On This Day in History

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Happy new years mecca!

 

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I think I'll continue to update this thread for 2010 also

 

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January 1 - 2010

0404 - The last gladiator competition was held in Rome.

1622 - The Papal Chancery adopted January 1st as the beginning of the New Year (instead of March 25th).

1772 - The first traveler's checks were issued in London.

1785 - London's oldest daily paper "The Daily Universal Register" (later renamed "The Times" in 1788) was first published.

1797 - Albany became the capital of New York state, replacing New York City.

1801 - The Act of Union of England and Ireland came into force.

1801 - Italian astronomer Giuseppe Piazzi became the first person to discover an asteroid. He named it Ceres.

1804 - Haiti gained its independence.

1808 - The U.S. prohibited import of slaves from Africa.

1840 - The first recorded bowling match was recorded in the U.S.

1863 - U.S. President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, which declared that all slaves in the rebel states were free.

1887 - Queen Victoria was proclaimed empress of India in Delhi.

1892 - Ellis Island Immigrant Station formally opened in New York.

1892 - Brooklyn and New York merged to form the single city of New York.

1894 - The Manchester Ship Canal was officially opened to traffic.

1898 - Manhattan, the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island were consolidated into New York City.

1900 - Hawaii asked for a delegate to the Republican national convention.

1900 - Nigeria became a British protectorate with Frederick Lagard as the high commissioner.

1901 - The Commonwealth of Australia was founded. Lord Hopetoun officially assumed the duties as the first Governor-General.

1902 - The first Tournament of Roses (later the Rose Bowl) collegiate football game was played in Pasadena, CA.

1909 - The first payments of old-age pensions were made in Britain. People over 70 received five shillings a week.

1913 - The post office began parcel post deliveries.

1924 - Frank B. Cooney received a patent for ink paste.

1926 - The Rose Bowl was carried coast to coast on network radio for the first time.

1930 - "The Cuckoo Hour" was heard for the first time on the NBC-Blue Network, which later became ABC Radio.

1934 - Alcatraz Island officially became a Federal Prison.

1934 - The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) began operation.

1936 - The "New York Herald Tribune" began microfilming its current issues.

1937 - The First Cotton Bowl football game was played in Dallas, TX. Texas Christian University (T.C.U.) beat Marquette, 16-6.

1939 - The Hewlett-Packard partnership was formed.

1942 - U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill issued a declaration called the "United Nations." It was signed by 26 countries that vowed to create an international postwar World War II peacekeeping organization.

1945 - France was admitted to the United Nations.

1956 - Sudan gained its independence.

1958 - The European Economic Community (EEC) started operations.

1959 - Fidel Castro overthrew the government of Fulgencio Batista, and seized power in Cuba.

1968 - Evel Knievel, stunt performing daredevil, lost control of his motorcycle midway through a jump of 141 feet over the ornamental fountains in front of Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas.

1971 - Tobacco ads representing $20 million dollars in advertising were banned from TV and radio broadcast.

1973 - Britain, Ireland, Denmark and Norway joined the EEC.

1975 - The magazine "Popular Electronics" announced the invention of a person computer called Altair. MITS, using an Intel microprocessor, developed the computer.

1979 - The United States and China held celebrations in Washington, DC, and Beijing to mark the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

1981 - Greece joined the European Community.

1984 - AT&T was broken up into 22 Bell System companies under terms of an antitrust agreement with the U.S. Federal government.

1986 - Spain and Portugal joined the European Community (EC).

1987 - A pro-democracy rally took place in Beijing's Tiananmen Square (China).

1990 - David Dinkins was sworn in as New York City's first black mayor.

1992 - The ESPN Radio Network was officially launched.

1993 - Czechoslovakia split into two separate states, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The peaceful division had been engineered in 1992.

1994 - Bill Gates, Chief Executive Officer of Microsoft married Marilyn French.

1994 - The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) went into effect.

1995 - Frederick West, an alleged killer of 12 women and girls, was found hanged in his jail cell in Winston Green prison, in Birmingham. West had been under almost continuous watch since his arrest in 1994, but security had reportedly been relaxed in the months preceding the apparent suicide.

1995 - The World Trade Organization came into existence. The group of 125 nations monitors global trade.

1998 - A new anti-smoking law went into effect in California. The law prohibiting people from lighting up in bars.

1999 - The euro became currency for 11 Member States of the European Union. Coins and notes were not available until January 1, 2002.

1999 - In California, a law went into effect that defined "invasion of privacy as trespassing with the intent to capture audio or video images of a celebrity or crime victim engaging in a personal of family activity."

2001 - The "Texas 7," rented space in an RV park in Woodland Park, CO.

 

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January 2


1492 - The leader of the last Arab stronghold in Spain surrendered to Spanish forces loyal to King Ferdinand II and Queen Isabella I.

1788 - Georgia became the 4th state to ratify the U.S. Constitution.

1842 - In Fairmount, PA, the first wire suspension bridge was opened to traffic.

1859 - Erastus Beadle published "The Dime Book of Practical Etiquette."

1872 - Brigham Young, the 71-year-old leader of the Mormon Church, was arrested on a charge of bigamy. He had 25 wives.

1879 - Thomas Edison began construction on his first generator.

1890 - Alice Sanger became the first female White House staffer.

1893 - The first commemorative postage stamps were issued.

1900 - U.S. Secretary of State John Hay announced the Open Door Policy to prompt trade with China.

1900 - The Chicago Canal opened.

1910 - The first junior high school in the United States opened. McKinley School in Berkeley, CA, housed seventh and eighth grade students. In a separate building students were housed who attended grades 9-12.

1917 - Royal Bank of Canada took over the Quebec Bank.

1921 - The first religious broadcast on radio was heard on KDKA Radio in Pittsburgh, PA, as Dr. E.J. Van Etten of Calvary Episcopal Church preached.

1921 - DeYoung Museum in Golden Gate Park opened.

1929 - The United States and Canada reached an agreement on joint action to preserve Niagara Falls.

1935 - Bruno Richard Hauptmann went on trial for the kidnap-murder of Charles Lindberghs baby. Hauptmann was found guilt and executed.

1942 - The Philippine capital of Manila was captured by Japanese forces during World War II.

1953 - "The Life of Riley" debuted on NBC-TV.

1955 - Panamanian President Jose Antonio Remon was assassinated.

1957 - The San Francisco and Los Angeles stock exchanges merged.

1959 - CBS Radio ended four soap operas. "Our Gal Sunday", "This is Nora Drake", "Backstage Wife" and "Road of Life" all aired for the last time.

1960 - U.S. Sen. John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts announced his candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination.

1965 - "Broadway" Joe Namath signed the richest rookie contract ($400,000) in the history of pro football.

1968 - Dr. Christian Barnard performed the first successful heart transplant.

1968 - Fidel Castro announced petroleum and sugar rationing in Cuba.

1971 - In the U.S., a federally imposed ban on television cigarette advertisements went into effect.

1974 - U.S. President Richard M. Nixon signed a bill requiring all states to lower the maximum speed limit to 55 MPH. The law was intended to conserve gasoline supplies during an embargo imposed by Arab oil-producing countries. Federal speed limits were abolished in 1995.

1983 - The final edition of Garry Trudeau’s comic strip, "Doonesbury", appeared in 726 newspapers. "Doonesbury" began running again in September 1984.

1983 - The musical "Annie" closed on Broadway at the Uris Theatre after 2,377 performances.

1985 - The Rebels of UNLV beat Utah State in three overtime periods. The final score of 142-140 set a new NCAA record for total points in a basketball game (282). The game took over three hours to play.

1991 - Sharon Pratt Dixon was sworn in as mayor of Washington, DC. She was the first black woman to head a city of that size and prominence.

1996 - AT&T announced that it would eliminate 40,000 jobs over three years.

1998 - Russia began circulating new rubles in effort to keep inflation in check and promote confidence.



Birthdays


Cuba Gooding, Jr. 1968

 

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January 3


1496 - References in Leonardo da Vinci notebooks suggested that he tested his flying machine. The test didn't succeed and he didn't try to fly again for several years.

1521 - Pope Leo X excommunicated Martin Luther.

1777 - The Battle of Princeton took place in the War of Independence, in which George Washington defeated the British forces, led by Cornwallis.

1815 - By secret treaty, Austria, Britain, and France formed a defensive alliance against Prusso-Russian plans to solve the Saxon and Polish problems.

1823 - Stephen F. Austin received a grant from the Mexican government and began colonization in the region of the Brazos River in Texas.

1825 - The first engineering college in the U.S. , Rensselaer School, opened in Troy, NY. It is now known as Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

1833 - Britain seized control of the Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic. About 150 years later, Argentina seized the islands from the British, but Britain took them back after a 74-day war.

1868 - The Shogunate was abolished in Japan and Meiji dynasty was restored.

1871 - Henry W. Bradley patented oleomargarine.

1888 - The drinking straw was patented by Marvin C. Stone.

1924 - English explorer Howard Carter discovered the sarcophagus of Tutankhamen in the Valley of the Kings, near Luxor, Egypt.

1925 - In Italy, Mussolini announced that he would take dictatorial powers.

1938 - The first broadcast of "Woman in White" was presented on the NBC Red network. The program remained on radio for 10 years.

1938 - The March of Dimes was established by U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. The organization fights poliomyelitis. The original name of the organization was the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis.

1947 - U.S. Congressional proceedings were televised for the first time. Viewers in Washington, Philadelphia and New York City saw some of the opening ceremonies of the 80th Congress.

1947 - In Trenton, NJ, Al Herrin, passed away at age 92. He had claimed that he had not slept at all during his life.

1951 - NBC-TV debuted "Dragnet."

1953 - Frances Bolton and her son, Oliver from Ohio, became the first mother-son combination to serve at the same time in the U.S. Congress.

1957 - The Hamilton Watch Company introduced the first electric watch.

1959 - In the U.S., Alaska became the 49th state.

1961 - The U.S. severed diplomatic relations with Cuba.

1962 - Pope John XXIII excommunicated Cuban prime minister Fidel Castro.

1967 - Jack Ruby died in a Dallas, TX, hospital.

1973 - The Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) sold the New York Yankees to a 12-man syndicate headed by George Steinbrenner for $10 million.

1980 - Conservationist Joy Adamson, author of "Born Free," was killed in northern Kenya by a servant.

1983 - Tony Dorsett (Dallas Cowboys) made the longest run from scrimmage in NFL history. Dorsett ran 99 yards in a game against the Minnesota Vikings.

1984 - A woman died at Disneyland after falling from a ride. She had apparently unfastened her seatbelt while on the Matterhorn bobsled.

1988 - Margaret Thatcher became the longest-serving British Prime Minister in the 20th century.

1990 - Ousted Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega surrendered to U.S. forces, 10 days after taking refuge in the Vatican's diplomatic mission.

1991 - The British government announced that seven Iraqi diplomats, another embassy staff member and 67 other Iraqis were being expelled from Britain.

1993 - U.S. President George Bush and Russian President Boris Yeltsin signed the second Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) in Moscow.

1995 - WHO reported that the cumulative total of officially reported cases of AIDS had risen to 1,025,073 in 192 countries as at the end of 1994.

1995 - The U.S. Postal Service raised the price of the first-class stamp to 32 cents.

1997 - Bryant Gumbel signed off for the last time as host of NBC's "Today" show.

1998 - China announced that it would spend $27.7 billion to fight erosion and pollution in the Yangtze and Yellow river valleys.

1999 - Israeli authorities detained, and later expelled, 14 members of Concerned Christians. Israili officials claimed that the Denver, CO-based cult was plotting violence in Jerusalem to bring about the Second Coming of Christ.

2000 - Charles M. Schulz's final original daily comic strip appeared in newspapers.

2001 - The ATF (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms) charged the "Texas 7" with weapons violations. An autopsy showed that Office Aubrey Hawkins, killed by the convicts, had been shot 11 times and run over with a vehicle.

2004 - NASA's Spirit rover landed on Mars. The craft was able to send back black and white images three hours after landing.



Birthdays

Mel Gibson 1956
Shannon Sturges 1968
James Carter 1969
Michael Schumacher 1969

 

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January 4


1821 - The first native-born American saint, Elizabeth Ann Seton, died in Emmitsburg, MD.

1850 - The first American ice-skating club was organized in Philadelphia, PA.

1884 - The socialist Fabian Society was founded in London.

1885 - Dr. William Grant performed the first successful appendectomy. The patient was Mary Gartside.

1896 - Utah became the 45th U.S. state.

1928 - NBC Radio debuted "The Dodge Victory Hour" which starred Will Rogers, Paul Whiteman and his Orchestra and singer Al Jolson.

1935 - Bob Hope was heard for the first time on network radio as part of "The Intimate Revue."

1936 - The first pop music chart based on national sales was published by "Billboard" magazine.

1944 - The attack on Monte Cassino was launched by the British Fifth Army in Italy.

1948 - Britain granted independence to Burma.

1951 - During the Korean conflict, North Korean and Communist Chinese forces captured the city of Seoul.

1953 - Tufted plastic carpeting was introduced by Barwick Mills.

1957 - "Collier’s" magazine was published for the last time. The periodical was published for 69 years.

1958 - The Soviet satellite Sputknik I fell to the earth from its orbit. The craft had been launched on October 4, 1957.

1960 - French author Albert Camus died in an automobile accident at age 46.

1962 - New York City introduced a train that operated without conductors and motormen.

1965 - The Fender Guitar Company was sold to CBS for $13 million.

1965 - Poet T.S. Eliot died at age 76.

1965 - In his State of the Union address, U.S. President Johnson proclaimed the building of the "Great Society."

1972 - Rose Heilbron became the first woman judge in Britain at the Old Bailey, London.

1974 - U.S. President Nixon refused to hand over tape recordings and documents subpoenaed by the Senate Watergate Committee.

1974 - NBC-TV presented hockey in prime time. The Boston Bruins and the New York Rangers were the teams in the National Hockey League (NHL) game.

1981 - The Broadway show "Frankenstein" lost an estimated $2 million, when it opened and closed on the same night.

1982 - Bryant Gumbel moved from NBC Sports to the anchor desk where he joined Jane Pauley as co-host of the "Today" show on NBC.

1984 - Wayne ‘The Great One’ Gretzky scored eight points (four goals and four assists) for the second time in his National Hockey League (NHL) career. Edmonton’s Oilers defeated the Minnesota North Stars, 12-8. The game was the highest-scoring NHL game to date.

1987 - An Amtrak train bound from Washington to Boston collided with Conrail engines approaching from a side track, 16 people were killed.

1990 - Charles Stuart jumped to his death from a Boston Harbor bridge. He had become a suspect in the murder of his wife. He had claimed that a gunman had shot him and his wife.

1990 - Deposed Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega was arraigned in U.S. federal district court in Miami on drug-trafficking charges.

1991 - The U.N. Security Council voted unanimously to condemn Israel's treatment of the Palestinians in the occupied territories.

1997 - The Greek Cypriot government signed an agreement to buy S-300 surface-to-air missiles from Russia.

1999 - A drifting Nicaraguan fishing boat was found by the Norwegian oil tanker Joelm. The fisherman had been lost at sea for 35 days after the engine of their vessel quit working.

1999 - 16 people were killed and 25 injured when gunmen opened fire on Shiite Muslim worshippers at a mosque in Islamabad, Pakistan.

1999 - Former professional wrestler Jesse Ventura was sworn in as Minnesota's 37th governor.

2001 - FBI agents in the Dallas area charged the "Texas 7" of unlawful flight to avoid federal prosecution for capital murder, broadening the manhunt nationwide.

2006 - Nancy Pelosi became Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. She was the first woman to hold the position.

2010 - In Dubai, the Burj Dubai (Dubai Tower) opened as the world's tallest tower at 2,625 feet.

 

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January 5

1781 - Richmond, VA, was burned by a British naval expedition led by Benedict Arnold.

1885 - The Long Island Railroad Company became the first to offer piggy-back rail service which was the transportation of farm wagons on trains.

1896 - It was reported by The Austrian newspaper that Wilhelm Roentgen had discovered the type of radiation that became known as X-rays.

1900 - In Ireland, Nationalist leader John Edward Redmond called for a revolt against British rule.

1903 - The general public could use the Pacific cable for the very first time.

1914 - Ford Motor Company announced that there would be a new daily minimum wage of $5 and an eight-hour workday.

1925 - Mrs. Nellie Taylor Ross was sworn in as the governor of Wyoming She was the first female governor in the U.S.

1933 - Construction of the Golden Gate Bridge began.

1934 - Both the National and American baseball leagues decided to use a uniform-size baseball. It was the first time in 33 years that both leagues used the same size ball. (MLB)

1935 - Phil Spitalny’s All-Girl Orchestra was featured on CBS radio on the program, "The Hour of Charm."

1940 - The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) got its very first demonstration of FM radio.

1944 - The London "Daily Mail" was the first transoceanic newspaper to be published.

1948 - Warner Brothers-Pathe showed the very first color newsreel. The footage was of the Tournament of Roses Parade and the Rose Bowl football classic.

1956 - In the Peanuts comic strip, Snoopy walked on two legs for the first time.

1961 - "Mr. Ed" debuted. The show would run for six years.

1970 - "All My Children" premiered on ABC.

1972 - U.S. President Richard M. Nixon ordered the development of the space shuttle.

1987 - U.S. President Ronald Reagan underwend prostate surgery.

1993 - The state of Washington executed Westley Allan Dodd. It was America's first legal hanging since 1965. Dodd was an admitted child sex killer.

1996 - Yahya Ayyash, a member of the Hamas in Israel, is killed by a booby-trapped cellular phone.

1998 - U.S. Representative Sonny Bono died in skiing accident.

2002 - A 15 year-old student pilot, Charles Bishop, crashed a small plane into a building in Tampa, FL. Bishop was about to begin a flying lesson when he took off without permission and without an instructor.


Birthday

Marilyn Manson 1970

 

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January 6



0871 - England's King Alfred defeated the Danes at the Battle of Ashdown.

1205 - Philip of Swabia was crowned as King of the Romans.

1453 - Frederick III erected Austria into an Archduchy.

1540 - King Henry VIII of England was married to Anne of Cleves, his fourth wife.

1720 - The Committee of Inquiry on the South Sea Bubble published its findings.

1759 - George Washington and Martha Dandridge Custis were married.

1838 - Samuel Morse publicly demonstrated the telegraph for the first time.

1896 - The first American women’s six-day bicycle race was held at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

1900 - In India, it was reported that millions of people were dying from starvation.

1900 - Off of South Africa, the British seized the German steamer Herzog. The boat was released on January 22, 1900.

1912 - New Mexico became the 47th U.S. state.

1930 - The first diesel-engine automobile trip was completed after a run of 792 miles from Indianapolis, IN, to New York City, NY.

1931 - Thomas Edison executed his last patent application.

1941 - Richard Widmark made his debut on radio in "The Home of the Brave."

1941 - Alice Marble made her professional tennis debut when she defeated Ruth Hardwick of Great Britain at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

1942 - The first commercial around-the-world airline flight took place. Pan American Airlines was the company that made history with the feat.

1942 - The National Collegiate Football Rules Committee abolished the Y formation.

1945 - The Battle of the Bulge ended with 130,000 German and 77,000 Allied casualties.

1950 - Britain recognized the Communist government of China.

1952 - "Peanuts" debuted in Sunday papers across the United States.

1963 - "Wild Kingdom" premiered on NBC.

1967 - U.S. and South Vietnamese forces launched a major offensive, known as Operation "Deckhouse V", in the Mekong River delta.

1974 - CBS radio debuted "Radio Mystery Theatre."

1975 - The Broadway show "The Wiz" opened.

1975 - ABC-TV debuted "A.M. America."

1982 - William G. Bonin was convicted in Los Angeles, CA, of being the "freeway killer" who had murdered 14 young men and boys.

1987 - After a 29-year lapse, the Ford Thunderbird was presented with the Motor Trend Car of the Year Award. It was the first occurrence of a repeat winner of the award.

1994 - Figure skater Nancy Kerrigan was clubbed on the right leg by an assailant at Cobo Arena in Detroit, MI. Four men were later sentenced to prison for the attack, including Tonya Harding's ex-husband.

1998 - The spacecraft Lunar Prospect was launched into orbit around the moon. The craft was crashed into the moon, in an effort to find water under the lunar surface, on July 31, 1999.

1999 - The 106th U.S. Congress opened. The first item on the agenda was the impeachment proceedings of U.S. President Bill Clinton. The trial was set to begin January 7, 1999.

1999 - Bob Newhart received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.



Birthdays

Malcolm Young (AC/DC) 1953
Rowan Atkinson 1955

 

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January 7


1558 - Calais, the last English possession on mainland France, was recaptured by the French.

1610 - Galileo Galilei sighted four of Jupiter's moons. He named them Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto.

1782 - The Bank of North America opened in Philadelphia. It was the first commercial bank in the United States.

1785 - French aeronaut/balloonist Jean-Pierre Blanchard successfully made the first air-crossing of the English Channel from the English coast to France.

1789 - Americans voted for the electors that would choose George Washington to be the first U.S. president.

1887 - Thomas Stevens completed the first worldwide bicycle trip. He started his trip in April 1884. Stevens and his bike traveled 13,500 miles in almost three years time.

1894 - W.K. Dickson received a patent for motion picture film.

1896 - "Fannie Farmer Cookbook" cookbook was published.

1904 - The distress signal "CQD" was established. Two years later "SOS" became the radio distress signal because it was quicker to send by wireless radio.

1926 - George Burns and Gracie Allen were married.

1927 - Transatlantic telephone service Service began between New York and London. 31 calls were made on this first day.

1927 - In Hinckley IL, the Harlem Globetrotters played their first game.

1929 - The debut of "Buck Rogers 2429 A.D." occurred in newspapers around the U.S. The title of the comic strip was later changed to "Buck Rogers in the 25th Century."

1932 - Chancellor Heinrich Brüning declared that Germany cannot, and will not, resume reparations payments.

1935 - French Foreign Minister Pierre Laval and Italian Prime Minister Benito Mussolini signed the Italo-French agreements.

1940 - "Gene Autry’s Melody Ranch" debuted on CBS Radio. The show aired for 16 years.

1941 - The NBC Blue radio network presented "The Squeaky Door" for the first time. The show was later known as "Inner Sanctum."

1942 - The World War II siege of Bataan began.

1949 - The announcement of the first photograph of genes was shown at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles.

1953 - U.S. President Harry Truman announced the development of the hydrogen bomb.

1954 - The Duoscopic TV receiver was unveiled this day. The TV set allowed the watching of two different shows at the same time.

1959 - The United States recognized Fidel Castro's new government in Cuba.

1968 - The cost of a U.S. first class stamp was raised to 6 cents.

1975 - OPEC agreed to raise crude oil prices by 10%, which began a time of world economic inflation.

1979 - Vietnamese forces captured the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh, overthrowing the Khmer Rouge government.

1980 - U.S. President Jimmy Carter signed legislation that authorized $1.5 billion in loans for the bail out of Chrysler Corp.

1989 - Crown Prince Akihito became the emperor of Japan following the death of his father, Emperor Hirohito.

1990 - The Leaning Tower of Pisa was closed to the public. The accelerated rate of "leaning" raised fears for the safety of its visitors.

1996 - Alvaro Arzu was elected president of Guatemala.

1996 - One of the biggest blizzards in U.S. history hit the eastern states. More than 100 deaths were later blamed on the severe weather.

1998 - Former White House intern Monica Lewinsky signed an affidavit denying that she had an affair with U.S. President Clinton.

1999 - U.S. President Clinton went on trial before the Senate. It was only the second time in U.S. history that an impeached president had gone to trial. Clinton was later acquitted of perjury and obstruction of justice charges.

2002 - Microsoft Corp. chairman Bill Gates introduced a new device code named Mira. The device was tablet-like and was a cross between a handheld computer and a TV remote control.

2009 - Russia shut off all gas supplies to Europe through Ukraine. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin publicly endorsed the move and urged greater international involvement in the energy dispute.



Birthdays

Kenny Loggins 1948
Nicholas Cage 1964

 

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January 8


1642 - Astronomer Galileo Galilei died in Arcetri, Italy.

1675 - The first corporation was charted in the United States. The company was the New York Fishing Company.

1790 - In the United States, George Washington delivered the first State of the Union address.

1815 - The Battle of New Orleans began. The War of 1812 had officially ended on December 24, 1814, with the signing of the Treaty of Ghent. The news of the signing had not reached British troops in time to prevent their attack on New Orleans.

1838 - Alfred Vail demonstrated a telegraph code he had devised using dots and dashes as letters. The code was the predecessor to Samuel Morse's code.

1853 - A bronze statue of Andrew Jackson on a horse was unveiled in Lafayette Park in Washington, DC. The statue was the work of Clark Mills.

1856 - Borax (hydrated sodium borate) was discovered by Dr. John Veatch.

1877 - Crazy Horse (Tashunca-uitco) and his warriors fought their final battle against the U.S. Cavalry in Montana.

1886 - The Severn Railway Tunnel, Britain's longest, was opened.

1889 - The tabulating machine was patented by Dr. Herman Hollerith. His firm, Tabulating Machine Company, later became International Business Machines Corporation (IBM).

1894 - Fire caused serious damage at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, IL.

1900 - U.S. President McKinley placed Alaska under military rule.

1900 - In South Africa, General White turned back the Boers attack of Ladysmith.

1901 - The first tournament sanctioned by the American Bowling Congress was held in Chicago, IL.

1908 - A catastrophic train collision occurred in the smoke-filled Park Avenue Tunnel in New York City. Seventeen were killed and thirty-eight were injured. The accident caused a public outcry and increased demand for electric trains.

1916 - During World War I, the final withdrawal of Allied troops from Gallipoli took place.

1918 - U.S. President Woodrow Wilson announced his Fourteen Points as the basis for peace upon the end of World War I.

1921 - David Lloyd George became the first prime minister tenant at Chequers Court, Buckinghamshire.

1929 - William S. Paley appeared on CBS Radio for the first time to announce that CBS had become the largest regular chain of broadcasting chains in radio history.

1935 - The spectrophotometer was patented by A.C. Hardy.

1952 - Marie Wilson came to TV as "My Friend Irma".

1955 - After 130 home basketball wins, Georgia Tech defeated Kentucky 59-58. It was the first Kentucky loss at home since January 2, 1943.

1957 - Jackie Robinson announced his retirement from major league baseball in an article that appeared in "LOOK" magazine.

1958 - Bobby Fisher, at the age of 14, won the United States Chess Championship for the first time.

1959 - Charles De Gaulle was inaugurated as president of France's Fifth Republic.

1960 - The NCAA met in New York and voted against reviving the unlimited substitution rule for college football.

1964 - U.S. President Lyndon Johnson declared a "War on Poverty."

1961 - Robert Goulet made his national TV debut this night on "The Ed Sullivan Show" on CBS.

1962 - Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa was exhibited in America for the first time at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC. The next day the exhibit opened to the public.

1973 - Secret peace talks between the United States and North Vietnam resumed near Paris, France.

1973 - The trial opened in Washington, of seven men accused of bugging Democratic Party headquarters in the Watergate apartment complex in Washington, DC.

1975 - Ella Grasso became the governor of Connecticut. She was the first woman to become a governor of a state without a husband preceding her in the governor’s chair.

1982 - American Telephone & Telegraph (AT&T) settled the Justice Department's antitrust lawsuit against it by agreeing to divest itself of the 22 Bell System companies.

1987 - The Dow Jones industrial average closed over the 2000 mark for the first time at 2,002.25.

1992 - U.S. President George Bush collapsed during a state dinner in Tokyo. White House officials said Bush was suffering from stomach flu.

1993 - Bosnian President Izetbegovic visited the U.S. to plead his government's case for Western military aid and intervention to halt Serbian aggression.

1994 - Tonya Harding won the ladies' U.S. Figure Skating Championship in Detroit, MI, a day after Nancy Kerrigan dropped out because of a clubbing attack that injured her right knee. The U.S. Figure Skating Association later took the title from Harding because of her involvement in the attack.

1997 - Mister Rogers received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

1998 - Ramzi Yousef was sentenced to life in prison for his role of mastermind behind the World Trade Center bombing in New York.

1998 - Scientists announced that they had discovered that galaxies were accelerating and moving apart and at faster speeds.

1999 - The top two executives of Salt Lake City's Olympic Organizing Committee resigned amid disclosures that civic boosters had given cash to members of the International Olympic Committee.

1999 - British Prime Minister Tony Blair concluded a three-day visit to South Africa.

2005 - The rate for U.S. First Class mail was raised to 39¢.

2009 - In Egypt, archeologists entered a 4,300 year old pyramid and discovered the mummy of Queen Sesheshet.

 

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January 9


1793 - Jean-Pierre Blanchard made the first successful balloon flight in the U.S.

1799 - British prime minister William Pitt the Younger introduced income tax, at two shillings (10p) in the pound, to raise funds for the Napoleonic Wars.

1848 - The first commercial bank was established in San Francisco, CA.

1861 - The state of Mississippi seceded from the United States.

1894 - The New England Telephone and Telegraph Company put the first battery-operated switchboard into operation in Lexington, MA.

1902 - New York State introduced a bill to outlaw flirting in public.

1905 - In Russia, the civil disturbances known as the Revolution of 1905 forced Czar Nicholas II to grant some civil rights.

1929 - The Seeing Eye was incorporated in Nashville, TN. The company's purpose was to train dogs to guide the blind.

1936 - The United States Army adopted the semi-automatic rifle.

1937 - The first issue of "Look" went on sale. Within a month, "Look" became a biweekly magazine.

1940 - Television was used for the first time to present a sales meeting to convention delegates in New York City.

1951 - The United Nations headquarters officially opened in New York City.

1961 - The play, "Rhinoceros," opened on Broadway.

1969 - The supersonic aeroplane Concorde made its first trial flight, at Bristol.

1972 - The ocean liner Queen Elizabeth was destroyed by fire in Hong Kong harbor.

1972 - British miners went on strike for the first time since 1926.

1981 - Hockey Hall of Famer, Phil Esposito, announced that he would retire as a hockey player after the New York Rangers-Buffalo Sabres hockey game. The game ended in a tie. (NHL)

1984 - Clara Peller was first seen by TV viewers in the "Where's the Beef?" commercial campaign for Wendy's.

1986 - Kodak got out of the instant camera business after 10 years due to a loss in a court battle that claimed that Kodak copied Polaroid patents.

1991 - U.S. secretary of state Baker and Iraqi foreign minister Aziz met for 61/2 hours in Geneva, but failed to reach any agreement that would forestall war in the Persian Gulf.

1995 - Russian cosmonaut Valeri Poliakov, 51, completed his 366th day in outer space aboard the Mir space station, breaking the record for the longest continuous time spent in outer space.

1997 - Tamil rebels attact a military base in Sri Lanka. 200 soldiers and 140 rebels were killed.

2000 - ABC-TV began airing "The Mole."

2002 - Yasmine Bleeth was sentenced to two years of probation, regular drug tests, 100 hours of community service and pay the court costs in connection to a cocaine-possession charge.

2002 - The U.S. Justice Department announced that it was pursuing a criminal investigation of Enron Corp. The company had filed for bankruptcy on December 2, 2001.

2003 - Archaeologists announced that they had found five more chambers in the tomb of Qin Shihuang, China's first emperor. The rooms were believed to cover about 750,000 square feet.

2005 - Matthew Broderick and Nathan Lane received stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in a dual ceremony.


Birthdays

Haddaway 1965

 

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January 10


1776 - Thomas Paine published his pamphlet "Common Sense."

1840 - The penny post, whereby mail was delivered at a standard charge rather than paid for by the recipient, began in Britain.

1861 - Florida seceded from the United States.

1863 - Prime Minister Gladstone opened the first section of the London Underground Railway system, from Paddington to Farringdon Street.

1870 - John D. Rockefeller incorporated Standard Oil.

1901 - Oil was discovered at the Spindletop oil field near Beaumont, TX.

1911 - Major Jimmie Erickson took the first photograph from an airplane while flying over San Diego, CA.

1920 - The League of Nations ratified the Treaty of Versailles, officially ending World War I with Germany.

1920 - The League of Nations held its first meeting in Geneva.

1927 - Fritz Lang's film "Metropolis" was first shown, in Berlin.

1928 - The Soviet Union ordered the exile of Leon Trotsky.

1943 - U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt sailed from Miami, FL, to Trinidad thus becoming the first American President to visit a foreign country during wartime.

1943 - The quiz show, "The Better Half," was heard for the first time on Mutual Radio.

1946 - The first meeting of the United Nations General Assembly took place with 51 nations represented.

1949 - Vinyl records were introduced by RCA (45 rpm) and Columbia (33.3 rpm).

1950 - Ben Hogan appeared for the first time in a golf tournament since an auto accident a year earlier. He tied ‘Slammin’ Sammy Snead in the Los Angeles Open, however, Hogan lost in a playoff.

1951 - Donald Howard Rogers piloted the first passenger jet on a trip from Chicago to New York City.

1957 - Harold Macmillan became prime minister of Britain, following the resignation Anthony Eden.

1963 - The Chicago Cubs became the first baseball club to hire an athletic director. He was Robert Whitlow. (MLB)

1969 - The final issue of "The Saturday Evening Post" appeared after 147 years of publication.

1971 - "Masterpiece Theatre" premiered on PBS with host Alistair Cooke. The introduction drama series was "The First Churchills."

1978 - The Soviet Union launched two cosmonauts aboard a Soyuz capsule for a redezvous with the Salyut VI space laboratory.

1984 - The United States and the Vatican established full diplomatic relations for the first time in more than a century.

1986 - The uncut version of Jerome Kern’s musical, "Showboat", opened at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC.

1990 - Chinese Premier Li Peng ended martial law in Beijing after seven months. He said that crushing pro-democracy protests had saved China from "the abyss of misery."

1990 - Time Inc. and Warner Communications Inc. completed a $14 billion merger. The new company, Time Warner, was the world's largest entertainment company.

1994 - In Manassas, VA, Lorena Bobbitt went on trial. She had been charged with maliciously wounding her husband John. She was acquitted by reason of temporary insanity.

1997 - Shelby Lynne Barrackman was strangled to death by her grand-father when she licked the icing off of cupcakes. He was convicted of the crime on September 15, 1998.

2000 - It was announced that Time-Warner had agreed to buy America On-line (AOL). It was the largest-ever corporate merger priced at $162 billion. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) approved the deal on December 14, 2000.

2001 - American Airlines agreed to acquire most of Trans World Airlines (TWA) assets for about $500 million. The deal brought an end to the financially troubled TWA.

2002 - In France, the "Official Journal" reported that all women could get the morning-after contraception pill for free in pharmacies.

2003 - North Korea announced that it was withdrawing from the global nuclear arms control treaty and that it had no plans to develop nuclear weapons



Birthdays

George Foreman 1949

 

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January 11

1569 - England's first state lottery was held.

1770 - The first shipment of rhubarb was sent to the United States from London.

1805 - The Michigan Territory was created.

1815 - U.S. General Andrew Jackson achieved victory at the Battle of New Orleans. The War of 1812 had officially ended on December 24, 1814, with the signing of the Treaty of Ghent. The news of the signing had not reached British troops in time to prevent their attack on New Orleans.

1861 - Alabama seceded from the United States.

1867 - Benito Juarez returned to the Mexican presidency, following the withdrawal of French troops and the execution of Emperor Maximilian.

1878 - In New York, milk was delivered in glass bottles for the first time by Alexander Campbell.

1902 - "Popular Mechanics" magazine was published for the first time.

1913 - The first sedan-type car was unveiled at the National Automobile Show in New York City. The car was manufactured by the Hudson Motor Company.

1922 - At Toronto General Hospital, Leonard Thompson became the first person to be successfully treated with insulin.

1935 - Amelia Earhart Putnam became the first woman to fly solo from Hawaii to California.

1938 - In Limerick, ME, Frances Moulton assumed her duties as the first woman bank president.

1942 - Japan declared war against the Netherlands. The same day, Japanese forces invaded the Dutch East Indies.

1943 - The United States and Britain signed treaties relinquishing extraterritorial rights in China.

1947 - "Murder and Mrs. Malone" debuted on ABC radio.

1958 - "Seahunt" debuted on CBS-TV. The show was aired on the network for four years.

1964 - U.S. Surgeon General Luther Terry released a report that said that smoking cigarettes was a definite health hazard.

1973 - The Open University awarded its first degrees.

1973 - Owners of American League baseball teams voted to adopt the designated-hitter rule on a trial basis.

1977 - France released Abu Daoud, a Palestinian suspected of involvement in the massacre of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics.

1978 - Two Soviet cosmonauts aboard the Soyuz 27 capsule linked up with the Salyut 6 orbiting space station, where the Soyuz 26 capsule was already docked.

1980 - Nigel Short, age 14, from Bolton in Britain, became the youngest International Master in the history of chess.

1986 - Author James Clavell signed a 5$ million deal with Morrow/Avon Publishing for the book "Whirlwind". The book is a 2,000 page novel.

1988 - U.S. Vice President George Bush met with representatives of independent counsel Lawrence E. Walsh to answer questions about the Iran-Contra affair.

1991 - An auction of silver and paintings that had been acquired by the late Ferdinand Marcos and his wife, Imelda, brought in a total of $20.29 million at Christie's in New York.

1996 - Ryutaro Hashimoto become Japan's prime minister. He replaced Tomiichi Murayama who had resigned on January 5, 1996.

2000 - The merger between AOL and Time Warner was approved by the U.S. government with restrictions.

2000 - The U.S. Postal Service unveiled the second Vietnam Veterans Memorial commemorative stamp in a ceremony at The Wall.

2001 - The Texas Board of Criminal Justice released a review of the escape of the "Texas 7." It stated that prison staff missed critical opportunities to prevent the escape by ignoring a fire alarm, not reporting unsupervised inmates and not demanding proper identification from inmates.

2002 - Thomas Junta, 44, was convicted of involuntary manslaughter for beating another man to death at their son's hockey practice. The incident occurred on July 5, 2000.


Birthdays

Mary J. Blige 1971

 

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January 12


49 BC - Julius Caesar crossed the Rubicon River signaling a war between Rome and Gaul.

1519 - Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I died.

1773 - The first public museum in America was established in Charleston, SC.

1866 - The Royal Aeronautical Society was founded in London.

1875 - Kwang-su was made emperor of China.

1882 - Thomas Edison's central station on Holborn Viaduct in London began operation.

1895 - The first performance of King Arthur took place at the Lyceum Theatre.

1896 - At Davidson College, several students took x-ray photographs. They created the first X-ray photographs to be made in America.

1908 - A wireless message was sent long-distance for the first time from the Eiffel Tower in Paris.

1915 - The U.S. House of Representatives rejected a proposal to give women the right to vote.

1915 - The U.S. Congress established the Rocky Mountain National Park.

1926 - "Sam ‘n’ Henry" debuted on WGN Radio in Chicago, IL.

1932 - Hattie W. Caraway became the first woman elected to the U.S. Senate.

1938 - Austria recognized the Franco government in Spain.

1940 - Soviet bombers raided cities in Finland.

1942 - U.S. President Roosevelt created the National War Labor Board.

1943 - The Office of Price Administration announced that standard frankfurters/hot dogs/wieners would be replaced by 'Victory Sausages.'

1945 - During World War II, Soviet forces began a huge offensive against the Germans in Eastern Europe.

1948 - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that states could not discriminate against law-school applicants because of race.

1949 - "Arthur Godfrey and His Friends" was debuted on CBS-TV. The show stayed on the network for seven years.

1949 - "Kukla, Fran and Ollie", the Chicago-based children’s show, made its national debut on NBC-TV.

1955 - Rod Serling’s stellar career began with the TV production of "Patterns."

1960 - Dolph Schayes of the Syracuse Nationals became the first pro basketball player in the NBA to score more than 15,000 points in his career.

1964 - Leftist rebels in Zanzibar began their successful revolt against the government and a republic was proclaimed.

1966 - U.S. President Johnson said in his State of the Union address that the United States should stay in South Vietnam until Communist aggression there was ended.

1966 - "Batman" debuted on ABC-TV.

1967 - "Dragnet" returned to NBC-TV after being off the network schedule for eight years.

1970 - The breakaway state of Biafra capitulated and the Nigerian civil war came to an end.

1970 - Nigeria's civil war ended.

1971 - "All In the Family" debuted on CBS-TV.

1973 - Yassar Arafat was re-elected as head of the Palestinian Liberation Organization.

1986 - Space shuttle Columbia blasted off with a crew that included the first Hispanic-American in space, Dr. Franklin R. Chang-Diaz.

1991 - The U.S. Congress passed a resolution authorizing President Bush to use military power to force Iraq out of Kuwait.

1995 - Northern Ireland Secretary Patrick Mayhew announced that as of January 16 British troops would no longer carry out daylight street patrols in Belfast.

1998 - Tyson Foods Inc. pled guilty to giving $12,000 to former Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy. Tyson was fined $6 million.

1998 - 19 European nations agreed to prohibit human cloning.

1998 - Linda Tripp provided Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr's office with taped conversations between herself and former White House intern Monica Lewinsky.

1999 - Mark McGwire's 70th home run ball was sold at auction in New York for $3 million to an anonymous bidder.

2000 - The U.S. Supreme Court, in a 5-4 ruling, gave police broad authority to stop and question people who run at the sight of an officer.

2000 - Charlotte Hornets guard Bobby Phills was killed in a crash during a drag race.

2005 - NASA launched "Deep Impact". The spacecraft was planned to impact on Comet Tempel 1 after a six-month, 268 million-mile journey.

2006 - The U.S. Mint began shipping new 5-cent coins to the 12 regional Federal Reserve Banks. The coin has an image of Thomas Jefferson taken from a 1800 Rembrandt Peale portrait in which the president is looking forward. Since 1909, when presidents were first depicted on circulating coins, all presidents had been shown in profile.



Birthdays

Rob Zombie (White Zombie) 1966

 

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January 13



1794 - U.S. President Washington approved a measure adding two stars and two stripes to the American flag, following the admission of Vermont and Kentucky to the union.

1854 - Anthony Faas of Philadelphia, PA, patented the accordion.

1893 - Britain's Independent Labor Party, a precursor to the current Labor Party, met for the first time.

1898 - Emile Zola's "J'accuse" was published in Paris.

1900 - In Austria-Hungary, Emperor Franz Joseph decreed that German would be the language of the imperial army to combat Czech nationalism.

1906 - Hugh Gernsback, of the Electro Importing Company, advertised radio receivers for sale for the price of just $7.50 in "Scientific American" magazine.

1928 - Ernst F. W. Alexanderson gave the first public demonstration of television.

1942 - Henry Ford patented the plastic automobile, which allowed for a 30% decrease in car weight.

1957 - Wham-O began producing "Pluto Platters." This marked the true beginning of production of the flying disc.

1962 - Ernie Kovacs died in a car crash in west Los Angeles, CA.

1966 - Elizabeth Montgomery’s character, Samantha, on "Bewitched," had a baby. The baby's name was Tabitha.

1966 - Robert C. Weaver became the first black Cabinet member when he was appointed Secretary of Housing and Urban Development by U.S. President Johnson.

1982 - An Air Florida 737 crashed into the capital's 14th Street Bridge after takeoff and fell into the Potomac River. 78 people were killed.

1984 - Wayne Gretzky extended his NHL consecutive scoring streak to 45 games.

1986 - The NCAA adopted the controversial "Proposal 48," which set standards for Division 1 freshman eligibility.

1986 - "The Wall Street Journal" printed a real picture on its front page. The journal had not done this in nearly 10 years. The story was about artist, O. Winston Link and featured one of his works.

1989 - Bernhard H. Goetz was sentenced to one year in prison for possession of an unlicensed gun that he used to shoot four youths he claimed were about to rob him. He was freed the following September.

1990 - L. Douglas Wilder of Virginia, the nation's first elected black governor, took the oath of office in Richmond.

1992 - Japan apologized for forcing tens of thousands of Korean women to serve as sex slaves for Japanese soldiers during World War II.

1997 - Debbie Reynolds received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

1998 - NBC agreed to pay almost $13 million for each episode of the TV show E.R. It was the highest amount ever paid for a TV show.

1998 - ABC and ESPN negotiated to keep "Monday Night Football" for $1.15 billion a season.

1998 - One of the 110 missing episodes of the British TV show "Doctor Who" was found in New Zealand.

1999 - Michael Jordan (Chicago Bulls) announced his retirement from the NBA.

2002 - The exhibit "In the Spirit of Martin: The Living Legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr." opened at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History. More than 100 artists supplied the collection of 120 works of art.

2002 - Japan and Singapore signed a free trade pact that would remove tariffs on almost all goods traded between the two countries.

2002 - U.S. President George W. Bush fainted after choking on a pretzel.

2009 - Ethiopian military forces began pulling out of Somalia, where they had tried to maintain order for nearly two years.

 

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January 14


1639 - Connecticut's first constitution, the "Fundamental Orders," was adopted.

1784 - The United States ratified a peace treaty with England ending the Revolutionary War.

1858 - French emperor Napoleon III escaped an attempt on his life.

1873 - John Hyatt's 1869 invention ‘Celluloid’ was registered as a trademark.

1878 - Alexander Graham Bell demonstrated the telephone for Britain's Queen Victoria.

1882 - The Myopia Hunt Club, in Winchester, MA, became the first country club in the United States.

1907 - An earthquake killed over 1,000 people in Kingston, Jamaica.

1939 - "Honolulu Bound" was heard on CBS radio for the first time.

1943 - U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt became the first U.S. President to fly in an airplane while in office. He flew from Miami, FL, to French Morocco where he met with British Prime Minister Winston Churchill to discuss World War II.

1951 - The first National Football League Pro Bowl All-Star Game was played in Los Angeles, CA.

1952 - NBC's "Today" show premiered.

1953 - Josip Broz Tito was elected president of Yugoslavia by the country's Parliament.

1954 - Marilyn Monroe and Joe DiMaggio were married. The marriage only lasted nine months.

1954 - The Hudson Motor Car Company merged with Nash-Kelvinator. The new company was called the American Motors Corporation.

1963 - George C. Wallace was sworn in as governor of Alabama.

1969 - An explosion aboard the U.S. aircraft carrier Enterprise off Hawaii killed 25 crew members.

1972 - NBC-TV debuted "Sanford & Son."

1973 - The Miami Dolphins defeated the Washington Redskins in Super Bowl VII and became the first NFL team to go undefeated in a season.

1985 - Martina Navratilova won her 100th tournament. She joined Jimmy Connors and Chris Evert Lloyd as the only professional tennis players to win 100 tournaments.

1985 - Former Miss America, Phyllis George, joined Bill Kurtis as host of "The CBS Morning News".

1986 - "Rambo: First Blood, Part II" arrived at video stores. It broke the record set by "Ghostbusters", for first day orders. 435,000 copies of the video were sold.

1993 - Television talk show host David Letterman announced he was moving from NBC to CBS.

1993 - The British government pledged to introduce legislation to criminalize invasions of privacy by the press.

1994 - U.S. President Clinton and Russian President Boris Yeltsin signed Kremlin accords to stop aiming missiles at any nation and to dismantle the nuclear arsenal of Ukraine.

1996 - Jorge Sampaio was elected president of Portugal.

1996 - Juan Garcia Abrego was arrested by Mexican agents. The alleged drug lord was handed over to the FBI the next day.

1998 - Whitewater prosecutors questioned Hillary Rodham Clinton at the White House for 10 minutes about the gathering of FBI background files on past Republican political appointees.

1998 - In Dallas, researchers report an enzyme that slows the aging process and cell death.

1999 - The impeachment trial of U.S. President Clinton began in Washington, DC.

1999 - The U.S. proposed the lifting of the U.N. ceilings on the sale of oil in Iraq. The restriction being that the money be used to buy medicine and food for the Iraqi people.

2000 - A U.N. tribunal sentenced five Bosnian Croats to up to 25 years for the 1993 massacre of over 100 Muslims in a Bosnian village.

2000 - The Dow Jones industrial average hit a new high when it closed at 11,722.98. Earlier in the session, the Dow had risen to 11,750.98. Both records stood until October 3, 2006.

2002 - NBC's "Today" celebrated its 50th anniversary on television.

2002 - Actor Brad Renfro, 19, was arrested after being stopped on a traffic violation. He was charged with public intoxication and driving without a license.

2004 - In St. Louis, a Lewis and Clark Exhibition opened at the Missouri History Museum. The exhibit featured 500 rare and priceless objects used by the Corps of Discovery.

2005 - A probe, from the Cassini-Huygens mission, sent back pictures during and after landing on Saturn's moon Titan. The mission was launched on October 15, 1997.

 

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January 15



1559 - England's Queen Elizabeth I (Elizabeth Tudor) was crowned in Westminster Abbey.

1777 - The people of New Connecticut (now the state of Vermont) declared their independence.

1844 - The University of Notre Dame received its charter from the state of Indiana.

1863 - "The Boston Morning Journal" became the first paper in the U.S. to be published on wood pulp paper.

1870 - A cartoon by Thomas Nast titled "A Live Jackass Kicking a Dead Lion" appeared in "Harper's Weekly." The cartoon used the donkey to symbolize the Democratic Party for the first time.

1892 - "Triangle" magazine in Springfield, MA, published the rules for a brand new game. The original rules involved attaching a peach baskets to a suspended board. It is now known as basketball.

1899 - Edwin Markham's poem, "The Man With a Hoe," was published for the first time.

1906 - Willie Hoppe won the billiard championship of the world in Paris, France.

1908 - Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority became America's first Greek-letter organization established by African-American college women.

1936 - The first, all glass, windowless building was completed in Toledo, OH. The building was the new home of the Owens-Illinois Glass Company Laboratory.

1943 - The Pentagon was dedicated as the world's largest office building just outside Washington, DC, in Arlington, VA. The structure covers 34 acres of land and has 17 miles of corridors.

1945 - CBS Radio debuted "House Party". The show was on the air for 22 years.

1953 - Harry S Truman became the first U.S. President to use radio and television to give his farewell as he left office.

1955 - The first solar-heated, radiation-cooled house was built by Raymond Bliss in Tucson, AZ.

1967 - The first National Football League Super Bowl was played. The Green Bay Packers defeated the Kansas City Chiefs of the American Football League. The final score was 35-10.

1973 - U.S. President Nixon announced the suspension of all U.S. offensive action in North Vietnam. He cited progress in peace negotiations as the reason.

1974 - "Happy Days" premiered on ABC-TV.

1976 - Sara Jane Moore was sentenced to life in prison for her attempt on the life of U.S. President Ford in San Francisco.

1978 - Lisa Levy and Margaret Bowman, two students at Florida State University in Tallahassee, were murdered in their sorority house. Ted Bundy was later convicted of the crime and was executed.

1987 - Paramount Home Video reported that it would place a commercial at the front of one of its video releases for the first time. It was a 30-second Diet Pepsi ad at the beginning of "Top Gun."

1998 - Lance Carvin, a stalker of Howard Stern, was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison for threatening to kill Stern and his family.

2003 - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the U.S. Congress had permission to repeatedly extend copyright protection.

 

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January 16



1547 - Ivan the Terrible was crowned Czar of Russia.

1572 - The Duke of Norfolk was tried for treason for complicity in the Ridolfi plot to restore Catholicism in England. He was executed on June 2.

1759 - The British Museum opened.

1809 - The British defeated the French at the Battle of Corunna, in the Peninsular War.

1866 - Mr. Everett Barney patented the metal screw, clamp skate.

1883 - The United States Civil Service Commission was established as the Pendleton Act went into effect.

1896 - The first five-player college basketball game was played at Iowa City, IA.

1900 - The U.S. Senate consented to the Anglo-German treaty of 1899, by which the U.K. renounced rights to the Samoan islands.



1919 - The 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which prohibited the sale or transportation of alcoholic beverages, was ratified. It was later repealed by the 21st Amendment.

1920 - Prohibition went into effect in the U.S.

1920 - The motion picture "The Kid" opened.

1925 - Leon Trotsky was dismissed as Chairman of the Revolutionary Council of the USSR.

1939 - The "I Love a Mystery" debuted on NBC’s West-Coast outlets.

1944 - General Dwight D. Eisenhower took command of the Allied invasion force in London.

1961 - Mickey Mantle signed a contract that made him the highest paid baseball player in the American League at $75,000 for the 1961 season.

1964 - "Hello Dolly!" opened at the St. James Theatre in New York City.

1970 - Colonel Muammar el-Quaddafi became virtual president of Libya.

1970 - Buckminster Fuller, the designer of the geodesic dome, was awarded the Gold Medal of the American Institute of Architects.

1979 - The Shah of Iran and his family fled Iran for Egypt.

1982 - Britain and the Vatican resumed full diplomatic relations after a break of over 400 years.

1985 - "Playboy" magazine announced its 30-year tradition of stapling centerfold models in the bellybutton and elsewhere would come to an immediate end.

1988 - Jimmy "The Greek" Snyder was fired as a CBS sports commentator one day after telling a TV station in Washington, DC, that, during the era of slavery, blacks had been bred to produce stronger offspring.

1998 - Researchers announce that an altered gene helped to defend against HIV.

1991 - The White House announced the start of Operation Desert Storm. The operation was designed to drive Iraqi forces out of Kuwait.

1992 - Officials of the government of El Salvador and rebel leaders signed a pact in Mexico City ending 12 years of civil war. At least 75,000 people were killed during the fighting.

1997 - Bill Cosby's only son, Ennis, 27, was shot to death while changing a flat tire on a dark road in Los Angeles, CA.

1998 - The first woman to enroll at Virginia Military Institute withdrew from the school.

1998 - NASA officially announced that John Glenn would fly aboard the space shuttle Discovery in October.

1998 - It was announced that Texas would receive $15.3 billion in a tobacco industry settlement. The payouts were planned to take place over 25 years.

1998 - Three federal judges secretly granted Kenneth Starr authority to probe whether U.S. President Clinton or Vernon Jordan urged Monica Lewinsky to lie about her relationship with Clinton.

1999 - At least 37 bodies were found mutilated of executed in southern Kosovo. They were all in civilian clothing. This occurred one day after a fierce attack by Serb forces.

2000 - A truck loaded with evaporated milk was rammed into California's state capitol building in Sacramento, CA. The driver was killed in the incident.

2000 - Ricardo Lagos was elected Chile's first socialist president since Salvador Allende.

2002 - In Grundy, VA, student killed three and wounding three others at the Appalachian School of Law.

2002 - U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft announced that John Walker Lindh would be brought to the United States to face trial. He was charged in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, VA, with conspiracy to kill U.S. citizens, providing support to terrorist organizations, and engaging in prohibited transactions with the Taliban of Afghanistan.

2002 - The U.N. Security Council unanimously adopted sanctions against Osama bin Laden, his terror network and the remnants of the Taliban. The sanctions required that all nations impose arms embargoes and freeze their finances.

 

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January 17


1377 - The Papal See was transferred from Avignon in France back to Rome.

1562 - French Protestants were recognized under the Edict of St. Germain.

1773 - Captain Cook's Resolution became the first ship to cross the Antarctic Circle.

1795 - The Dudingston Curling Society was organized in Edinburgh, Scotland.

1806 - James Madison Randolph, grandson of U.S. President Thomas Jefferson, was the first child born in the White House.

1852 - The independence of the Transvaal Boers was recognized by Britain.

1871 - Andrew S. Hallidie received a patent for a cable car system.

1882 - Thomas Edison's exhibit opened the Crystal Palace Exhibition in London.

1893 - Hawaii's monarchy was overthrown when a group of businessmen and sugar planters forced Queen Liliuokalani to abdicate.

1900 - The U.S. took Wake Island where there was in important cable link between Hawaii and Manila.

1900 - Yaqui Indians in Texas proclaimed their independence from Mexico.

1900 - Mormon Brigham Roberts was denied a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives for his practicing of polygamy.

1905 - Punchboards were patented by a manufacturing firm in Chicago, IL.

1912 - English explorer Robert Falcon Scott reached the South Pole. Norwegian Roald Amundsen had beaten him there by one month. Scott and his party died during the return trip.

1913 - All partner interests in 36 Golden Rule Stores were consolidated and incorporated in Utah into one company. The new corporation was the J.C. Penney Company.

1916 - The Professional Golfers Association was formed in New York City.

1928 - The fully automatic, film-developing machine was patented by A.M. Josepho.

1934 - Ferdinand Porsche submitted a design for a people's car, a "Volkswagen," to the new German Reich government.

1938 - "Stepmother" debuted on CBS radio.

1945 - Soviet and Polish forces liberated Warsaw during World War II.

1945 - Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg disappeared in Hungary while in Soviet custody. Wallenberg was credited with saving tens of thousands of Jews.

1946 - The United Nations Security Council held its first meeting.

1949 - "The Goldbergs" debuted on CBS-TV. The program had been on radio since 1931. The TV version lasted for four years.

1959 - Senegal and the French Sudan joined to form the Federal State of Mali.

1961 - In his farewell address, U.S. President Eisenhower warned against the rise of "the military-industrial complex."

1966 - A B-52 carrying four H-bombs collided with a refuelling tanker. The bombs were released and eight crewmembers were killed.

1977 - Double murderer Gary Gilmore became the first to be executed in the U.S. in a decade. The firing squad took place at Utah State Prison.

1985 - Leonard Nimoy got a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

1991 - Coalition airstrikes began against Iraq after negotiations failed to get Iraq to retreat from the country of Kuwait.

1992 - An IRA bomb, placed next to a remote country road in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland, killed seven building workers and injured seven others.

1994 - The Northridge earthquake rocked Los Angeles, CA, registering a 6.7 on the Richter Scale. At least 61 people were killed and about $20 billion in damage was caused.

1995 - More than 6,000 people were killed when an earthquake with a magnitude of 7.2 devastated the city of Kobe, Japan.

1997 - A court in Ireland granted the first divorce in the Roman Catholic country's history.

1997 - Israel gave over 80% of Hebron to Palestinian rule, but held the remainder where several hundred Jewish settlers lived among 20,000 Palestinians.

1998 - U.S. President Clinton gave his deposition in the Paula Jones sexual harassment lawsuit against him. He was the first U.S. President to testify as a defendant in a criminal or civil lawsuit.

2000 - British pharmaceutical companies Glaxo Wellcome PLC and SmithKline Beecham PLC agreed to a merger that created the world's largest drugmaker.

2001 - Congo's President Laurent Kabila was shot and killed during a coup attempt. Congolese officials temporarily placed Kabila's son in charge of the government.

2001 - The director of Palestinian TV, Hisham Miki, was killed at a restaurant when three masked gunmen walked up to his table and shot him more than 10 times.

2002 - It was announced that Microsoft had signed a joint venture agreement to produce software with two partners in China. The two partners were Beijin Centergate Technologies (Holding) Co. and the Stone Group.


Birthday


Jim Carrey 1962
Kid Rock 1971

 

[tkD]

January 18



1803 - Thomas Jefferson, in secret communication with Congress, sopught authorization for the first official exploration by the U.S. government.

1778 - English navigator Captain James Cook discovered the Hawaiian Islands, which he called the "Sandwich Islands."

1788 - The first English settlers arrived in Australia's Botany Bay to establish a penal colony. The group moved north eight days later and settled at Port Jackson.

1871 - Wilhelm, King of Prussia from 1861, was proclaimed the first German Emperor.

1886 - The Hockey Association was formed in England. This date is the birthday of modern field hockey.

1896 - The x-ray machine was exhibited for the first time.

1911 - For the first time an aircraft landed on a ship. Pilot Eugene B. Ely flew onto the deck of the USS Pennsylvania in San Francisco harbor.

1919 - The World War I Peace Congress opened in Versailles, France.

1929 - Walter Winchell made his debut on radio.

1937 - CBS radio debuted "Aunt Jenny’s Real Life Stories".

1939 - Louis Armstrong and his orchestra recorded "Jeepers Creepers."

1943 - During World War II, the Soviets announced that they had broken the Nazi siege of Leningrad, which had began in September of 1941.

1943 - U.S. commercial bakers stopped selling sliced bread. Only whole loaves were sold during the ban until the end of World War II.

1948 - "The Original Amateur Hour" debuted. The show was on the air for 22 years.

1950 - The federal tax on oleomargarine was repealed.

1951 - Joan Blondell made her TV debut on "Pot of Gold" episode of "Airflyte Theatre" on CBS-TV.

1957 - The first, non-stop, around-the-world, jet flight came to an end at Riverside, CA. The plane was refueled in mid-flight by huge aerial tankers.

1958 - Willie O'Ree made his NHL debut with the Boston Bruins. He was the first black player to enter the league.

1964 - The plans for the World Trade Center in New York were disclosed.

1967 - Albert DeSalvo, who claimed to be the "Boston Strangler," was convicted in Cambridge, MA, of armed robbery, assault and sex offenses. He was sentenced to life in prison. Desalvo was killed in 1973 by a fellow inmate.

1972 - Former Rhodesian prime minister Garfield Todd and his daughter were placed under house arrest for campaigning against Rhodesian independence.

1975 - "The Jeffersons" debuted on CBS-TV.

1978 - The European Court of Human Rights cleared the British government of torture but found it guilty of inhuman and degrading treatment of prisoners in Northern Ireland.

1985 - Mary Decker broke a world, indoor record when she ran the women’s, 2,000-meter race in 5:34.2. She also ran the outdoor mile in 4:16.7.

1987 - For the first time in history the Public Broadcasting System (PBS) was seen by over 100 million viewers. The audience was measured during the week of January 12-18.

1990 - A jury in Los Angeles, CA, acquitted former preschool operators Raymond Buckey and his mother, Peggy McMartin Buckey, of 52 child molestation charges.

1990 - In an FBI sting, Washington, DC, Mayor Marion Barry was arrested for drug possession. He was later convicted of a misdemeanor.

1991 - Eastern Airlines shut down after 62 years in business due to financial problems.

1993 - The Martin Luther King Jr. holiday was observed in all 50 U.S. states for the first time.

1995 - A network of caves were discovered near the town of Vallon-Pont-d'Arc in southern France. The caves contained paintings and engravings that were 17,000 to 20,000 years old.

1997 - Hutu militiamen killed three Spanish aid workers and three soldiers and seriously wound an American in a night attack in NW Rwanda.

2002 - The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced the approval of a saliva-based ovulation test.




Birthdays

Kevin Costner 1955