January 27
Today, our friends and Dwellers in Canadia celebrate
Family Literacy Day.
Also, the liberation of the remaining inmates of the
Auschwitz concentration camp is commemorated by many countries on this date as
International Holocaust Remembrance Day.
Events
98 –
Trajan succeeded his adoptive father
Nerva as Roman emperor; under his rule the Roman Empire would reach its maximum extent.
1302 –
Dante Alighieri is exiled from Florence.
1606 –
Gunpowder Plot: The trial of
Guy Fawkes and other conspirators begins, ending with their execution on January 31.
1776 – American Revolutionary War:
Henry Knox's
"noble train of artillery" arrives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
1785 – The
University of Georgia is founded, the first public university in the United States.
1825 – The U.S. Congress approves
Indian Territory (in what is present-day Oklahoma), clearing the way for forced relocation of the
Eastern Indians on what became known as the
"Trail of Tears".
1880 –
Thomas Edison receives the patent on the
incandescent lamp.
1939 – First flight of the
Lockheed P-38 Lightning.
1943 – World War II: The Eighth Air Force sorties ninety-one
B-17s and
B-24s to attack the U-boat construction yards at Wilhelmshaven, Germany. This was the first American bombing attack on Germany.
1944 – World War II: The 900-day
Siege of Leningrad is lifted.
1945 – World War II: The Red Army liberates the remaining inmates of
Auschwitz-Birkenau.
1951 – Nuclear testing at the
Nevada Test Site begins with
Operation Ranger.
1967 – Astronauts
Gus Grissom,
Edward White and
Roger Chaffee are killed in a fire during a test of their
Apollo 1 spacecraft at the Kennedy Space Center, Florida. The astronauts' rescue was prevented by the
plug door hatch, which could not be opened against the higher internal pressure of the cabin.
1967 – The United States, United Kingdom, and Soviet Union sign the
Outer Space Treaty in Washington, D.C., banning deployment of nuclear weapons in space, and limiting use of the Moon and other celestial bodies to peaceful purposes.
1970 -
John Lennon wrote, recorded and mixed his new single '
Instant Karma!' all in one day. It ranks as one of the fastest-released songs in pop music history, recorded at London's
Abbey Road Studios and arriving in stores only ten days later.
1980 – Through cooperation between the U.S. and Canadian governments, six American diplomats secretly escape
hostilities in Iran in the culmination of the
Canadian Caper.
1996 – Germany first observes
International Holocaust Remembrance Day. [Really Germany?
It took you over 50 fucking years?]
2003 – The
first selections for the
National Recording Registry are announced by the
Library of Congress.
2011 –
Arab Spring: The
Yemeni Revolution begins as over 16,000 protestors demonstrate in Sana'a.
2013 – Two hundred forty-two people
die in a nightclub fire in the Brazilian city of Santa Maria, Rio Grande do Sul.
2015 -
Tom Petty and
Jeff Lynne were given a song writing credit on
Sam Smith's hit '
Stay With Me', because of the similarities to his 1989 track '
I Won't Back Down'. 'Stay With Me' had been nominated for three Grammys, including song of the year - which honors the writers of the track. Petty's publisher had contacted Smiths publisher who made an out of court settlement.
Births
1756 – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
; 1795 – Eli Whitney Blake (invented the
Mortise lock); 1832 – Lewis Carroll (wrote
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Through the Looking-Glass); 1885 – Jerome Kern♪ ♫; 1900 – Hyman G. Rickover; 1901 – Art Rooney (founded the Pittsburgh Steelers); 1905 – Howard McNear (Mayberry's barber 'Floyd The Barber'); 1908 – William Randolph Hearst, Jr.; 1918 – Skitch Henderson
;
1918 – Elmore James
; 1919 – Ross Bagdasarian, Sr. (created Alvin and the Chipmunks); 1921 – Donna Reed; 1930 – Bobby "
Blue" Bland♪ ♫; 1936 – Troy Donahue; 1937 – Buddy Emmons♪ ♫(pedal steel guitarist); 1940 – James Cromwell ("That'll do, Pig. That'll do."); 1940 – Reynaldo Rey; 1942 – John Witherspoon; 1944 – Nick Mason
(Pink Floyd); 1946 – Nedra Talley♪ ♫(The Ronettes); 1948 – Mikhail Baryshnikov; 1951 – Brian Downey
(Thin Lizzy); 1951 – Seth Justman
(The J. Geils Band, wrote "Centerfold"); 1952 – G. E. Smith
(Hall & Oates, Bob Dylan's touring band, musical director
SNL); 1955 – John Roberts (Chief Justice SCOTUS); 1956 – Mimi Rogers; 1957 – Janick Gers
(Iron Maiden); 1957 – Frank Miller (comic book artist, graphic novelist); 1959 – Cris Collinsworth; 1959 – Keith Olbermann; 1964 – Bridget Fonda; 1965 – Alan Cumming; 1966 – Tamlyn Tomita (
Four Rooms); 1968 – Mike Patton♪ ♫(Faith No More); 1969 – Patton Oswalt
Deaths
98– Nerva; 1596 – Francis Drake; 1851 – John James Audubon; 1901 – Giuseppe Verdi♪ ♫; 1910 – Thomas Crapper; 1922 – Nellie Bly; 1967 – Roger B. Chaffee, Gus Grissom, & Ed White; 1972 – Mahalia Jackson♪ ♫; 1989 – Thomas Sopwith; 1994 – Claude Akins (
Movin' On, BJ & The Bear); 2004 – Jack Paar; 2006 – Gene McFadden♪ ♫(McFadden & Whitehead); 2009 – John Updike (wrote
Rabbit Run, Rabbit Redux, Rabbit Is Rich, Rabbit at Rest, & Rabbit Remembered); 2010 – J. D. Salinger (author
The Catcher in the Rye); 2011 – Charlie Callas; 2014 – Pete Seeger