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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. 1493 - Treaty of Barcelona signed, France cedes Roussillon and Cerdagne to Spain. 1736 - Born this day, James Watt, English inventor, condensing steam engine; the watt, a unit of power, was named after him. Died 19 August 1819. 1793 - King Louis XVI was tried by the French Convention, found guilty of treason and sentence to the guillotine. 1807 - Born this day, Robert E. (Edward) Lee, American soldier, born in Westmoreland County, Virginia, one of the greatest of the Confederate generals in the American Civil War (1861-65). He was fifth in descent from Richard Lee of Shropshire, who emigrated to Virginia in the reign of Charles I, received large grants of land between Potomac and Rappahannock rivers, and built the original Stratford House. In a later house, erected by his grandson, Thomas Lee, were born the distinguished brothers, Richard Henry Lee (1732-1794), mover of the resolution in favour of independence and a signer of the Declaration; Francis Lightfoot Lee (1734-1797), a signer of the Declaration; and William Lee (1737-95) and Arthur Lee (1740-92), diplomats. Robert E Was the son of General Henry Lee. He surrendered to the North’s General Ulysses S. Grant on 9 April 1865 at Appomattox Courthouse, Virginia. Died 12 October 1870. 1809 - Born this day, Edgar Allan Poe, American poet and story writer, born in Boston, Massachussetts. 1813 - Born this day, Sir Henry Bessemer, English inventor and engineer born in Charlton, Hertfordshire, UK. 1825 - Ezra Daggett and Thomas Kensett of New York City patented a canning process to preserve salmon, oysters and lobsters. 1853 - Verdi's opera Il Trovatore had its first performance in Rome. 1899 - Britain and Egypt established joint control over Sudan. 1907 - The first film reviews appeared in "Variety" magazine. The magazine had only been in print two years before it expanded its section covering new vaudeville acts in order to include reviews of films. 1908 - Born this day, Merwyn Bogue (Ish Kabibble), comic singer, (Three Little Fishies; sang and played trumpet with Kay Kyser’s Kollege of Musical Knowledge; big bandleader; combo: The Shy Guys). Died 5 June 1994. 1915 - The first casualties were sustained in an air raid on Britain, when German Zeppelins bombed Great Yarmouth and Kings Lynn. More than 20 people were killed. 1915 - George Claude of Paris, France, patented the neon tube advertising sign. His handiwork can now be seen adorning many buildings around the world. 1918 - A system for making colour motion pictures, invented by Dr. Herbert Kalmus, was used in the film The Gulf Between, and was copyrighted. 1920 - Born this day, Javier Perez de Cuellar, Peruvian diplomat, former UN Secretary-General. 1922 - Born this day, Guy Madison (Robert Ozell Moseley), actor, (Zorro, Drums in the Deep South, Special Forces, Hell Commandos, Till the End of Time). Died 6 February 1996. 1923 - Born this day, Jean Stapleton (Murray), Emmy Award-winning actress, (All in the Family [1970-1971, 1971-1972, 1977-1978]; Bells are Ringing, Cinderella, Damn Yankees, Klute). 1926 - Born this day, Fritz Weaver, actor, (Holocaust, Marathon Man, Black Sunday). 1931 - Born this day, Robert [Robin] MacNeil, Emmy Award-winning broadcast journalist. 1932 - Born this day, Richard Lester, director. 1935 - Born this day, Tippi Hedren [Nathalie], actress, discovered by Alfred Hitchcock. A cool blonde beauty, she was the Grace Kelly-styled heroine of Hitchcock's Marnie in 1963 and The Birds in 1964. (various sources have her date of birth as 1928, 1931 or 1935, place of birth differs too in either New Ulm or Lafayette, Minnesota. I think they are settled on the day the 19th!!) Other films include Deadly Spygames, Harrad Experiment, Pacific Heights. 1937 - Howard Hughes set a transcontinental air record, flying from Los Angeles to New York City in 7 hours, 28 minutes and 25 seconds. 1939 - Born this day, Phil Everly, singer, The Everly Brothers, Bye Bye Love, Wake Up Little Susie, 1958 UK and US No.1 single All I Have To Do Is Dream, Bird Dog, Cathy’s Clown, and solo, When Will I Be Loved. 1940 - Born this day, Mary Mills, champion golfer, (US Open [1963], LPGA [1964, 1973]). 1940 - Born this day, Mike Reid, actor, comedian, singer (Eastenders), 1975 UK No.10 single The Ugly Duckling, 1999 UK No.46 single The More I See You with Barbara Windsor. 1942 - Born this day, Michael Crawford (Dumble-Smith), actor, singer, (The Phantom of the Opera, Some Mothers Do 'ave 'em, Condorman, Hello, Dolly!, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, The Knack). 1943 - Born this day, Janis Joplin, singer, songwriter, born in Port Arthur, Texas. Joined Big Brother & The Holding Company in 1965, (Piece of My Heart, How Hard It Is). Their 1968 US No.1 album had the title Dope, Sex and Cheap Thrills, was shortened by their record company to Cheap Thrills. She appeared at the 1967 three day Monterey Pop Festival alongside The Who, Jimi Hendrix, The Byrds, The Grateful Dead, Otis Redding and Buffalo Springfield. Janis also played The Royal Albert Hall, London in 1969 supported by Yes. 1971 US No.1 single Me And Bobby McGee, 1971 US No.1 album Pearl spent nine weeks in pole position. She formed the Kozmic Blues Band, then Full Tilt Boogie Band. Janis was signed by Bob Dylan's manager Albert Grossman. Janis was arrested in Tampa, Florida during a 1969 gig for using vulgar and indecent language. In 1970 she bought a headstone for the grave of her greatest influence, Bessie Smith at the Mont Lawn Cemetery in Philadelphia. Janis was found dead on 4 October 1970 at the Landmark Hotel, Hollywood after an accidental heroin overdose. The 1979 film The Rose starring Bette Midler was based on the life of Janis Joplin. 1943 - Born this day, Joe Butler, The Lovin' Spoonful, 1966 UK No.2 single Daydream. 1944 - Born this day, Laurie London, singer, 1957 UK No.12 single He's Got The Whole world In His Hands. 1944 - In a short air raid on Berlin, the British air force dropped some 2,300 tons of bombs. 1944 - Born this day, Shelley Fabares [Michele Fabares], in Santa Monica, California, comedienne, actress, singer. Elvis Presley said of her, she was his favourite co-star. She later had a hit song with Johnny Angel, and played daughter Mary on The Donna Reed Show, and appeared with the King in Girl Happy (1965), Spinout (1966), and Clambake (1967). Is also Nanette Fabray’s niece. 1946 - Born this day, Dolly Parton, songwriter, singer, ACM Entertainer of the Year [1977], CMA Entertainer of the year [1978], (1976 UK No.7 single Jolene, Coat of Many Colors, Here You Come Again, 9-to-5, You’re the Only One, [w/Kenny Rogers]: Islands in the Stream; Grand Ol’ Opry member; actress: 9-to-5, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Steel Magnolias; owns Dollywood amusement park in Tennessee), wrote I Will Always Love You UK and US No.1 for Whitney Houston. 1948 - Born this day, Harvard Hinsley, musician, guitar, (groups: Outlaws, Cliff Bennett’s Rebel Rousers, Hot Chocolate: Emma, Disco Queen, You Sexy Thing, So You Win Again, I’ll Put You Back Together Again, Every 1’s a Winner, Girl Crazy, Chances). 1949 - Born this day, Robert Palmer, singer, guitarist, (Sneakin’ Sally through the Alley, Hey Julia, 1996 UK No.5 single Addicted To Love, Every Kinda People, I Didn’t Mean to Turn You On, It Could Happen To You). Also Vinegar Joe. 1949 - The salary of the President of the United States was increased from $75,000 to $100,000 with an additional $50,000 expense allowance added for each year in office. 1952 - Born this day, Dewey Bunnell, singer, musician, guitar, (group: America: A Horse with No Name, You Can Do Magic). 1953 - Born this day, Desi Arnaz, Jr., entertainer, singer, (group: Dino, Desi and Billy: Through Spray Colored Glasses;). 1953 - For the first on-air birth, sixty-eight percent of all TV sets in the US were tuned to CBS-TV, as Lucy Ricardo of I Love Lucy gave birth to a baby boy (Little Ricky), just as she actually did in real life, following the script to the letter! The audience for the program was greater than that watching the inauguration of President Dwight D. Eisenhower the following day. The Lucille Ball 'baby' story knocked the inauguration off the front page of many major American newspapers. (Another source says 92% of TV sets.) 1954 - Born this day, Katey Sagal, actor. 1955 - President Eisenhower allowed a filmed news conference to be used on television (and in movie newsreels) for the first time. The 33-minute conference was cut to 28-1/2 minutes to fit TV formats. 1955 - Born this day, Sir Simon Rattle, British conductor, Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. 1957 - Born this day, Mickey Virtue, musician, keyboard, (group: UB40: Food for Thought, If It Happens Again, Don’t Break My Heart, Red, Red Wine). 1957 - Pat Boone sang at Dwight Eisenhower's presidential inauguration ball. 1957 - Philadelphia comedian, Ernie Kovacs, became a major star, when he was able to pull off the challenge of doing a half-hour TV show without uttering a single word of dialogue. 1960 - Frank Sinatra escorted Jacqueline Kennedy to the inauguration gala to celebrate the official start of John F. Kennedy's presidency. Juliet Prowse was among the performers. 1961 - Born this day, William Ragsdale, actor. 1963 - Born this day, Caron Wheeler, vocals, Soul II Soul, 1989 UK No.1 single Back To Life. 1966 - Robert Montgomery, actor-producer and White House advisor on Presidential telecasts, testified on this date to the FCC that the reports of quiz-show fixing and payola were widespread within the broadcasting industry long before the charges were made public. 1966 - Indira Ghandi became India's Prime Minister, following in the footsteps of her father Jawaharlal Nehru. She was elected in succession to Lal Shastri who had died on 11 January. Shastri had succeeded Gandhi's father, Jawaharlal Nehru. 1966 - Born this day, Stephan Edberg, tennis player. 1967 - Lesley Gore appeared as Catwoman's sidekick, Pussycat, on ABC-TV's Batman. 1970 - The soundtrack of the film, Easy Rider, the movie that made a star of Peter Fonda, became a gold record. It was the first pop-culture, film soundtrack to earn the gold award. 1971 - Ruby Keeler made her comeback in the play, No, No Nanette, which opened at the 46th Street Theatre in New York City. Keeler played the role of Sue Smith in the revival of the 1925 hit musical. The show played for 861 performances. 1972 - A ten-mile stretch of Highway 51 South in Memphis, Tennessee was renamed Elvis Presley Boulevard. 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. 1976 - The Beatles turned down an offer of $30 million to play together again on the same stage. Rock promoter Bill Sargent still doesn’t understand why the group turned down his generous offer. 1977 - Charlie Daniels and the Marshall Tucker Band played for Jimmy Carter's presidential inauguration. 1983 - South Africa resumed direct rule of Namibia after five years of semi-autonomous rule. 1983 - Klaus Barbie, notorious SS chief of Lyon in Nazi-occupied France, was arrested in Bolivia. 1985 - The New York Times announced that Lee Iacocca’s book, "Iacocca", was the best selling hard cover book of 1984. It wasn’t topped in sales until the arrival of Rush Limbaugh’s first tome in the early ’90s. 1987 - The Archbishop of Canterbury's special envoy to Lebanon, Terry Waite, was kidnapped in Beirut. He wasn't released until November 1991. 1990 - England's rebel cricketers flew in to South Africa. 1990 - Died this day, Mel Appleby, singer, of pneumonia aged 23. She had been one half of the duo Mel & Kim. 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. 1993 - Fleetwood Mac reunited for Bill Clinton's presidential inauguration. 1995 - In Chechnya, Russian forces hoisted the national tricolor over Grozny's battered presidential palace after seizing the building from Chechen irregulars. 1996 - Four-day hijack of the Black Sea ferry Avrasya by pro-Chechen gunmen ended near Istanbul without a shot being fired with the surrender of the attackers who had threatened to blow up themselves and their 200 hostages. 1998 - Died this day, Carl Perkins, a sharecropper's son who learned music on a guitar fashioned from a cigar box and broomstick, was a rockabilly pioneer, influencing the likes of Elvis Presley and the Beatles. He died aged 65 in his hometown and birthplace, Jackson, Tennessee, of complications resulting from a series of recent strokes. Perkins was a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee, and wrote the definitive anthem of 50's cool, Blue Suede Shoes. His career took off in 1956, when he wrote and recorded the song after hearing a young man warn his prom date not to step on his fancy footwear. 1999 - Judge Lawrence Mira, who warned Motley Crue drummer Tommy Lee eight months earlier that a slip-up could send him to prison for three years, set a hearing date after learning through news reports that Lee was allegedly drinking recently with bandmates in Florida. Lee was scheduled to go to court 4 February to answer allegations that he used alcohol, a violation of his probation for spousal abuse that could land him in prison. Lee served about four months in jail after he pleaded no contest to kicking his estranged wife, former Baywatch star Pamela Anderson Lee, while she held their son, Dylan, in February 1998. Judge Mira ordered Lee to stay away from alcohol and drugs. Lee also had to donate $5,000 to a battered women's shelter, stay at least 100 yards away from his estranged wife, attend anger management classes, and undergo random drug tests. 2002 - MPs called for a meeting with the US ambassador over treatment of al-Qaeda suspects, including three Britons, held at Camp X-Ray in Cuba. 2004 - More than 250 convictions involving baby deaths were to be reviewed after a Court of Appeal ruling. 2004 - A war widow told Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon he had 'one last chance' to tell the truth of how her husband died. 2004 - Prime Minister Tony Blair said he would survive his toughest week as he faced the Hutton report and the top-up fees vote. |
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.