(Wow, jseal - that guy was a daredevil, eh? I'll have to look him up!)

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

December 31st
 

404A.D. ~ The last EVER gladitorial contest takes place in Rome


1879 ~ Thomas Edison gave the first public demonstration of an electric incandescent lamp.


1938 ~ The first breath test for drivers, "drunkometer," was introduced in Indianapolis.


1946 ~ President Truman officially proclaimed the end of hostilities in World War II.


1961 ~ The Marshall Plan expired after distributing more than $12 billion in foreign aid.



1963 ~ Central African Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland was formally dissolved.


1987 ~ Robert Mugabe sworn in as Zimbabwe's president.


2003 ~ Have a DAMN GOOD New Year, everybody!! DM & CA :D

January 1st
 

Happy New Year !!!


1735 ~ Paul Revere was born.


1863 ~ Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation.


1908 ~ The ball signifying the New Year was dropped for the first time at Times Square in New York City.


1914 ~ The world's first airline, St. Petersburg Tampa Airboat Line, starts operation in St. Petersburg, Florida.


1959 ~ Fidel Castro and his revolutionaries took over Cuba and toppled Fulgencio Batista's regime.


1975 ~ John Mitchell, H. R. Haldeman, and John Ehrlichman were convicted of obstruction of justice in the Watergate affair.


1993 ~ Czechoslovakia peacefully split into the Czech Republic and Slovakia.


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


2002 ~ Euro coins and notes went into circulation in twelve European nations.

On Jan. 2, 1905, Japanese General Nogi received from Russian General Stoessel at 9 p.m. a letter formally offering to surrender, ending the Russo-Japanese War.

January 2nd
 

1944 ~ Helicopters were first used in war today, as part of the British Atlantic patrol


1492 ~ Muhammad XI, the leader of the last Arab stronghold in Spain, surrendered to King Ferdinand II and Queen Isabella I.


1788 ~ Georgia was admitted to the Union as the 4th state.


1839 ~ Louis Jacques Mandé Daguerre took the first photograph of the Moon.


1905 ~ The Russo-Japanese war ended.


1923 ~ The African-American town of Rosewood, Fla., was burned by a white mob.


1935 ~ The Bruno R. Hauptmann trial began for the kidnap and murder of the Lindbergh baby.


1959 ~ The first spacecraft to orbit the Sun, Mechta (Luna 1) was launched by the USSR.


1994 ~ Rudolph Giuliani is inaugurated as New York City's mayor.

January 3rd
 

Busy day, today! :)


1943 ~ Stalingrad - 23 German generals, 2,000 officers and 130,000 soldiers surrender to the Russians. Only 5,000 survived captivity.


1966 ~ A successful coup d'etat took palce in Burkina Faso.... today now known as Revolution Day!


1521 ~ Martin Luther excommunicated by Pope Leo X.


1777 ~ George Washington defeated Cornwallis's forces at the Battle of Princeton.


1833 ~ Britain seized control of the Falkland Islands.


1870 ~ Construction of the Brooklyn Bridge began.


1920 ~ The "curse of the Bambino" haunted the Boston Red Sox after they sold Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees.


1947 ~ Congressional proceedings were televised for the first time.


1958 ~ Sir Edmund Hillary reached the South Pole overland.


1959 ~ Alaska became the 49th state in the United States.


1962 ~ Pope John XXIII excommunicated Fidel Castro.


1987 ~ Aretha Franklin became the first woman to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.


1990 ~ Manuel Noriega surrendered to U.S. forces.

January 4th
 

1967 ~ Donald Campbell died just before breaking his own water speed record in his jet-powered boat, the Bluebird K7.

January 4th
 

1981 ~ Peter Sutcliffe, the "Yorkshire Ripper", is arrested and admits to 13 murders.


1790 ~ President George Washington delivered the first "State of the Union" address.


1885 ~ Dr. William W. Grant of Davenport, Iowa, performed what is thought to be the first appendectomy


1896 ~ Utah was admitted as 45th state in the United States.


1904 ~ In Gonzales v. Williams, the U.S. Supreme Court decided that citizens of Puerto Rico are not aliens and can enter the U.S. freely.


1948 ~ Burma (Myanmar) gained independence from Great Britain.


1951 ~ During the Korean War, North Korean and Communist Chinese forces captured the city of Seoul.


1965 ~ President Johnson outlined his "Great Society" in his State of the Union address.


1999 ~ Former wrestler Jesse Ventura was sworn in as Minnesota's governor.


Also in 1999 ~ The U.S. Mint began distributing the 50 State Quarters.

On Jan. 5, 1914, Henry Ford, head of the Ford Motor Company, introduced a minimum wage scale of $5 per day.

January 5th
 

From today on, the first post of the day will be SOME kind of anniversary from around the world... revolutions, institution days, stuff like that! Todays is.....

Granada, Spain ~ Dia de la Toma....."Day of the Taking". Commemorates the day Spain recaptured the Andalucian hot-spot from the Moors in 1492.


1896 ~ A German newspaper reported German physicist Wilhelm Roentgen's discovery of X-rays.


1914 ~ Henry Ford introduced the $5-a-day minimum wage.


1925 ~ Nellie Tayloe Ross became the first woman governor of a state (Wyoming).


1972 ~ President Nixon ordered the development of the space shuttle


2000 ~ INS Commissioner Doris Meissner ruled that 6-year-old Elian Gonzalez must be returned to Cuba.

January 6th
 

Venezuela ~ La Paradura del Nino....... "The Parade of Baby Jesus". A carnival where statues of Jesus are paraded down the street


1540 ~ King Henry VIII of England married his 4th wife, Anne of Cleves.


1838 ~ Samuel Morse gave the first public demonstration of the telegraph.


1912 ~ New Mexico became the 47th state in the United States.


1987 ~ University of California astronomers first witnessed the birth of a galaxy that contained 1 billion stars.

On Jan. 6, 1919, the 26th president of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt, died in Oyster Bay, N.Y., at age 60.

January 7th
 

1899 ~ French composer Francis Poulenc born

1979 Vietnamese forces captured the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh, overthrowing the Khmer Rouge government.

January 7th
 

Cambodia ~ Following on from Steph's post, this day is now known as "Victory over the Genocidal Regime Day". Catchy, huh?


1789 ~ The first Presidential election was held in the U.S.


1896 ~ Fanny Farmer published her first cookbook.


1927 ~ Transatlantic commercial telephone service began between New York and London.


Not too much going on "today" ...... see y'all tomorrow!! :)

(VERY catchy, DM! LOL)

1918 President Woodrow Wilson outlined his 14 points for peace after World War I.

January 8th
 

1959 ~ Charles de Gaulle becomes first President of the new Fifth Republic of France during a ceremony at the Elysée Palace. Retiring president, M. René Coty, welcomed the new president saying: "The first among Frenchmen is now the first in France."

January 8th
 

VERY quiet day today...... was it a holiday or something?!?!

1935 ~ Birthdate of ELVIS AARON PRESLEY (Wasn't he some kinda singer or something??)


1798 ~ The 11th Amendment to the Constitution, modifying the power of the Supreme Court, was ratified.


1812 ~ Last battle in the War of 1812 was fought.


1958 ~ Bobby Fischer won the United States Chess Championship for the first time at age 14.

1968
The Surveyor 7 space probe made a soft landing on the moon, marking the end of the American series of unmanned explorations of the lunar surface.

January 9th
 

Andorra ~ "Epiphany" .... I guess you have to be Andorran to understand WHY!!!


1788 ~ Connecticut became the 5th state in the United States.


1861 ~ Mississippi became the second state to secede from the Union.


1905 ~ The Russian Revolution of 1905 was sparked by troops firing on petitioners to Czar Nicholas in St. Petersburg.


1964 ~ Anti-American rioting broke out in the Panama Canal Zone.

January 10th
 

Benin ~ "Traditional Day" aka "National Voodoo Day" Just what it sounds like! (Involves a LOT of hard liquor and some unlucky goats!!)


1776 ~ Thomas Paine's Common Sense, which greatly influenced the authors of the Declaration of Independence, was published.


1863 ~ The first underground passenger railway, the Metropolitan, opened in London.


1920 ~ The League of Nations came into existence.


1967 ~ The first African-American senator elected by popular vote, Edward Brooke of Massachusetts, took his seat.


1984 ~ The U.S. and the Vatican reestablished diplomatic relations after a 117-year break.

On Jan. 11, 1935, aviator Amelia Earhart began a trip from Honolulu to Oakland, Calif., becoming the first woman to fly solo across the Pacific Ocean.

January 11th
 

Puerto Rico ~ "Hostos Day". Honouring freedom fighter Eugenio Maria deHostos y Bonilla. The first Argentinian train was also named after him.


1963 ~ The first discotheque, the Whiskey-A-Go-Go, opened in Los Angeles.


1964 ~ The first government report regarding the dangers of cigarette smoking was issued by the U.S. Surgeon General, Luther Terry.


1973 ~ Baseball's American League adopted the "designated hitter" rule which allowed another player to bat for the pitcher.


2002 ~ The first al-Qaeda prisoners arrive at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

January 12th
 

Turkmenistan ~ "Anniversary of the Battle of Geok-Tepe". 6,000 Russian troops overwhelmed 25,000 Turkomans in 1881.


1773 ~ The first public museum in the U.S. was established in Charleston, S.C.


1896 ~ H. L. Smith took the first X-ray photograph. It was a hand with a bullet in it.


1915 ~ The U.S. House of Representatives rejected a proposal to give women the right to vote.


1932 ~ Hattie W. Caraway, a democrat from Arkansas became the first woman to be elected to the U.S. Senate.


1964 ~ One month after Zanzibar became independent, the ruling Zanzibar Nationalist Party was overthrown in a violent coup.


1991 ~ A divided Congress gave President Bush the go-ahead on the Persian Gulf War.


1998 ~ Nineteen European countries signed an agreement banning human cloning.

We've come a long way, baby.

Coming home on the subway with some coworkers, I mentioned it was only 80 years ago that women were given the vote. Hard to believe, DM!

Update - The museum in Charleston is still here, and the people that built it still control the town.

January 13th
 

Ukraine ~ "St. Melania's Day" Carollers go from house to house, playing pranks or acting out a small play. Bit chilly!! :)


1559 ~ Queen Elizabeth I of England was crowned in Westminster Abbey.


1898 ~ French writer Emile Zola published his "J'Accuse" letter, accusing the French of a cover-up in the Alfred Dreyfus treason case.


1941 ~ Novelist James Joyce died in Zurich.


1990 ~ Douglas Wilder of Virginia became the first elected African-American governor in the United States.


1999 ~ Michael Jordan announced his second retirement from the NBA. He would "unretire" again in 2001.


2002 ~ After 17,162 performances, The Fantasticks ended its almost 42-year off-Broadway run.

January 14th
 

Bosnia-Herzegovina ~ New Year (Orthodox!!) ANOTHER excuse for a good bevvy session. Slainte!!


1784 ~ The Untied States ratified treaty with England ending Revolutionary War.


1943 ~ President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill meet at the Casablanca Conference.


1953 ~ Tito formally became the first president of the Republic of Yugoslavia.


1954 ~ Marilyn Monroe married baseball legend Joe DiMaggio.


1963 ~ George Wallace sworn in as Alabama's governor, promising "segregation forever."


1973 ~ The Miami Dolphins became the first NFL team to go undefeated and have a perfect season by beating the Washington Redskins in Super Bowl VII.


1990 ~ The Simpsons premiered on television. (Bart STILL doesn't look a day over 9, does he?!! :) )

January 15th
 

Malawi ~ "John Chilembwe's Day" A reverend, he led a revolt against the occupying British in 1914. He was shot, in keeping with British policy in those days!!


1759 ~ The British Museum opened.


1870 ~ The donkey was first used as symbol of the Democratic Party in Harper's Weekly.


1943 ~ The world's largest office building, the Pentagon, was completed.


1974 ~ Happy Days premiered on television.

1967 The first Super Bowl was played as the Green Bay Packers of the National Football League defeated the Kansas City Chiefs of the American Football League, 35-10.

January 16th
 

United States ~ "Prohibition Remembrance Day". A celebration of the Banning of Booze!!


1547 ~ Ivan the Terrible was crowned the first czar of Russia.


1883 ~ The U.S. Civil Service Commission established.


1920 ~ (Pursuant to #1!!) A year after it was ratified, the 18th Amendment to the Constitution, prohibiting the sale of alcoholic beverages, went into effect.


1942 ~ Actress Carole Lombard, the wife of actor Clark Gable, died in a plane crash.

1991 The White House announced the start of Operation Desert Storm to drive Iraqi forces out of Kuwait.

January 17th
 

Britain (kinda) ~ Captain Scott reached the South Pole today in 1912; only to find the Norwegian Flag of Roald Amundsen, who beat him to it!!


1706 ~ Benjamin Franklin was born in Boston.


1806 ~ James Madison Randolph, the grandson of Thomas Jefferson, became the first child born in the White House.


1893 ~ Hawaii's Queen Liliuokalani was forced to abdicate by a group of planters and businessmen.


1945 ~ Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg disappeared in Hungary while in Soviet custody.


1977 ~ Gary Gilmore became the first person executed in the U.S. since the death penalty was reintroduced.


1991 ~ Operation Desert Storm was launched against Iraq.


1998 ~ President Clinton became the first sitting U.S. president to testify as a defendant in a criminal or civil suit.


2001 ~ Gov. Gray Davis declared a state of emergency concerning California's electricity crisis.

January 18th
 

Peru ~ "Lima Foundation Day" All sorts of parades, dancing, fireworks..... the whole nine-yards!! :)


1733 ~ The first polar bear was exhibited in America, in Boston.


1778 ~ Captain James Cook came across the Sandwich Islands (Hawaii).


1782 ~ Daniel Webster was born in Salisbury, New Hampshire.


1788 ~ The First Fleet, carrying convicts and sheep, arrived in Australia's Botany Bay.


1912 ~ The ill-fated Scott expedition reached the South Pole, only to discover Amundsen had been there first. (typical, ain't it.... WE celebrate this a day EARLY!!)


1943 ~ The Nazi siege of Leningrad was broken.

Philippines ~ "AtiAtihan Festival" No-one seems to know WHAT they're celebrating......but who cares? Partay!! Any Filipino members here, who can enlighten us?


1915 ~ The electric neon sign was patented in the United States by George Claude of Paris, France.


1953 ~ Lucy Ricardo gave birth to baby Ricky on I Love Lucy. More people tuned in to watch the show than the inauguration of President Eisenhower.


1955 ~ President Eisenhower okayed the first filming of a news conference for television.


1966 ~ Indira Gandhi was elected prime minister of India.


1981 ~ The United States and Iran signed an agreement paving the way for the release of 52 Americans held hostage for more than 14 months.


1997 ~ Yasser Arafat returned to Hebron for the first time in 30 years, as Israel hands over control of the West Bank city to Palestinians.

On Jan. 19, 1937, millionaire Howard Hughes set a transcontinental air record by flying his monoplane from Los Angeles to Newark, N.J., in 7 hours, 28 minutes and 25 seconds.

January 20th
 

Laos ~ "Army Day" As 85% of the population peace-loving Buddhists, this is a fairly 'low-key' celebration!


1801 ~ John Marshall was appointed Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court


1885 ~ LaMarcus A. Thompson of Coney Island patented the roller coaster.


1942 ~ The Nazis formulated their "Final Solution" regarding the Jews at the Wannsee Conference.


1981 ~ President Reagan became the oldest president to take office (69 years and 349 days).


1981 ~ Same day!! 52 American hostages seized from the American Embassy in Tehran were released after 444 days in captivity.


1986 ~ Martin Luther King, Jr., day was celebrated as a federal holiday for the first time.

January 21st
 

Barbados ~ "Errol Barrow Day" Commemorates the Island's first Prime Minister. His achievements include the introduction of free school meals.


1793 ~ King Louis XVI was guillotined for treason.


1915 ~ The first Kiwanis Club was founded in Detroit.


1924 ~ Vladimir Ilyich Lenin died in Moscow.


1950 ~ George Orwell died in London.


Also1950 ~ Former State department official Alger Hiss found guilty of perjury.


1954 ~ USS Nautilus, the first nuclear-powered submarine was launched.


1977 ~ President Carter pardoned most Vietnam War draft evaders.


2003 ~ The U.S. Census Bureau reported that Hispanics had surpassed Blacks as the largest minority group.

January 22nd
 

China ~ First day of the "Year of the Monkey"!!


1901 ~ Queen Victoria of England died after reigning for 63 years (the 4th longest among longest-reigning monarchs and the longest for queens).


1905 ~ 500 workers were killed by the Czar's troops in "Bloody Sunday" in St. Petersburg.


1938 ~ Thornton Wilder's play Our Town first performed publicly in Princeton, N.J.


1973 ~ The Supreme Court legalized some abortions in Roe v. Wade.


1973 ~ (also today!!) Former President Lyndon B. Johnson died at age 64.


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


2002 ~ Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl was kidnapped by the National Movement for the Restoration of Pakistani Sovereignty.




Hey guys..... anybody else got any interesting "daily" facts to post? I just LOVE all this stuff....... I can even remember some of it, when I "need" too!!!

DM

January 23rd
 

The WORLD!! ~ "The A-Team" made it's TV debut in 1983....... and a LEGEND was born!!


1556 ~ The deadliest earthquake on record killed 830,000 in Shansi, China.


1789 ~ Georgetown University established in what is now Washington, DC.


1849 ~ Elizabeth Blackwell became the first woman physician in the U.S.


1964 ~ The 24th Amendment to the Constitution, barring poll taxes, was ratified.


1968 ~ North Korea seized the U.S. Navy ship Pueblo (the crew was released 11 months later.)


1973 ~ President Nixon announced that an accord had been reached to end the Vietnam War.


1989 ~ Salvador Dali died in Spain at age 84.