DBKP Today in Weird History: January 31, 2008

WAR!, TERRORISM, DISASTERS, BIRDS, WITCHES, TAPE, HAH!, REVOLT, MONKEYS, FINANCE, MUSIC, EXECUTIONS, MAINSTREAM MEDIA, SMOKING, JEWS, PROGRESS, NANNY STATE, INVENTIONS, DEPRESSION, SUICIDE, SCIENCE, POLITICS, BORN, BIRTHDAYS, DEATH


1958 the United States entered the Space Age with its first successful launch of a satellite into orbit, Explorer I.

WAR!

1861 State of Louisiana takes over US Mint at New Orleans.

1863 1st black Civil War regiment, SC Volunteers, mustered into US army

1865 Gen. Robert E. Lee was named General-in-Chief of all the Confederate armies.

1917 during World War I, Germany served notice it was beginning a policy of unrestricted submarine warfare.

1944 during World War II, U.S. forces began a successful invasion of Kwajalein Atoll and other parts of the Japanese-held Marshall Islands.

2003 President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair met at the White House; Bush said he would welcome a second U.N. resolution on Iraq but only if it led to the prompt disarming of Saddam Hussein. Pushing for a new resolution, Blair called confronting Iraq "a test of the international community."

TERRORISM

2007 Nine blinking electronic devices planted around Boston threw a scare into the city in what turned out to be a marketing campaign for a late-night cable cartoon.

DISASTERS

1906 Strongest instrumentally recorded earthquake, Colombia, 8.6 Richter.

1953 "Princess Victoria" capsized off Stanraer Scotland; 133 die.

1953 Hurricane-like winds flood Netherlands drowning nearly 2,000.

1988 Barge sinks near Anacortes WA, spills 70,000 gallons of oil.

2000 an Alaska Airlines jet plummeted into the Pacific Ocean, killing all 88 people aboard.

BIRDS

1871 Millions of birds fly over western San Francisco, darken the sky.

WITCHES

1675 Cornelia/Dina Olfaarts found not guilty of witchcraft.

TAPE

1928 Scotch tape 1st marketed by 3-M Company.

HAH!

1933 Hitler promises parliamentary democracy.

REVOLT

1696 Revolt of undertakers after funeral reforms (Amsterdam).

MONKEYS

1961 Ham is 1st primate in space (158 miles) aboard Mercury/Redstone 2.

FINANCE

1994 Dow Jones hits a record 3,978.36.

MUSIC

1955 RCA demonstrates 1st music synthesizer.

1976 "Love Rollercoaster" by Ohio Players hits #1.

EXECUTIONS

1606 Guy Fawkes, convicted of treason for his part in the "Gunpowder Plot" against the English Parliament and King James I, was executed.

1945 Private Eddie Slovik, 24, became the first U.S. soldier since the Civil War to be executed for desertion as he was shot by an American firing squad in France.

MAINSTREAM MEDIA

1958 "Jackpot Bowling" premieres on NBC with Leo Durocher as host.

SMOKING

1964 US report "Smoking & Health" connects smoking to lung cancer.

JEWS

1961 David Ben-Gurion resigns as premier of Israel.

1978 Israel turns 3 military outposts in West Bank into civilian settlements.

PROGRESS

1905 1st auto to exceed 100 mph (161 kph), A G MacDonald, Daytona Beach.

1948 Magnetic tape recorder developed by Wireway.

NANNY STATE

1970 Grateful Dead members busted on LSD charges.

2007 President Bush, visiting Wall Street, delivered his "State of the Economy" speech in which he took aim at lavish salaries and bonuses for corporate executives.

INVENTIONS

1851 Gail Borden announces invention of evaporated milk.

DEPRESSION

1934 President Franklin Roosevelt devalued the dollar in relation to gold.

SUICIDE

1954 Edwin H Armstrong US radio inventor (FM), commits suicide at 63.

SCIENCE

1958 James van Allen discovers radiation belt.

1971 astronauts Alan Shepard Jr., Edgar Mitchell and Stuart Roosa blasted off aboard Apollo 14 on a mission to the moon.

1998 Astronaut David Wolf returned to Earth aboard space shuttle Endeavour after four months on the Russian space station Mir.

POLITICS

2007 Delaware Sen. Joe Biden formally launched his bid for the Democratic presidential nomination.

BORN

1734 Robert Morris merchant (signed Declaration of Independence).

1797 composer Franz Schubert was born in Vienna, Austria.

1872 Zane Grey American West novelist (Riders of the Purple Sage, Spirit of the Border).

1903 Tallulah Bankhead Huntsville AL, actress (Lifeboat, Die Die Darling).

BIRTHDAYS

Actress Carol Channing is 87. Actress Jean Simmons is 79. Baseball Hall-of-Famer Ernie Banks is 77. Composer Philip Glass is 71. Actor Stuart Margolin is 68. Former U.S. Rep. Dick Gephardt, D-Mo., is 67. Blues singer-musician Charlie Musselwhite is 64. Baseball Hall-of-Famer Nolan Ryan is 61. Singer-musician KC (KC and the Sunshine Band) is 57. Rock singer Johnny Rotten is 52. Actress Kelly Lynch is 49. Actor Anthony LaPaglia is 49. Singer-musician Lloyd Cole is 47. Actor John Dye is 45. Rock musician Jeff Hanneman (Slayer) is 44. Rock musician Al Jaworski (Jesus Jones) is 42. Actress Minnie Driver is 38. Actress Portia de Rossi is 35. Actress Kerry Washington is 31. Singer Justin Timberlake is 27.

DEATH

1974 Samuel Goldwyn Polish/English/US film magnate (MGM), dies at 91.

2006 Coretta Scott King, the widow of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., died in Rosarito Beach, Mexico, at age 78.

2007 Best-selling author and columnist Molly Ivins died in Austin, Texas, at age 62.

January 31, the 31st day of 2008. There are 335 days left in the year.

compiled by Mondoreb
image:
Sources:
* Today in History
* Today in History



Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.

DBKP Today in Weird History: January 30, 2008

WAR, TERRORISM, DISASTERS, SPIT, HOT TIME, INVENTIONS, PATENTS, JAZZ, CENSUS, SHOOT OUT, POLITICS, BEHEADING, DICTATORS, CIVIL RIGHTS, NAZIs, SPORTS, MAINSTREAM MEDIA, ASSASSINATION, MUSIC, WITHDRAWN, DAREDEVILS, CLASH, PUB FIGHT, JEWS, TRIAL, BORN, BIRTHDAYS, DEATH



WAR!

1968 The Tet Offensive began during the Vietnam War as Communist forces launched surprise attacks against South Vietnamese provincial capitals; although the Communists were beaten back, the offensive was seen as a major setback for the U.S. and its allies.

1941 Australian troops conquer Derna Libya.

1942 Japanese troops land on Ambon.

1943 6 British Mosquito's daylight bomb Berlin.

1943 German assault on French in Tunisia.

1943 German under officers shot down in Haarlem Netherlands.

1943 Hitler promotes Friedrich von Paul to General - field marshal.

1943 USS Chicago sinks in Pacific Ocean.

1944 US invades Majuro, Marshall Islands.

1945 German ship "Wilhelm Gustloff" torpedoed off Danzig by Soviet sub-c 7,700 die.

2003 President Bush put allies on notice that diplomacy would give way to a decision on war with Iraq in "weeks, not months." Wary world leaders and congressional critics urged patience and demanded proof of Iraq's transgressions.

TERRORISM

1956 Martin Luther King Jr's home bombed.

1995 Car bomb explodes in Algiers, 42 killed/296 injured.

2003 Richard Reid, the British citizen and al-Qaida follower who had tried to blow up a trans-Atlantic jetliner with explosives hidden in his shoes, was sentenced to life in prison by a federal judge in Boston.

DISASTERS

1877 Storm flood ravages Dutch coastal provinces.

1939 Heavy after shocks destroy some of Chile.

2007 A propane tank explosion leveled the Little General Store in Ghent, W.Va., killing four people.

SPIT

1798 Representative Matthew Lyon (Vermont) spits in face of Representative Roger Griswold (Connecticut) in US House of Representatives, after an argument.

HOT TIME

1393 Aimery Poitiers French nobleman, and Yvain son of Earl of Foix burned to death at royal ball.

INVENTIONS

1487 Bell chimes invented.

PROGRESS

1958 1st 2-way moving sidewalk in service, Dallas TX.

JAZZ

1917 1st jazz record recorded (Dark Town Strutters Ball).

CENSUS

1800 US population 5,308,483; Black population 1,002,037 (18.9%).

SHOOT-OUTS

2007 Two gunmen shot and killed the wife of the Jackson County, Fla., sheriff and a deputy sent to check on her; other deputies opened fire and killed the assailants.

POLITICS

1781 Articles of Confederation ratified by 13th state, Maryland.

1854 1st election in Washington Territory; 1,682 votes cast.

DICTATORS

1935 Ezra Pound meets Mussolini, reads from a draft of "Cantos".

BEHEADING

1649 England's King Charles I was beheaded.

CIVIL RIGHTS

1797 Congress refuses to accept 1st petitions from American blacks.

PATENTS

1883 James Ritty and John Birch received a U.S. patent for the first cash register.

1894 Pneumatic hammer patented by Charles King of Detroit.

NAZIS

1933 Adolf Hitler became chancellor of Germany.

SPORTS

1936 Fans asked to pick a new name for Boston Braves; they choose "The Bees" it doesn't catch on & is scrapped by 1940 season.

MAINSTREAM MEDIA

1933 The first episode of the "Lone Ranger" radio program was broadcast on station WXYZ in Detroit.

1961 Bobby Darin is youngest performer to headline a TV special on NBC.

1978 Mutual Broadcasting Network begins airing Larry King Show on radio.

ASSASSINATION

1835 Richard Lawrence misfires at President Andrew Jackson in Washington DC.

1948 Indian political and spiritual leader Mohandas K. Gandhi was shot and killed by a Hindu extremist.

MUSIC

1965 "The Name Game" by Shirley Ellis hits #3.

1969 Beatles perform their last gig together, a 42-minute free concert on the roof of Apple HQs.

1973 KISS plays their 1st show (Coventry Club in Queens NY).

WITHDRAWN

1972 Pakistan withdraws from the Commonwealth.

DAREDEVILS

1962 Two members of "The Flying Wallendas" high-wire act were killed when their seven-person pyramid collapsed during a performance in Detroit.

CLASH

1972 13 Roman Catholic civil rights marchers were shot to death by British soldiers in Northern Ireland on what became known as "Bloody Sunday."

PUB FIGHT

2005 In Belfast, Northern Ireland, Robert McCartney, 33, was killed after intervening in a pub fight between Irish Republican Army members and a friend of his.

JEWS

1349 Jews of Freilsburg Germany are massacred.

1939 Hitler calls for the extermination of Jews.

TRIALS

1989 Joel Steinberg found guilty of 1st degree manslaughter of daughter.

1989 Olympian, Bruce Kimball, is sentenced to 17 years in prison for killing 2 teenagers in a drunk driving accident.

BORN

1882 the 32nd president of the United States, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, was born in Hyde Park, N.Y.

1912 Barbara Tuchman US, historian/author (Pulitzer, Guns of August).

BIRTHDAYS

Comedian Dick Martin is 86. Actress Dorothy Malone is 83. Producer-director Harold Prince is 80. Actor Gene Hackman is 78. Actress Tammy Grimes is 74. Actress Vanessa Redgrave is 71. Country singer Jeanne Pruett is 71. Country singer Norma Jean is 70. Vice President Dick Cheney is 67. Rock singer Marty Balin is 66. Rhythm-and-blues musician William King (The Commodores) is 59. Singer Phil Collins is 57. Actor Charles S. Dutton is 57. Actress-comedian Brett Butler is 50. Singer Jody Watley is 49. Country singer Tammy Cochran is 36. Actor Christian Bale is 34. Pop-rock singer-songwriter Josh Kelley is 28. Actor Wilmer Valderrama is 28. Actor Jake Thomas is 18.

DEATH

1951 Ferdinand Porsche German car inventor (Porsche), dies at 75.

1969 Allan Welsh Dulles US diplomat/director (CIA 1953-61), dies at 75.

1982 Stanley Holloway comedian (My Fair Lady, Our Man Higgins), dies at 91.

2007 Hollywood writer-producer and novelist Sidney Sheldon died in Rancho Mirage, Calif., at age 89.

January 30, the 30th day of 2008. There are 336 days left in the year.

compiled by Mondoreb
images: vietnamwar.com
Sources:
* Today in History
* Today in History



Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.

DBKP Today in Weird History: January 29, 2008

MOVIES, WAR, TERRORISM, DISASTERS, THE GIPPER, CREEPY, OOPS, INSPIRATION, POLITICS, EXECUTIONS, NANNY STATE, PATENTS, STARTS, SPORTS, EUTHANASIA, LABOR, MARRIAGE, DIVORCE, DIPLOMACY, SUICIDE, BUDGET, KILLERS, BORN, BIRTHDAYS, DEATH



MOVIES

1964 Stanley Kubrick's"Dr Strangelove" premieres.

WAR!

1863 Battle at Bear River WA US Army vs Indians.

1864 Battle of Moorefield WV (Rosser's Raid).

1900 Boers under Joubert beat English at Spionkop Natal, 2,000 killed.

1944 285 German bombers attack London.

TERRORISM

1998 A bomb rocked an abortion clinic in Birmingham, Ala., killing Robert Sanderson, an off-duty police officer working as a security guard, and critically injuring Emily Lyons, a nurse. (The bomber, Eric Rudolph, was captured in May 2003 and is serving a life sentence.)

2007 A Palestinian suicide bomber killed three Israelis at a bakery in Eilat in the first such attack inside Israel in nine months.

2007 Deeply distrustful of Iran, President Bush said "we will respond firmly" if Tehran escalated its military actions in Iraq and threatened American forces or Iraqi citizens.

DISASTERS

1966 Snow storm in north east US kills 165.

1996 Fire destroyed Venice, Italy's La Fenice opera house.

1998 Thick Fog causes highway carnage in Belgium & Netherlands, 6 die.

2003 A dust explosion at the West Pharmaceutical Services plant in Kinston, N.C., killed six people and injured dozens more.

THE GIPPER

1984 President Reagan formally announces he will seek a 2nd term.

CREEPY

1845 Edgar Allan Poe's poem "The Raven" was first published, in the New York Evening Mirror.

OOPS

1994 Ulrike Maier Olympic skier, breaks neck during world cup skiing at 26.

INSPIRATION

1979 Brenda Spencer kills 2, inspires Boomtown Rats "I Don't Like Mondays".

POLITICS

1850 Henry Clay introduced in the Senate compromise proposals on slavery.

1861 Kansas became the 34th state of the Union.

EXECUTED

1997 Eric Schneider murderer of 2 teachers, executed in MO at 35.

NANNY STATE

1919 Secretary of state proclaims the 18th amendment (prohibition).

PATENTS

1886 1st successful gasoline-driven car patented, Karl Benz, Karlsruhe.

1924 Ice cream cone rolling machine patented by Carl Taylor, Cleveland.

STARTS

1920 Walt Disney starts 1st job as an artist; $40 week with Kansas City Slide Co.

SPORTS

1936 The first members of baseball's Hall of Fame, including Ty Cobb and Babe Ruth, were named in Cooperstown, N.Y.

1963 The first members of pro football's Hall of Fame were named in Canton, Ohio.

1989 Cleveland's Chris Dudley misses 5 free throws during 1 foul attempt.

EUTHANASIA

2007 Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro was euthanized because of medical complications eight months after his gruesome breakdown at the Preakness.

LABOR

1834 President Jackson orders 1st use of US troops to suppress a labor dispute.

1912 Martial law declared in textile strike in Lawrence MA.

MARRIAGE

1958 50 years ago, actors Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward were married in Las Vegas.

DIVORCE

1951 Liz Taylor's 1st divorce (Conrad Hilton Jr).

DIPLOMACY

1979 President Carter formally welcomed Chinese Vice Premier Deng Xiaoping to the White House, following the establishment of diplomatic relations.

SUICIDE

1977 Freddie Prinze comedian/actor (Chico & the Man), shoots himself at 22.

BUDGETS

2003 The Congressional Budget Office predicted the current year's federal deficit would soar to $199 billion even without President Bush's new tax cut plan or war against Iraq.

KILLERS

1958 Murderer, Charles Starkweather, captured by police in Wyoming.

BORN

1737 Thomas Paine political essayist (Common Sense, Age of Reason).

1843 The 25th president of the United States, William McKinley, was born in Niles, Ohio.

1860 Anton Pavlovich Chekhov Tagarov Russia, playwright (Cherry Orchard).

1878 Barney Oldfield Ohio, daredevil.

1880 W C Fields [William Claude Dukenfield] Philadelphia PA, "on the whole, he'd rather be in Philadelphia"/actor (My Little Chickadee, Bank Dick).

1912 Professor Irwin Corey Brooklyn NY, comedian (Car Wash, Doc).

1913 Victor Mature Louisville KY, actor (One Million BC, The Robe, Samson & Delilah).

BIRTHDAYS

Actor John Forsythe is 90. Actor Noel Harrison is 74. Author Germaine Greer is 69. Actress Katharine Ross is 68. Actor Tom Selleck is 63. Rhythm-and-blues singer Bettye LaVette is 62. Actor Marc Singer is 60. Actress Ann Jillian is 58. Rock musician Tommy Ramone (Ramones) is 56. Rock musician Louie Perez (Los Lobos) is 55. Talk show host Oprah Winfrey is 54. Country singer Irlene Mandrell is 52. Actress Diane Delano is 51. Actress Judy Norton Taylor ("The Waltons") is 50. Rock musician Johnny Spampinato (NRBQ) is 49. Olympic gold-medal diver Greg Louganis is 48. Rock musician David Baynton-Power (James) is 47. Rock musician Eddie Jackson (Queensryche) is 47. Actor Nicholas Turturro is 46. Rock singer-musician Roddy Frame (Aztec Camera) is 44. Actor-director Edward Burns is 40. Actress Heather Graham is 38. Actor Sharif Atkins is 33. Actress Sara Gilbert is 33. Actor Andrew Keegan is 29. Actor Jason James Richter is 28. Blues musician Jonny Lang is 27.

DEATH

1820 Britain's King George III died at Windsor Castle, ending a reign that had seen both the American and French revolutions.

1888 Edward Lear poet/author, dies at 75.

1956 H[enry] L[ouis] Mencken US essayist/critic/satirist (Smart Set), dies in Baltimore MD at 75.

1963 poet Robert Frost died in Boston at age 88.

1980 Jimmy Durante New York City NY, singer/comedian (Ink-a-dink-a-doo, Palooka, The Jimmy Durante Show), dies at 86.

January 29, the 29th day of 2008. There are 337 days left in the year.

compiled by Mondoreb
image: kilby
Sources:
* Today in History
* Today in History



Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.

DBKP Today in Weird History: January 28, 2008

SPACE, WAR, TERRORISM, DISASTERS, CLINTON, OUCH, AUTOGRAPHS, TRY TRY AGAIN, DOMINOES, PRO WRESTLING, EXECUTIONS, TRIALS, IMMIGRANTS, MAINSTREAM MEDIA, REBELS, ABORTION, SPORTS, COLLEGE, POLITICS, 90210, PROGRESS, CREATED, JEWS, ROYALS, BORN, BIRTHDAYS, DEATH



SPACE

1986, the space shuttle Challenger exploded 73 seconds after liftoff from the Kennedy Space Center, killing all seven of its crew members: flight commander Francis R. "Dick" Scobee; pilot Michael Smith; Ronald McNair; Ellison Onizuka; Judith Resnik; Gregory Jarvis; and schoolteacher Christa McAuliffe.

WAR!

1915 1st US ship lost in WWI, William P Frye (carrying wheat to UK).

1944 683 British bombers attack Berlin.

1945 During World War II, Allied supplies began reaching China over the newly reopened Burma Road.

1973 A cease-fire officially went into effect in the Vietnam War.

2003 President Bush, girding the nation for war, said in his State of the Union address that Saddam Hussein had shown "utter contempt" for the world community and had to be held to account.

2007 U.S.-backed Iraqi troops attacked insurgents allegedly plotting to kill pilgrims at a major Shiite Muslim religious festival; Iraqi officials estimated some 300 militants died in the daylong battle near Najaf. (A U.S. helicopter crashed during the fight, killing two American soldiers.)

TERRORISM

1982 US General Dozier freed from Red Brigade of Padua Italy.

DISASTERS

1393 Fire during Royal Ball at Paris, 4 die (Ball of the Ardents).

1978 Fire swept through the historic downtown Coates House hotel in Kansas City, Mo., killing 20 people.

1981 Olympic Glory tanker at Galveston Bay, Texas, spills 1 million gallons of oil in a ship collision.

1994 Helicopter crashes into office building in San Jose CA, 1 dead.

CLINTONS

1998 The day after denying he "had sexual relations with that woman, Monica Lewinsky", President Bill Clinton barnstormed in the nation's heartland, where he was warmly received; accompanying him was Vice President Al Gore, who urged Americans to "join me in supporting him and standing by his side." The day before, Clinton delivered both his denial of the Lewinsky affair and his State of the Union address.

OUCH!

1962 Johanne Relleke gets stung by bees 2,443 times in Rhodesia & survives.

AUTOGRAPHS

1978 Ted Nugent autographs a fan's arm with his knife.

TRY TRY AGAIN

1984 Mr Glynn Wolfe marries for non-bigamous record 26th time, Las Vegas NV.

DOMINOES

1984 Record 295,000 dominoes toppled, Fuerth, West Germany.

PRO WRESTLING

1987 Wrestler Jim Neidhart indicted for assaulting a flight attendant.

EXECUTIONS

1829 William Burke murderer/body snatcher, executed in Edinburgh.

TRIALS

1950 Preston Tucker, auto maker, found not guilty of mail fraud.

IMMIGRANTS

1915 US President Wilson refuses to prohibit immigration of illiterates.




MAINSTREAM MEDIA

1973 "Barnaby Jones" premieres on CBS TV.

1978 "Fantasy Island" starring Ricardo Montalban premieres on ABC TV.

REBELS

1810 Andrew Hofer Tyrolian rebel against French & Bavarians, shot dead.

ABORTION

1935 Iceland becomes 1st country to legalize abortion.

1988 Canada's Supreme court declares anti-abortion law unconstitutional.

SPORTS

1960 NFL announces Dallas Cowboys (1960) & Minnesota Vikings (1961) franchises.

COLLEGE

1878 The first daily college newspaper, Yale News (now Yale Daily News), began publication in New Haven, Conn.

POLITICS

1909 The United States ended direct control over Cuba.

90210

1914 Beverly Hills, California, is incorporated.

PROGRESS

1878 1st telephone exchange (New Haven CT).

1878 George W Coy hired as 1st full-time telephone operator.

CREATED

1915 The United States Coast Guard was created as President Woodrow Wilson signed into law a bill merging the Life-Saving Service and Revenue Cutter Service.

JEWS

1916 Louis D. Brandeis was nominated by President Woodrow Wilson to the Supreme Court; Brandeis became the court's first Jewish member.

2003 Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's Likud party and other hawkish parties won a resounding victory in Israel's parliamentary elections.

ROYALS

2007 Britain's Prince Charles and his wife, Camilla, met with New York schoolchildren as they visited Harlem during their whirlwind American weekend.

BORN

1722 Johann Ernst Bach composer.

1825 George Edward Pickett Major General (Confederate Army), died in 1875.

1853 Cuban revolutionary Jose Marti was born in Havana.

1910 John Banner Vienna Austria, actor (Sergeant Hans Schultz-Hogan's Heroes).

1912 Jackson Pollock Cody WY, abstract artist (Lavender Mist).

BIRTHDAYS

Musician-composer Acker Bilk is 79. Actor Nicholas Pryor is 73. Actor Alan Alda is 72. Actress Susan Howard is 66. Actress Marthe Keller is 63. Actress-singer Barbi Benton is 58. Actress Harley Jane Kozak is 51. Movie director Frank Darabont is 49. Rock musician Dave Sharp is 49. Rock singer Sam Phillips is 46. Rock musician Dan Spitz (Anthrax) is 45. Country musician Greg Cook (Ricochet) is 43. Singer Sarah McLachlan is 40. Rapper Rakim is 40. DJ Muggs (Cypress Hill) is 40. Actress Kathryn Morris ("Cold Case") is 39. Rhythm-and-blues singer Anthony Hamilton is 37. Rock musician Brandon Bush (Train) is 35. Singer Joey Fatone Jr. ('N Sync) is 31. Actress Rosamund Pike is 29. Singer Nick Carter (Backstreet Boys) is 28. Actor Elijah Wood is 27.

DEATH

814 Charlemagne German emperor/Roman Emperor (800-814), dies at 71.

1547 England's King Henry the VIII died; he was succeeded by his 9-year-old son, Edward the VI.

1980 Jimmy Durante New York City NY, comedian (Jimmy Durante Show), dies at 86.

2003 John Philip Thompson, who expanded his family's business into the nationwide 7-Eleven chain, died at age 77.

2007 The Rev. Robert Drinan, a priest who'd represented Massachusetts in the U.S. House during the 1970s, died in Washington, D.C., at age 86.

January 28, the 28th day of 2008. There are 338 days left in the year.

compiled by Mondoreb
image:
Sources:
* Today in History
* Today in History



Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.

DBKP Today in Weird History: January 27, 2008

WAR, DISASTERS, CLINTONS, OOPS, PATENTS, TARZAN, SPORTS, PROGRESS, TRIALS, JEWS, SPIES, MAINSTREAM MEDIA, ATOMIC BOMB, DIPLOMACY, HOME, SORORITY, MARCH, DEMOCRATS, BORN, BIRTHDAY, DEATH



1967 Astronauts Virgil I. "Gus" Grissom, Edward H. White and Roger B. Chaffee died in a flash fire during a test aboard their Apollo spacecraft at Cape Kennedy, Fla.

WAR!

1943 Some 50 bombers struck Wilhelmshaven in the first all-American air raid against Germany during World War II.

1944 The Soviet Union announced the complete end of the deadly German siege of Leningrad, which had lasted for more than two years.

1945 Soviet troops liberated the Nazi concentration camps Auschwitz and Birkenau in Poland.

2003 The Bush administration dismissed Iraq's response to U.N. disarmament demands as inadequate. Meanwhile, chief U.N. inspector Hans Blix charged that Iraq had never genuinely accepted U.N. resolutions demanding its disarmament and warned that "cooperation on substance" was necessary for a peaceful solution.

DISASTERS

1891 Mine explosion kills 109 at Mount Pleasant PA.

1902 5 workers killed on explosion during IRT subway construction (New York City NY).

1993 DC-3 crashes in Kinshasa, killing 12.

1998 Crane crashes into Roosevelt Is (New York City NY) Tram, injuring 10.

CLINTONS

1992 Presidential candidate Bill Clinton (D) & Genifer Flowers accuse each other of lying over her assertion they had a 12-year affair.

1998 Shaken by scandal over his relationship with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky, President Bill Clinton sought to reassert his leadership in his State of the Union address, urging Congress to "save Social Security first" before cutting taxes or increasing spending. Earlier in the day, First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, on NBC's "Today" show, charged the allegations against her husband were the work of a "vast right-wing conspiracy."

OOPS

1984 Michael Jackson is burned during filming for Pepsi commercial.

PATENT

In 1880, Thomas Edison received a patent for his electric incandescent lamp.

TARZAN

1918 "Tarzan of the Apes", 1st Tarzan film, premieres at Broadway Theater.

SPORTS

1927 Harlem Globetrotters play their 1st game.

1967 New Orleans Saints sign their 1st player (Paige Cothren-kicker).

PROGRESS

1948 1st locomotive to carry 1,000,000 pounds (450,000 kg) operates.

1948 1st tape recorder sold.

TRIAL

1992 Mike Tyson goes on trial for rape (he is found guilty).

SPIES

1969 14 spies hung in Baghdad.

JEWS

1969 9 Jews publicly executed in Damascus Syria.

MAINSTREAM MEDIA

1976 "Laverne & Shirley" spin-off from "Happy Days" premieres on ABC TV.

ATOMIC BOMB

1951 An era of atomic testing in the Nevada desert began as an Air Force plane dropped a 1-kiloton bomb on Frenchman Flat.

DIPLOMACY

1967 More than 60 nations signed a treaty banning the orbiting of nuclear weapons.

1973 The Vietnam peace accords were signed in Paris.

HOME

1981 President Ronald Reagan greeted the 52 former American hostages released by Iran at the White House.

SORORITY

1870 1st sorority (Kappa Alpha Theta) (DePauw University in Greencastle IN).

DEMOCRATS

2007 House Speaker Nancy Pelosi led a congressional delegation to Pakistan, where she met with President General Pervez Musharraf.

MARCH

Tens of thousands of anti-war demonstrators marched in Washington, D.C., calling for the U.S. to get out of Iraq.

BORN

1756 composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born in Salzburg, Austria.

1836 Leopold von Sacher-Masoch Austrian writer (masochism).

1850 Samuel Gompers Dutch/US, 1st president-American Federation of Labor.

1859 Kaiser Wilhelm II Potsdam, German emperor (1888-1918).

1872 Learned Hand Albany NY, Chief judge (US Court of Appeals).

1919 David Seville [Ross Bagdasarian], Fresno CA, (Alvin & Chipmunks).

1921 Donna Reed Denison IA, actress (From Here to Eternity, Wonderful Life).

BIRTHDAY

Singer Bobby "Blue" Bland is 78. Actor James Cromwell is 68. Actor John Witherspoon is 66. Rock musician Nick Mason (Pink Floyd) is 63. Rhythm-and-blues singer Nedra Talley (The Ronettes) is 62. Ballet star Mikhail Baryshnikov is 60. John Roberts, chief justice of the United States, is 53. Country singer Cheryl White is 53. Country singer-musician Richard Young (The Kentucky Headhunters) is 53. Actress Mimi Rogers is 52. Rock musician Janick Gers (Iron Maiden) is 51. Rock singer Margo Timmins (Cowboy Junkies) is 47. Rock musician Gillian Gilbert is 47. Actress Bridget Fonda is 44. Actor Alan Cumming is 43. Country singer Tracy Lawrence is 40. Rock singer Mike Patton is 40. Rapper Tricky is 40. Rock musician Michael Kulas (James) is 39. Actor Josh Randall is 36. Country singer Kevin Denney is 32.

DEATH

1851 John James Audubon conservationist (Audubon Society), dies at 65.

1901 Opera composer Giuseppe Verdi died in Milan, Italy, at age 87.

1993 Andre "the Giant" Roussimoff WWF wrestler, dies of heart attack at 49.


January 27, the 27th day of 2008. There are 339 days left in the year.

compiled by Mondoreb
images:
Sources:
* Today in History
* Today in History



Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.

DBKP Today in Weird History: January 26, 2008

CLINTONS, WAR, TERRORISM, DISASTERS, FALLS, NANNY STATE, MAINSTREAM MEDIA, CROWDS, LOTTO, DISCOVERY, ESCAPES, PRO WRESTLING, ROCKS, REST STOPS, PATENTS, JEWS, COMPUTERS, POLITICS, CIVIL RIGHTS, TAKEOVERS, RATIONING, BACK, MASSACRES, MURDERS, ASSASSINATION, NATIONS, SCIENCE, CELEBRATIONS, PARKS, TRIALS, BIRTHDAYS, DEATH


CLINTONS

1998 President Bill Clinton forcefully denied having an affair with a former White House intern, telling reporters: "I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky."

WAR!

1861 Louisiana seceded from the Union.

1862 Lincoln issues General War Order #1, calling for a Union offensive McClellan ignores order.

1942 The first American expeditionary force to go to Europe during World War II went ashore in Northern Ireland.

2003 Secretary of State Colin Powell, citing Iraq's lack of cooperation with U.N. inspectors, said he'd lost faith in the inspectors' ability to conduct a definitive search for banned weapons programs.

TERRORISM

2007 The White House said President Bush had authorized U.S. forces in Iraq to take whatever actions were necessary to counter Iranian agents deemed a threat to American troops or the public at large.

DISASTERS

1531 Lisbon hit by Earthquake; about 30,000 die.

1932 British submarine M-2 sinks in Channel (60 dead).

1947 KLM Dakota crashes near Copenhagen, 22 die.

1968 Israeli submarine Dakar crashes in Mediterranean Sea, 69 die.

FALLS

1972 Stewardess Vesna Vulovic survives 10,160m (6.31 miles) fall without parachute.

NANNY STATE

1838 Tennessee becomes 1st state to prohibit alcohol.

MAINSTREAM MEDIA

1979 "The Dukes of Hazzard" premieres on CBS's vast wasteland.

CROWDS

1980 175,000 pay to hear Frank Sinatra sing in Rio de Janeiro.

LOTTO

1991 New York Lotto pays $90 million to nine winner (#s are 5-15-30-35-46-50).

DISCOVERY

1788 The first European settlers in Australia, led by Capt. Arthur Phillip, landed in present-day Sydney.

ESCAPES

1920 Amadeo Modigliani's mistress jumps out of a window.

PRO WRESTLING

1987 Hart Foundation beat British Bulldogs for WWF tag team title.

ROCKS

1905 World's largest diamond, the 3,106-carat Cullinan, is found in South Africa.

REST STOP

1995 New Jersey Governor Christine Whitman, dedicates a rest stop to Howard Stern.

PATENTS

1875 Electric dental drill is patented by George F Green.

JEWS

1940 Nazis forbid Polish Jews to travel on trains.

1958 H Laskow replaces Moshe Dayan as Israeli minister of Defense.

COMPUTERS

1998 Intel launches 333 MHz Pentium II chip.

POLITICS

1837 Michigan became the 26th state.

2007 Defense Secretary Robert Gates told a news conference that a congressional resolution opposing President Bush's troop buildup in Iraq undercut U.S. commanders and emboldened the enemy.

CIVIL RIGHTS

1948 Executive Order 9981, end segregation in US Armed Forces signed.

TAKEOVERS

1841 Britain formally occupied Hong Kong, which the Chinese had ceded to the British.

RATIONING

1918 US food administrator Hoover calls for "wheatless" & "meatless" days for war effort.

MASSACRES

1885 Charles George Gordon, British Governor-General, executed (slain with troops by Sudanese in Khartoum) at 51.

BACK

In 1870, Virginia rejoined the Union.

MURDERS

1920 Matthias Enzberger German minister of finance, murdered.

1939 Professor Cristescu Romania's iron guard leader, murdered.

1965 Ali Mansoer premier of Persia, murdered.

1989 Stéphane Steinier Belgian journalist, kidnapped & murdered.

ASSASSINATIONS

1939 Armand Calinescu Romania's PM, assassinated by the iron guard.

NATIONS

1950 India officially proclaimed itself a republic as Rajendra Prasad took the oath of office as president.

SCIENCE

1962 the United States launched Ranger III to land scientific instruments on the moon — but the probe missed its target by more than 22,000 miles.

CELEBRATIONS

1988 Australians celebrated the 200th anniversary of their country as a grand parade of tall ships re-enacted the voyage of the first European settlers.

PARKS

1954 Ground breaking begins on Disneyland.

TRIALS

2007 Nine black youths were convicted in juvenile court in Long Beach, Calif., of beating three white women in a racially charged attack on Halloween night.

BIRTHDAYS

Actress Anne Jeffreys is 85. Actor Paul Newman is 83. Actress Joan Leslie is 83. Cartoonist Jules Feiffer is 79. Sportscaster-actor Bob Uecker is 73. Actor Scott Glenn is 69. Singer Jean Knight is 65. Activist Angela Davis is 64. Rock musician Corky Laing (Mountain) is 60. Actor David Strathairn is 59. Singer Lucinda Williams is 55. Rock singer-musician Eddie Van Halen is 53. Reggae musician Norman Hassan (UB40) is 50. Actress-comedian Ellen DeGeneres is 50. Hockey star Wayne Gretzky is 47. Musician Andrew Ridgeley is 45. Rhythm-and-blues singer Jazzie B. (Soul II Soul) is 45. Actor Paul Johansson is 44. Gospel singer Kirk Franklin is 38. Actress Jennifer Crystal is 35. Rock musician Chris Hesse (Hoobastank) is 34. Actress Sarah Rue is 30. Country musician Michael Martin (Marshall Dyllon) is 25.

DEATH

1979 former Vice President Nelson A. Rockefeller died in New York at age 70.

January 26, the 26th day of 2008. There are 340 days left in the year.


compiled by Mondoreb
images:
Sources:
* Today in History
* Today in History



Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.

DBKP Today in Weird History: January 25, 2008

CULTS

1971, Charles Manson and three women followers were convicted in Los Angeles of murder and conspiracy in the 1969 slayings of seven people, including actress Sharon Tate.

WAR!

1775 Americans drag cannon up hill to fight British (Gun Hill Road, Bronx).

1863 Battle of Kinston NC.

1863 General Joseph Hooker replaces Burnside as head of Army of Potomac.

1865 The CSS Shenandoah arrives in Melbourne, Australia.

TERRORISM

1981, the 52 Americans held hostage by Iran for 444 days arrived in the United States.

DISASTERS

1348 Earthquake destroys Villach, killing 5,000.

1904 179 die in coal mine explosion at Cheswick PA.

1937 Miami-to-Tampa bus overturned in a canal, kills 13.

1939 Earthquake hits Chillán Chile, 10,000 killed.

1994 Mine fire at Asansol India, kills 55.

COUPS

1971 Military coup in Uganda under General Idi Amin Dada.

COURAGE

1988 Vice President Bush & Dan Rather clash on "CBS Evening News" as Rather attempts to question Bush about his role in the Iran-Contra affair.

ZEN

1989 Augusto Alcalde, 1st South American Zen teacher, receives Dharma Transmission.

WEDDINGS

On Jan. 25, 1858, Britain's Princess Victoria (the eldest daughter of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert), married Crown Prince Frederick William (the future German Emperor and King of Prussia) at St. James's Palace. (The ceremony's tradition-setting music, personally selected by the Princess Royal, included the "Bridal Chorus" from Richard Wagner's "Lohengrin" and the "Wedding March" by Felix Mendelssohn.)

CATALOGS

1993 Sears announces it is closing its catalog sales department after 97 years.


SPIES

1957 FBI arrests Jack & Myra Sobel, charged with spying for the USSR.

NANNY STATE

1945 Grand Rapids MI becomes 1st US city to fluoridate its water.

ENGAGEMENTS

1998 Spice Girl Victoria Adams (Posh) & soccer David Beckham gets engaged.

FIRE

1969 John Zajíc Czech student, self incinerates.

1978 Tango Duke dies in Australia at 42; oldest known thoroughbred horse.

REBELLION

1787 Shays's Rebellion suffered a setback when debt-ridden farmers led by Capt. Daniel Shays failed to capture an arsenal at Springfield, Mass.

SETTLED

1994 Accused of molesting a 13-year-old boy, Michael Jackson settles a civil lawsuit out of court.

MEDICINE

1974 South African surgeon Christiaan Barnard transplanted the first human heart without removal of the old one.

MOVIES

1961 Walt Disney's "101 Dalmations" released.

ROUND TRIP

1890, reporter Nellie Bly (Elizabeth Cochrane) of the New York World completed a round-the-world journey in 72 days, 6 hours and 11 minutes.

CLIMATE

1950 73ºF (23ºC) highest temperature ever recorded in Cleveland in January.

LABOR

1890, the United Mine Workers of America was founded.

1946, the United Mine Workers rejoined the American Federation of Labor.

PROGRESS

1915, Alexander Graham Bell inaugurated U.S. transcontinental telephone service.

1959, American Airlines began jet flights between New York and Los Angeles on the Boeing 707.

MAINSTREAM MEDIA

1937 Soap Opera "Guiding Light" premieres on NBC radio.

1961, President John F. Kennedy held the first presidential news conference carried live on radio and television.

PATENT

1799 1st US patent for a seeding machine, Eliakim Spooner, Vermont.

1870 Soda fountain patented by Gustavus Dows.

POPES

1998 Pope John Paul II ended his historic journey to Cuba.

JEWS

1910 Children initiate idea of planting trees in Jerusalem.

1932 1st commencement exercises at Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

1940 Nazis decree the establishment of Jewish ghetto in Lodz Poland.

1949 1st Israeli election - Ben-Gurion's Mapai party wins.

SCIENCE

1998 American astronaut Andrew Thomas moved from the space shuttle Endeavour into the Russian space station Mir as the relief for David Wolf.

2003 NASA launched a spacecraft into orbit to measure all of the radiation streaming toward Earth from the sun.

CIVIL RIGHTS

1851 Sojourner Truth addresses 1st Black Women's Rights Convention (Akron).

BUSINESS

2007 Ford Motor Co. said it had lost a staggering $12.7 billion in 2006, the worst loss in the company's 103-year history.

BORN

1741 Benedict Arnold General /traitor (US revolution).

1759 Robert Burns Alloway Scotland, poet (Auld Lang Syne).

1874 [William] Somerset Maugham Paris, novelist/poet (Of Human Bondage).

1924 Lou "The Toe" Groza AAFC, NFL tackle, kicker (Cleveland Browns).

1931 Dean Jones Decatur AL, actor (Ensign O'Toole, Company, Love Bug).

BIRTHDAYS

Journalist-author Edwin Newman is 89. Actor Gregg Palmer is 81. The former president of Georgia, Eduard Shevardnadze, is 80. Actor Dean Jones is 77. Country singer Claude Gray is 76. The former president of the Philippines, Corazon Aquino, is 75. Blues singer Etta James is 70. Movie director Tobe Hooper is 65. Actress Jenifer Lewis is 51. Actress Dinah Manoff is 50. Country musician Mike Burch (River Road) is 42. Rhythm-and-blues singer Kina is 39. Actress China Kantner is 37. Actress Ana Ortiz is 37. Musician Matt Odmark (Jars of Clay) is 34. Actress Mia Kirshner is 33. Rhythm-and-blues singer Alicia Keys is 27.

DEATH

1947, American gangster Al Capone died in Miami Beach, Fla. of syphilis, at age 48.

1963 Wilson Kettle Newfoundland, dies at 102, leaving 582 living descendents.

1997 Jeanne Dixon psychic (Gift of Prophecy), dies of a heart attack at 79.

January 25, the 25th day of 2008. There are 341 days left in the year.

compiled by Mondoreb
image: how stuff works
Sources:
* Today in History
* Today in History



Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.

DBKP Today in Weird History: January 24, 2008

WAR, TERRORISM, DISASTERS, QUITTERS, BEER, BUCKETS, PATENTS, SOCIETIES, GOLD, SNACKS, NAMES, TELESCOPES, APPLE, LOOK OUT, CHECK, PRO WRESTLING, MAINSTREAM MEDIA, POLITICIANS, JEWS, SCIENCE, MURDER, HEART ATTACK, STOCKS, BEATEN, ASSASSINATIONS, EXECUTIONS, POPES, BUREAUCRACY, SPORTS, BORN, BIRTHDAYS, DEATH



1908 is considered the starting date of the Boy Scouts movement in England, under the aegis of Robert Baden-Powell.

WAR!

1943 President Franklin Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Churchill concluded a wartime conference in Casablanca, Morocco.

1943 Hitler orders nazi troops at Stalingrad to fight to death.

TERRORISM

1977 5 lawyers murdered by fascist in Madrid.

1987 gunmen in Lebanon kidnapped educators Alann Steen, Jesse Turner and Robert Polhill and Mitheleshwar Singh. (All were eventually released).

DISASTERS

1939 30,000 killed by earthquake in Concepcion Chile.

1993 Polish ferry boat John Heweliusz sinks, 52 killed.

QUITTERS

1913 Franz Kafka stops working on "Amerika"; it will never be finished.

BEER

1935 1st canned beer, "Krueger Cream Ale", is sold by Kruger Brewing Co in Richmond VA.

BUCKETS

1956 96.5 cm precipitation at Kilauea Plantation, Hawaii (state record).

PATENTS

1899 Rubber heel patented by Humphrey O'Sullivan.

SOCIETIES

1839 Charles Darwin elected member of Royal Society.

1900 Newcastle Badminton Club, world's oldest, formed in England.

GOLD

1848 James W. Marshall discovered a gold nugget at Sutter's Mill in northern California, a discovery that led to the gold rush of '49.

SNACKS

1922 Christian K. Nelson of Onawa, Iowa, patented the Eskimo Pie.

NAMES

1924 the Russian city of Petrograd (formerly St. Petersburg) was renamed Leningrad in honor of the late revolutionary leader. (However, it has since been renamed St. Petersburg).

TELESCOPES

1764 Governor Winthrop Telescope, is destroyed in a Harvard fire.

APPLE

1984 Apple Computer Inc unveils its Macintosh personal computer.

LOOK OUT

1978 a nuclear-powered Soviet satellite, Cosmos 954, plunged through Earth's atmosphere and disintegrated, scattering radioactive debris over parts of northern Canada.

CHECK

1961 Lazard Brithers Ltd draw a check for $334,867,807.68.

PRO WRESTLING

1963 Buddy Rogers & Lou Thesz wrestle in Toronto, Rogers becomes WWF wrestling champ & Thesz becomes NWA champ.

1983 Hulk Hogan pins the Iron Sheik for World Wrestling Federation title.

1988 1st WWF Royal Rumble - Hacksaw Jim Duggan wins.

MAINSTREAM MEDIA

1964 CBS purchases 1964 & 1965 NFL TV rights for $28.2 million.

1975 "Hot l Baltimore" situation comedy premieres on ABC TV.

POLITICIANS

2007 The Democratic-controlled Senate Foreign Relations Committee dismissed President Bush's plans for a troop buildup in Iraq as "not in the national interest" of the United States.

JEWS

1656 1st Jewish doctor in US, Jacob Lumbrozo, arrives in Maryland.

1943 Jewish patients/nurses/doctors incinerated at Auschwitz-Birkenau.

SCIENCE

1958 After warming to 100,000,000º, 2 light atoms are bashed together to create a heavier atom, resulting in 1st man-made nuclear fusion.

MURDER

1994 Michalis Vranopoulos head of Greek state bank, murdered at 48.

HEART ATTACK

1991 George Gobel comedian, dies of a heart attack at 71,

STOCKS

1994 Dow Jones closes above 3,900 for 1st time (3,914.48).

BEATEN

1970 James "Shep" Shepherd rocker (Shep & Limelites), beaten to death.

ASSASSINATIONS

1639 George Jenatsch Grisons leader, assassinated.

EXECUTIONS

1547 Henry Howard Earl of Surrey, executed for treason.

1989 confessed serial killer Theodore Bundy was put to death in Florida's electric chair.

POPES

1998 Pope John Paul II, delivering blunt political messages during his visit to Cuba, called for the release of "prisoners of conscience" and respect for freedom of expression, initiative and association.

BUREAUCRACY

2003 The new Department of Homeland Security officially opened as its head, Tom Ridge, was sworn in.

2003 Connecticut became the first state to take part in the U.S. government's plan to inoculate a half-million health care workers against smallpox. (Only four doctors agreed to be vaccinated that first day.)

SPORTS

1947 NFL adds 5th official (back judge) & allows sudden death in playoffs.

1952 1st NFL team in Texas, Dallas Texans formerly New York Yankees.

BORN

1862 Edith Wharton[-Jones] US, novelist (Ethan Frome, Age of Innocence, House of Mirth)

BIRTHDAYS

Actor Ernest Borgnine is 91. Evangelist Oral Roberts is 90. Actor Jerry Maren ("The Wizard of Oz") is 89. Actor Marvin Kaplan ("Top Cat") is 81. Cajun musician Doug Kershaw is 72. Singer-songwriter Ray Stevens is 69. Singer-songwriter Neil Diamond is 67. Singer Aaron Neville is 67. Actor Michael Ontkean is 62. Actor Daniel Auteuil is 58. Country singer-songwriter Becky Hobbs is 58. Comedian Yakov Smirnoff is 57. Bandleader-musician Jools Holland is 50. Actress Nastassja Kinski is 49. Rhythm-and-blues singer Theo Peoples is 47. Country musician Keech Rainwater (Lonestar) is 45. Comedian Phil LaMarr is 41. Olympic gold-medal gymnast Mary Lou Retton is 40. Rhythm-and-blues singer Sleepy Brown (Society of Soul) is 38. Actor Matthew Lillard is 38. Actress Merrilee McCommas is 37. Actor Ed Helms is 34. Actress Tatyana Ali is 29. Actress Mischa Barton is 22.

DEATH

41 Caligula [G C Germanicus], Roman emperor (37-41), assassinated at 28

1965 Winston Churchill died in London at age 90.

1986 L[aFayette] Ron[ald] Hubbard author/founder of Scientology (Dianetics,Death Quest), dies at 74

1993 retired Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall died in Bethesda, Md., at age 84.

January 24, the 24th day of 2008. There are 342 days left in the year.

compiled by Mondoreb
[image:
Sources:
* Today in History
* Today in History

DBKP Today in Weird History: January 23, 2008

WAR!, TERRORISM, DISASTERS, BRA BURNING, MAGHREBS, BOOTLEGGERS, HOUSE ARREST, OOPS!, LOOK OUT, PRO WRESTLING, SOLD, SHORTHAND, COWS, CREEPY, OIL SPILLS, HEART ATTACK, SPIES, PURGES, CLINTONS, AMENDMENTS, POLITICS, CIVIL RIGHTS, JEWS, MUSEUMS, CALENDARS, CATHOLICS, MAINSTREAM MEDIA, EXECUTIONS, SOCIETIES, ASSASSINATION, SPORTS, PROTESTS, BORN, BIRTHDAYS, DEATH



BRA BURNING

1970 Dolle Mina burns her bra in Amsterdam.

WAR!

1865 General Robert E Lee named Commander-in-Chief of Confederate Armies.

1943 British 8th army marches into Tripoli.

1943 Japanese Mount Austen on Guadalcanal captured.

1973 President Nixon announces an accord has been reach to end the Vietnam War.

2007 In his State of the Union address, President Bush implored Congress to give his plan to send more U.S. troops to Iraq a chance to work.

TERRORISM

1957 Willie Edwards US black, murdered by KKK at 25.

1998 A judge in Fairfax, Va., sentenced Aimal Khan Kasi to death for an assault rifle attack outside CIA headquarters in 1993 that killed two men and wounded three other people. (Kasi was executed in November 2002.)

2002 Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl was abducted in Karachi, Pakistan, by a group demanding the return of prisoners from the Afghan campaign; he was later slain.

2003 The government of Kuwait said a Kuwaiti had confessed to the shootings of two U.S. defense workers in Kuwait (one worker was killed; the other was wounded).

DISASTERS

1556 Most deadly earthquake kills 830,000 in Shansi Province, China.

1812 7.8 earthquake shakes New Madrid, Missouri.

1973 Jordan Air crash at Kano, Nigeria kills 176 Moslem pilgrims.

1982 World Airways DC-10 skids at Boston Logan Airport killing 2.

1993 Indian Airlines B737 crashes art Aurangabad, 61 die.

MAGHREBS

1962 Libya, Morocco, Algeria & Tunisia plan to form United Arab Maghreb.

BOOTLEGGERS

1972 Bootlegger sells wood alcohol to wedding party-100 die-New Delhi.

HOUSE ARREST

1972 Entire population of Istanbul under 24 hour house arrest.

OOPS!

1997 Laura "Dinky" Patterson dies during bungee jump at Super Bowl rehearsal at 43.

LOOK OUT

1983 Russian radioactive satellite falls into Indian Ocean.




PRO WRESTLING

1984 Hulk Hogan defeats Iron Sheik to become WWF champ.

SOLD

1647 Scottish Presbyterians sell captured Charles I to English parliament.

SHORTHAND

1894 G W Bunbury of Dublin sets shorthand record of 250 wpm for 10 minutes.

COWS

1982 Urbe Blanca (cow) produces record 110 kg of milk, Cuba (approximate date).

CREEPY

1993 New York Newsday reports Oregon's Senator Bob Packwood sexually harassed 23 women.

OIL SPILLS

1991 World's largest oil spill, caused by embattled Iraqi forces in Kuwait.

HEART ATTACK

1943 Alexander Woollcott critic, dies of a heart attack on radio, at 56.

SPIES

1946 Rear Admiral Sidney W Souers, USNR, becomes 1st director of CIA.

1968 Spy ship USS Pueblo & 83-man crew seized in Sea of Japan by N Korea.

1962 British spy Kim Philby defects to USSR.

PURGES

1937 Karl Radek & 16 others go on trial in Stalin's great purge.

CLINTONS

1998 Fighting scandal allegations involving Monica Lewinsky, President Bill Clinton assured his Cabinet during a meeting that he was innocent and urged them to concentrate on their jobs.

AMENDMENTS

1933 20th amendment changes date of Presidential Inaugurations to 1/20.

1964 24th Amendment ratified, barring poll tax in federal elections.

POLITICS

1845 Congress decided all national elections would be held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November.

CIVIL RIGHTS

1907 Charles Curtis of Kansas becomes 1st Native American US senator.

JEWS

1492 "Pentateuch" (Jewish holy book) 1st printed

1936 Utah Senator William H. King urges the US to open its doors as a haven for Jews fleeing Germany.

1942: Hungarian Fascists at Sovi Sad in occupied Yugoslavia drive 550 Jews and 292 Serbs to the river and onto the ice. After firing on the ice to break it up, they shoot all those who manage to stay afloat. A total of 2,550 Serbs and 700 Jews are killed by the Hungarians at Novi Sad. (Atlas)

1950 Israeli Knesset resolves that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel.

1989 Challenge to "who is a Jew" law filed in Israeli Supreme Court.

MUSEUMS

1981 1st Richard Nixon museum opens (San Clemente CA).

CALENDARS

638 Start of Islamic calendar.

CATHOLICS

1789 Georgetown, 1st US Catholic college, founded.

MAINSTREAM MEDIA

1965 "The King Family Show" (musical variety) premieres on ABC TV.

1975 "Barney Miller" premieres on ABC TV.

1977 Miniseries "Roots" premieres on ABC.

1983 "A-Team" with Mr T premieres on NBC.

1991 "Seinfeld" debuts on NBC-TV.

EXECUTIONS

1997 Randy Greenawalt convicted killer, executed by injection at 47.

SOCIETIES

1793 Humane Society of Philadelphia (first aid society) organized.

ASSASSINATION

1913 Nazim Pasha Turkey's PM assassinated.

SPORTS

1950 AP picks "Miracle Braves" of 1914 as greatest sports upset.

1953 NFL Dallas Texans become Baltimore Colts (now Indianapolis Colts).

SUPREME COURT

1961 Supreme Court rules cities & states have right to censor films.

PROTESTS

1932 El Salvador army kills 4,000 protesting farmers.

BORN

1891 Antonio Gramsci Italian philosopher/marxist theorist.

1898 Randolph Scott actor (Last of the Mohicans, Western Union).

1899 Humphrey Bogart actor (Casablanca, Caine Mutiny, African Queen).

1919 Ernie Kovacs Trenton NJ, comedian (Ernie Kovacs' Show).

1944 Rutger Hauer Dutch actor (Blade Runner, Ladyhawke, Osterman Weekend).

BIRTHDAYS

Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg, D-N.J., is 84. Actress Jeanne Moreau is 80. Actress Chita Rivera is 75. Actor-director Lou Antonio is 74. Actor Gil Gerard is 65. Actor Rutger Hauer is 64. Rhythm-and-blues singer Jerry Lawson (The Persuasions) is 64. Sen. Thomas R. Carper, D-Del., is 61. Singer Anita Pointer is 60. Actor Richard Dean Anderson is 58. Rock musician Bill Cunningham is 58. Rock musician Danny Federici (Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band) is 58. Rock singer Robin Zander (Cheap Trick) is 55. Princess Caroline of Monaco is 51. Singer Anita Baker is 50. Reggae musician Earl Falconer (UB40) is 49. Actress Gail O'Grady is 45. Actress Mariska Hargitay is 44. Rhythm-and-blues singer Marc Nelson is 37. Actress Tiffani Thiessen is 34.

DEATH

1806 William Pitt the Younger, PM Great Britain (1783-1806), dies at 46.

1977 Bernard "Toots" Shor barkeeper, dies at 73.

1989 Salvador Dalí Spanish Surrealist painter, dies in Spain at 84.

2005 former "Tonight Show" host Johnny Carson died in Malibu, Calif., at age 79.

2003 Actress Nell Carter died in Beverly Hills, Calif., at age 54.

2007 E. Howard Hunt, who helped organize the Watergate break-in, leading to the downfall of Richard Nixon's presidency, died in Miami at age 88.

January 23, the 23rd day of 2008. There are 343 days left in the year.

compiled by Mondoreb
[image: daneevorhees;
Sources:
* Today in History
* Today in History
* Today in History



Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.

DBKP's Today in Weird History: January 22, 2008

JUDICIAL TYRANNY, WAR!, TERRORISM, DISASTERS, DICTATORS, NANNY STATE, KARMA, CHEESE, POPES, ROYALTY, OVERDOSE, OUT WITH A BANG, ZULUS, JEWS, SPIES, LE WIMPS, CLIMATE, LIP SYNCH, MAINSTREAM MEDIA, SOCIETIES, SPORTS, RIOTS, PROGRESS, SCIENCE, CARTOONS, BORN, BIRTHDAYS, DEATH



JUDICIAL TYRANNY

1973, the U.S. Supreme Court, in its Roe v. Wade decision, legalized abortions using a trimester approach.



2003 Opponents and supporters of abortion rights rallied on the 30th anniversary of the Supreme Court's "Roe versus Wade" ruling.

- - - / - - -

WAR!

1862 Confederate government raises premium for volunteers from $10 to $20.

1917, President Woodrow Wilson pleaded for an end to war in Europe, calling for "peace without victory." (By April, however, America also was at war.)

1944, during World War II, Allied forces began landing at Anzio, Italy. Allies stopped on the beach.

1945 Burma highway reopens.

1945 Heavy US air raid on Okinawa.

1973 US, North & South Vietnam & Vietcong sign boundary accord.

TERRORISM

1957 Mad Bomber (George P Metesky) accused of 30 explosions, arrested.

1995 Palestinian bomb attack in Beit Lid Israel, 21-22 killed.

1998 Theodore Kaczynski pleaded guilty in Sacramento, Calif., to being the Unabomber in return for a sentence of life in prison without parole.

2007 A car bombing of a predominantly Shiite commercial area in Baghdad killed 88 people.

2007 Iran announced it had barred 38 nuclear inspectors on a United Nations list from entering the country in apparent retaliation for U.N. sanctions imposed the previous month.

DISASTERS

1817 English freighter Diana sinks off Malaysia.

1837 Earthquake in southern Syria kills thousands.

1873 Britain's SS Northfleet sinks at Dungeness England, 300 die.

1956 30 die in a train crash in Los Angeles.

1960 Coal mine of Johnburg caves-in, 417 die.

1994 5.5 earthquake strikes Sumatra.

DICTATORS

1951 Fidel Castro ejected from a Winter League game after beaning batter.

NANNY STATE

In 1908, Katie Mulcahey became the first woman to run afoul of New York City's just-passed ban on females smoking in public. (Declaring, "No man shall dictate to me," Mulcahey served a night in jail after being unable to pay a $5 fine.)

KARMA

1979 Ali Hassan Salameh [Abu Hassan], killed by car bomb; believed to have helped mastermind massacre of 1972 Munich Olympics athletes.

CHEESE

1964 World's largest cheese (15,723 kg) manufactured, Wisconsin.

POPES

1922, Pope Benedict XV died; he was succeeded by Pius XI.

1998 On the first full day of his visit to Cuba, Pope John Paul II celebrated Mass, preaching the message, "Be not afraid."

ROYALTY

1992 Princess Sarah Ferguson wears paper bag over her head on airline ride.

OVERDOSED

1969 Judy Garland singer/actress (Wizard of Oz), dies at 48 of an overdose.

OUT WITH A BANG

1987 R Budd Dwyer Pennsylvania State Treasurer, facing prison for conspiracy & perjury, shot himself to death at a televised news conference.

ZULUS

1879 Zulus attack British Army camp in Isandhlwana South Africa.

JEWS

1510 Jews are expelled from Colmar Germany.

1941 1st mass killing of Jews in Romania.

1957 Israeli forces withdraw from the Sinai Penisula.

LE WIMPS

2003 Countering blunt talk of war by the Bush administration, France and Germany defiantly stated they were committed to a peaceful solution to the Iraq crisis.

SPIES

1946 US President sets up CIA, Central Intelligence Agency.

CLIMATE

1982 75% of North America is covered by snow.

LIP SYNCH

1990 17th American Music Award Milli Vanilli.

MAINSTREAM MEDIA

1968, The fast-paced sketch comedy series "Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In" premiered on NBC-TV.

1972 "Emergency" with Robert Fuller premieres on NBC TV.

SOCIETIES

1814 1st Knights Templar grand encampment in US held, New York City NY.

1890 José Marti forms La Liga (Union of Cuban exiles) in New York City NY.

1895 National Association of Manufacturers organized in Cincinnati OH.

RIOTS

1905 (New Style calendar), thousands of demonstrating Russian workers were fired on by Imperial army troops in St. Petersburg on what became known as "Bloody Sunday."

PROGRESS

1673 Postal service between New York & Boston inaugurated.

SCIENCE

1939 Uranium atom 1st split, Columbia University.

SPORTS

1968 NBA announces it will expand to Milwaukee & Phoenix.

CARTOONS

2003 Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Bill Mauldin, who had immortalized World War II soldiers with his characters Willie and Joe, died in Newport Beach, Calif., at age 81.

BORN

1561 Francis Bacon England, statesman/essayist (Novum Organum).
1788 Lord [George Gordon Noel] Byron England, romantic poet (Don Juan).
1875 D[avid] W Griffith movie producer/director (Birth of a Nation).
1909 Ann Sothern [Harriette Lake], North Dakota, actress (Lady in a Cage, My Mother the Car)
1934 Bill Bixby San Francisco CA, actor (Incredible Hulk, My Favorite Martian)
1934 Graham Kerr chef (Galloping Gourmet)

BIRTHDAYS

Former Sen. Birch Bayh, D-Ind., is 80. Actress Piper Laurie is 76. Actor Seymour Cassel is 73. Author Joseph Wambaugh is 71. Actor John Hurt is 68. Singer Steve Perry is 59. Country singer-musician Teddy Gentry (Alabama) is 56. Movie director Jim Jarmusch is 55. Hockey Hall-of-Famer Mike Bossy is 51. Actress Linda Blair is 49. Actress Diane Lane is 43. Actor-rap DJ Jazzy Jeff is 43. Country singer Regina Nicks (Regina Regina) is 43. Rhythm-and-blues singer Marc Gay (Shai) is 39. Actor Gabriel Macht is 36. Actor Balthazar Getty is 33. Actor Christopher Kennedy Masterson is 28. Pop singer Willa Ford is 27. Rhythm-and-blues singer Kelton Kessee (IMX) is 27. Actress Beverley (cq) Mitchell is 27. Rock singer-musician Ben Moody is 27.

DEATH

1901, Britain's Queen Victoria died at age 81.
1973, former President Lyndon Johnson died at age 64.
1995, Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy died at the Kennedy compound at Hyannis Port, Mass., at age 104.

January 22, the 22nd day of 2008. There are 344 days left in the year.

compiled by Mondoreb
[images:
* kir.com
*skullandcrossbones]
Sources:
* Today in History
* Today in History



Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.

DBKP's Today in Weird History: January 21, 2008

KILLERS, WAR!, TERRORISM, DISASTERS, BEHEADING, SEWERS, NANNY STATE, INSANE, NUDITY, PATENTS, CENSUS, MAINSTREAM MEDIA, SUBWAYS, SOCIETIES, CLINTON, CIVIL RIGHTS, GOLD, SILVER, FINANCE, DEPORTED, CLIMATE, PARDONS, SPIES, JEWS, STRONGMEN, SUBS, VACCINES, POPES, PROGRESS, SPORTS, BORN, BIRTHDAYS, DEATH



KILLERS

On Jan. 21, 1958, Charles Starkweather, 19, killed the mother, stepfather and half-sister of his 14-year-old girlfriend, Caril Ann Fugate, at her family's home in Lincoln, Neb. (Starkweather, who had also killed a gas station attendant the previous November, and Fugate went on a road trip which resulted in seven more slayings. Starkweather was executed in 1959; Fugate, who maintained she had been Starkweather's hostage, was convicted of murder and sentenced to life; she was paroled in 1976.)

WAR!

1941 Australia & Britain attack Tobruk Libya.

1942 Japanese air raid on Rabaul New Britain.

1942 Tito's partisans occupy Foca.

1943 Soviet forces reconquer Gumrak airport near Stalingrad.

1943 Soviet forces reconquer Worosjilowsk.

1944 447 German bombers attack London.

1944 649 British bombers attack Magdeburg.

1945 British troops land on Ramree, near coast of Burma.

1968, the Battle of Khe Sahn began during the Vietnam War as North Vietnamese forces attacked a U.S. Marine base; the Americans were able to hold their position until the siege was lifted 2 1/2 months later.

DISASTERS

1821 Paramaribo Suriname catches fire, 4 die.

1960 Rock falls traps 437 at Coalbrook South Africa, 417 die of methane poisoning.

2003 A powerful earthquake shook west-central Mexico, killing 28 people and leaving 10,000 homeless.

1968, an American B-52 bomber carrying four hydrogen bombs crashed in Greenland, killing one crew member and scattering radioactive material.

TERRORISM

1985 Bomb attack on Borobudur temple in Java.

2003 A gunman ambushed two U.S. defense workers in Kuwait, killing one and wounding another.

2003 Colombian rebels kidnapped an American photographer and a British reporter, the first time foreign journalists were abducted in Colombia's four-decade-long civil war. (Scott Dalton and Ruth Morris were freed after 11 days in captivity.)

BEHEADED

1793 Louis XVI French king (1774-93), condemned for treason, beheaded by revolutionaries at 38.

SEWERS

1880 1st US sewage disposal system separate from storm drains, Memphis TN

NANNY STATE

1908, New York City's Board of Aldermen passed an ordinance prohibiting women from smoking in public. (However, the measure was vetoed by Mayor George B. McClellan Jr. two weeks later).

NUDITY

1986 100 participate in Nude Olympics race in 38ºF (3ºC), Indiana.



INSANE

1994 Lorena Bobbitt found temporarily insane for chopping off spouse's penis.

PATENTS

1853 Envelope-folding machine patented by Russell Hawes, Worcester MA

CENSUS

2003 The Census Bureau announced that Hispanics had surpassed blacks as America's largest minority group.

MAINSTREAM MEDIA

1949 1st inaugural parade televised (Harry Truman).

1971 "Alias Smith & Jones" premieres on ABC TV.

1973 Leslie Nielsen appears on M*A*S*H in "Ringbanger".

SUBWAY

1981 Bernhard Goetz is assaulted for 1st time on a New York subway train.

SOCIETIES

1915, the first Kiwanis Club was founded, in Detroit.

1935 The Wilderness Society is founded.

CLINTONS

1998 President Bill Clinton angrily denied reports he had had an affair with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky and then tried to get her to lie about it.

CIVIL RIGHTS

1827 Freedom Journal, 1st Black paper, begins publishing.

GOLD

1974 Gold hits record $161.31 an ounce in London.

1979 Price of gold increases to record $875 troy ounce.

1980 Gold hits record $850 an ounce.

SILVER

1974 Silver hits record $3.97 an ounce in London.

DEPORTED

1830 Portsmouth (Ohio) blacks forcibly deported.

CLIMATE

1962 Snow falls in San Francisco.

PARDONS

1977 President Jimmy Carter pardons almost all Vietnam War draft evaders.

SPIES

1950, former State Department official Alger Hiss, accused of being part of a Communist spy ring, was found guilty in New York of lying to a grand jury. (Hiss, who always proclaimed his innocence, served less than four years in prison.)

JEWS

1941 1st anti-Jewish measures in Bulgaria.

STRONGMEN

2007 Venzuelan President Hugo Chavez told U.S. officials to "Go to hell, gringos!" and called Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice "missy" on his weekly radio and TV show, lashing out at Washington for what he called unacceptable meddling in his country's affairs.

FINANCE

1994 Dow Jones passes 3900 (record 3,914.20).

SUBS

1954, the first atomic submarine, the USS Nautilus, was launched at Groton, Conn. (However, the Nautilus did not make its first nuclear-powered run until nearly a year later).

VACCINES

1799 Edward Jenner's smallpox vaccination is introduced.

POPES

1998 Pope John Paul II began a historic pilgrimage to Cuba.

PROGRESS

1976, the supersonic Concorde jet was put into service by Britain and France.

SPORTS

1979 Super Bowl XIII Pittsburgh Steelers beat Dallas Cowboys, 35-31 in Miami; Super Bowl MVP Terry Bradshaw, Pittsburgh, Quarterback.

1990 John McEnroe becomes the 1st ever expelled from the Australian Open for throwing a tantrum & swearing at an official.

2007 Lovie Smith became the first black head coach to make it to the Super Bowl when his Chicago Bears won the NFC championship, beating the New Orleans Saints 39-14; Tony Dungy became the second when his Indianapolis Colts took the AFC title over the New England Patriots, 38-34.

BORN

1924 Benny Hill Southampton England, comedian (Benny Hill Show)

1933 William Wrigley III chewing gum mogul (Wrigleys)

1939 Wolfman Jack [Bob Smith], Brooklyn NY, DJ (Midnight Special)

BIRTHDAY

Actor Paul Scofield is 86. Actress Ann Wedgeworth is 73. Blues singer-musician Snooks Eaglin is 72. Golfer Jack Nicklaus is 68. Opera singer Placido Domingo is 67. Singer Richie Havens is 67. Singer Mac Davis is 66. Actress Jill Eikenberry is 61. Country musician Jim Ibbotson (The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band) is 61. Singer-songwriter Billy Ocean is 58. Actor Robby Benson is 52. Actress Geena Davis is 52. Basketball player Hakeem Olajuwon is 45. Actress Charlotte Ross is 40. Actor John Ducey is 39. Actress Karina Lombard is 39. Rapper Levirt (B-Rock and the Bizz) is 38. Rock musician Mark Trojanowski (Sister Hazel) is 38. Rock DJ Chris Kilmore (Incubus) is 35. Singer Emma Bunton (Spice Girls) is 32. Rhythm-and-blues singer Nokio (Dru Hill) is 29. Actress Izabella Miko is 27.

DEATH

1924, Russian revolutionary Vladimir Lenin died at age 53.

1950 George Orwell [Eric Arthur Blair] author (Animal Farm, 1984), dies from tuberculosis in London at 46.

1991 Howard "Red" Grange football's galloping ghost, dies at 87

1997 Colonel Tom Parker manager (Elvis Presley), dies at 87

1998 Actor Jack Lord of "Hawaii Five-O" fame died in Honolulu at age 77.

January 21, the 21st day of 2008. There are 345 days left in the year. This is the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.

< style="font-weight: bold;">compiled by Mondoreb
[image: biographychannel; pacpubserver]
Sources:
* Today in History
* Today in History



Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.

DBKP's Today in History: January 20, 2008

TERRORISM, WAR!, DISASTERS, LONGSHOTS, MUSIC, SURVIVORS, CHURCH, GIFTS, SUPREME COURT, DEALS, POLITICS, OOPS!, BOYCOTTS, SCIENCE, MEDIA, JEWS, FINANCE, SPORTS, CLINTONS, ASSASSINATIONS, HOLIDAYS, MURDER, TARZAN, TUNNELS, LAWSUITS, BORN, BIRTHDAYS, DEATH



TERRORISM

1981 Iran released 52 Americans it had held hostage for 444 days, minutes after the presidency had passed from Jimmy Carter to Ronald Reagan.

1987 Anglican Church envoy Terry Waite taken hostage in Beirut, Lebanon.

WAR!

1783 Hostilities cease in Revolutionary War.

1944 RAF drops 2300 ton bombs on Berlin.

1991 US Patriot missiles begins shooting down Iraqi missiles.

2003 Secretary of State Colin Powell, faced with stiff resistance and calls to go slow, bluntly told the Security Council that the U.N. "must not shrink" from its responsibility to disarm Saddam Hussein's Iraq.

2007 Twenty-five U.S. troops were killed in Iraq, including 12 in a helicopter crash in Baghdad and five in a sophisticated sneak attack in Karbala.

DISASTERS

1982 7 miners killed in an explosion in Craynor KY.

1985 Cold front strikes US, at least 40 die (-27ºF (-33ºC) in Chicago).

LONGSHOTS

2007 Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback began a long-shot bid for the Republican presidential nomination (he withdrew last October).

MUSIC

1964 "Meet The Beatles" album released in US

1965 The Byrds record "Mr Tambourine Man"

SURVIVORS

1989 Reagan becomes 1st President elected in a "0" year, since 1840, to leave office alive.

CHURCH

1788 Pioneer African Baptist church organizes in Savannah GA.

GIFTS

1949 J Edgar Hoover gives Shirley Temple a tear gas fountain pen.

SUPREME COURT

1801 Secretary of State John Marshall was nominated by President Adams to be chief justice of the United States (he was sworn in on Feb. 4, 1801).

DEALS

1841 the island of Hong Kong was ceded by China to Great Britain. (It returned to Chinese control in July 1997.)

1887 the U.S. Senate approved an agreement to lease Pearl Harbor in Hawaii as a naval base.

POLITICS

1937 President Franklin Roosevelt became the first chief executive to be inaugurated on Jan. 20 instead of March 4.

1945 President Roosevelt was sworn into office for an unprecedented fourth term.

1969 Richard M Nixon inaugurated as President.

1981 Ronald Reagan inaugurated as President.

1989 Bush inaugurated as 41st President & Quayle becomes 44th Vice President.

OOPS!

1862 General Felix Zollicoffer killed after mistakenly riding into union lines.

BOYCOTTS

1980 President Jimmy Carter announces US boycott of Olympics in Moscow.

SCIENCE

1997 Comet Hale-Bopp crosses Mars' orbit.

MEDIA

1929 1st feature talking motion picture taken outdoors, "In Old Arizona".

1930 1st radio broadcast of "Lone Ranger" (WXYZ-Detroit).

1965 The Beatles appear on Shindig (ABC-TV).

JEWS

1939 Hitler proclaims to German parliament to exterminate all European Jews.

1942 Nazi officials held the notorious Wannsee conference, during which they arrived at their "final solution" that called for exterminating Jews.

1965 Generalissimo Francisco Franco meets with Jewish representatives to discuss legitimizing Jewish communities in Spain.

FINANCE

1995 Russian ruble drops to 3,947 per dollar (record).

SPORTS

1892 1st basketball game played (Massachusetts).

1980 Super Bowl XIV Pittsburgh Steelers beat Los Angeles Rams, 31-19 in Pasadena; Super Bowl MVP Terry Bradshaw, Pittsburgh, Quarterback.

CLINTONS

1993 Bill Clinton inaugurated as 42nd President.

2007 Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., launched her campaign for the White House, saying in a videotaped messsage on her Web site: "I'm in, and I'm in to win."

ASSASSINATIONS

1948 Mahatma Gandhi India's pacifist, assassinated.

HOLIDAYS

1986, the United States observed the first federal holiday in honor of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.

MURDER

1959 Carl Switzer actor (Alfalfa-Our Gang), shot to death at 31.

TUNNELS

1986 Britain and France announced plans to build the Channel Tunnel.

TARZAN

1984 Peter John [Johnny] Weissmuller actor (Tarzan, Jungle Jim), dies after a series of strokes in Acapulco at 79

LAWSUITS

1998 A jury was selected in Amarillo, Texas, to hear a multi-million-dollar lawsuit filed by Texas cattlemen against talk show host Oprah Winfrey over comments made on her program concerning beef safety. (Winfrey won the case.)

BORN

1889 Huddie "Leadbelly" Ledbetter Mooringsport LA, blues 12 string guitarist (Rock Island Line).

1920 DeForest Kelley Atlanta GA, actor (Dr McCoy-Star Trek).

BIRTHDAYS

Country singer Slim Whitman is 84. Actress Patricia Neal is 82. Comedian Arte Johnson is 79. Former astronaut Buzz Aldrin is 78. Actress Dorothy Provine is 71. Singer Eric Stewart is 63. Movie director David Lynch is 62. Actor Daniel Benzali is 58. Rock musician Paul Stanley (KISS) is 56. Rock musician Ian Hill (Judas Priest) is 56. Comedian Bill Maher is 52. Actor Lorenzo Lamas is 50. Actor James Denton ("Desperate Housewives") is 45. Rock musician Greg K. (The Offspring) is 43. Country singer John Michael Montgomery is 43. Actor Rainn Wilson ("The Office) is 42. Actress Stacey Dash is 41. TV personality Melissa Rivers is 40. Singer Xavier is 40. Singer Edwin McCain is 38. Actor Skeet Ulrich is 38. Rap musician ?uestlove (The Roots) is 37. Rock musician Rob Bourdon (Linkin Park) is 29. Actor Evan Peters is 21.

DEATH

1936 Britain's King George V died; he was succeeded by Edward VIII.

2003 Caricaturist Al Hirschfeld died in New York at age 99.

2003 Pollster Burns W. "Bud" Roper died on Cape Cod, Mass., at age 77.

January 20, the 20th day of 2008. There are 346 days left in the year.

compiled by Mondoreb
[images: wikipedia]
Sources:
* Today in History
* Today in History




Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.