On This Day

December 14, 2012

1503 - Physician, astrologer and clairvoyant Nostradamus was born at St. Remy, Provence, France.

1798 - David Wilkinson of Rhode Island patented the nut and bolt machine.

1799 - The first president of the United States, George Washington, died at the age 67.

1819 - Alabama joined the Union as the 22nd state.

1896 - Gen. James H. Doolittle, who led the first air raid on Japan during World War II, was born.

1900 - Professor Max Planck of Berlin University revealed his revolutionary Quantum Theory.

1903 - Orville Wright made the first attempt at powered flight. The engine stalled during take-off and the plane was damaged in the attempt. Three days later, after repairs were made, the modern aviation age was born when the plane stayed aloft for 12 seconds and flew 102 feet.

1911 - Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen became the first man to reach the South Pole. He reached the destination 35 days ahead of Captain Robert F. Scott.

1918 - For the first time in Britain women (over 30) voted in a General Election.

1939 - The Soviet Union was dropped from the League of Nations.

1945 - Josef Kramer, known as "the beast of Belsen," and 10 others were executed in Hamelin for the crimes they committed at the Belsen and Auschwitz Nazi concentration camps.

1946 - The U.N. General Assembly voted to establish the United Nation's headquarters in New York City.

1959 - Archbishop Makarios was elected Cyprus' first president.

1962 - The U.S. space probe Mariner II approached Venus. It transmitted information about the planet's atmosphere and surface temperature.

1975 - Six South Moluccan terrorists surrendered to police after holding 23 people hostage for 12 days on a train near the Dutch town of Beilen.

1981 - Israel annexed the Golan Heights, seized from Syria in war in 1967.

1983 - The U.S. battleship New Jersey fired on Syrian positions in Lebanon for the first time after American F-14 reconnaissance flights were fired on.

1984 - Howard Cosell retired from the NFL's Monday Night Football.

1985 - Wilma Mankiller became the first woman to lead a major American Indian tribe as she formally took office as principal chief of the Cherokee Nation of OKlahoma.

1986 - The experimental aircraft Voyager, piloted by Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager, took off from California on the first non-stop, non-refueled flight around the world. The trip took nine days to complete.

1987 - Chrysler pled no contest to federal charges of selling several thousand vehicles as new when Chrysler employees had driven the vehicles with the odometer disconnected.

1988 - CBS won the exclusive rights to major league baseball's 1990-94 seasons for $1.1 billion.

1988 - The first transatlantic underwater fiber-optic cable went into service.

1990 - After 30 years in exile, ANC president Oliver Tambo returned to South Africa.

1993 - A judge in Colorado struck down the state's voter-approved Amendment Two prohibiting gay rights laws, calling it unconstitutional.

1993 - The United Mine Workers approved a five-year contract that ended a strike that had reached seven states and involved some of the nation's biggest coal operators.

1995 - The presidents of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Croatia signed the Dayton Accords to end fighting in Bosnia.

1995 - AIDS patient Jeff Getty received the first-ever bone-marrow transplant from a baboon.

1997 - Iran's newest president, Mohammad Khatami, called for a dialogue with the people of the United States. The preceding Iranian leaders had reviled the U.S. as "The Great Satan."

1997 - Mike Gartner (Phoenix Coyotes) became only the fifth player in National Hockey League (NHL) history to score 700 career goals.

1997 - Cuban President Fidel Castro declared Christmas 1997 an official holiday to ensure the success of Pope John Paul II's upcoming visit to Cuba.

1998 - Hundreds of Palestinian leaders renounced a call for the destruction of Israel.

1999 - U.S. and German negotiators agreed to establish a $5.2 billion fund for Nazi-era slave and forced laborers.

1999 - Charles M. Schulz announced he was retiring the "Peanuts" comic strip. The last original "Peanuts" comic strip was published on February 13, 2000.

2000 - It was announced that American businessman Edmond Pope would be released from a Russian prison for humanitarian reasons. Pope had been sentenced to 20 years in prison after his conviction on espionage charges.

2001 - European Union leaders agreed to dispatch 3,000-4,000 troops to join an international peacekeeping force in Afghanistan.

2001 - The first commercial export, since 1963, of U.S. food to Cuba began. The 24,000 metric tons for corn were being sent to replenish what was lost when Hurricane Michelle struck on November 4.

December 16, 2012

1653 - Oliver Cromwell became lord protector of England, Scotland and Ireland.

1773 - Nearly 350 chests of tea were dumped into Boston Harbor off of British ships by Colonial patriots. The patriots were disguised as Indians. The act was to protest taxation without representation and the monopoly the government granted to the East India Company.

1809 - Napoleon Bonaparte was divorced from the Empress Josephine by an act of the French Senate.

1835 - In New York, 530 buildings were destroyed by fire.

1838 - The Zulu chief Dingaan was defeated by a small force of Boers at Blood River celebrated in South Africa as 'Dingaan's Day'.

1850 - The first immigrant ship, the Charlotte Jane, arrived at Lyttleton, New Zealand.

1901 - "The Tale of Peter Rabbit," by Beatrix Potter, was printed for the first time.

1903 - Women ushers were employed for the first time at the Majestic Theatre in New York City.

1905 - Sime Silverman published the first issue of "Variety".

1912 - The first postage stamp to depict an airplane was issued was a 20-cent parcel-post stamp.

1916 - Gregory Rasputin, the monk who had wielded powerful influence over the Russian court, was murdered by a group of noblemen.

1940 - French Premier Petain arrested Pierre Laval after learning of a plan for Laval to seize power and set up a new government with German support.

1944 - During World War II, the Battle of the Bulge began in Belgium. It was the final major German counteroffensive in the war.

1950 - U.S. President Truman proclaimed a national state of emergency in order to fight "Communist imperialism."

1951 - NBC-TV debuted "Dragnet" in a special preview on "Chesterfield Sound Off Time". The show began officially on January 3, 1952.

1960 - A United Air Lines DC-8 and a TWA Super Constellation collided over New York City, killing 134 people.

1972 - The Miami Dolphins became the first NFL team to go unbeaten and untied in a 14-game regular season. The Dolphins went on to defeat the Washington Redskins in Super Bowl VII.

1973 - O.J. Simpson broke Jim Brown’s single-season rushing record in the NFL. Brown had rushed for 1,863 yards, while Simpson attained 2,003 yards.

1981 - The U.S. Congress restored the $122 minimum monthly social security benefit for current recipients.

1984 - The play "Diamonds" opened in New York City.

1985 - Reputed organized-crime chief Paul Castellano was shot to death outside a New York City restaurant.

1990 - Jean-Bertrand Aristide, a leftist priest, was elected president in Haiti's first democratic elections.

1991 - The U.N. General Assembly rescinded its 1975 resolution equating Zionism with racism by a vote of 111-25.

1993 - The United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution calling for negotiations on a comprehensive test ban.

1995 - Many U.S. government functions were again closed as a temporary finance provision expired and the budget dispute between President Clinton and Republicans in Congress continued.

1995 - NATO launched a military operation in support of the Bosnia peace agreement.

1996 - Britain's agriculture minister announced the slaughter of an additional 100,000 cows thought to be at risk of contracting BSE in an effort to persuade the EU to lift its ban on Britain.

1998 - The U.S. and Britain fired hundreds of missiles on Iraq in response to Saddam Hussein's refusal to comply with U.N. weapons inspectors.

1999 - Sigourney Weaver received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

1999 - Torrential rains and mudslides in Venezuela left thousands of people dead and forced at least 120,000 to leave their homes.

2000 - Researchers announced that information from NASA's Galileo spacecraft indicated that Ganymede appeared to have a liquid saltwater ocean beneath a surface of solid ice. Ganymede, a moon of Jupiter, is the solar system's largest moon. The discovery is considered important since water is a key ingredient for life.

2000 - U.S. President-elect George W. Bush selected Colin Powell to be the first African-American secretary of state. Powell was sworn in January 20, 2001.

2001 - In Tora Bora, Afghanistan, tribal fighters announced that they had taken the last al-Quaida positions. More than 200 fighters were killed and 25 captured. They also announced that they had found no sign of Osama bin Laden.

2001 - Cuba received the first commercial food shipment from the United States in nearly 40 years. The shipment was sent to help Cuba after Hurrican Michelle hit Cuba on November 4, 2001.

2001 - A British newspaper, The Observer, reported that a notebook had been found at an al-Quaida training camp in southern Afghanistan. The notebook contained a "blue print" for an bomb attack on London's financial district.

2002 - Canada ratified the Kyoto Protocol. The 1997 treaty was aimed a reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

2009 - Astronomers discovered GJ1214b. It was the first-known exoplanet on which water could exist

December 17, 2012

1777 - France recognized American independence.

1791 - A traffic regulation in New York City established the first street to go "One Way."

1830 - South American patriot Simon Bolivar died in Colombia.

1895 - George L. Brownell received a patent for his paper-twine machine.

1903 - The first successful gasoline-powered airplane flight took place near Kitty Hawk, NC. Orville and Wilbur Wright made the flight.

1925 - Col. William "Billy" Mitchell was convicted of insubordination at his court-martial.

1936 - The "The Rudy Vallee Show" debuted on NBC.

1939 - The German pocket battleship Graf Spee was scuttled by its crew, bringing the World War II Battle of the Rio de la Plata off Uruguay to an end.

1944 - The U.S. Army announced the end of its policy of excluding Japanese-Americans from the West Coast which ensured that Japanese-Americans were released from detention camps.

1953 - The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) decided to approve RCA’s color television specifications.

1957 - The United States successfully test-fired the Atlas intercontinental ballistic missile for the first time.

1959 - The film "On the Beach" premiered in New York City and in 17 other cities. It was the first motion picture to debut simultaneously in major cities around the world.

1969 - The U.S. Air Force closed its Project "Blue Book" by concluding that there was no evidence of extraterrestrial spaceships behind thousands of UFO sightings.

1969 - Television history was made when Tiny Tim and Miss Vicki Budinger were married on "The Tonight Show" with Johnny Carson.

1973 - Thirty-one people were killed at Rome airport when Arab guerillas hijacked a German airliner.

1975 - Lynette Fromme was sentenced to life in prison for her attempt on the life of U.S. President Ford.

1976 - WTCG-TV, Atlanta, GA, changed its call letters to WTBS, and was uplinked via satellite. The station became the first commercial TV station to cover the entire U.S.

1978 - OPEC decided to raise oil prices by 14.5% by the end of 1979.

1979 - Arthur McDuffie, a black insurance executive, was fatally beaten after a police chase in Miami, FL. Four white police officers were later acquitted of charges stemming from McDuffie's death.

1986 - Wayne "Danke Schoen" Newton won a $19.2 million suit against NBC News. NBC had aired reports claiming a link between Newton and mob figures. The reports were proven to be false.

1986 - Davina Thompson became the world's first recipient of a heart, lungs, and liver transplant.

1986 - Eugene Hasefus was pardoned and then released by Nicaragua. He had been convicted of running guns to the Contras.

1992 - U.S. President George H.W. Bush, Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and Mexican President Carlos Salinas de Gortari signed the North American Free Trade Agreement.

1992 - Israel deported over 400 Palestinians to Lebanese territory in an unprecedented mass expulsion of suspected militants.

1996 - Peruvian guerrillas took hundreds of people hostage at the Japanese embassy in Lima. The siege ended on April 22, 1997, with a commando raid that resulted in the deaths of all the rebels, two commandos and one hostage.

1996 - The Red Cross pulled all but a few of its western staff out of Chechnya after six foreign aid workers were killed by masked gunmen.

1997 - U.S. President Clinton signed the No Electronic Theft Act. The act removed protection from individuals who claimed that they took no direct financial gains from stealing copyrighted works and downloading them from the Internet.

1998 - U.S. House Speaker-designate Bob Livingston admitted he'd had extramarital affairs.

2000 - Terrell Owens (San Francisco 49ers) caught an NFL-record 20 passes for 283 yards and a touchdown against the Chicago Bears. The previous record was held by Tom Fears (Los Angeles Rams) with 18 catches on December 3, 1950, against the Green Bay Packers. Owens also broke Jerry Rice's franchise record of 16 receptions set in 1994 against the Los Angeles Rams.

2002 - U.S. President George W. Bush ordered the Pentagon to have ready for use within two years a system for protecting American territory, troops and allies from ballistic missile attacks.

2002 - McDonald's Corp. warned that they would report its first quarterly loss in its 47-year history.

2002 - The insurance and finance company Conseco Inc. filed for Chapter 11 protection. It was the third-largest bankruptcy in U.S. history.

2002 - Congo's government, opposition parties and rebels signed a peace agreement that ended four years of civil war.

2004 - U.S. President George W. Bush signed into law the largest overhaul of U.S. intelligence gathering in 50 years. The bill aimed to tighten borders and aviation security. It also created a federal counterterrorism center and a new intelligence director.

December 25, 2012

0800 - Charlemagne was crowned first Holy Roman Emperor in Rome by Pope Leo III.

1066 - William the Conqueror was crowned king of England.

1223 - St. Francis of Assisi assembled one of the first Nativity scenes, in Greccio, Italy.

1776 - Gen. George Washington and his troops crossed the Delaware River for a surprise attack against Hessian forces at Trenton, NJ.

1818 - "Silent Night" was performed for the first time, at the Church of St. Nikolaus in Oberndorff, Austria.

1868 - U.S. President Andrew Johnson granted an unconditional pardon to all persons involved in the Southern rebellion that resulted in the Civil War.

1894 - The University of Chicago became the first Midwestern football team to play on the west coast. U.C. defeated Stanford, 24-4, in Palo Alto, CA.

1896 - John Philip Sousa finally titled the melody "The Stars and Stripes Forever."

1914 - During World War I, British and German troops observed an unofficial truce and even playing football together on the Western Front.

1917 - The play "Why Marry?" opened at the Astor Theatre in New York City. "Why Marry?" was the first dramatic play to win a Pulitzer Prize.

1926 - Hirohito became the emperor of Japan after the death of his father Emperor Taisho.

1930 - The Mt. Van Hoevenberg bobsled run at Lake Placid, New York opened to the public. It was the first bobsled track of international specifications to open in the U.S.

1931 - Lawrence Tibbett was the featured vocalist as radio came to the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City. The first opera was "Hansel und Gretel" and was heard on the NBC network of stations.

1937 - Arturo Toscanini conducted the first broadcast of "Symphony of the Air" over NBC radio.

1939 - "A Christmas Carol," by Charles Dickens, was read on CBS radio for the first time.

1941 - Hong Kong surrendered to the Japanese.

1946 - W.C. Fields died at the age of 66.

1950 - Dick Tracy married on Tess Truehart.

1962 - The Department of Commerce Census Clock in Washington, DC, recorded the U.S. population on this day as 188,000,000.

1971 - The longest pro-football game to date finally ended when Garo Yepremian kicked a field goal in the second quarter of sudden death overtime. The Miami Dolphins defeated Kansas City, 27-24. The total game time was 82 minutes and 40 seconds.

1972 - The Nicaraguan capital Managua was hit by an earthquake. Over 10,000 people were killed.

1979 - The USSR invaded Afghanistan in a bid to halt civil war and protect USSR interests.

1989 - Ousted Romanian President Nicolae Ceausescu and his wife, Elena, were executed following a popular uprising.

1989 - Former baseball player and manager Billy Martin died in a truck crash in Fenton, NY.

1989 - Dissident playwright Vaclav Havel was elected president of Czechoslovakia.

1991 - Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev went on television to announce his resignation as leader of a Communist superpower that had already gone out of existence.

1998 - Seven days into their journey, Richard Branson, Steve Fossett and Per Lindstrand of Sweden gave up their attempt to make the first nonstop round-the-world balloon flight. They ditched near Hawaii.

2000 - Over 300 people were killed and dozens were injured by fire at a Christmas party in the Chinese city of Luoyang. The incident occurred at the Dongdu Disco.

December 27, 2012

1703 - The Methuen Treaty was signed between Portugal and England, giving preference to the import of Portuguese wines into England.

1831 - Charles Darwin set out on a voyage to the Pacific aboard the HMS Beagle. Darwin's discoveries during the voyage helped him form the basis of his theories on evolution.

1845 - Dr. Crawford Williamson Long used anesthesia for childbirth for the first time. The event was the delivery of his own child in Jefferson, GA.

1900 - Carrie Nation staged her first raid on a saloon at the Carey Hotel in Wichita, KS. She broke each and every one of the liquor bottles that could be seen.

1904 - James Barrie's play "Peter Pan" premiered in London.

1927 - Leon Trotsky was expelled from the Communist Party.

1938 - The first skimobile course in America opened in North Conway, NH.

1945 - The World Bank was created with an agreement signed by 28 nations.

1947 - The children's television program "Howdy Doody," hosted by Bob Smith, made its debut on NBC.

1949 - Queen Juliana of the Netherlands granted sovereignty to Indonesia after more than 300 years of Dutch rule.

1951 - In Cincinnati, OH, a Crosley automobile, with a steering wheel on the right side, became the first vehicle of its kind to be placed in service for mail delivery.

1965 - The BP oil rig Sea Gem capsized in the North Sea, with the loss of 13 lives.

1968 - "The Breakfast Club" signed off for the last time on ABC radio, after 35 years on the air.

1971 - Snoopy, Charlie Brown, Linus, Lucy and Woodstock of Charles Schulz’ "Peanuts" comic strip were on the cover of "Newsweek" magazine.

1978 - Spain adopted a new constitution and became a democracy after 40 years of dictatorship.

1979 - Soviet forces seized control of Afghanistan. Babrak Karmal succeeded President Hafizullah Amin, who was overthrown and executed.

1985 - Palestinian guerrillas opened fire inside the Rome and Vienna airports. A total of twenty people were killed, including five of the attackers, who were slain by police and security personnel.

1985 - Dian Fossey, an American naturalist, was found murdered at a research station in Rawanda.

1992 - The U.S. shot down an Iraqi fighter jet during what the Pentagon described as a confrontation between a pair of Iraqi warplanes and U.S. F-16 jets in U.N.-restricted airspace over southern Iraq.

1996 - Muslim fundamentalist Taliban forces retook the strategic air base of Bagram, solidifying their buffer zone around Kabul, the Afghanistan capital.

1997 - In Northern Ireland, Billy Wright was assassinated. He was imprisoned as a Protestant paramilitary leader.

2000 - Mario Lemeiux (Pittsburgh Penguins) returned to the National Hockey League (NHL) as a player after over 3 years of retirement. He was the first owner-player in the modern era of pro sports. Lemieux had purchased the Pittsburgh Penguins during his retirement from playing.

2001 - U.S. President George W. Bush granted China permanent normal trade status with the United States.

2002 - North Korea ordered U.N. nuclear inspectors to leave the country and said that it would restart a laboratory capable of producing plutonium for nuclear weapons.

2002 - Clonaid announced the birth of the first cloned human baby. The baby had been born December 26.

2002 - In Chechnya, at least 40 people were killed when suicide bombers attacked the administartion of Grozny

December 28, 2012

1065 - Westminster Abbey was consecrated under Edward the Confessor.

1694 - Queen Mary II of England died after five years of joint rule with her husband, King William III.

1732 - "The Pennsylvania Gazette," owned by Benjamin Franklin, ran an ad for the first issue of "Poor Richard’s Almanack."

1832 - John C. Calhoun became the first vice president of the United States to resign, stepping down over differences with President Jackson.

1836 - Mexico's independence was recognized by Spain.

1846 - Iowa became the 29th state to be admitted to the Union.

1869 - William E. Semple, of Mt. Vernon, OH, patented an acceptable chewing gum.

1877 - John Stevens applied for a patent for his flour-rolling mill, which boosted production by 70%.

1879 - In Dundee, Scotland the central portion of the Tay Bridge collapsed as a train was passing over it. 75 people were killed.

1897 - "Cyrano de Bergerac," the play by Edmond Rostand, premiered in Paris, France.

1902 - The first professional indoor football game was played at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Syracuse defeated the Philadelphia Nationals 6-0.

1908 - An earthquake killed over 75,000 at Messina in Sicily.

1912 - The first municipally-owned street cars were used on the streets of San Francisco, CA.

1917 - The New York Evening Mail published a facetious essay by H.L. Mencken on the history of bathtubs in America.

1926 - The highest recorded cricket innings score of 1,107 runs was hit by Victoria, against New South Wales, in Melbourne.

1937 - The Irish Free State became the Republic of Ireland when a new constitution established the country as a sovereign state under the name of Eire.

1942 - R.O. Sullivan crossed the Atlantic Ocean for the 100th time.

1945 - The U.S. Congress officially recognized the "Pledge of Allegiance."

1950 - The Peak District became Britain's first designated National Park.

1956 - After five years on television, the last "Ding Dong School" was aired on NBC-TV.

1964 - Initial filming of the movie "Dr. Zhivago" began on location near Madrid, Spain. The movies total running time is 197 minutes.

1973 - The Chamber of Commerce of Akron, OH, terminated its association with the All-American Soap Box Derby. It was stated that the race had become "a victim of cheating and fraud."

1973 - Alexander Solzhenitsyn published "Gulag Archipelago," an expose of the Soviet prison system.

1981 - Elizabeth Jordan Carr, the first American test-tube baby, was born in Norfolk, VA.

1982 - Nevell Johnson Jr. was mortally wounded by a police officer in a Miami video arcade. The event set off three days of race related disturbances that left another man dead.

1987 - The bodies of 14 relatives of R. Gene Simmons were found at his home near Dover, AR. Simmons had gone on a shooting spree in Russellville that claimed two other lives.

1989 - Alexander Dubcek, who had been expelled from the Communist Party in 1970, was elected speaker of the Czech parliament.

1991 - Nine people died in a rush to get into a basketball game at City College in New York.

1995 - Pressure from German prosecutors investigating pornography forced CompuServe to set a precedent by blocking access to sex-oriented newsgroups on the Internet for its customers.

2000 - U.S. District Court Judge Matsch held a hearing to ensure that confessed Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh understood that he was dropping his appeals. McVeigh said that he wanted an execution date, set but wanted to reserve the right to seek presidential clemency.

2000 - Shannen Doherty was arrested for driving under the influence.

January 2, 2013

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.

1892 - Ellis Island opened as America's first federal immigration center. Annie Moore, at age 15, became the first person to pass through.

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 - 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.

January 3, 2013

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 H.W. 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. Israeli 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.

January 4, 2013

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, United Arab Emirates, the Burj Dubai (Dubai Tower) opened as the world's tallest tower at 2,625 feet.

January 5, 2013

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 underwent 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.

January 6, 2013

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.

January 8, 2013

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.

1982 - The U.S. Justice Department withdrew an antitrust suit against IBM.

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

1992 - U.S. President George H.W. 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.

January 9, 2013

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 attacked 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.

2006 - Matthew Broderick and Nathan Lane received stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in a dual ceremony.

January 10, 2013

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)

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.

1981 - In El Salvador, Marxist insurgents launched a "final offensive".

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.

2007 - The iTunes music Store reached 1.3 million feature length films sold and 50 million television episodes sold.

January 11, 2013

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.

January 13, 2013

1128 - Pope Honorius II granted a papal sanction to the military order known as the Knights Templar. He declared it to be an army of God.

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.

January 14, 2013

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.

January 15, 2013

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

1624 - Many riots occurred in Mexico when it was announced that all churches were to be closed.

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.

1913 - The first telephone line between Berlin and New York was inaugurated.

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.

1986 - President Reagan signed legislation making Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday a national holiday to be celebrated on the third Monday of January.

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."

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

January 16, 2013

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.

January 17, 2013

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.

January 18, 2013

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.

2012 - Wikipedia began a 24-hour "blackout" in protest against proposed anti-piracy legislation (S. 968 and H.R. 3261) known as the Protect Intellectual Property Act (PIPA) in the Senate and the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the House. Many websites, including Reddit, Google, Facebook, Amazon and others, contended would make it challenging if not impossible for them to operate.

January 19, 2013

1419 - Rouen surrendered to Henry V, completing his conquest of Normandy.

1764 - John Wilkes was expelled from the British House of Commons for seditious libel.

1793 - King Louis XVI was tried by the French Convention, found guilty of treason and sentenced to the guillotine.

1825 - Ezra Daggett and Thomas Kensett of New York City patented a canning process to preserve salmon, oysters and lobsters.

1861 - Georgia seceded from the Union.

1883 - Thomas Edison's first village electric lighting system using overhead wires began operation in Roselle, NJ.

1907 - The first film reviews appeared in "Variety" magazine.

1915 - George Claude, of Paris, France, patented the neon discharge tube for use in advertising signs.

1915 - More than 20 people were killed when German zeppelins bombed England for the first time. The bombs were dropped on Great Yarmouth and King's Lynn.

1937 - Howard Hughes set a transcontinental air record. He flew from Los Angeles to New York City in 7 hours, 28 minutes and 25 seconds.

1942 - The Japanese invaded Burma (later Myanmar).

1944 - The U.S. federal government relinquished control of the nation's railroads after the settlement of a wage dispute.

1949 - The salary of the President of the United States was increased from $75,000 to $100,000 with an additional $50,000 expense allowance for each year in office.

1952 - The National Football League (NFL) bought the franchise of the New York Yankees from Ted Collins. The franchise was then awarded to a group in Dallas on January 24.

1953 - Sixty-eight percent of all TV sets in the U.S. were tuned to CBS-TV, as Lucy Ricardo, of "I Love Lucy," gave birth to a baby boy.

1955 - U.S. President Eisenhower allowed a filmed news conference to be used on television (and in movie newsreels) for the first time.

1957 - Philadelphia comedian, Ernie Kovacs, did a half-hour TV show without saying a single word of dialogue.

1966 - Indira Gandhi was elected prime minister of India.

1969 - In protest against the Russian invasion of 1968, Czech student Jan Palach set himself on fire in Prague's Wenceslas Square.

1971 - At the Charles Manson murder trial, the Beatles' "Helter Skelter" was played. At the scene of one of his gruesome murders, the words "helter skelter" were written on a mirror.

1971 - "No, No Nanette" opened at the 46th Street Theatre in New York City.

1977 - U.S. President Ford pardoned Iva Toguri D'Aquino (the "Tokyo Rose").

1979 - Former U.S. Attorney General John N. Mitchell was released on parole after serving 19 months at a federal prison in Alabama.

1981 - The U.S. and Iran signed an agreement paving the way for the release of 52 Americans held hostage for more than 14 months and for arrangements to unfreeze Iranian assets and to resolve all claims against Iran.

1983 - China announced that it was bannning 1983 purchases of cotton, soybeans and chemical fibers from the United States.

1993 - IBM announced a loss of $4.97 billion for 1992. It was the largest single-year loss in U.S. corporate history.

1995 - Russian forces overwhelmed the resistance forces in Chechnya.

1996 - U.S. first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton was subpoenaed to appear before a federal grand jury. The investigation was concerning the discovery of billing records related to the Whitewater real estate investment venture.

1997 - Yasser Arafat returned to Hebron for the first time in more than 30 years. He joined 60,000 Palestinians in celebration over the handover of the last West Bank city in Israeli control.

2000 - In New York's Time Square, the first WWF restaurant opened.

2001 - Texas officials demoted a warden and suspended three other prison workers in the wake of the escape of the "Texas 7."

January 20, 2013

1265 - The first English parliament met in Westminster Hall.

1801 - John Marshall was appointed chief justice of the United States.

1839 - Chile defeated a confederation of Peru and Bolivia in the Battle of Yungay.

1841 - The island of Hong Kong was ceded to Great Britain. It returned to Chinese control in July 1997.

1885 - The roller coaster was patented by L.A. Thompson.

1886 - The Mersey Railway Tunnel was officially opened by the Prince of Wales.

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

1891 - James Hogg took office as the first native-born governor of Texas.

1892 - The first official basketball game was played by students at the Springfield, MA, YMCA Training School.

1929 - The movie "In Old Arizona" was released. The film was the first full-length talking film to be filmed outdoors.

1937 - Franklin Delano Roosevelt became the first U.S. President to be inaugurated on January 20th. The 20th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution officially set the date for the swearing in of the President and Vice President.

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

1944 - The British RAF dropped 2,300 tons of bombs on Berlin.

1952 - In Juarez, Mexico, Patricia McCormick debuted as the first professional woman bullfighter from the United States.

1953 - "Studio One" became the first television show to be transmitted from the United States to Canada.

1954 - The National Negro Network was formed on this date. Forty radio stations were charter members of the network.

1961 - Marilyn Monroe and Arthur Miller were divorced. They were married on June 29, 1956.

1972 - The number of unemployed in Britain exceeded 1 million.

1981 - Iran released 52 Americans that had been held hostage for 444 days. The hostages were flown to Algeria and then to a U.S. base in Wiesbaden, West Germany. The release occurred minutes after the U.S. presidency had passed from Jimmy Carter to Ronald Reagan.

1985 - The most-watched Super Bowl game in history was seen by an estimated 115.9 million people. The San Francisco 49ers defeated the Miami Dolphins, 38-16. Super Bowl XIX marked the first time that TV commercials sold for a million dollars a minute.

1986 - The U.S. observed the first federal holiday in honor of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.

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

1986 - New footage of the 1931 "Frankenstein" was found. The footage was originally deleted because it was considered to be too shocking.

1987 - Anglican Church envoy Terry Waite was kidnapped in Beirut, Lebanon. He was there attempting to negotiate the release of Western hostages. He was not freed until November 1991.

1994 - Shannon Faulkner became the first woman to attend classes at The Citadel in South Carolina. Faulkner joined the cadet corps in August 1995 under court order but soon dropped out.

1996 - Yasser Arafat was elected president of the Palestinian Authority and his supporters won two thirds of the 80 seats in the Legislative Council.

1997 - Bill Clinton was inaugurated for his second term as president of the United States.

1998 - American researchers announced that they had cloned calves that may produce medicinal milk.

1998 - In Chile, a judge agreed to hear a lawsuit that accused Chile's former dictator Augusto Pinochet with genocide.

1999 - The China News Service announced that the Chinese government was tightening restrictions on internet use. The rules were aimed at 'Internet Bars.'

2000 - Greece and Turkey signed five accords aimed to build confidence between the two nations.

January 21, 2013

1789 - W.H. Brown's "Power of Sympathy" was published. It was the first American novel to be published. The novel is also known as the "Triumph of Nature Founded in Truth".

1793 - During the French Revolution, King Louis XVI was executed on the guillotine. He had been condemned for treason.

1812 - The Y-bridge in Zanesville, OH, was approved for construction.

1846 - The first issue of the "Daily News," edited by Charles Dickens, was published.

1853 - Dr. Russell L. Hawes patented the envelope folding machine.

1861 - The future president of the Confederacy, Jefferson Davis of Mississippi, resigned from the U.S. Senate. Four other Southerners also resigned.

1865 - An oil well was drilled by torpedoes for the first time.

1900 - Canadian troops set sail to fight in South Africa. The Boers had attacked Ladysmith on January 8, 1900.

1908 - The Sullivan Ordinance was passed in New York City making smoking by women illegal. The measure was vetoed by Mayor George B. McClellan Jr.

1911 - The first Monte Carlo car rally was held. Seven days later it was won by Henri Rougier.

1915 - The first Kiwanis club was formed in Detroit, MI.

1924 - Soviet leader Vladimir Llyich Lenin died. Joseph Stalin began a purge of his rivals for the leadership of the Soviet Union.

1927 - The first opera broadcast over a national radio network was presented in Chicago, IL. The opera was "Faust".

1941 - The British communist newspaper, the "Daily Worker," was banned due to wartime restrictions.

1946 - "The Fat Man" debuted on ABC radio.

1954 - The Nautilus was launched in Groton, CT. It was the first atomic-powered submarine. U.S. First Lady Mamie Eisenhower broke the traditional bottle of champagne across the bow.

1954 - The gas turbine automobile was introduced in New York City.

1970 - The Boeing 747 made its first commercial flight from New York to London for Pan American.

1970 - ABC-TV presented "The Johnny Cash Show" in prime time.

1976 - The French Concorde SST aircraft began regular commercial service for Air France and British Airways.

1977 - U.S. President Carter pardoned almost all Vietnam War draft evaders.

1980 - Gold was valued at $850 an ounce.

1986 - Former major-league player, Randy Bass, became the highest-paid baseball player in Japanese history. Bass signed a three-year contract for $3.25 million. He played for the Hanshin Tigers.

1994 - A jury in Manassas, VA, acquitted Lorena Bobbitt by reason of temporary insanity of maliciously wounding (severing his penis) her husband John. She accused him of sexually assaulting her.

1997 - Newt Gingrich was fined as the U.S. House of Representatvies voted for first time in history to discipline its leader for ethical misconduct.

1998 - A former White House intern said on tape that she had an affair with U.S. President Clinton.

1999 - The U.S. Coast Guard intercepted a ship headed for Houston, TX, that had over 9,500 pounds of cocaine aboard. It was one of the largest drug busts in U.S. history.

2002 - In Goma, Congo, about fifty people were killed when lava flow ignited a gas station. The people killed were trying to steal fuel from elevated tanks. The eruption of Mount Nyiragongo began on January 17, 2002.

2002 - In London, a 17th century book by Capt. John Smith, founder of the English settlement at Jamestown, was sold at auction for $48,800. "The General History of Virginia, New England and the Summer Isles" was published in 1632.

2003 - It was announced by the U.S. Census Bureau that estimates showed that the Hispanic population had passed the black population for the first time.

January 22, 2013

1666 - Shah Jahan, a descendant of Genghis Khan and Timur, died at the age of 74. He was the Mongul emperor of India that built the Taj Mahal as a mausoleum for his wife Mumtaz-i-Mahal.

1771 - The Falkland Islands were ceded to Britain by Spain.

1824 - The Asante army crushed British troops in the Gold Coast.

1879 - James Shields began a term as a U.S. Senator from Missouri. He had previously served Illinois and Minnesota. He was the first Senator to serve three states.

1879 - British troops were massacred by the Zulus at Isandhlwana.

1889 - The Columbia Phonograph Company was formed in Washington, DC.

1895 - The National Association of Manufacturers was organized in Cincinnati, OH.

1900 - Off of South Africa, the British released the German steamer Herzog, which had been seized on January 6.

1901 - Queen Victoria of England died after reigning for nearly 64 years. Edward VII, her son, succeeded her.

1905 - Insurgent workers were fired on in St Petersburg, Russia, resulting in "Bloody Sunday." 500 people were killed.

1917 - U.S. President Wilson pleaded for an end to war in Europe, calling for "peace without victory." America entered the war the following April.

1924 - Ramsay MacDonald became Britain's first Labour Prime Minister.

1936 - In Paris, Premier Pierre Laval resigned over diplomatic failure in the Ethiopian crisis.

1938 - "Our Town," by Thornton Wilder, was performed publicly for the first time, in Princeton, NJ.

1941 - Britain captured Tobruk from German forces.

1944 - Allied forces began landing at Anzio, Italy, during World War II.

1947 - KTLA, Channel 5, in Hollywood, CA, began operation as the first commercial television station west of the Mississippi River.

1950 - Alger Hiss, a former adviser to U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt, was convicted of perjury for denying contacts with a Soviet agent. He was sentenced to five years in prison.

1951 - Fidel Castro was ejected from a Winter League baseball game after hitting a batter. He later gave up baseball for politics.

1953 - The Arthur Miller drama "The Crucible" opened on Broadway.

1956 - Raymond Burr starred as Captain Lee Quince in the "Fort Laramie" debut on CBS radio.

1957 - Suspected "Mad Bomber" was arrested in Waterbury, CT. George P. Metesky was accused of planting more than 30 explosive devices in the New York City area.

1957 - The Israeli army withdrew from the Sinai. They had invaded Egypt on October 29, 1956.

1959 - British world racing champion Mike Hawthorn was killed while driving on the Guildford bypass.

1961 - Wilma Rudolph, set a world indoor record in the women’s 60-yard dash. She ran the race in 6.9 seconds.

1962 - Cuba's membership in the Organization of American States (OAS) was suspended.

1964 - Kenneth Kaunda was sworn in as the first Prime Minister of Northern Rhodesia.

1968 - "Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In", debuted on NBC TV.

1970 - The first regularly scheduled commercial flight of the Boeing 747 began in New York City and ended in London about 6 1/2 hours later.

1972 - The United Kingdom, the Irish Republic, and Denmark joined the EEC.

1973 - Joe Frazier lost the first fight of his professional career to George Foreman. He been the undefeated heavyweight world champion since February 16, 1970 when he knocked out Jimmy Ellis.

1973 - The U.S. Supreme Court struck down state laws that had been restricting abortions during the first six months of pregnancy. The case (Roe vs. Wade) legalized abortion.

1983 - Bjorn Borg retired from tennis. He had set a record by winning 5 consecutive Wimbledon championships.

1984 - Apple introduced the Macintosh during the third quarter of Super Bowl XVIII.

1987 - Phil Donahue became the first talk show host to tape a show from inside the Soviet Union. The shows were shown later in the year.

1992 - Rebel soldiers seized the national radio station in Kinshasa, Zaire's capital, and broadcast a demand for the government's resignation.

1995 - Two Palestinian suicide bombers from the Gaza Strip detonated powerful explosives at a military transit point in central Israel, killing 19 Israelis.

1997 - The U.S. Senate confirmed Madeleine Albright as the first female secretary of state.

1998 - Theodore Kaczynski pled guilty to federal charges for his role as the Unabomber. He agreed to life in prison without parole.

2000 - Elian Gonzalez's grandmothers met privately with U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno as they appealed for help in removing the boy from his Florida relatives and reuniting him with his father in Cuba.

2001 - Former National Football League (NFL) player Rae Carruth was sentenced to a minimum 18 years and 11 months in prison for his role in the 1999 shooting death of his pregnant girlfriend, Cherica Adams. Adams died a month later from her wounds. The baby survived and lives with the victim's mother.

2001 - Acting on a tip, authorities captured four of the "Texas 7" in Woodland Park, CO, at a convenience store. A fifth convict killed himself inside a motor home.

2002 - In Calcutta, India, Heavily armed gunmen attacked the U.S. government cultural center. Five police officers were killed and twenty others, including one pedestrian and one private security guard, were wounded.

2002 - Lawyers suing Enron Corp. asked a court to prevent further shredding of documents due to the pending federal investigation.

2002 - Amazon.com announced that it had posted its first net profit in the fourth quarter (quarter ending December 31, 2001).

2002 - AOL Time Warner filed suit against Microsoft in federal court seeking damages for harm done to AOL's Netscape Internet Browser when Microsoft began giving away its competing browser.

2002 - Marc Chagall's work "Study for 'Over Vitebsk" was found at a postal installation in Topeka, KS. The 8x10 oil painting is valued at about $1 million. The work was stolen a year before form the Jewish Museum in New York City.

2002 - Kmart Corp. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy making it the largest retailer in history to seek legal protection from its creditors.

2003 - In New York, the "Leonardo da Vinci, Master Draftsmen" exhibit opened at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

2003 - It was reported that scientists in China had found fossilized remains of a dinosaur with four feathered wings.

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