MOMENTS IN TIME

• On Feb. 7, 1964, the Beatles arrive in New York from London on their first visit to the United States. Two days later, an estimated 40 percent of the U.S. population tuned in to watch the band's appearance on "The Ed Sullivan Show."

• On Feb 8, 1983, gunmen steal the champion Irish race horse Shergar from a stud farm owned by the Aga Khan in County Kildare, Ireland. The 5-year-old thoroughbred stallion was worth $13.5 million. The kidnappers demanded a ransom of more than $2 million. Despite a highly publicized search by authorities, Shergar was never seen again and no ransom was paid.

• On Feb 9, 1973, Max Yasgur, owner of the 600-acre farm where the Woodstock music festival took place in August 1969, dies in Florida at age 53. More than 400,000 people attended the three-day festival in upstate New York. Concert organizers had expected only 50,000 to show up.

• On Feb. 10, 1920, "Kathleen Mavourneen," starring Theda Bara, provokes a riot when it opens in San Francisco. Rioters sacked the Sun Theater in protest of the film's portrayal of the Irish poor.

• On Feb. 11, 1858, in southern France, Marie-Bernarde Soubirous, a 14-year-old French peasant girl, claims to have seen the Virgin Mary. The apparitions, which totaled 18 before the end of the year, occurred in a grotto of a rock promontory near Lourdes.

• On Feb. 12, 1924, the first network radio program to be sponsored by advertising debuts. The show, "The Eveready Hour," was sponsored by the National Carbon Company and broadcast in New York, Washington, D.C., and Providence, R.I.

• On Feb. 13, 1989, Leona Helmsley, nicknamed the "Queen of Mean" by the press, receives a four-year prison sentence and a $7.1 million tax fraud fine in New York. For many, Helmsley became the object of loathing and disgust when she quipped that "only the little people pay taxes."