On this day - 1 February

Myanmar, previously known as Burma, was part of the British Empire until January 1948 when it was granted independence. Since then, there has been ongoing political instability within the nation.

On the morning of February 1st 2021, a coup d'état began in Myanmar. The military deposed the National League for Democracy who were in power at the time, detaining many of their ministers and leaders. This occurred the day before the parliament was due to swear in all those elected in the 2020 election, preventing that. The military declared the 2020 general election results invalid and began a state of emergency period which was later extended from 1 to 3 years.

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On February 1 1981 a cricket match between Australia and New Zealand took place. It was the third match in a best of five series of matches for the final of the World Cup. The Australian team captain instructed the bowler to bowl the final ball underarm in a move that was within the rules at the time. This prevented the New Zealand team from being able to score what they needed to tie the match. This was felt to be unfair and led to an amendment of the rules to stop this from being able to occur again.

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