SPEEKERBOXX

 What Happened Today... January 1st

1660 - Samuel Pepys began his famous diary.

1764 - In France, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart played for the Royal Family at Versailles. At dinner, 8 year old Mozart was given the honour of standing behind the Queen.

1776 - George Washington unveiled the Grand Union Flag, the first national flag in America after King George III of England called on American forces to surrender.

1801 - The Act of Union between Great Britain and Ireland became effective, creating the United Kingdom.

1833 - The United Kingdom claimed sovereignty over the Falkland Islands.

1863 - President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation formally freeing all slaves in the Confederate States.

1877 - Queen Victoria was proclaimed Empress of India.

1901 - The Commonwealth of Australia was established with Edmund Barton as prime minister.

1925 - The capital city of Norway, known as Christiana or Kristiana since 1674, resumed its name of Oslo.

1942 - 26 nations signed the "Declaration of the United Nations," affirming opposition to Axis powers.

1945 - France was admitted to the United Nations.

1958 - The European Economic Community, known as the Common Market, came into being.

1959 - Fidel Castro seized power in Cuba after dictator Fulgencio Batista fled to the Dominican Republic.

1962 - The Beatles auditioned for Decca records, only to be rejected because the company felt "groups of guitars are on the way out."

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

1973 - Britain, Ireland and Denmark became members of the EEC.

1981 - Greece was admitted as the 10th member of the European Economic Community.

1993 - Czechoslovakia ceased to exist, splitting into separate Czech and Slovak republics.

What Happened Today... January 2nd

1492 - Spain recaptured the southern city of Granada from the Moors, consolidating the monarchy under Ferdinand of Aragon.

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

1905 - In the Russian-Japanese War, the Russians surrendered to the Japanese after the battle of Port Arthur.

1915 - In World War I, the Turks under Ahmet Pasha were heavily defeated by the Russians at the battle of Sarikamis.

1942 - In World War Two, the Japanese captured the Philippines capital of Manila and the nearby air base at Cavite.

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

1971 - A barrier collapsed at Ibrox Park football ground at the end of the Rangers vs. Celtic soccer match in Glasgow, Scotland, killing 66 people.

1994 - More than 70 people were killed and at least 670 were injured after two days of factional battles in the Afghan capital Kabul.

1995 - The most distant galaxy yet discovered was found by scientists using the Keck telescope in Hawaii. It was estimated to be 15 billion light years away.

What Happened Today... January 3rd

1777 - In the American Revolution, George Washington defeated the British under Lord Cornwallis at the Battle of Princeton.

1874 - Marshal Francisco Serrano became dictator of Spain.

1924 - Howard Carter, British egyptologist, found the sarcophagus of Tutankhamun in the Valley of the Kings near Luxor.

1926 - Theodoros Pangalos proclaimed himself dictator of Greece following a coup the previous June. He was deposed in August 1926.

1958 - Edmund Hillary reached the South Pole.

1977 - Apple Computer was founded.

1980 - Alfred Hitchcock was knighted.

1993 - Russian President Boris Yeltsin and United States President George Bush signed the Start-II Treaty, eliminating about two-thirds of the nations' nuclear stockpiles.

What Happened Today... January 4th

1717 - In the Seven Years War, England declared war on Spain and Naples.

1896 - Utah became the 45th state in the United States.

1932 - The British Indian government was granted emergency powers to deal with a campaign of nationalist civil disobedience. The National Congress party was declared illegal and Mahatma Gandhi was arrested.

1951 - In the Korean War, the North Koreans and Chinese communists captured the Southern capital of Seoul.

1954 - Young truck driver Elvis Presley recorded a ten-inch acetate demo at the Memphis Recording Service, an open-to-the-public business run by Sun Records owner Sam Phillips. The two songs Presley recorded were Casual Love Affair and I'll Never Stand in Your Way. It was Presley's second visit, and the first time he met Phillips, his future producer. The previous summer he had recorded another demo, My Happiness and That's When Your Heartaches Begin, only one copy of which now exists. According to reports, Presley recorded it for his mother. The two songs so impressed Phillips that he had Elvis record his first professional sides for Sun Records the following August.

1958 - Sputnik I, the world's first artificial satellite launched in October 1957 by the Soviet Union, fell to Earth.

1965 - CBS bought the Fender Guitar Company for $13 million.

1994 - Nine people were killed and at least 48 wounded as the Bosnian capital of Sarajevo shuddered under heavy shelling from its Serb besiegers.

What Happened Today... January 5th

1914 - Ford Motor Company announced there would be a new daily minimum wage of $5 to go along with the shorter, eight hour work day.

1919 - Spartacists in Berlin led by Rosa Luxembourg and Karl Liebknecht attempted to take over the government and seized a number of buildings.

1919 - Adolf Hitler joined The German Worker's Party and renamed it The Nazi Party.

1956 - Screen actress Grace Kelly announced to the press her marriage engagement to Monaco's Prince Ranier III.

1961 - "Mr. Ed", the show about a talking horse, debuted for the episode of a six-year run.

1964 - Pope Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagoras I met in Jerusalem, the first meeting of the leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century.

1968 - In Czechoslovakia, Alexander Dubcek succeeded Antonin Novotny as First Secretary of the Communist Party. His policy of democracy within a Communist framework led to the occupation of Czechoslovakia by the Soviet Union.

1993 - Oil poured onto the coast of northern Scotland's Shetland Islands after the 89,000-ton Liberian-registered Braer hit rocks in heavy seas. The tanker carried 84,500 tons of crude oil. A huge oil slick stretched 25 miles up the coast.

1996 - Yahya Ayyash, the "Engineer," the elusive mastermind behind a wave of Islamic suicide bombings against Israel, was killed in Gaza, apparently by a booby-trapped cellular telephone.

1997 - Russia withdrew the last of its Defense Ministry troops from Chechnya, marking a formal end to Moscow's ill-fated military campaign in the region.

What Happened Today... January 6th

1169 - England and France agreed to a peace when Louis VII and Henry II met at Montmirail.

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

1969 - President Charles de Gaulle imposed a total ban on French arms supplies to Israel.

1987 - After a 29-years, the Ford Thunderbird was presented with the Motor Trend Car of the Year Award once again, making it the first repeat winner of the award.

1990 - Poland's Communist Party leaders gave the green light to its dissolution and replacement by a non-Marxist party.

1992 - President Zviad Gamsakhurdia fled Georgia after a bloody two-week power struggle, leaving his parliament burning and in the hands of jubilant rebel gunmen.

What Happened Today... January 7th

1558 - French forces captured Calais from England.

1610 - Galileo discovered the 4 major moons of Jupiter -- Io, Europa, Gannymede and Callisto.

1958 - The Gibson Guitar Company patented the Flying V guitar, favourite instrument of many rock musicians.

1964 - Britain introduced internal self-government in the Bahamas.

1975 - OPEC agreed to raise the price of crude oil by 10 per cent.

1979 - Vietnamese forces, aided by Cambodian insurgents, captured Phnom Penh after a two-week invasion and overthrew the Khmer Rouge regime of Pol Pot.

What Happened Today... January 8th

1815 - The Americans defeated the British in the Battle of New Orleans.

1918 - United States President Woodrow Wilson presented his Fourteen Points to Congress, a peace plan aimed at a new world order after World War I.

1926 - Abdul Aziz ibn Saud became king of the Hejaz, which he announced would henceforth be called Saudi Arabia.

1959 - Charles de Gaulle became the first president of France's Fifth Republic. He took office for a second term on this day in 1966.

1966 - The Polish government imposed a foreign travel ban on the Catholic primate, Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski.

1979 - The French tanker Betelgeuse exploded at the Gulf Oil terminal at Bantry in Ireland, killing 50 people.

1982 - Spain agreed to end its blockade of Gibraltar in return for talks on the British colony's future.

1989 - 44 people were killed when a British Midland Boeing 737-400 airliner with 126 passengers and crew crashed on to the M1 motorway in central England.

1995 - Guns fell silent across Sri Lanka's northeast region for the first time in four years at the start of a two-week truce between the government and Tamil separatist rebels.

1996 - A Zairian cargo plane crashed into a crowded market in the center of the capital Kinshasa, killing 350 people.

What Happened Today... January 9th

1806 - British naval hero Lord Horatio Nelson was buried at St. Paul's Cathedral in London; he led the British fleet against the French at Trafalgar in October 1805 and was mortally wounded in the hour of victory.

1936 - The United States Army began using the semiautomatic rifle.

1940 - Television had a milestone, when today it was used for the first time, to present a sales meeting to convention delegates in New York City.

1951 - In New York City, the United Nations headquarters officially opened.

1962 - Japan and the United States signed an agreement for Japan to pay $290 million in settlement of its debt for postwar United States aid.

1972 - Fire destroyed the liner Queen Elizabeth as she lay in waters off Hong Kong.

1984 - The Jordanian parliament was reconvened for the first time in ten years.

1996 - International donors pledged a total of $1.37 billion in aid to the new Palestinian Authority.

1996 - Chechen rebels seized some 2,000 hostages in a southern Russian town and threatened to kill them if their demands were not met.

What Happened Today... January 10th

1863 - The world's first underground railway service, London's Metropolitan line between Paddington and Farringdon, was opened.

1912 - The first flying boat, designed by Glenn Curtiss, made its maiden flight at Hammondsport, New York.

1920 - The League of Nations came into being.

1922 - Arthur Griffith was elected president of the newly formed Irish Free State.

1934 - Marinus van der Lubbe was guillotined in Germany for allegedly burning down the Reichstag.

1943 - While World War II raged, President Franklin D. Roosevelt sailed from Miami, Florida to Trinidad, making him the first United States President to visit a foreign country during wartime.

1946 - The League of Nations was officially superseded by the United Nations when the first meeting of the General Assembly began in London.

1957 - Harold Macmillan was appointed British prime minister after the resignation of Sir Anthony Eden.

1994 - United States President Bill Clinton, visiting Kiev, announced a deal under which Ukraine would give up the world's third largest nuclear arsenal.

What Happened Today... January 11th

1943 - The United States and Britain signed treaties with China, renouncing their extra-territorial rights.

1962 - More than 3,000 people were killed in a landslide in Huascaran, Peru.

1964 - Surgeon General Luther Terry released a report saying cigarettes are a definite health hazard.

1976 - A three-man military junta seized power from President Guillermo Rodriguez Lara in Ecuador.

1981 - Three-man British team led by Sir Ranulph Fiennes completed the longest and fastest crossing of Antarctica, reaching Scott base after 75 days and 2,500 miles.

1990 - Some 200,000 people demanded a return of Lithuania's independence, ended by the Red Army in 1940, after visiting Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev warned that separatism could lead to tragedy.

1993 - Richard Branson won huge libel damages and an apology from British Airways over an alleged dirty tricks campaign against his Virgin Atlantic Airways.

1994 - The Irish government announced the end of a 20-year broadcasting ban on the IRA and its political arm, Sinn Fein.

1995 - A 9-year-old girl escaped from a plane crash when she was thrown clear of the jet as it plunged into a lake before it was due to land in the Colombian Caribbean resort of Cartagena. All 51 other passengers died.

What Happened Today... January 12th

1816 - France decreed that the Bonaparte family should be excluded from the country forever.

1879 - The Zulu War began between the British of the Cape Colony and the natives of Zululand.

1896 - H.L. Smith took the first x-ray photograph. The subject was a hand with a bullet in it.

1942 - The Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur was captured by the Japanese army.

1950 - The Soviet Union re-introduced the death penalty for treason, espionage and sabotage.

1971 - President Richard M. Nixon ordered development of the NASA space shuttle.

1977 - Anti-French demonstrations took place in Israel after Paris released Abu Daoud, responsible for leading the 1972 Munich massacre of Israeli athletes.

1987 - Europe was pounded with enough snow to snow everyone in. Record low temperatures were also set as a ‘Siberian Express’ moved across the continent.

1990 - Romania outlawed the Communist Party, the first East European state and Warsaw Pact member to do so.

1996 - Russian troops arrived in Bosnia at the start of the first joint operation with United States forces in a potential combat zone since World War II.

What Happened Today... January 13th

1842 - At the end of an attempted retreat from Kabul, about 9,000 British troops were massacred in the Khyber Pass.

1886 - The Gold Coast in Africa was separated into the two colonies of Lagos and the Gold Coast.

1930 - The comic strip "Mickey Mouse" debuted in American newspapers, with Floyd Gottfredson as its ghost writer.

1935 - In a plebiscite, the Saar region voted for incorporation into Germany.

1942 - Henry Ford patented the plastic automobile, which decreased the weight of a car by 30%.

1972 - In Ghana, a military coup by Colonel I.K. Acheampong deposed civilian prime minister K.A. Busia, who was in London for medical treatment.

1976 - Britain applied for credit of almost 1 billion pounds from the International Monetary Fund.

1989 - Computers across Britain were hit by the "Friday the 13th" virus.

1993 - Former East German leader Erich Honecker, under whom the Berlin Wall was built, left a Berlin prison to fly to Chile after a court freed him because he was dying.

What Happened Today... January 14th

1797 - In the Battle of Rivoli in Italy, the French defeated an Austrian attempt to relieve Mantua; 3,500 Austrian troops were killed.

1866 - Peru, dissatisfied with a treaty recognising Peruvian independence signed in 1865, declared war on Spain.

1907 - Hundreds died when an earthquake destroyed much of the Jamaican capital Kingston.

1914 - Henry Ford announced the latest advance in the assembly line production of automobiles, the continuous motion method. This new concept decreased assembly time of a car from 12½ hours to 93 minutes.

1943 - The Allies met in Casablanca to agree on a strategy for concluding World War II and to demand the unconditional surrender from the enemy.

1965 - The prime ministers of Northern Ireland and Ireland met for the first time in 43 years.

1990 - The Fox network's animated show "The Simpsons" premiered.

1995 - The British Army ended 25 years of daylight patrols in Belfast in a wind-down of a guerrilla conflict which engulfed Northern Ireland.

What Happened Today... January 15th

1535 - In England, Henry VIII became Supreme Head of the Church under the Act of Supremacy.

1863 - In the United States, "The Boston Morning Journal" became the first paper in the country published on wood pulp paper.

1906 - In Paris, France, Willie Hoppe won the billiard championship of the world, going on to become one of the best billiard players ever.

1925 - Leon Trostky wrote to the Central Committee resigning from his duties as president of the Revolutionary Military Council.

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

1998 - At age 43, Denzel Washington joined the select ranks of other great actors when, as guest of honor, he plunged his hands and feet into wet cement outside Mann's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood.

What Happened Today... January 16th

1756 - The Treaty of Westminster was signed between George II of England and his nephew Frederick of Prussia; it guaranteed the neutrality of Hanover in the Anglo-French wars.

1891 - Clement-Philibert-Leo Delibes, French composer, died; best remembered for his ballet "Coppelia" and his opera "Lakme."

1920 - Prohibition took effect in America, forbidding the sale or manufacture of alcohol.

1942 - A TWA transport carrying film actress Carole Lombard, her mother, and 20 other passengers, crashed near Las Vegas, Nevada. All aboard were killed.

1947 - Vincent Auriol was elected president of France, the first president of the Fourth Republic.

1957 - In Liverpool, England, The Cavern Club opened for business. At first the rock club was a hangout for common, people, but in the early 1960s, teenagers from the neighborhood popped in to jam. They turned out to be The Beatles.

1969 - Student Jan Palach set fire to himself in Wenceslas Square in Prague in protest at the Russian invasion of Czechoslovakia.

1973 - Today is National Nothing Day, set aside every year so people can sit around all day and hang out. Harold Pullman Coffin created the day with no celebration.

1979 - An earthquake measuring seven on the Richter scale struck Khorasan province in the Qaen area of Iran, killing hundreds.

1984 - At the 11th annual American Music Awards, Michael Jackson received eight awards, including favorite pop and soul male vocalist, pop and soul album winner for "Thriller", pop and soul video winner for "Beat It" and best pop song for "Billie Jean".

1985 - Hugh Hefner took the staples out of "Playboy" magazine, ending its 30-year tradition of stapling centerfold models in the bellybutton. The decision made the centerfold more difficult to remove it.

1991 - Allied forces launched a major air offensive against Iraq to begin the Persian Gulf War.

1994 - South Africa's Pan Africanist Congress suspended its armed struggle against the government of President F.W. de Klerk.

What Happened Today... January 17th

1562 - The edict of Saint Germain took effect by which the Huguenots were recognized in France. On the same day, the Duke of Guise and the Cardinal of Lorraine formed a union to block the edict.

1781 - The English were defeated by American militia under Daniel Morgan at the battle of Cowpens in South Carolina.

1795 - In Edinburgh, Scotland, the Dudingston Curling Society, the oldest club of its kind, was organized. Curling is a 1600s predecessor of ice hockey.

1919 - Classical pianist Ignacy Jan Paderewski became prime minister of Poland.

1966 - A United States B-52 bomber collided in midair with a refueling tanker over Spain; eight were killed and the bomber released its H-bomb into the Atlantic. The bomb was recovered the following month.

1977 - Double-murderer Gary Gilmore became the first person to be executed in the United States since the reintroduction of the death penalty.

1991 - In the Gulf War, United States-led allied forces launched "Operation Desert Storm," an air and missile offensive against Iraqi positions and installations in Iraq and occupied Kuwait.

1994 - An earthquake measuring 6.6 on the Richter scale struck Los Angeles, killing 61 people and causing extensive damage.

1995 - More than 6,000 people were killed after a strong earthquake ripped through central Japan. Measuring 7.2 on the Richter scale, the earthquake, centered around the port of Kobe, was the biggest quake to hit Japan in half a century.

1998 - The hit single "Truly Madly Deeply" by Savage Garden climbed into the Number 1 spot on the pop charts, and stayed there for 2 weeks.

What Happened Today... January 18th

1896 - In New York City, the x-ray machine was exhibited for the first time. You had to pay 25¢ to see it.

1919 - The Versailles peace conference ending World War I opened. It was chaired by French Premier Georges Clemenceau.

1943 - Commercial bakers in the United States stopped selling sliced bread. Until World War I ended, only whole loaves were sold.

1957 - The first, non-stop, around-the-world, jet flight ended at Riverside, California. When it came time to refuel, aerial tankers fueled the plane in mid-flight.

1977 - At least 80 people were killed in Sydney when a locomotive rammed a bridge bringing it crashing down on to a commuter train. It was Australia's worst rail crash.

1991 - Iraq fired at least eight missiles at Israel in a bid to drag the Jewish state into the Gulf War the day after the allies had launched Operation Desert Storm.

1995 - The European Parliament endorsed the new 20-strong European Commission, in a vote marking the Strasbourg-based assembly's political coming of age.

1995 - Silvio Berlusconi handed over to Italy's new prime minister, Lamberto Dini.

What Happened Today... January 19th

1419 - In the Hundred Years War between England and France, the French city of Rouen surrendered to Henry V thus completing his conquest of Normandy.

1853 - Verdi's opera "Il Trovatore" had its first performance in Rome.

1949 - The President of the United States salary was increased from $75,000 to $100,000, with an extra $50,000 expense allowance for each year in office. As of 2001, the President makes $1,000,000 a year.

1966 - Indira Gandhi was elected prime minister of India in succession to Lal Shastri who had died on January 11. Shastri had succeeded Gandhi's father, Jawaharlal Nehru.

1975 - Twenty people were injured at France's Paris-Orly Airport in a battle which erupted after Arab gunmen attempted a grenade attack on an El Al jumbo jet and then seized three hostages.

1992 - In Florida, the 64-year-old award-winning playwright Edward Albee was arrested on a Key Biscayne beach for indecent exposure. Charges were later dropped when it was determined that Albee had removed his swimming trunks only to rinse out the sand that was in them, and had not done anything vulgar or immoral.

1995 - In Chechnya, Russian forces hoisted the national tricolor over Grozny's battered presidential palace after seizing the building from Chechen irregulars.

What Happened Today... January 20th

1649 - British king Charles I was brought before a high court of justice at Westminster Hall on charges of treason following the civil war against parliamentarian forces.

1778 - Captain James Cook discovered Hawaii when he landed first at Waimea on Kauai Island.

1841 - After lengthy talks between Britain and China concerning the Opium Wars, the convention of Chuanbi was signed by which Hong Kong island was ceded to the British.

1918 - The German light cruiser Breslau was sunk by mines outside the Dardanelles. Only 162 of 370 crew members survived.

1942 - Nazi leaders of the security police and various ministries met at the Wannsee conference to set up the bureaucratic apparatus for the Final Solution and complete the systematic destruction of the Jews.

1961 - John F. Kennedy was inaugurated as the 35th president of the United States. He was elected by the closest vote ever and was the youngest presidential nominee elected.

1981 - 52 American hostages seized in their embassy in Tehran were released after 444 days in captivity.

1996 - Palestinians voted for the first time in elections that consolidated PLO chief Yasser Arafat's rule of the West Bank and Gaza under a peace deal with Israel. He became the first democratically-elected leader of the Palestinian people with 88.1 percent of the vote.

What Happened Today... January 21st

1793 - King Louis XVI of France was guillotined for treason. He had ruled since 1774 and had remained king for three years after the Revolution of 1789.

1865 - Torpedoes were used, for the first time, to drill an oil well. Titusville, Pennsylvania was the site of the well.

1911 - The first Monte Carlo motor rally began.

1922 - In Murren, Switzerland, the first slalom event in skiing was held.

1924 - The Soviet leader Lenin died of a brain hemorrhage. He had led the Bolsheviks to victory in the 1917 October Revolution and in its aftermath, had grappled with anarchy and war.

1942 - German forces under Erwin Rommel launched a counter-offensive in North Africa. Caught by surprise, the British were forced into a retreat across the desert.

1976 - The French Concorde SST aircraft, with its drooping nose and sound-barrier breaking speed, started regular commercial service for Air France and British Airways. Two Concorde aircrafts entered service at the same time with flights from London to Bahrain and Paris to Rio de Janeiro, making them the first scheduled passenger services by supersonic aircraft.

1984 - Britain's first test-tube triplets -- a girl and two boys -- were born to a couple in London. The mother was Anne Maaye.

1997 - German Chancellor Helmut Kohl and Czech Prime Minister Vaclav Klaus signed a declaration cementing post-war reconciliation between Germany and the Czech Republic.

What Happened Today... January 22nd

1840 - The first British colonists arrived at Port Nicholson, New Zealand.

1901 - Queen Victoria of England died after reigning for 63 years. She holds the record for longest-reigning queen in the world, and is fourth in the list of longest-reigning monarchs.

1905 - "Bloody Sunday" occurred in St. Petersburg, when the Czar's troops killed 500 protesting workers.

1964 - Kenneth Kaunda was sworn in as Northern Rhodesia's first prime minister.

1972 - The Treaty of Accession to the EEC was signed in Brussels by Britain, Denmark, Ireland and Norway, effective January 1, 1973.

1983 - Steven Spielberg's film, "E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial", became the top moneymaking movie. In less than a year, "E.T.", raked in $194 million in video rentals; taking over previous #1 rented film's spot that went to "Star Wars".

1999 - Former Baywatch star Pamela Anderson cut short a South American tour after being mobbed by scores of teen-age boys on a beach in Uruguay.

What Happened Today... January 23th

1570 - James Stewart, the Earl of Moray, who was appointed Regent of Scotland on the abdication of Mary Queen of Scots, was assassinated by the Hamiltons at Linlithgow.

1900 - In the second British-Boer War, the British attempted to break through the Boer lines to relieve Ladysmith but were thwarted at the Battle of Spion Kop.

1937 - The trial of 17 leading Communists began in Moscow after they were accused of involvement in a plot led by Leon Trotsky to overthrow the regime and assassinate its leaders.

1963 - Harold "Kim" Philby, British journalist in Beirut, disappeared. Later in the year it was revealed that he was the third man in the Burgess-Maclean espionage affair and had been granted asylum in Moscow.

1973 - In Kingston, Jamaica, George Foreman won the heavyweight boxing title away from ‘Smokin’ Joe Frazier.

1978 - Baron Edouard-Jean Empain, one of Europe's most powerful industrialists, was kidnapped in Paris; he was freed on March 26.

1983 - "The A-Team", began it's run on television, full of action and drama, starrring, Mr. T. Wearing a ton of gold jewelry, he played the not so mild-mannered Sergeant Bosco B.A. Baracus, under the command of George Peppard as John Hannibal Smith.

1985 - O.J. Simpson became the first Heisman Trophy winner elected to pro football’s Hall of Fame. The Dallas Cowboys' Roger Staubach, also a Heisman winner, was elected too; but ‘the Juice’ got to be first because his name alphabetically comes before Staubach’s.

1989 - The Spanish surrealist painter Salvador Dali died. He was buried in a crypt under a glass dome in the Dali museum in Figueras, in Catalonia.

What Happened Today... January 24th

41 - Gaius Caesar (Caligula), Roman Emperor from 37, was murdered. Caligula, or Little Boots, succeeded Tiberius and became so unpopular he was assassinated by Cassius Chaerea at the Palatine Games.

1915 - In World War I, a British fleet under Admiral Beatty defeated the Germans under Von Hipper at the battle of Dogger Bank and sank the armored cruiser Blucher, killing 870.

1943 - In World War II, a meeting between Prime Minister Winston Churchill and President Franklin D. Roosevelt at Casablanca ended with demands for unconditional surrender and plans made for a cross-channel landing in 1944.

1960 - A major insurrection began in Algiers against French policy in the country.

1961 - A United States B-52 bomber with two 24-megaton nuclear bombs crashed near Goldsboro, North Carolina.

1969 - Gen. Franco declared martial law in Spain following disturbances which led to nearly 300 arrests. It lasted until March 25.

1973 - ‘Little’ Donny Osmond, of the Osmond Brothers/Family fame, was awarded a gold record for his album, "Too Young".

1991 - Japan pledged $9 billion more to the Gulf War effort, which brought angry rejoinders from Iraq.

What Happened Today... January 25th

1533 - King Henry VIII of England, defying Rome, married his second wife, Anne Boleyn.

1579 - The Dutch Republic was founded with the signing of the Union of Utrecht. Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Gelderland, Friesland, Groningen and Overyssel signed the Union to defend their rights against Spain.

1831 - In Poland, the Diet declared independence thus removing Tsar Nicholas from the throne.

1878 - A Turkish steamer became the first ship to be sunk by a torpedo, fired from a Russian boat.

1915 - In New York, Alexander Graham Bell spoke to his assistant in San Francisco, California, starting the first transcontinental telephone service.

1924 - The first Winter Olympics began at Chamonix, France.

1942 - In World War II, Thailand declared war on Britain and the United States.

1947 - Al Capone, best known gangster who dominated the Chicago area, died. Indicted for tax evasion and imprisoned, Capone was released in 1939.

1949 - The first annual Emmy Awards presentation took place at the Hollywood Athletic Club, with a mere six awards to present.

1961 - United States President John F. Kennedy gave the first live presidential news conference from Washington, DC. Kennedy’s wit made him, "an immediate sensation," said reporters at the scene.

1990 - Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto gave birth to a girl, the first-ever head of government to give birth while still in office.

1991 - The United States accused Iraq of deliberately pumping oil into the Persian Gulf in what it called an act of environmental terrorism.

1994 - Michael Jackson reached a multimillion dollar settlement with a boy who had accused him of sexual molestation.

1995 - A missile fired by Norway as part of a scientific research program triggered an air defense alert in Russia.

What Happened Today... January 26th

1500 - Brazil was discovered by Spanish navigator Vicente Yanes Pinzon.

1784 - Ben Franklin wrote his daughter saying he was unhappy that the bald eagle had been chosen as the United States' national bird. He said he believed the turkey would have been a more respectable choice.

1790 - Mozart's opera Cosi Fan Tutte premiered in Vienna.

1827 - Peru ended its union with Colombia and declared independence.

1905 - The world's largest diamond, the Cullinan, was discovered near Pretoria, weighing 3,106 carats.

1931 - Mahatma Gandhi was released from prison to hold talks with the government during his civil disobedience campaign.

1936 - Franco and his forces captured Barcelona in the Spanish Civil War.

1950 - India was formally proclaimed a republic within the Commonwealth.

1965 - Hindi became the official language of India leading to riots in the south of the country. The following month the government announced that English would continue as an associate official language.

1979 - The guitar synthesizer was first demonstrated.

1987 - Coca-Cola was officially named the #1 soft drink in the United States. Pepsi-Cola was at #2.

1994 - Romania became the first former Cold War foe of NATO to sign a partnership document with the military alliance.

What Happened Today... January 27th

1822 - Greece proclaimed its independence from Turkey.

1880 - Thomas Alva Edison patented the electric incandescent lamp.

1944 - Casey Stengel resigned as the manager of the Boston Braves a post he held since 1938. He went on to become manager of the New York Yankees in 1948. Famous Stengelisms include: "The Yankees don’t pay me to win every day - just two out of three"; "The secret of managing a club is to keep the five guys who hate you away from the five guys who are undecided"; and "You have to draft a catcher, because if you don’t have one, the ball will roll all the way back to the screen."

1945 - The Russians liberated the Auschwitz concentration camp, where the Nazis had murdered 1.5 million men, women and children, including more than one million Jews.

1962 - The Soviet government changed the names of all places honoring Molotov, Kaganovich and Malenkov, participants in an attempt to oust Nikita Khrushchev in 1957.

1967 - 60 nations signed a United Nations treaty on the peaceful uses of outer space and the banning of weapons of mass destruction there.

1974 - 8,000 people were evacuated from their homes as floodwaters flowed through the main streets of Brisbane.

1982 - In Ireland, the minority government of Garret Fitzgerald was defeated over the budget.

1984 - During the filming of a Pepsi commercial in Los Angeles, California, Michael Jackson’s hair caught on fire, when pyrotechnics failed to operate on cue, injuring the singer. Jackson was hospitalized for several days while fans from around the world sent messages of concern.

What Happened Today... January 28th

1807 - London's Pall Mall became the first street to be illuminated by gaslight.

1808 - The United States' first trotting horse, Messenger, was buried.

1829 - Irish murderer and body-snatcher William Burke was hanged.

1871 - Paris surrendered to the Prussians in the Franco-Prussian War.

1922 - The roof of the Knickerbocker Theatre in Washington, D.C., collapsed under the weight of 29 inches of snow, and 98 people were killed.

1934 - Robert Royce’s ski lift was used for the first time in Woodstock, Vermont. Previously, snow skiers had no way to get to the top of the mountain conveniently.

1935 - Iceland became the first country to legalize abortion on medical-social grounds.

1943 - Adolf Hitler mobilized the entire German adult population for the country's war effort.

1944 - Charles de Gaulle made his landmark appeal for a new relationship between France and Africa.

1965 - General Motors reported the biggest profit in the history of any United States company. In 1964, earnings for the #1 of the Big Three automakers totaled $1.735 billion.

1988 - Soviet spy Klaus Fuchs died; his information enabled Moscow to detonate its first nuclear weapon in August 1949.

1994 - Christian Democrat Giovanni Goria became Italy's second former prime minister to be committed for trial on corruption charges.

1997 - At South Africa's Truth Commission, police confessed to the 1977 murder of Steve Biko.

What Happened Today... January 29th

1845 - Edgar Allen Poe's classic poem, "The Raven," was published in the New York Evening Mirror. Poe did not sign the poem, but used the nom de plume of "Quarles".

1886 - German motor pioneer Karl Benz was granted a patent for the first successful gasoline-driven car.

1891 - Hawaii proclaimed as its queen Liliuokalani, renowned for her song "Aloha Oe."

1896 - United States physician Emile Grubbe became the first to use radiation treatment for breast cancer on his patient, Rose Lee of Chicago.

1916 - The first bombings of Paris by German Zeppelins took place.

1942 - The Protocol of Rio de Janeiro came into force, ending the war between Peru and Ecuador.

1960 - Five days after a major insurrection in Algeria, French President Charles de Gaulle broadcast a re-affirmation of his colonial policy.

1963 - Negotiations on Britain's entry into the European Economic Community collapsed.

1991 - Nelson Mandela, now president of South Africa, and Chief Mangosuthu Buthelezi held the first talks for almost 30 years between predominantly Zulu Inkatha and the ethnically mixed African National Congress.

1994 - Japanese Prime Minister Morihiro Hosokawa, who came to power pledging to clean up Japan's corrupt politics, saw his reform bills pass into law but in a watered-down form.

1996 - Eight people died in South Africa when gunmen opened fire on people lining up for jobs at a Johannesburg factory.

1996 - Venice's opera house, named La Fenice or "The Phoenix," was destroyed by fire for the second time in its history.

What Happened Today... January 30th

1606 - Sir Everard Digby, Thomas Winter, John Grant and Thomas Bates, conspirators in the "Gunpowder Plot" to blow up Britain's Houses of Parliament, were executed.

1649 - King Charles I was beheaded in London for treason.

1835 - President Andrew Jackson survived the first-ever assassination attempt on a United States president.

1889 - Crown Prince Franz Karl Josef Rudolf and his mistress, Marie Vetsera, committed suicide at the imperial hunting lodge of Mayerling, Austria.

1933 - German President Paul von Hindenburg appointed Adolf Hitler chancellor. On the same date in 1937, Hitler told the Reichstag that Germany was withdrawing its signature from the Versailles Treaty.

1937 - 13 leading Communists were sentenced to death for participating in a plot, allegedly led by Leon Trotsky, to overthrow the Soviet regime and assassinate its leaders.

1943 - The British Air Force carried out the first daylight bombing raid on Berlin.

1948 - Mahatma Gandhi, leader of the Indian nationalist movement against British rule, was assassinated by a Hindu extremist.

1965 - The state funeral of Sir Winston Churchill was held in London.

1969 - In London, England, the Beatles made their last public appearance at a free concert at their Apple corporate headquarters. The group recorded "Get Back"; and were filmed for the movie "Let It Be".

1972 - British soldiers shot dead 13 people in a banned Catholic civil rights march in Londonderry, Northern Ireland, in a clash known as "Bloody Sunday."

1985 - Pop singer Janet Jackson filed a petition to nullify her marriage to James DeBarge in the Los Angeles Superior Court.

1992 - An Taoiseach Charles Haughey announced he would resign after being accused of telephone-tapping.

1994 - The United States granted Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams a visa to attend a New York conference on Northern Ireland.

What Happened Today... January 31st

1606 - Guy Fawkes, chief plotter in the attempt to blow up the British Houses of Parliament, was executed.

1917 - Germany announced it was instituting a policy of unrestricted submarine warfare.

1929 - Leon Trotsky was expelled from the Soviet Union.

1930 - Britain, United States, France, Italy and Japan began the London Naval Conference, aimed at halting the arms race and preventing war.

1943 - After a week of heavy fighting, German field marshal Friedrich von Paulus surrendered to the Russians at Stalingrad.

1950 - United States President Harry Truman announced he had ordered the development of the hydrogen bomb.

1971 - The three-man United States spacecraft Apollo 14 was launched to the moon. The astronauts landed on February 5 and made two moonwalks.

1988 - The prime ministers of Greece and Turkey agreed on a "no war" agreement while meeting at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland.

1994 - German luxury car-maker BMW announced the purchase of Rover from British Aerospace, ending nearly a century of independent mass car production in Britain.