On This Day

December 29, 2008

On This Day Over The Years

1170 Thomas a Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, was murdered in his own cathedral by four knights, believing they were acting on Henry II’s orders.

1675 Parliament ordered the closing of all coffee houses, believing they were centres from which malicious rumours about the government originated.

1687 Sir William Petty’s Hibernae Delineatio was published, the first effective map of Ireland.

1710 Smithwick’s Brewery was founded about this time.

1736 In this year, the Dublin Daily Advertiser began publication, the first daily newspaper in Ireland.

The Belfast Newsletter began a year later and is Ireland’s oldest surviving newspaper.

1860 HMS Warrior, Britain’s first seagoing iron-clad warship, was launched.

1890 The massacre at Wounded Knee, the last major battle between Native American Indians and US troops, took place.

1911 Sun Yat-sen became the first president of a republican China, following the Revolution.

1930 Radio Luxembourg began broadcasting.

1972 Life Magazine ended publication after 36 years as the leading weekly pictorial magazine.

December 29, 2008

Births

1721 Marquise de Pompadour, mistress of King Louis XV of France

1800 Charles Goodyear, US inventor

1809 William Gladstone, English statesman

1876 Pablo Casals, Spanish cellist

1938 Jon Voight, US film actor

1946 Marianne Faithfull, English singer and actress

Deaths

1689 Thomas Sydenham, English physician

1825 Jacques Louis David, French painter

1894 Christina Georgina Rossetti, English poet

1926 Rainer Maria Rilke, German poet

1952 James Fletcher Henderson, US jazz pianist and composer

1986 Harold Macmillan, British politician

Events

1170 St Thomas à Becket, the 40th archbishop of Canterbury, was murdered in his own cathedral by four knights acting on Henry II's orders.

1860 HMS Warrior, Britain's first seagoing iron-clad warship, was launched.

1890 The massacre at Wounded Knee, the last major battle between Native American Indians and US troops, took place.

1895 The Jameson Raid from Mafikeng into Transvaal, which attempted to overthrow Kruger's Boer government, started.

1911 Sun Yat-sen became the first president of a republican China, following the Revolution.

1989 Following Hong Kong's decision to forcibly repatriate some Vietnamese refugees, thousands of Vietnamese 'boat people' battled with riot police.

1996 The Guatemalan government and leaders of the leftist Guatemalan National Revolutionary Union signed a peace accord in Guatemala City, ending a war that lasted 36 years.

1997 Hong Kong began killing 1.25 million chickens-the entire population-for fear of a pandemic of 'bird flu'.

December 30, 2008

On This Day Over The Years

1604 The Irish College was founded in Paris by John Lee.

1850 Rev William Blackley, social reformer, born in Dundalk, Co Louth.

Based in England, he was among the first to call for compulsory national insurance and the provision of old age pensions, but he died in 1902, before they were generally adopted.

1865 Rudyard Kipling, English author, was born in India where some of his best novels and short stories are set.

1879 The first performances of Gilbert & Sullivan's The Pirates Of Penzance took place in the Bijou Theatre, Paignton, and in New York.

1887 A petition to Queen Victoria with over one million names of women appealing for public houses to be closed on Sundays was handed to the British Home Secretary.

1894 Amelia Bloomer, American social reformer, died.

1916 Grigoriy Rasputin, Siberian mystic who was a favourite of Russian rulers Nicholas and Alexandra, was killed - after a lot of trying - by a group of conservatives led by Prince Yusupov.

1922 Russia officially became the USSR, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.

1947 King Michael of Romania abdicated in favour of a Communist Republic.

1979 Richard Rodgers, one of the world's best-known composers of musicals, died in New York, aged 77.

With Oscar Hammerstein II, he wrote Carousel, South Pacific, The King And I and The Sound Of music.

1985 Arab terrorists killed 12 people in attacks on El-Al check-in desks at Rome and Vienna airports.

1988 Colonel Oliver North subpoenaed President Reagan and Vice President Bush to testify at the Irangate hearings.

December 31, 2008

1687 - The first Huguenots set sail from France for the Cape of Good Hope, where they would later create the South African wine industry with the vines they took with them on the voyage.

1695 - The window tax was imposed in Britain, which resulted in many windows being bricked up.

1711 - The Duke of Marlborough was dismissed as commander-in-chief.

1775 - The British repulsed an attack by Continental Army generals Richard Montgomery and Benedict Arnold at Quebec. Montgomery was killed in the battle.

1841 - The State of Alabama enacted the first dental legislation in the U.S.

1857 - Britain's Queen Victoria decided to make Ottawa the capital of Canada.

1862 - U.S. President Lincoln signed an act admitting West Virginia to the Union.

1877 - President Rutherford B. Hayes became the first U.S. President to celebrate his silver (25th) wedding anniversary in the White House.

1879 - Thomas Edison gave his first public demonstration of incandescent lighting to an audience in Menlo Park, NJ.

1891 - New York's new Immigration Depot was opened at Ellis Island, to provide improved facilities for the massive numbers of arrivals.

1897 - Brooklyn, NY, spent its last day as a separate entity before becoming part of New York City.

1923 - In London, the BBC first broadcast the chimes of Big Ben.

1929 - Guy Lombardo and his Royal Canadians played "Auld Lang Syne" as a New Year's Eve song for the first time.

1946 - U.S. President Truman officially proclaimed the end of hostilities in World War II.

1947 - Roy Rogers and Dale Evans were married.

1951 - The "Wild Bill Hickok" series came to radio following its success on television.

1953 - Willie Shoemaker broke his own record as he won his 485th race of the year.

1955 - General Motors became the first U.S. corporation to earn more than one billion dollars in a single year.

1960 - The farthing coin, which had been in use in Great Britain since the 13th century, ceased to be legal tender.

1961 - In the U.S., the Marshall Plan expired after distributing more than $12 billion in foreign aid.

1967 - The Green Bay Packers won the National Football League championship game by defeating the Dallas Cowboys 21-17. The game is known as the Ice Bowl since it was played in a wind chill of 40 degrees below zero. (NFL)

1974 - Private U.S. citizens were allowed to buy and own gold for the first time in more than 40 years.

1978 - Taiwanese diplomats struck their colors for the final time from the embassy flagpole in Washington, DC. The event marked the end of diplomatic relations with the U.S.

1979 - At year end oil prices were 88% higher than at the start of 1979.

1986 - A fire at the Dupont Plaza Hotel in San Juan, Puerto Rico, killed 97 and injured 140 people. Three hotel workers later plead guilty to charges in connection with the fire.

1990 - Titleholder Gary Kasparov of the U.S.S.R. won the world chess championship match against his countryman Anatoly Karpov.

1996 - NCR Corp. became an independent company.

1997 - Michael Kennedy, 39-year-old son of the late U.S. Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, was killed in a skiing accident on Aspen Mountain in Colorado.

1999 - Russian President Boris Yeltsin resigned. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin was designated acting president.

1999 - Five hijackers left the airport where they had been holding 150 hostages on an Indian Airlines plane. They left with two Islamic clerics that they had demanded be freed from an Indian prison. The plane had been hijacked during a flight from Katmandu, Nepal to New Dehli on December 24.

1999 - Sarah Knauss died at the age of 119 years. She was the world's oldest person. She was born September 24, 1880.

January 1, 2009

0404 - The last gladiator competition was held in Rome.

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

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

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

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

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

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

1804 - Haiti gained its independence.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

1913 - The post office began parcel post deliveries.

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

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

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

1934 - Alcatraz Island officially became a Federal Prison.

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

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

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

1939 - The Hewlett-Packard partnership was formed.

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

1945 - France was admitted to the United Nations.

1956 - Sudan gained its independence.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

1981 - Greece joined the European Community.

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

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

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

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

1992 - The ESPN Radio Network was officially launched.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

January 1, 2009

On this Day - 1995 - Fred West, the Gloucestershire builder charged with 12 murders, was found hanged in his prison cell

On this Day - 1973 - The United Kingdom became a fully-fledged member of the European Economic Community

On this Day - 2000 - Billions of people around the world welcomed in the New Millennium with some of the most spectacular celebrations ever seen

January 1, 2009

I was born - 1968.................41 years ago

January 1, 2009

I was born

You were born this day :huh: I am impressed as to the speed you have picked up this internetty thing ;)

January 2, 2009

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

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

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

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

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

1879 - Thomas Edison began construction on his first generator.

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

1893 - The first commemorative postage stamps were issued.

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

1900 - The Chicago Canal opened.

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

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

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

1921 - DeYoung Museum in Golden Gate Park opened.

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

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

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

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

1955 - Panamanian President Jose Antonio Remon was assassinated.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

January 3, 2009

1585 LD Perrot instructed not to proceed with plans to convert St Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin into a courthouse.

1777 George Washington defeated the British at the Battle of Princeton.

1870 Work on New York's Brooklyn Bridge began.

1883 Clement Attlee, British Labour Party leader and Prime Minister from 1945-51, was born.

1892 Author JRR Tolkein, creator of The Lord Of The Rings and The Hobbit, born in South Africa.

He died in Bournemouth, England, in 1973.

1905 Padraic Fallon, poet and playwright, born in Athenry, Co.

Galway.

1911 The Siege of Sidney Street took place when anarchists were besieged by police in a house in London's East End.

1924 English explorer Howard Carter discovered the sarcophagus of Tutankhamun in Egypt's Valley of Kings.

1946 Irish-born Nazi propagandist William Joyce - Lord Haw-Haw - was hanged for treason.

1958 Sir Edmund Hillary, with a New Zealand party, reached the South Pole, the first man to do so overland since Captain Scott.

1959 Alaska became the 49th state of America.

1961 The millionth Morris Minor, the highly successful British car designed by Sir Alec Issigonis, came off the assembly line at Oxford.

Birthdays 2000: Victor Borge, pianist/comedian, 91; Joan Chen, actress, 40; Mel Gibson, actor, 44; Gavin Hastings, rugby player, 38; John Paul Jones, rock musician (Led Zeppelin), 54; Sir George Martin, record producer, 74; Victoria Principal, actress, 55.

January 4, 2009

On this Day - 1958 - Sir Edmund Hillary arrived at the South Pole - the first explorer to do so since Captain Scott in 1912

On this Day - 2000 - The first British women to walk across Antarctica to the South Pole arrive safely, more than two months after starting their record-breaking journey.

On this Day - 1967 - Donald Campbell died while attempting to break his own water speed record in his jet-powered boat, Bluebird K7

On this Day - 1986 - Phil Lynott, the former frontman of rock group Thin Lizzy, died 11 days after collapsing from a drink and drug binge

January 5, 2009

1066 Edward the Confessor, England's most pious King, died.

1787 John Burke, genealogist and founder of Burke's Peerage, was born in Tipperary, Ireland.

1797 The world's first top hat was worn.

James Hetherington was arrested and fined £50 for wearing a tall, shiny structure calculated to frighten people.

1884 Gilbert and Sullivan's Princess Ida was premiered at the Savoy Theatre.

1896 German physicist Wilhelm Roentgen gave the first demonstration of X-rays.

1919 The Nazi Party was founded by Anton Drexler in Munich.

1922 Death of Sir Earnest Shackleton in the South Atlantic.

1941 Amy Johnson, the first woman to fly solo from England to Australia in 1930, drowned in a mysterious accident over the Thames estuary.

1953 27 die when BEA Viking crashes at Belfast airport.

1973 Gerald Boland, a founder member of Fianna Fáil and minister in various FF governments, dies.

1976 Death of John A Costello, barrister and Taoiseach of two coalition governments.

1981 The hunt for the Yorkshire Ripper, who killed 13 women over four years, ended when Peter Sutcliffe was charged with murder.

January 6, 2009

Births

1367 King Richard II of England

1412 St Joan of Arc, French martyr

1833 Gustave Doré, French artist and illustrator

1878 Carl Sandburg, US poet

1913 Loretta Young, US film actress

1957 Rowan Atkinson, English actor and comedian

1959 Kapil Dev, Indian cricketer

Deaths

1840 Fanny Burney, English novelist and diarist

1884 Gregor Mendel, Austrian monk and biologist

1919 Theodore Roosevelt, 26th US president

1981 Archibald Joseph Cronin, Scottish novelist

1993 Rudolf Nureyev, Russian dancer

1993 Dizzy Gillespie, US jazz trumpeter

1994 Tip O'Neill, US Democratic Party politician

1995 Joe Slovo, South African lawyer and politician

Events

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

1205 Philip of Swabia was crowned as King of the Romans (-1208).

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.

1838 The first public demonstration of the electric telegraph was given by its inventor, Samuel Morse.

1912 In USA, New Mexico was admitted to the union as the 47th state.

1928 The River Thames flooded, drowning four people, and severely damaging paintings stored in the Tate Gallery's basement.

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

1967 US and South Vietnamese forces launched a major offensive in Mekong Delta.

1988 La Coupole, the Parisian brasserie made famous by generations of notable artists and writers who frequented it, was sold for £6 million to be converted into an office block.

1996 Three winners shared the record National Lottery jackpot of £42 million.

January 7, 2009

Births

1768 Joseph Bonaparte, King of Naples

1867 Carl Laemmle, US film producer, founder of Universal Pictures

1873 Adolph Zukor, US film magnate

1873 Charles Péguy, French poet and socialist

1899 Francis Poulenc, French composer

1925 Gerald Durrell, British author and naturalist

Deaths

1536 Catherine of Aragon, first wife of Henry VIII of England

1619 Nicholas Hilliard, English miniaturist painter

1932 André Maginot, French politician

1988 Trevor Howard, British actor

1989 Michinomiya Hirohito, Emperor of Japan

Events

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

1610 Italian astronomer Galileo discovered Jupiter's four satellites, naming them Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto.

1785 The first aerial crossing of the English Channel was made by Jean Pierre Blanchard and Dr John Jeffries, in a hot-air balloon.

1927 The London-New York telephone service began operating, a three-minute call costing £15.

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

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

1990 The Leaning Tower of Pisa was closed to the public, as its accelerated rate of 'leaning' raised fears for the safety of its many visitors.

January 8, 2009

Events

1705 Georg Friedrich Handel's opera Almira was produced in Hamburg.

1815 The Americans, under Andrew Jackson, defeated the British at the Battle of New Orleans.

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

1889 US inventor Herman Hollerith patented his tabulator, the first device for data processing; his firm would later become one of IBM's founding companies.

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

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

1959 French general Charles de Gaulle became the first president of the Fifth Republic.

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

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

Births

1824 Wilkie Collins, English novelist

1935 Elvis Presley, US rock singer

1937 Shirley Bassey, Welsh-born singer

1942 Stephen Hawking, English physicist and mathematician

1947 David Bowie, English rock singer and actor

1961 Calvin Smith, US athlete

Deaths

1642 Galileo Galilei, Italian astronomer

1825 Eli Whitney, US inventor of the cotton gin

1895 Paul Verlaine, French poet

1976 Zhou Enlai, Chinese leader

1988 Gregori Maximilianovich Malenkov, Soviet leader

1990 Terry-Thomas, English film comedy actor

1996 François Mitterrand, French statesman

January 8, 2009

on this day (along time ago!!!) my mum was born.

1815 – American forces led by General Andrew Jackson defeated the British Army at the Battle of New Orleans near New Orleans, two weeks after the United States and United Kingdom signed the Treaty of Ghent to end the War of 1812.

1889 – Statistician Herman Hollerith received a patent for his electric tabulating machine.

1979 – The oil tanker Betelgeuse exploded at the offshore jetty of the Whiddy Island Oil Terminal off Bantry Bay, Ireland, killing about 50 people.

1989 – British Midland Flight 92 crashed onto the embankment of the M1 motorway near Kegworth, Leicestershire, UK, killing 47 people and injuring 79 others.

2004 – RMS Queen Mary 2 (pictured), at the time the longest, widest and tallest passenger ship ever built, was christened by her namesake's granddaughter, Queen Elizabeth II.

copy/past love it!!!!!

January 9, 2009

On This Day Over The Years

1788: Connecticut became the fifth state to ratify the U.

S.

Constitution.

1799: Income Tax introduced in UK 1908: London: The Road Car Company dismisses 800 striking bus drivers.

1924: Germany: The leader of the ‘Rhineland Republic’, Herr Heinz, is assassinated at Speyer.

1937: Rome: The government bans inter-racial marriages in the Italian colonies in Africa.

1946: London: Churchill leaves fro a holiday in Florida saying: ‘I’ve earned it’.

1955: London: 400 Jamaicans arrive to find work.

1965: "Beatles' '65" album goes #1 & stays #1 for 9 weeks 1968: The Surveyor 7 space probe made a soft landing on the moon.

It was the last of America's unmanned explorations of the lunar surface.

1972: Reclusive billionaire Howard Hughes, speaking by telephone from the Bahamas to reporters in Hollywood, said a purported biography of him by Clifford Irving was a fake.

1972: The White House released a memorandum prepared for President Reagan in January 1986 that showed a definite link between U.

S.

arms sales to Iran and the release of American hostages in Lebanon.

2001: Linda Chavez withdrew her bid to be secretary of labor because of controversy over an illegal immigrant who once lived with her.

January 9, 2009

Events

1522 Adrian of Utrecht, Regent of Spain, is elected Pope Adrian VI (-Sept 1523). He is the last non-Italian pope until John Paul II from Poland, 1978.

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.

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

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 harbour.

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

1991 US 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.

Births

1898 Gracie Fields, English singer

1904 George Balanchine, US choreographer

1908 Simone de Beauvoir, French novelist and critic

1913 Richard Nixon, 37th US president

1914 Gypsy Rose Lee, US striptease artist and actress

1941 Joan Baez, US singer

Deaths

1848 Caroline Lucretia Herschel, English astronomer

1873 Napoleon III, French emperor

1923 Katherine Mansfield, New Zealand writer

1949 Tommy Handley, English radio comedian

1984 Frederick Gibberd, British architect

1985 Robert Mayer, British philanthropist

1995 Peter Cook, English satirist and entertainer

1995 Prince Souphanouvong, Laotian politician

January 10, 2009

1645 Archbishop of Canterbury William Laud was beheaded on Tower Hill for treason.

1840 Sir Rowland Hill introduced the Penny Post — 112,000 letters were posted in London on the first day.

1863 The London Underground railway was opened by Gladstone.

The Metropolitan Railway went from Paddington to Farringdon Street, stopping at seven stations.

1880 Grock the circus clown was born as Adrien Wettach in Switzerland.

1890 Cleopatra's tomb was discovered.

1901 The first oil strike in Texas.

1920 The Treaty of Versailles was ratified, officially ending World War I with Germany.

The League of Nations held its first meeting in Geneva.

1926 Fritz Lang's film Metropolis was first shown, in Berlin.

1929 The cartoon character TinTin appeared for the first time.

1935 The so-called King and Queen of Hollywood, Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford, were divorced.

1946 The first meeting of the United Nations General Assembly took place in London.

1949 Vinyl records were launched by RCA (45 rpm) and Columbia (33·3 rpm).

1971 Coco Chanel, French fashion designer and one of the most influential couturiers of the 20th century, died aged 87.

1992 An IRA bomb exploded in Whitheall, London, UK, 300 metres from Downing Street; the IRA threatened further attacks on the mainland.

January 11, 2009

On This Day Over The Years

1569 The first state lottery was held in England — 40,000 lots at 10 shillings each were available from St Paul's Cathedral.

1857 Fred Archer, champion jockey who had 2,748 wins including five Derbys, was born.

He held the championship for 13 years but his personal life was a disaster.

His wife and son died, and he shot himself at the age of 29.

1922 Insulin was first used successfully in the treatment of diabetes.

1928 Thomas Hardy, English poet and novelist, died in his native Dorset aged 87.

1963 The first disco, called the Whisky-a-go-go, opened in Los Angeles.

1973 The Open University awarded its first degrees.

1972 Padraic Colum, Irish poet, died.

1974 The first surviving sextuplets were born in South Africa.

1989 The second Battle of Naseby was lost when judges refused to halt the M1-A1 link across a field where Cromwell was defeated by Royalists in 1645.

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.

January 11, 2009

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.