January 21

In Thy name they rejoice all the day, And by Thy righteousness they are exalted.
 

– Psalm 89:16 

January is:

• Art Business and Reference Books Month - Read business books, directories, encyclopedias, books on taxes, financial planning, investments, and other consumer issues. This month honors authors and publishers of of such books. Sponsor: Book Marketing Update.
  
• Crime Stoppers Month - Crime stoppers provides an anonymous service for citizens to call and report specific crimes or problems in crime ridden communities. Sponsor: Crime Stoppers International.

Today is:

• Birthday of the American Novel - The first novel published in America, The Power of Sympathy, or the Triumph of Nature, was published in 1789. 
  
  
• Birthday of the Atomic Submarine - The USS Nautilus, the first atomic submarine, was launched on this day in 1954, in Groton, Connecticut.
  
  
• National Hugging Day - Share hugs with anyone willing to accept them. Sponsor: Kevin Zaborney.

Born on this Day

• 1338: Charles V (the Wise), King of France
  

• 1743: John Fitch, had a working steamboat years before Fulton.
  

• 1738: Soldier and Vermont folk hero Ethan Allen
  

• 1813: American explorer nicknamed ``The Pathfinder.'' John C. Fremont He mapped the territory between the Mississippi River and Pacific Ocean, was military governor of California and Arizona territory and the first Republican presidential candidate, in 1856. He was defeated by Democrat James Buchanan.
  

• 1815: Horace Wells, dentist, pioneer in use of medical anethesia.
  

• 1821: John Breckinridge, 14th U.S. Vice President.
  

• 1824: Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson, Confederate General.
  

• 1848: Henri Duparc a pupil of Cesar Franck's
  

• 1855: Firearms designer John Browning
  

• 1884: Lawyer Roger Nash Baldwin founder of the American Civil Liberties Union.
  

• 1905: Fashion designer Christian Dior
  

• 1922: Actor Paul Scofield
  

• 1922: Greek-American actor Telly Savalas
  

• 1925: Popular British comedian Benny Hill
  

• 1926: Actor Steve Reeves ("Hercules")
  

• 1933: Actress Ann Wedgeworth
  

• 1936: Blues singer-musician Snooks Eaglin
  

• 1939: American disc jockey Wolfman Jack
  

• 1940: Golfer Jack Nicklaus
  

• 1941: Opera singer Placido Domingo
  

• 1941: Singer Richie Havens
  

• 1942: Singer Mac Davis
  

• 1942: Singer Edwin Starr
  

• 1947: Actress Jill Eikenberry
  

• 1950: Singer-songwriter Billy Ocean
  

• 1956: Actor Robby Benson
  

• 1957: Actress Geena Davis
  

• 1963: Basketball player Hakeem Olajuwon
  

• 1965: Rap DJ Jam Master Jay (Run-DMC)
  

• 1968: Actress Charlotte Ross ("Days of Our Lives")
  

• 1969: Actress Karina Lombard
  

• 1970: Rapper Levirt (B-Rock and the Bizz)
  

• 1978: Singer Emma "Baby Spice" Bunton (The Spice Girls)
  

• 1979: Rhythm-and-blues singer Nokio (Dru Hill)            

Events in History on this day
  

 

• 0259: Death of St. Fructuosus
  

• 0861: Death of St, Meinrad
  

• 0911: King Louis the Child, last Carolingian ruler of Germany, dies
  

• 1189: Phillip Augustus, King of France, Henry II, King of England, and Fredrick Barbarossa, Holy Roman Emperor, begin assembling the troops for the Third Crusade
  

• 1472: Great daylight comet of 1472 passes within 10.5 million km of earth
  

• 1506: Papal Swiss Guard first enters Rome
  

• 1525: Founding of the Anabaptists, by Grebel Conrad, in Zurich
  

• 1527: Death of Juan de Grijalva, discoverer of Mexico
  

• 1547: Execution of Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey
  

• 1548: "First Prayer-Book of Edward VI" approved by Parliament
  

• 1621: Colonists began putting up houses to begin the settlement at Plymouth, Massachusetts.
  

• 1648: Margaret Brent, first woman lawyer in the colonies, denied a vote in the Maryland Assembly
  

• 1677: America's first medical textbook is published in Boston.
  

• 1793: During the French Revolution, King Louis the 16th, condemned for treason, was executed on the guillotine.
  

• 1853: An envelope-folding machine is patented by Dr. Russell Hawes of Worcester, Massachusetts.
  

• 1861: Mississippi Sen. Jefferson Davis resigned from the U.S. Senate, 12 days before Mississippi seceded from the Union.
  

• 1900: Canadian troops set sail to fight in South Africa.
  

• 1901: Elisha Gray, the U.S. inventor who contested the first patent for the telephone with Alexander Graham Bell, died.
  

• 1905: 140,000 workers and peasants begin a march to the Czar’s Winter Palace in St. Petersburg.
  

• 1908: In New York City, the first ``no smoking'' legislation is enacted, barring women from smoking cigarettes in public. Officials feared the air pollution created by cigarette smoke. (however, the measure was vetoed by Mayor George B. McClellan Junior).
  

• 1909: Tennessee bans liquor production for 1910.
  

• 1910: Japan rejects the U.S. proposal to neutralize ownership of the Manchurian Railway.
  

• 1915: The first Kiwanis Club was founded, in Detroit. 1924, Russian revolutionary Vladimir Ilyich Lenin died at age 54.
  

• 1921: J.D. Rockefeller pledges $1 million for the relief of Europe’s destitute. Ida Tarbell’s exposé of John D. Rockefeller and the oil monopoly contributed to the passage of antitrust legislation.
  

• 1924: The Soviet leader Lenin died of a brain hemorrhage. He had led the Bolsheviks to victory in the

• 1917 October Revolution and in its aftermath, had grappled with anarchy and war.
  

• 1927: Albert Roussel's Suite in F Major premiered. The "Suite in Fa" is one of Roussel's finest pieces, with a nice perpetual motion sound at the beginning.
  

• 1933: The League of Nations rejects Japanese terms for settlement with China.The rise of militaristic nationalism led Japan down the road to Pearl Harbor and World War II.
  

• 1936: King Edward VIII is proclaimed in London.
  

• 1941: The U.S. lifts the ban on arms to the U.S.S.R.
  

• 1942: North Africa, Rommel launches a drive to push the British eastward.
  

• 1943: A Nazi daylight air raid kills 34 in a London school.
  

• 1942: Count Basie and His Orchestra recorded "One O'Clock Jump" in New York for Okeh Records.
  

• 1943: Bela Bartok made his final concert appearance. The composer and his wife played the starring roles in his ``Concerto for Two Pianos and Percussion.'' At one point Bartok lost his concentration and began making stuff up.
  

• 1947: The Swiss city of Basel was again the scene of a world premiere. This time it was Honnegger's 4th Symphony, subtitled "Basle Delights." This is one of Honnegger's lighter symphonies.
  

• 1950: A federal jury in New York found former State Department official Alger Hiss guilty of perjury.
  

• 1950: George Orwell (Eric Arthur Blair), author of "1984," died in London.
  

• 1957: Patsy Cline appeared on ``Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts.''
  

• 1959: Director and producer Cecil B. deMille dies. ( ``The Ten Commandments.'')
  

• 1954: The first atomic submarine, the USS "Nautilus," was launched at Groton, Connecticut.
  

• 1965: Hassan Ali Mansur, the prime minister of Persia, was assassinated.
  

• 1974: The U.S. Supreme Court decides that pregnant teachers can no longer be forced to take long leaves of absence.
  

• 1976: Leonid Brezhnev and Henry Kissinger meet to discuss Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT).
  

• 1976: The supersonic Concorde jet was put into service by Britain and France.
  

• 1977: President Carter pardoned American Vietnam War-era draft evaders and ordered a case-by-case study of deserters.
  

• 1977: President Carter urges 65 degrees as the maximum heat in homes to ease the energy crisis.
  

• 1984: Britain's first test-tube triplets -- a girl and two boys -- were born to a couple in London. The mother was Anne Maaye.
  

• 1988: An anti-acne drug known as "Retin-A" got a boost with the release of a study published in the "Journal of the American Medical Association" that said the skin cream could also reduce wrinkles caused by exposure to the sun.
  

• 1989: Former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke led a field of seven candidates in an open primary to advance to a runoff election for a Louisiana state House seat.
  

• 1990: Washington Mayor Marion Barry said he would seek help but did not publicly concede he had used illegal drugs. He left the next day for a treatment program in Florida.
  

• 1990: In the Soviet republic of Azerbaijan, mutinous military cadets fired on troops patrolling the capital during a crackdown on a nationalist uprising.
  

• 1991: Iraq announced it would use hostages as human shields against allied warplanes. President Bush denounced Iraq's treatment of POW's, and said Iraqi President Saddam Hussein would be held responsible. 
  

• 1991: CBS News correspondent Bob Simon, CBS News London bureau chief Peter Bluff, a cameraman and soundman were captured by Iraqi forces; they were released almost six weeks later. 
  
  

• 1992: Billy Idol pleaded guilty to misdemeanor battery charges for punching a woman he'd just met at a Los Angeles restaurant.
  

• 1993: Two US warplanes fired on and bombed an Iraqi air defense radar site in northern Iraq after radar was turned on them -- Iraq denied provoking the attack.
  

• 1993: It's announced that Hillary Clinton will work out of a White House office near the Oval Office, an unprecedented move in first lady history.
  

• 1994: Lorena Bobbitt is found innocent by reason of insanity in the June 1993 attack on her husband, John. She'd cut off his penis while he slept. The organ was surgically reattached.
  

• 1995: President Clinton, addressing the Democratic National Committee, implored members to "bear down and go forward" despite the results of the 1994 elections.
  

• 1996: At the 53rd annual Golden Globes, "Sense and Sensibility" won best dramatic picture; "Babe" won best comedy; best dramatic acting awards went to Nicolas Cage for "Leaving Las Vegas" and Sharon Stone for "Casino," while awards for acting in a comedy or musical went to Nicole Kidman for "To Die For" and John Travolta for "Get Shorty." 
  

• 1997: Speaker Newt Gingrich was reprimanded and fined as the House voted for first time in history to discipline its leader for ethical misconduct.
  

• 1997: American composer Irwin J. Levine died. ( ``Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Old Oak Tree.'' The song is tied with the Beatles' ``Yesterday'' as the most recorded song in the history of music. He also wrote ``Knock Three Times'' and ``This Diamond Ring.'')
  

• 1997: Trying to improve its tarnished image, the Democratic National Committee announced it would no longer accept money from people or companies with foreign ties and would limit contributions from labor unions and wealthy benefactors.
  

• 1998: President Clinton denied having an "improper" relationship with the then 21-year-old woman, Monica Lewinsky, or that he tried to cover it up by urging her to lie to lawyers. He also has denied sexually harassing Jones or anyone else.
  

• 1998: Pope John Paul the Second began a historic pilgrimage to Cuba.
  

• 1998: Actor Jack Lord of "Hawaii Five-O" fame died in Honolulu at age 77.
  

• 1998: John Gotti Jr., who allegedly runs the Gambino mob his jailed father once headed, was arrested for his alleged role in a far-reaching racketeering and extortion ring. Gotti, 33, of Mill Neck, N.Y. was among 32 defendants rounded up by law enforcement authorities in pre-dawn raids at numerous locations in metropolitan New York.
  

• 1998: Opening arguments were held in a lawsuit by Texas cattlemen who charge that talk-show hostess Oprah Winfrey drove down livestock prices in a 1996 program about mad cow disease. The cattlemen, led by feedlot owner Paul Engler, say a Winfrey show, in which she swore off hamburgers because of concerns about contracting mad cow disease, cost them $12 million.
  

• 1998: Iraq asked the UN to freeze arms inspections at sensitive "presidential sites," a move immediately condemned by the chief UN weapons inspector as "flying in the face" of Security Council demands.
  

• 1999: Raul Salinas de Gortari, the brother of a former Mexican president, was convicted of masterminding the murder of rival Jose Francisco Ruiz Massieu and sentenced to 50 years.
  

• 1999: Former Senator Dale Bumpers told the Senate impeachment trial of Bill Clinton the president was guilty of a "terrible moral lapse" but not of conduct warranting or even permitting his removal from office.
  

• 2000: The grandmothers of Elian Gonzalez traveled to the United States to plead for the boy's return to Cuba. 
  
  

 

Soul Food January 20 & 21

All the Rest January 20 & 21

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