January
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1 January – the eighth day of the 12 days of Christmas (Western Christianity).
1 January – the official birthday for all thoroughbred horses in the Northern Hemisphere. (see 1 August for Southern Hemisphere).
1 January 1901 – Federation of Australia. The six self-governing colonies in Australia formed a single nation known as the Commonwealth of Australia.
1 January 1915 – Battle of Broken Hill. Two Turkish men shot dead four people and wounded seven others in the remote Australian town of Broken Hill, New South Wales. They claimed it was in relation to ongoing hostilities between the Ottoman Empire and the British Empire.
1 January 1942 – the United Nations is established by representatives of 26 nations in order to enforce peace-keeping campaigns throughout the world. There are now 193 member states and 2 non-member states (the Holy See and Palestine).
1 January 1959 – Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista flees Cuba following a revolution led by Fidel Castro. Batista allegedly fled with around $700 million of art and cash, the result of graft and corruption.
1 January 1985 – the UK’s first mobile phone call is made by British comedian, Ernie Wise (from ‘Morecombe and Wise’), to Vodafone.
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2 January – the ninth day of the 12 days of Christmas (Western Christianity).
2 January 1952 – birth of Graeme ‘Shirley’ Strachan. Lead singer of Australian band, Skyhooks. Died 29 August 2001 in a helicopter crash near Maroochydore, Queensland.
2 January 1979 – Sid Vicious, former bass player with the Sex Pistols, goes on trial for the murder of his girlfriend, Nancy Spugen. Vicious and Spungen had allegedly been using heroin, and Vicious claimed he woke to find her dead on the bathroom floor. He was released on bail on 1 February 1979. It was later revealed that Mick Jagger paid the bail. That night he celebrated his release with friends. Vicious had stopped using heroin, however, his mother provided some that night. Early the following morning (2 February 1979), Vicious died of an overdose.
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3 January – the tenth day of the 12 days of Christmas (Western Christianity).
3 January 106BC – birth of Marcus Tullius Cicero (sometimes anglicised as Tully), Roman statesman, politician, philosopher, orator. Tully’s influence on Latin and other European languages was immense and still felt up to the 19th century. The history of prose in Latin and other languages was said to be either a reaction against, or a return to, his style. Died 7 December 43BC.
3 January 1521 – Pope Leo X excommunicates Martin Luther in the papal bull Decet Romanum Pontificem.
3 January 1892 – birth of J.R.R. Tolkien, author of ‘The Hobbit‘ and ‘Lord of the Rings‘. Died 2 September 1973. ‘The road goes ever on … ‘
3 January 1956 – birth of Mel Gibson, Australian actor.
3 January 1962 – Pope John XXIII excommunicates Fidel Castro.
3 January 1969 – birth of Michael Schumacher, German Formula 1 racing car driver.
3 January 1977 – Apple Computers is incorporated.
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4 January – the eleventh day of the 12 days of Christmas (Western Christianity).
4 January 1903 – Thomas Edison electrocutes an elephant to prove the dangers of ‘alternating current’ electricity. He had previously electrocuted stray cats and dogs and even horses and cows. He snidely referred to it as ‘getting Westinghoused’. Topsy, the elephant, had squashed 4 trainers at the Luna Park Zoo on Coney Island, so the zoo had decided to hang her, before someone suggested she ‘ride the lightning’. More on this at http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2008/01/dayintech_0104
4 January 1961 – death of Erwin Schrödinger, Nobel prize-winning Austrian physicist who developed a number of fundamental results in the field of quantum theory, which formed the basis of wave mechanics. He was the author of many works in various fields of physics: statistical mechanics and thermodynamics, physics of dielectrics, colour theory, electrodynamics, general relativity, and cosmology, and he made several attempts to construct a unified field theory. He paid great attention to the philosophical aspects of science, ancient and oriental philosophical concepts, ethics, and religion.[4] He also wrote on philosophy and theoretical biology. He is also known for his “Schrödinger’s cat” thought-experiment. Born 12 August 1887.
4 January 1965 – death of Thomas Stearns Eliot (T.S. Eliot), poet, playwright, publisher, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, described as ‘arguably the most important English language poet of the 20th century’. Wrote ‘The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock‘, ‘The Waste Land‘, ‘Ash Wednesday‘, ‘The Hollow Men‘. Born 26 September 1888.
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5 January – the twelfth day of the 12 days of Christmas (Western Christianity).
5 January 1914 – Henry Ford introduces the $5 per day wage, which was double the rate previously offered. Ford believed it would help him keep his best people and that it would enable his workers to buy Ford cars.
5 January 1932 – birth of Umberto Eco. Italian writer, philosopher and semiotician. Author of novels, including ‘The Name of the Rose’, ‘Foucalt’s Pendulum’, ‘The Island of the Day Before’, ‘The Prague Cemetery’. Died 19 February 2016.
5 January 1933 – work commences on San Francisco’s Golden Gate bridge. It was completed on 19 April 1937. The bridge is 2.7km long and 227.4m high.
5 January 1945 – First use of kamikaze pilots. Battle of Lingayan Gulf, Philippines. Allied forces attack Japanese positions. Japan had a seriously weakened air force that was now mainly comprised of inexperienced pilots, so authorised the first use of kamikaze (divine wind) attacks. USA ships included the USS Mississippi, New Mexico and Colorado. Australian ships included the HMAS Australia, Shropshire, Arunta, Warramunga, Gascoyne and Warrego. The Allies lost 30 ships, with 67 others damaged. Japanese casualties are unknown, however, the battle was a victory for the Allies.
5 January 1968 – the ‘Prague Spring’ in Czechoslovakia occurred through the political and economic reforms of leader Alexander Dubcek aimed at introducing ‘socialism with a human face’. The reforms included freedom of speech and allowing non-communist political organisations. The Soviet Union were less enthusiastic about these reforms and invaded Czechoslovakia with 600,000 troops.
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6 January – the Epiphany, which commemorates when the Three Wise Men of the East (the Magi) visited the baby Jesus, with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. The Epiphany is celebrated the day after the ‘Twelve Days of Christmas’, which conclude on 5 January.
6 January 1925 – birth of John DeLorean, founder of the DeLorean Motor Company in Detroit, Michigan. The DeLorean with Gull-Wing doors was featured in the movie, ‘Back to the Future‘.
6 January 1973 – one of Hitler’s cars, a Mercedes 770K sedan, was auctioned on this day for $153,000,000.
6 January 1994 – Figure-skater Nancy Kerrigan is knee-capped in a violent attack as she was about to speak to reporters. Her rival, Tonya Harding, was accused of orchestrating the attack, resulting in Harding and four men being charged and sentenced to jail.
6 January 2005 – Ku Klux Klan leader, Ray Killen, is arrested and charged over the murders of three civil rights activists in Philadelphia, more than 40 years previously. On 21 June 2005, (exactly 41 years to the day of the murders) Killen is found guilty of three counts of manslaughter and sentenced to 20 years jail on each count.
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7 January – Christmas Day celebrated by some eastern and Orthodox churches, which is 25 December under the old Julian calendar. Most western churches celebrate Christmas on 25 December in the Gregorian calendar system which began replacing the Julian calendar throughout the world from 1582.
7 January 1943 – Death of Nikola Tesla, Serbian American inventor, electrical engineer, mechanical engineer and futurist. Inventor of alternating current (A/C) electricity supply. Born 10 July 1856.
7 January 1979 – Brutal Cambodian dictator, Pol Pot, is overthrown as Vietnamese forces invade Phnom Penh. Pol Pot and his army, the Khmer Rouge, were responsible for killing approximately 1.7 million people.
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8 January 1642 – death of Galileo Galilei, Italian polymath and central figure in the Renaissance and scientific revolution, known for his work as an astronomer, physicist, engineer, philosopher and mathematician. Also called the ‘father of observational astronomy’, ‘father of modern physics’, ‘father of the scientific method’, and ‘father of science’. The Catholic church his idea of heliocentrism, that is the earth revolving around the sun, to be heretical, as the church believed the heavens revolved around the Earth. Galileo was tried at an Inquisition and remained under house arrest for the remainder of his life. Born 15 February 1564.
8 January 1935 – birth of Elvis Aaron Presley, the King of Rock and Roll. Died 16 August 1977.
8 January 1942 – birth of Stephen Hawking, English theoretical physicist, cosmologist and author. In 1963, at the age of 21, Hawking was diagnosed with motor neuron disease, a degenerative condition that worsened over the years, leaving him paralysed and unable to speak. He communicated through a speech-generating device. Hawking proposed that black holes emit radiation and set out a theory of cosmology explained by a union of Einstein’s general theory of relativity and quantum mechanics. Died 14 March 2018.
8 January 1947 – birth of David Bowie, British musician and actor, born David Robert Jones. Died 11 January 2016.
8 January 1959 – Fidel Castro’s rebel forces take control of Cuba. Castro eventually became President and ruled the nation until 2011.
8 January 1964 – US President Lyndon B. Johnson introduces legislation that results in the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964, otherwise known as the War on Poverty, in an effort to reduce the increasing poverty rate, which at that time was around 19%. Through this a number of poverty-reduction strategies were implemented, including Social Security Act 1965, Food Stamp Act of 1964, Elementary and Secondary Education Act (1965), Community Action Program, Job Corps, and Volunteers in Services to America. Within 10 years the poverty rate had been reduced to around 11%. In 2014, the rate had risen to around 15%.
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9 January 1324 – death of Marco Polo, Italian explorer. Born 15 September 1254.
9 January 1944 – birth of Jimmy Page, legendary British guitarist and song-writer. Co-founder of iconic rock band, Led Zeppelin.
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10 January 1946 – the inaugural meeting of the United Nations General Assembly, with 51 nations, convenes in London.
10 January 1949 – RCA introduces the world’s first vinyl record which played at 45rpm while Columbia released the world’s first vinyl record which played at 33rpm.
10 January 1998 – Night of Noah, Townsville. The city was drenched with rains from ex-Tropical Cyclone Sid. In a 24-hour period, 549mm fell on the city as recorded by the Bureau of Meteorology, however of this, more than 500mm during a 12 hour period. There were unofficial recordings that exceeded 700mm during this period.
10 January 2011 – Flash flooding strikes Toowoomba, Queensland, after 160mm of rain falls in 36 hours, killing four people. The flood water flowed down the Toowoomba range, inundating properties in the Lockyer Valley, including Grantham, Withcott, Helidon, killing nine people.
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11 January 1986 – Brisbane’s Gateway Bridge opens.
11 January 2008 – death of Edmund Hillary, New Zealand mountaineer, explorer and philanthropist. Hillary and sherpa Tbeenzing Norgay became the first men to reach the summit of Mt Everest. Born 20 July 1919.
11 January 2011 – flood-waters from the Lockyer Valley reach the Brisbane River catchment, causing the river to break its banks, flooding the CBD and other river-side suburbs, including New Farm, Fortitude Valley, West End, St Lucia, Rocklea and Graceville, inundating 20,000 homes. The Brisbane River peaked on 13 January 2013 at a height of 4.46m. The city of Ipswich was also inundated, with the Bremer River peaking on 12 January 2011. The worst affected areas included Goodna and Gailes. There were reports of bull sharks in the city centre of Goodna. A total of 35 people died as a result of the flooding in Toowoomba, the Lockyer Valley, Brisbane and Ipswich.
11 January 2016 – death of David Bowie, British musician and actor, born David Robert Jones. Born 8 January 1947.
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12 January 1948 – The United States Supreme Court rules that the all-white law school at University of Oklahoma must provide education to black students that is equal to the education provided to white students.
12 January 2012 – magnitude 7.0 earthquake strikes Haiti, killing between 100,000 and 250,000. Humanitarian aid was slow in coming to Haiti because of the damage to the country’s infrastructure, which resulted in the high death toll. The earthquake is the fourth deadliest on record.
12 January 2003 – death of Maurice Gibb on the Isle of Man. Founded the Bee Gees with his brothers, Robin and Barry. Born 22 December 1949.
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13 January 1893 – birth of Roy Cazaly, Australian Rules football legend, known for his high marks and ruck-work. Immortalised in the song, ‘Up there Cazaly‘, by The Two Man Band (Mike Brady & Peter Sullivan). Died 10 October 1963.
13 January 1929 – death of Wyatt Earp in Los Angeles, American gunfighter, famous for the gunfight at the OK Corral. He was 80 years old.
13 January 1939 – Black Friday fires in Victoria, Australia, covering more than 4,900,000 acres, destroying 1,000 homes and killing 71 people. It was one of the world’s worst bush-fire disasters.
13 January 2001 – a 7.1 magnitude earthquake hits El Salvador, killing 1,000 people
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14 January 1892 – birth of Martin Niemoller, German pastor. Niemoller originally supported Adolf Hitler, however, he soon realised he’d made a mistake. He blamed Hitler’s rise to power and the ensuing war and genocide, on the support and acceptance of his policies from churches and ordinary citizens, as well as the lack of speaking up against injustice. Niemoller is most well known for his statement, ‘First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out – because I was not a Socialist. Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out – because I was not a Trade Unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out – because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me – and there was no one left to speak for me’. Died 6 March 1984.
14 January 1977 – death of Anais Nin, French-Cuban author. Born 21 February 1903.
14 January 1984 – death of Ray Kroc, founder of McDonald’s Corporation … and the Big Mac … Born 5 October 1902. Kroc had bought out Dick and Mac McDonald’s barbeque and hamburger food chain before establishing the franchise network of fast-food restaurants.
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15 January – Martin Luther King Day, a public holiday in the United States of America, held on the third Monday in January, to celebrate the birth of Martin Luther King, a clergyman who promoted non-violent activism to achieve civil rights, particularly for African Americans.
15 January 1929 – birthday of Martin Luther King. American civil rights activist and clergyman. Died 4 April 1968.
15 January 1941 – birth of Don Van Vliet, American singer, songwriter, musician and artist, best known as Captain Beefheart. He used a rotating ensemble of musicians, called the Magic Band. Beefheart’s music was very avant-garde, blending jazz, psychedelia, blues and rock. He was friends with Frank Zappa and sometimes collaborated with him. His experimental and unrestrained style of music complimented Zappa’s often experimental but highly disciplined work. English DJ, John Peel, describe Captain Beefheart as, ‘a psychedelic shaman who frequently bullied his musicians and sometimes alarmed his fans, Don somehow remained one of rock’s great innocents‘. Died 17 December 2010.
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16 January 1920 – Prohibition commences in the U.S. with the passing of the 18th Amendment which prohibited the importation, exportation, transporting, selling and manufacturing of alcohol.
16 January 1945 – Adolf Hitler flees to his bunker with his long-time companion, Eva Braun. They remain there for 105 days until he takes his own life.
16 January 1979 – The Shah of Iran is forced to flee Iran following the mutiny of his Army and a revolution led by students, which resulted in the Ayatollah Khomeini taking over the leadership of the country.
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17 January 1899 – birth of Al Capone, who grew up to be one of America’s most famous gangsters. He died on 25 January 1947.
17 January 1942 – birthday of Muhammad Ali (born Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr), American professional boxer (former world heavy-weight champion), philanthropist, social activist.
17 January 1966 – the United States loses 4 H-bombs after the B-52 that was carrying them, collided with a KC-135 tanker during mid-air refuelling. The tanker exploded, killing all 4 crew, the B-52 broke apart, killing 3 of the 7 crew. Three of the hydrogen bombs were located on land near the Spanish town of Palomares. Two of the non-nuclear explosives in the weapons detonated, contaminating 2 km2 with plutonium. The fourth bomb was located 2.5 months later in the Mediterranean Sea.
17 January 1991 – Operation Desert Storm commences after Iraqi President Saddam Hussein refuses to comply with a US directive that he remove his forces from Kuwait. Hussein claimed that Kuwait was stealing Iraqi oil. 32 nations were involved in the Operation to remove Iraqi forces from Kuwait.
17 January 1927 – birth of Eartha Kitt, American singer and actress. She played Catwoman in the 1960’s Batman TV series. Two of her more famous songs were ‘C’est Si Bon’ and ‘Santa Baby’. She died on 25 December 2008.
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18 January 1977 – The Granville Rail Disaster, in which a crowded commuter train derailed and collided with an overpass that collapsed onto it, killing 83 people and injuring more than 210.
18 January 1779 – birth of Peter Roget, British lexographer and creator of Roget’s Thesaurus. Died 12 September 1869.
18 January 1904 – birth of Cary Grant, born Archibald Alexander Leach, actor (‘North by Northwest‘, ‘To Catch a Thief‘, ‘An Affair to Remember‘, ‘Gunga Din‘). Died 29 November 1986.
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19 January 1809 – birth of Edgar Allan Poe, American poet and novelist, The Raven. Died 7 October 1849.
19 January 1920 – Night of the Palmer Raids, in which more than 4,000 suspected radical leftists were arrested. Most were members of the Industrial Workers of the World union. Alexander Palmer was the United States Attorney-General. Most of those arrested were either deported or charged under the Espionage Act 1917 and the Sedition Act 1918.
19 January 1935 – birth of Johnny O’Keefe, Australian rock and roll legend. Known as J.O.K. or ‘The Wild One’. Died 6 October 1978.
19 January 1943 – birth of Janis Joplin. American singer song-writer. Died on 4 October 1970.
19 January 1966 – A UFO saucer nest is discovered near Tully, North Queensland, Australia when a banana farmer, George Pedley, claims that he saw a large, saucer-shaped object fly out of a swamp at Horseshoe Lagoon. He said the saucer was 25 feet wide and 9 feet high. Further investigation of the lagoon revealed that in a particularly reedy part, there was a large circle that was clear of reeds. The circle was 30 feet in diameter and the reeds had been flattened in a clockwise manner. Five other similar, but smaller, circles were discovered. Apart from the UFO claim, no other explanation could account for the circles. These are the first crop-circles discovered in the modern world.
This photo of the crop circle was taken by Emil Duran:
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20 January – Penguin Awareness Day.
20 January 1952 – birth of Stanley Harvey Esien, better known as Paul Stanley, singer and guitarist in glam rock band, Kiss.
20 January 1982 – It was the chomp heard around the world, when Ozzy Osbourne, The Prince of Darkness, bit the head off a bat while performing on stage in Des Moines, Iowa. A fan had thrown a bat on stage. Ozzy claims he thought it was rubber, but found out the hard way, that it was, in fact, a real bat. He was taken to hospital and given rabies shots. This follows on from an incident in 1981, when Ozzy bit the head off a dove after signing his first solo record deal … as you do … Word has it that Ozzy had planned to release a number of doves as a symbol of peace, but was drunk and felt one of the doves could do with a trim … which didn’t work out too well for the dove. There is no truth in the rumour that the Prince song, ‘When Doves Cry’ is about the incident.
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21 January – Squirrel Appreciation Day.
21 January – National Hug Day.
21 January 1863 – State funeral held in Melbourne for Australian explorers, Burke and Wills, who had died in June or July of 1861. 40,000 spectators lined the streets for the funeral procession as it travelled to the Melbourne General Cemetery.
21 January 1924 – death of Vladimir Lenin, Russian communist revolutionary and political leader. He served as Russian leader from 1917 to 1924 and concurrently as Premier of the Soviet Union from 1922 to 1924. Born 22 April 1870.
21 January 1950 – death of George Orwell (born Eric Arthur Blair), Democratic Socialist and English author of works such as ‘Nineteen-Eighty Four‘, ‘Animal Farm‘, and ‘Homage to Catalonia‘. Born 25 June 1903.
21 January 1992 – death of Eddie Mabo. Campaigner for indigenous land rights in the Torres Strait. Successfully challenged the concept of ‘terra nullius‘, resulting in indigenous ownership of land in Australia to be recognised. Born 29 June 2014.
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22 January 1973 – In the landmark ‘Roe v Wade’ case and decided simultaneously with ‘Doe v Bolton’, the United States Supreme Court rules that abortion is a Constitutional right because of the application of the due process clause of the 14th Amendment to a woman’s right to privacy, which includes the right to abortion. This was to be balanced with other state interests, namely the right to protect prenatal life and the protection of women’s health.
22 January 1930 – construction commences of the Empire State Building. It was completed 410 days later and was the world’s tallest building at that time.
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23 January 1803 – death of Sir Arthur Guinness, Irish brewer and founder of the Guinness brewery. Born 24 September 1725.
23 January 1989 – death of Salvador Dali, Spanish surrealist painter. Born 11 May 1904.
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24 January 41AD – death of Caligula, also known as Gaius Caesar, 3rd Roman Emperor from 37 – 41AD. Died 24 January 41AD. First Roman Emperor to be assassinated following a conspiracy to restore the Roman Republic. While the plot to kill Caligula succeeds, the restoration of the Republic fails when the Praetorian Guard appoint Caligula’s uncle, Claudius, as Emperor.
24 January 1965 – death of U.K. Prime Minister, Sir Winston Churchill. Born 30 November 1874.
24 January 1974 – Cyclone Wanda makes land-fall at Maryborough, bringing the worst flooding to Queensland in decades, including the infamous Brisbane floods.
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25 January 1947 – Infamous gangster, Al Capone, dies of pneumonia and heart failure. He was born on 17 January 1899.
25 January 1971 – Ugandan General, Idi Amin seizes power while President Milton Obote is away. Amin’s brutal, 8-year dictatorship resulted in the murders of between 100,000 to 500,000 people. In 1979, Amin fled to Libya and later to Saudi Arabia, where he remained until his death on 16 August 2003.
25 January 1974 – Record flooding in Brisbane caused by Tropical Cyclone Wanda. During a 36 hour period, 642mm fell on Brisbane city, causing the deaths of 14 people, and flooding at least 6,700 houses.
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26 January 1788 – Australia Day – Having landed in Sydney Cove a few days earlier, Captain Arthur Phillip plants the British flag and declares possession of the land in the name of King George III of Britain.
26 January 1808 – The Rum Rebellion: Twenty years after establishing the colony of New South Wales, the only successful military coup in Australia’s history results in the New South Wales Corps deposing the Governor of NSW, William Bligh. For the following two years, the colony was under military rule, until the arrival of new Governor, Major-General Lachlan Macquarie. At the time, it was referred to as the Great Rebellion. The rebellion was over a disagreement between the government and private entrepreneurs regarding the future of the colony. The government wanted to keep it as an open prison with a primitive economy. Years later, an English Quaker named William Howitt, a tee-totaller, looking to blame the ills of the world on alcohol, claimed the rebellion was about Bligh threatening the profits made from the Army’s trading of spirits. He coined the term ‘Rum Rebellion’.
26 January 1939 – During the Spanish Civil War, Nationalist forces loyal to General Francisco Franco enter Barcelona, overthrowing the Republican forces headquartered there.
26 January 1945 – Soviet troops liberate 7,000 survivors of the Auschwitz network of concentration camps in Poland.
26 January 1950 – India becomes a republic, freed from British rule. The new President, Dr Rajenda Prasad had campaigned with Mahatma Gandhi for Indian self-rule. Jawaharlal Nehru becomes the country’s first Prime Minister on 10 February 1952.
26 January 1965 – Hindi becomes the official language of India.
26 January 1988 – Andrew Lloyd Webber’s ‘Phantom of the Opera’ opens on Broadway for its first performance. The musical becomes a world-wide smash and is the longest running show on Broadway.
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27 January – International Holocaust Memorial Day in remembrance of the 11 million victims of the Nazi holocaust before and during the Second World War. Victims included 6 million Jews (3 million of whom were Polish), 3 million Polish Christians, 2 million gypsies, and millions of others, including Africans, Asians, people with mental or physical disabilities, Communists, Socialist, Unionists, intellectuals, homosexuals, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Slavs, Freemasons, political activists and anyone else either opposed to Nazi ideology, or living in land Hitler wanted (particularly Poland) or who didn’t fit his idea of a perfect master race. The date was chosen because 27 January 1945 was the date that Soviet troops liberated Auschwitz-Birchenau, the largest of the Nazi death camps.
27 January 1756 – birthday of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, composer. Died 5 December 1791.
27 January 1926 – In London, John Logie Baird publicly demonstrates a revolutionary new invention, the television system.
27 January 1945 – The Soviet Army liberates survivors of the largest Nazi concentration camp at Auschwitz in Poland, where it is estimated more than 1,000,000 Jews and tens of thousands of others were executed.
27 January 1967 – Outer Space Treaty was signed by 60 countries, including the USA and USSR, prohibiting the placement of weapons of mass destruction in space.
27 January 1973 – the Vietnam War formally ends with a treaty signed between the USA, North Vietnam and South Vietnam.
27 January 1984 – Michael Jackson’s hair catches on fire while he is singing ‘Billy Jean’ during filming of a Pepsi commercial.
27 January 2014 – death of Peter Seeger, American singer-songwriter, musician, activist. Born 3 May 1919.
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28 January 1853 – birth of José Julián Martí Pérez, (José Martí), Cuban national hero, nicknamed The Maestro. He was a poet, essayist, revolutionary philosopher. Fought for Cuba’s independence from Spain. Martí’s poetry is respected across the globe. One of his poems was adapted into the song, Guantanamera. Died 19 May 1895.
28 January 1968 – 4 hydrogen bombs are lost when the B-52 bomber that was carrying them, crashes near Thule, Greenland. The bombs are eventually located, but it took nine months to clear the area of radiation.
28 January 1939 – death of William Butler Yeats (W.B. Yeats), Irish poet, Nobel Prize laureate. One of the foremost literary figures of the 20th century. He served as an Irish senator for two terms. He led the Irish Literary Revival. In 1921 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for ‘inspired poetry, which in a highly artistic form gives expression to the spirit of a whole nation‘. Born 13 June 1865.
28 January 1986 – the space shuttle, Challenger, explodes moments after lift-off, killing all seven astronauts on board, including Christa MacAuliffe, a teacher from New Hampshire, who was scheduled to deliver a lesson from outer-space as part of the ‘Teacher in Space’ project.
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29 January 1860 – birth of Anton Chekhov, Russian playwright and short story writer, considered to be among the greatest writers of short fiction in history. One of the seminal figures in the birth of modernism. Chekhov was also a medical doctor. His works include ‘The Bear’, ‘The Cherry Orchard’, ‘The Seagull’, ‘The Lady with the Dog’. Died 15 July 1904.
29 January 1979 – 16 year old, Brenda Spencer shoots two men dead and wounds nine children at the Grover Cleveland Elementary School in San Diego. She allegedly claimed that she did it because it was a Monday and she didn’t like Mondays. She was sentenced to 25 years jail. The Boomtown Rats released a song about the incident, entitled ‘I Don’t Like Mondays‘.
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30 January 1648 – signing of the Peace of Munster, between the Dutch Republic and the Kingdom of Spain and was officially ratified on the 15 May 1648. This treaty was the first in a series of peace treaties known as the Peace of Westphalia which paved the way for the modern sovereign state. The second being the Treaty of Munster and the Treaty of Osnabrück, both signed on 24 October 1648.
30 January 1882 – birth of Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR), who was a member of the Democratic Party and became the 32nd President of the USA. He is the only president to serve four consecutive terms. FDR served from 4 March 1933 until his death on 12 April 1945. In 1921, FDR contracted polio, which left him paralysed from the waist down.
30 January 1948 – assassination of Mohandas (Mahatma) Gandhi by a Hindu nationalist opposed to the partitioning of India, who believed Gandhi was favouring the creation of the Muslim state of Pakistan. Gandhi led the campaign for Indian independence from British rule through non-violent disobedience. Born 2 October 1869.
30 January 1972 – ‘Bloody Sunday’ in Derry, Northern Ireland when 26 unarmed protesters were shot by British soldiers, killing 13 instantly, with a 14th dying some months later from his injuries. Seventeen were injured. John Lennon recorded a song about the incident, entitled ‘Sunday Bloody Sunday‘, which appeared on his ‘Sometime in New York City‘ album.
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31 January 1606 – death of Guy Fawkes, English soldier and one of the masterminds behind the failed ‘Gunpowder Plot’ to blow up English Parliament in an effort to assassinate King James 1 and VI of Scotland. Born 13 April 1570.
31 January 1961 – Ham the Astrochimp, returns safely to Earth after completing a NASA mission into outer space. HAM is an acronym for Holloman Aerospace Medical Centre, which was located at the Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico.
31 January 1991 – McDonald’s opens its first restaurant in Moscow.