1975 film The Apple Dumpling Gang and direct the short-lived TV series Herbie, the Love Bug. (TV fans will know him best for his roles on The Courtship of Eddie's Father and The Incredible Hulk.)

1940 - Actor John Hurt, the narrator of Disney's 2000 release The Tigger Movie, is born in England.

1949 - A radio show out of Nashville called Wormwood Forest - featuring puppeteer Tom Tichenor - airs. This episode features Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck, voiced by Walt Disney and Clarence Nash!

1954 - Disney's The Living Desert is given a Special Golden Globe Award "for artistic merit."

1958 - The Disneyland TV series airs episode 90 - part 1 of "The Littlest Outlaw."

1960 - The TV series Walt Disney Presents airs the episode"Swamp Fox: A Case of Treason." The series, starring actor Leslie Nielsen, is based on a real-life Commander named Franics Marion. A leader in South Carolina during the American Revolutionary War, he was nicknamed "The Swamp Fox" by the British for disrupting their plans with his outstanding guerilla warfare tactics.

1961 - Walt Disney Presents airs "A Salute to Father."

1984 - Super Bowl XVIII is played at Tampa Stadium in Florida. The halftime show is a Disney production called "Salute to Superstars of Silver Screen," featuring the University of Florida and Florida State University bands. The Los Angeles Raiders beat the Washington Redskins 38-9.

1989 - At Super Bowl XXIII, quarterback Joe Montana of the San Francisco 49ers declares, "I'm going to Disney World!" upon his team's 20-16 win over the Cincinnati Bengals.

2000 - Mickey Mouse Works airs on ABC-TV with the shorts "How to be a Baseball Fan" (featuring Goody), "Locksmiths" (featuring Mickey Mouse), and "Minnie Takes Care of Pluto".

2000 - The Disney Channel Original Movie Up, Up, and Away, the story of Scott Marshall, whose parents are superheroes - Bronze Eagle & Warrior Woman, debuts.

2001 - The Walt Disney Company re-launches its lucrative Winnie the Pooh franchise with a new television series, The Book of Pooh. Using a mix of ancient Japanese puppeteering techniques as well as state-of-the-art computer technology, Pooh and friends come to life as never before.

2001 - It is reported that five World War II Royal Navy bombs were detonated at Penny's Bay, the site of the future Disney theme park in Hong Kong.

2005 - Disney Channel airs "Dragon Breath," the second episode of the new animate series American Dragon: Jake Long, for the first time.

2006 - A celebrity-attended premiere for Disney's newest attraction Monster's, Inc.: Mike & Sulley to the Rescue! takes place at Disney's California Adventure. A dark ride that replaced Superstar Limo, it follows the story of the 2001 animated feature. In soft-openings since December 2005, Monster's, Inc. will officially open the following day.

2008 - Nominations for the 80th Academy Awards® are announced. Disney/Pixar's Ratatouillereceives five nominations (the most ever for a Disney/Pixar film). In addition to being a nominee for Best Animated Feature Film, the film also earns director Brad Bird a nomination in the Original Screenplay category (along with Jan Pinkava & Jim Capobianco). Ratatouille also receives nominations for Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Score) for composer Michael Giacchino; Achievement in Sound Editing (Randy Thom and Michael Silvers); and Achievement in Sound Mixing (Randy Thom, Michael Semanick and Doc Kane).

2008 - Hong Kong Disneyland kicks off the Chinese New Year with the "Year of the Mouse" Celebration (through February 24.)

__________________