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January 6th
0548 - This was the last year the Church in Jerusalem observed the birth of Jesus on this date. (Celebrating Christmas on 25 December began in the late 300s in the Western Church.). 0871 - The Danes were defeated by the West Saxons under Ethelred and Alfred the Great at the battle of Ashdown. 1066 - Harold was crowned king of England following the death of his brother-in-law Edward the Confessor, and immediately was threatened by rival claimants to the throne. He was England's last Anglo-Saxon king and was crowned, nine months before his death at the Battle of Hastings. 1099 - Henry V, second son of Henry IV and his first wife, Bertha of Turin, was crowned king of Germany. 1169 - England and France agreed to a peace when Louis VII and Henry II met at Montmirail. 1367 - Born this day, Richard II, in Bordeaux, France, king of England (1377-99). 1412 - Born this day, Joan of Arc (Jeanne D’Arc), in Domremy-la-Pucelle, France, Maid of Orleans, French heroine, liberated the city of Orleans from the English, and was burnt at the stake as a witch 31 May 1431; Roman Catholic saint). The house where Joan of Arc was born, which was bought in 1818 by the deparment of the Vosges and classified as a historic monument in 1840, has been preserved and restored. 1540 - King Henry VIII of England married Anne of Cleves, his fourth wife, the 'Flanders Mare'. 1655 - Born this day, Jacob [Jacques] Bernoulli, first of the Bernoulli family of Swiss mathematicians. He introduced the first principles of the calculus of variation. Bernoulli numbers, a concept that he developed, were named after him. Jacob Bernoulli's first important contributions were a pamphlet on the parallels of logic and algebra (1685), work on probability in 1685 and geometry in 1687. His geometry result gave a construction to divide any triangle into four equal parts with two perpendicular lines. [old style birthdate 27 December 1654]. He died 16 August 1705. 1731 - Died this day, Étienne-François Geoffroy, French chemist. Was born 13 February 1672. 1745 - Born this day, Jacques Étienne Montgolfier, inventor, with his brother, Joseph-Michel Montgolfier, they were French pioneer developers of the hot-air balloon and who conducted the first untethered flights. An initial experiment with a balloon of taffeta filled with hot smoke was given a public demonstration on 4 June 1783. This was followed by a flight carrying three animals as passengers on 19 September 1783, shown in Paris and witnessed by King Louis XVI. On 21 November 1783, their balloon carried the first two men on an untethered flight - the first manned balloon flight. Étienne also developed a process for manufacturing vellum. Died 2 August 1799. 1759 - George Washington married widow Martha Dandridge Custis. 1786 - Died this day, Jean-Étienne Guettard, French geologist, mineralogist. The first to survey and geologically map France. Also first to identify several fossil species from the Paris area. Born 22 September 1715. 1795 - Born this day, Anselme Payen, French chemist, made important contributions to industrial chemistry and discovered cellulose, a basic constituent of plant cells. His father's factories produced various chemicals, and refined sugar, so Payen studied science. In 1815, at the age of 20, he was made manager of his father's plant for refining imported crude borax. There he developed a synthesis for borax from soda and boric acid and in 1820, created a new industry which could market the synthetic product at a third of the price of the refined natural borax. When his father died in 1820, Payen took over the family business. In 1833, he discovered diastase, the first enzyme to be discovered. He died 12 May 1871. 1799 - Born this day, Jedediah Smith, explorer, helped to create the Oregon Trail, Was the first American to reach California by land and the first to travel the Pacific Coast from San Diego to Canada by land. He was killed by Comanche warriors in the spring of 1831 while looking for water on the Santa Fe Trail. 1822 - Born this day, Heinrich Schliemann, German archaeologist, who discovered the ruins of ancient Troy, and excavator of Troy, Mycenae, and Tiryns. He is often considered to be the modern discoverer of prehistoric Greece. Ignoring scholarly derision, he excavated Hissarlik on the Asia Minor coast of Turkey, finding ruins of nine consecutive cities. The second oldest (Troy II), yielded a hoard that Schliemann romantically called Priam's Treasure. His spectacular finds in Greece at Mycenae (1874-76), Orchomenos in Boeotia (1880), and Tiryns (1884-85) established him as the discoverer of Mycenaean civilization. Died 26 December 1890. 1838 - The telegraph was demonstrated for the first time in public at the Speedwell Iron Works in lovely Morristown, New Jersey. The person demonstrating the new invention, the telegraph’s inventor was, of course, Samuel F. B. Morse and his partner, Alfred Vail. 1842 - Born this day, Clarence King, American geologist and mining engineer who directed the survey of the 40th parallel (1867-78), an intensive study of the mineral resources along the site of the proposed Union Pacific Railroad, recorded in his classic volume, Systematic Geology (1878). Made the first discovery of glaciers in the US while studying the extinct volcanoes of Mounts Shasta, Rainier, and Hood and is credited with introducing the use of contour lines on maps to indicate topographic features. Was also instrumental in forming the US Geological Survey, and was appointed its first head (1879-81). Died 24 December 1901. 1844 - A US patent (#3,605), which was America's first patent related to iron ore, was issued to S. Broadmeadow of Woodbridge, New Jersey. He described his process to extract malleable iron from iron ore. 1857 - A US patent (#16,362), was issued to Samuel Wetherill, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. It was America's first patent related to zinc ore. 1865 - Born this day, Nikolay Yakovlevich Marr, Russian linguist, archaeologist, and ethnographer who specialised in the languages of the Caucasus. Died 20 December 1934. 1878 - Born this day, Carl August Sandburg, author, Abraham Lincoln. Poet: Chicago, Grass, The People, Yes. Folk balladeer: The American Songbag. Died 22 July 1967. [pen names Militant; Jack Philips]. 1880 - Born this day, Tom [Thomas Erwin] Mix, actor, silent movie cowboy. Died in 1940. 1880 - Born this day, Sam Rayburn, former Speaker of the House of Representatives. 1883 - Born this day, Khalil Gibran, mystic poet (The Prophet, Broken Wings), born in Lebanon. 1896 - Following accusations that he engineered the Jameson Raid on Johannesburg, Cecil Rhodes resigned as prime minister of Cape Colony. 1896 - The first American women’s six-day bicycle race was held at Madison Square Garden in New York City. 1906 - Born this day, Carl Rakosi, German poet. Died 24 June 2004. 1906 - Born this day, George Ledyard Stebbins, American botanist and geneticist known for his application of the modern synthetic theory of evolution to plants. He was the first scientist to artificially synthesize a species of plant that was capable of thriving under natural conditions. 1911 - Born this day, Joey Adams [Abramowitz], comedian. Died in 1999. 1912 - Born this day, Danny Thomas [Amos Jacobs], Emmy Award-winning Best Actor. Died in 1991. 1912 - 'The Land of Enchantment', the territory acquired by the US as a result of the Mexican War, entered the United States of America this day as New Mexico, the 47th state. New Mexico is also referred to as the Sunshine State, but that irritates the residents of the Sunshine State of Florida. Santa Fe, the oldest city in New Mexico, is the state capital and has been the capital of the area since 1610. The state bird is the roadrunner, not the cartoon, but the real thing. New Mexico has a multitude of state symbols including its own fossil - coelophysis, plus the state flower - yucca, tree - pinon, animal - black bear; vegetables - chili and frijol, gem - turquoise, and insect - tarantula hawk wasp. The state motto is in latin - Crescit eundo - which translates to 'It grows as it goes'. 1913 - Born this day, Loretta [Gretchen] Young, Academy Award-winning actress. Died in 2000. 1913 - William M. Burton patented a process to 'crack' petroleum, converting oil to produce gasoline (petrol). Standard Oil used his method. 1914 - Born this day, Danny Thomas, actor. 1916 - Born this day, Eugene Maleska, educator, crossword puzzle buff, created new puzzle designs and clue styles, crossword puzzle editor of NY Times. Died 5 August 1993. 1919 - Died this day, Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th president of the United States, at the age of 60, at his home in Oyster Bay, New York. 1921 - Born this day, Louis Harris, public opinion analyst. 1921 - Born this day, Cary Middlecoff, golf champion, (Masters [1955]; US Open [1949, 1956]). Died 1 September 1998. 1924 - Born this day, Earl Scruggs, musician, banjo, (groups: Bluegrass Boys, Foggy Mountain Boys: Foggy Mountain Breakdown, Ballad of Jed Clampett; Earl Scruggs Review [w/sons]; member: Grand Ole Opry). 1925 - Born this day, John DeLorean, auto executive. 1925 - Paavo Nurmi, known as the 'Flying Finn' and regarded as the greatest runner of his day, set world records in the mile and 5,000 metre run within the space of one hour in his first US appearance, an indoor meet at New York City's new Madison Square Garden. 1926 - Born this day, Pat Flaherty, auto racer, Indianapolis 500 winner [1956]. 1928 - The Thames burst its banks and flooded low lying districts of London killing 14 people in their basement homes. Hundreds more were made homeless by the grey, swollen river. The Houses of Parliament vaults were also flooded and paintings in the Tate gallery were badly damaged. 1929 - Born this day, Wilbert Harrison, singer, 1959 US No.1 single Kansas City, (Let’s Work Together). Died 26 October 1994. 1929 - King Alexander I of Yugoslavia abolished the constitution, dissolved the government and established a royal dictatorship. 1929 - Sheffield Farms of New York began using wax paper cartons instead of glass bottles for milk delivery. 1930 - The first diesel-engine automobile trip was completed. It ran for 792 miles from Indianapolis, Indiana to New York City. 1930 - Born this day, Vic Tayback [Tabback], actor. Died in 1990. 1931 - Born this day, E.L. [Edgar Lawrence] Doctorow, author. 1933 - Born this day, Capucine [Germaine Lefebvre], in Toulon, France, actress. She was springboarded from a 1950s modeling career into a 1960s movie career, including a starring role in The Pink Panther, before her suicide in 1990. 1934 - Born this day, Sylvia Syms, actress. 1934 - Born this day, Bobby Lord, country singer. 1935 - Born this day, Nino Tempo, sax musician, singer, (Deep Purple [w/April Stevens]). 1936 - Born this day, Darlene Hard, tennis, Women’s Singles Champion: French Open [1960], US Open [1960, 1961]. 1937 - Born this day, Doris Troy, singer, (Just One Look). 1938 - Trummy Young played trombone and sang with the Jimmy Lunceford Orchestra in New York City as Margie became Decca record number 1617. 1941 - A young actor appeared for the first time in a new program on CBS radio titled, The Home of the Brave. Along with others in the cast, this was Richard Widmark’s debut. 1941 - Alice Marble made her professional tennis debut by defeating Ruth Hardwick of Great Britain at Madison Square Garden in New York City. 1941 - President Franklin D. Roosevelt addressed Congress offering support for all who strove for four essential freedoms. The freedom of speech and religion and freedom from want and from fear. 1942 - The first, commercial, around-the-world airline flight took place today. Pan American Airlines was the company credited with the historic feat. 1943 - Born this day, Terry Venables, football manager. 1944 - Born this day, Bonnie Franklin, actress, (Applause, One Day at a Time). 1944 - Born this day, Rolf M. Zinkernagel, in Riehen, a village near Basel, Switzerland. Swiss immunologist and pathologist who received the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1996. 1944 - Born this day, Van McCoy, 1975 US No.1 and UK No.3 single The Hustle. Died 6 July 1979 aged 38. 1945 - The World War II (WWII) battle, The Battle of the Bulge ended. 1945 - Born this day, Barry John, ex-rugby player. 1946 - Born this day, [Roger] Syd Barrett, musician, guitar, singer. (solo: LPs: The Madcap Laughs, Barrett [1970]; group: Pink Floyd: Baby Lemonade, Effervescing Elephants, Golden Hair, She Took a Long Cold Look). A Pink Floyd original member, he left in 1968. 1947 - Born this day, Sandy Denny, UK folk singer, Fairport Convention, died 21 April 1978 after falling down the stairs at a friends house, 1969 UK No.21 single Si Tu Dois Partir and solo artist. 1949 - The first photograph of genes was taken at the University of Southern California by Dr. Daniel Chapin Pease and Dr. Richard Freligh Baker. 1950 - Ronald Coleman starred as the president of Ivy College in the radio presentation, Halls of Ivy. 1950 - Britain formally recognised China's communist government. 1951 - Born this day, Kim Wilson, The Fabulous Thunderbirds, US R&B band. 1952 - A regular feature of Sunday funny papers debuted, as Peanuts was seen above the fold in newspapers across the country. The most successful syndicated comic strip in history, by Charles Schulz, continues to be a most popular feature worldwide. 1953 - Born this day, Malcolm Young, musician, guitar, AC/DC, 1980 UK No.36 single Whole Lotta Rosie, Let There Be Rock, Powerage, Highway to Hell, 1980 UK No.1 and US No.14 album Back in Black sold over 10 million copies, Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap, For Those About to Rock, Fly on the Wall, Who Made Who, Blow Up Your Video. 1954 - Born this day, Anthony Minghella, writer, director. 1955 - Born this day, Rowan Atkinson, British comic actor, (Never Say Never Again, Blackadder, Mr. Bean, Four Weddings and a funeral). 1955 - Born this day, Trudie Styler, in Birmingham, England, actress (she has been in films such as Fair Game and Grave Indiscretion), was executive producer of the Guy Richie films Lock Stock and 2 Smoking Barrels and Snatch. However she is best known for being married to Sting. 1956 - Born this day, Angus Deayton, TV presenter. 1956 - Bill Haley's Rock Around The Clock went to No.1 on the UK singles chart for the second time. 1956 - Elvis Presley performed in the gym at Randolph High School in Mississippi, the last time he ever appeared in a small auditorium. 1957 - Elvis Presley appeared for the third, and final time on The Ed Sullivan Show on CBS-TV. Ed, watching out for the moral safety of the viewing public (plus a live audience of screaming Elvis fans in the show’s New York theatre), demanded that the CBS cameras not venture lower than Elvis’ waist! Sullivan felt that Presley’s wild gyrations of his pelvis would lead the nation’s females into a frenzy of untold proportions. 1957 - Born this day, Nancy Lopez, golfer, (Nabisco Dinah Shore Champion [1981], LPGA Champion [1978, 1985, 1989], most consecutive wins [5] in LPGA events [1978]). 1958 - Bobby Helms filmed a role in the movie The Case Against Brooklyn. 1959 - Born this day, Kathy Sledge, singer, Sister Sledge, 1979 US No.2 single We Are Family, 1985 UK No.1 with Frankie. 1960 - Born this day, Muzz Skillings, Living Colour, 1991 UK No.12 single Love Rears Its Ugly Head. 1960 - Born this day, Paul Azinger, golf champion, (PGA [1993]). 1960 - Born this day, Nigella Lawson, TV presenter, cookery programmes, author. 1962 - Elvis Presley had his third UK No.1 album with Blue Hawaii, it spent a total of 18 weeks at the top of the charts. 1963 - Born this day, Malcolm Young, guitarist. 1964 - Born this day, Mark O'Toole, bassist, Frankie Goes To Hollywood, 1984 UK No.1 and US No.10 single Relax and six other UK Top 40 singles. 1964 - Pope Paul VI finished a three-day tour to the Holy Land, the first papal visit since Christianity began. 1964 - The first night of a 14 date tour Group Scene 1964, featuring The Rolling Stones, The Ronettes, Marty Wilde, The Swinging Blue Jeans and Dave Berry and The Cruisers, at the Granada Theatre, Harrow on The Hill, Middlesex. 1966 - Duke Ellington’s concert of sacred music, recorded at 5th Avenue Presbyterian Church in New York City, was broadcast on CBS-TV. 1967 - The first Super Bowl was televised by both NBC and CBS. Featuring the Green Bay Packers vs the Kansas City Raiders, it was one of the highest-rated single programs in the history of television to this time. Green Bay, led by quarterback Bart Starr, beat Kansas City by a score of 35 - 10. 1968 - The Dick Clark-produced TV show Happening '68 premiered. 1968 - Lulu's Best of Both Worlds entered the Billboard charts, eventually reaching No.32. 1968 - Born this day, John Singleton, director, writer, (Higher Learning, Poetic Justice, Boyz N the Hood). 1968 - Singer Val Doonican was at No.1 on the UK album chart with Val Doonican Rocks, But Gently. 1968 - The Beatles Magical Mystery Tour started an eight week run at No.1 on the US album chart, the groups 11th US chart topper. 1969 - President Charles de Gaulle imposed a total ban on French arms supplies to Israel. 1969 - Died this day, James Lister, director of Gilligan's Island and Wild, Wild West. 1969 - Born this day, Norman reedus, actor, (Blade II). 1970 - Born this day, Gabrielle Reece, volleyball. 1970 - Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young made their UK debut at the Royal Albert Hall, London. 1971 - The first adult heart transplant in the US was performed at the Stanford Medical Center, Stanford, California, by Dr. Norman Shumway. The 54-year-old patient, whose heart had been damaged by a virus infection, survived for 15 days after the transplant. 1971 - Born this day, Joey Lauren Adams, actress. 1971 - Berkeley chemists announced the first synthetic production of growth hormones. 1973 - Carly Simon's You're So Vain, (with Mick Jagger on backing vocals?), started a three week run at No.1 on the US singles chart. 1974 - CBS radio returned to dramatic programming at night with the first broadcast of "Radio Mystery Theatre", hosted by E.G. Marshall. The program debuted on 218 CBS network stations and remains a mainstay (even in syndication!) for some stations today. 1975 - The Broadway premiere of The Wiz opened, receiving enthusiastic reviews. The show, a black version of The Wizard of Oz, ran for 1,672 shows at the Majestic Theatre. Moviegoers, however, gave a thumbs down to the later cinema version of the musical that starred Diana Ross and Michael Jackson. One memorable song from the show is Ease on Down the Road. 1975 - ABC-TV joined the early morning news and information race as A. M. America debuted. Bill Beautel, long time WABC-TV news anchor (with Roger Grimsby), teamed up with Stephanie Edwards from LA. The show lasted ten months. ABC then introduced David Hartman in Good Morning America, which has given NBC’s Today show a solid run for the money for 20 years. 1977 - EMI Records dropped The Sex Pistols giving the band £40,000 to release them from their contract. 1977 - Born this day, Danny Pintauro, actor, (Who's the Boss?). 1979 - Soul Man recorded by comedians John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd as the fictitious singing team, The Blues Brothers, debuted on Billboard's pop charts. The Blues Brothers had originally been created for TV's Saturday Night Live, and had been so popular that it prompted several records and a movie with Jake and Elwood Blues. Soul Man peaked at Number 14 on the charts. 1979 - The Bee Gees started a two week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with Too Much Heaven, the groups 7th US No.1. 1979 - Showaddywaddy went to No.1 on the UK chart with their Greatest Hits compilation. 1979 - The Village People scored their only UK No.1 single with Y.M.C.A. At it's peak the single was selling 150,000 copies a day. 1980 - Died this day, Georgeanna Gordon, singer with Motown girl group The Marvelettes, aged 46. 1981 - Gaston Thorn succeeded Roy Jenkins as president of the European Commission. 1984 - Getty Oil announced a bid to take over Texaco Oil for an estimated $9.9 billion. The offer topped the previous record takeover bid by the DuPont Company for Conoco Oil in 1981 for $7.8 billion. 1984 - The first test-tube quadruplets, all boys, were born in Melbourne, Australia. The babies were named Sam, Chris, Ben and Brett by their parents Graham and Helen Muir. They were born at Melbourne's Royal Women's Hospital. 1984 - The 100th US Congress convened with Democrats controlling the Senate, and thus both houses, for the first time under the Reagan administration. 1987 - After a 29-year lapse, the Ford Thunderbird was again presented with the Motor Trend Car of the Year Award. This was the first repeat winner of the award. 1987 - Elton John canceled all live performances for a year after throat surgery. 1987 - Eric Clapton started what became an annual event by playing six shows at the Royal Albert Hall, London. 1990 - Phil Collins started a three week run at No.1 on the US album chart with ...But Seriously. 1990 - Poland's Communist Party leaders gave the green light to its dissolution and replacement by a non-Marxist party. 1992 - A judge in San Fernando, California, sentenced Adam Rich, the former child actor who portrayed Nicholas Bradford in the 1980's hit TV series Eight is Enough, to 30 days in jail after he was kicked out of a court-ordered drug rehabilitation program. Rich, age 23, was expelled from the program after he jumped down a flight of stairs the previous week and then asked for painkilling drugs for his injuries. 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. 1993 - Died this day, the great jazz trumpeter, Dizzy Gillespie, of cancer at age 75. He has been credited with being a co-founder (w/Charlie Parker) of ‘bebop’ music and wrote many jazz numbers ("Salt Peanuts", "Night in Tunisia"). Gillespie also created the ‘afro-cuban’ sound in jazz music. A few of the disciples who preached Dizzy’s gospel of bebop were Thelonious Monk, Earl ‘Bud’ Powell, Charlie Parker and Miles Davis. 1993 - It was reported that David Bowie had lost over £2.5 million in unpaid royalties to an Italian Mafia linked bootleg fraud. 1993 - Died this day, dancer and choreographer Rudolf Nureyev died at age 54 of cardiac complications; his doctor later confirmed it was AIDS. 1993 - It was announced that Japan's Crown Prince Naruhito would marry a 29-year-old Foreign Ministry official, a commoner, in June. 1994 - US figure skater Nancy Kerrigan was clubbed on the right knee by a man who then fled. The attack, which forced Kerrigan to withdraw from the US Figure Skating Championship, was traced to four men with links to her leading rival, Tonya Harding. 1996 - Died this day, Adrienne Lois Brown, wife of singer James Brown, two days after under going cosmetic surgery. A spokesman of the Los Angeles County coroner said her death appeared to be a result of natural causes, but he offered no details. The type of cosmetic surgery, which took place in a doctor's office, was not disclosed. An autopsy was scheduled, although a hospital spokesperson said there was nothing to indicate her death was related to the surgery. Brown was 47 years old. 1997 - John Major lost his majority in the Commons. 1997 - Two bronze busts worth £50,000 were stolen from a garden at George Harrison's estate in Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire. Thieves had climbed a 10-foot wall and cut the figures of two monks from their stone plinths. 1998 - Some 300 people were reported to have been massacred in the past several days in Algeria's bloody civil war. 1999 - The first session of the 106th US Congress opened with the election of Dennis Hastert, R-Illinois, as the new Speaker of the House. 1999 - An agreement ended the six-month player lockout by owners of National Basketball Association teams. The labour dispute had threatened to wipe out the entire 1998-99 season. 2001 - Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour won the right to his dot com name. Dave took legal action in his battle to reclaim davidgilmour.com from Andrew Herman who had registered the URL and was selling Pink Floyd merchandise through the site. 2002 - Daniel Bedingfield went back to No.1 on the UK singles chart for the second time with Gotta Get Thru This. 2002 - The condition of Chancellor Gordon Brown's daughter Jennifer deteriorated after she suffered a brain haemorrhage. |
Trivia
Trivia - petty details or considerations, matters or things that are very unimportant, inconsequential, or nonessential; trifles; trivialities.
Trivial - of very little importance or value; insignificant: "Don't bother me with trivial matters." Trivially - unimportant, nugatory, slight, immaterial, inconsequential, frivolous, trifling.