Friday, January 25, 2008

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

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