But his delight is in the law of the LORD, And in His law he meditates day and night.



Psalm 1:2

0591: Gregory I becomes Pope

0922: Death of St. Oswald of Worchester

1066: Westminster Abbey opens

1258: Tatars burn Baghdad

1572: Death of Catherine of Austria, third wife of Sigsimund II of Poland

1574: First burning of heretics by the Inquisition in the New World

1610: Thomas West is appointed governor of Virginia.

1616: Vincent Fettmilch, the leader of an attack on the Jewish ghetto of Frankfurt, beheaded for his part in the crime

1626: Cyril Tourneur, English poet, dramatist, dies at about 51

1638: National Covenant signed at Greyfriars Kirk, Edinburgh

1643: Roger Scott tried in Massachusetts for sleeping on the Sabbath

1648: Death of Christian IV, King of Denmark and Norway

1704: Indians attack Deerfield, Mass. killing 40 and kidnapping 100.

1784: John Wesley signed the "deed of declaration," formalizing the establishment of the Wesleyan faith, or Methodists.

1797: Mary Lyon, a pioneer the field of higher education for women and founder of Mount Holyoke Seminary, was born near Buckland, Massachusetts.

1825: A treaty was signed between Britaand Russia, settling the border between Canada and Alaska, then a Russian possession.

1827: The first U.S. railroad chartered to carry passengers and freight, the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Co., was incorporated.

1844: A 12-inch gun aboard the USS "Princeton" exploded, killing Secretary of State Abel P. Upshur, Navy Secretary Thomas W. Gilmer and several others.

1849: The ship California arrived San Francisco, carrying the first of the gold-seekers. The ship left New York Harbor on October 6, 1848.

1854: Some 50 opponents to slavery met at a schoolhouse Ripon, Wisconsin, to call for a new political group. The organization would later become known as the Republican Party.

1861: The Territory of Colorado was organized.

1893: Edward G. Acheson of Monongahela, Pennsylvania, received a patent for Carborundum, an abrasive or refractory of silicon carbide, fused alumina and other materials.

1909: President Roosevelt becomes the first U.S. president to visit the Austrian embassy.

1916: Haiti becomes the first U.S. protectorate.

1921: Russia and Afghanistan signed a treaty of friendship providing political and financial aid for the Afghans.

1922: Britain formally declared Egypt's independence, although still retaining control of the Suez Canal and the country's defense.

1924: U.S. troops are sent to Honduras to protect American interests during an election conflict.

1930: Ted Lewis and his Orchestra recorded "On the Sunny Side of the Street" for Columbia Records.

1940: The first televised college basketball games were broadcast, by New York City station W2XBS, as Pittsburgh defeated Fordham, 57-to-37, and New York University beat Georgetown, 50-to-27, at Madison Square Garden.

1940: The Superliner Queen Elizabeth is launched in Britain.

1942: Japanese forces landed in Java, the last Allied bastion in the Dutch East Indies.

1945: U.S. tanks break the natural defense line west of the Rhine and cross the Erft River.

1946: The U.S. Army declares that it will use V-2 rocket to test radar as an atomic rocket defense system.

1947: Britain and France sign a 50-year pact to curb Germany.

1950: The French Assembly in Paris decides to limit the sale of Coca-Cola.

1951: The Senate committee headed by Estes Kefauver (Democrat, Tennessee) issued a preliminary report saying at least two major crime syndicates were operating in the US.

1952: Vincent Massey took office as governor-general of Canada, the first Canadian to hold the office.

1953: Greece, Turkey and Yugoslavia sign a 5-year defense pact in Ankara.

1966: The famous Cavern Club in Liverpool, England closed because of financial difficulties. During its peak of success, the club was best known as the home of the Beatles.

1967: In Mississippi, 19 are indicted in the slayings of three civil rights workers.

1969: A Los Angeles court refuses Robert Kennedy assassin Sirhan Sirhan's request to be executed.

1971: The male electorate in Lichtenstein refuses to give voting rights to women.

1971: Jack Nicklaus, the 'Golden Bear', won the Professional Golfers' Association Championship for the second time.

1972: U.S. President Richard Nixon wrapped up an historic week-long visit to China, convinced the trip helped to create a new "generation of peace."

1974: The United States and Egypt re-established diplomatic relations after a seven-year break.

1983: The long-running TV series "M-A-S-H" ended after 11 seasons on CBS with a special 2.5-hour finale that was watched by an estimated 121.6 million people.

1984: It was Michael Jackson Night at the Grammy Awards in Los Angeles. The gloved one set a record for most wins by taking home eight of the gramophone statuette honors. He broke the previous record of six awards set by Roger Miller in 1965.

1985: Ailing Soviet President KonstantU. Chernenko made his second television appearance four days as he was shown receiving his credentials from the Russian Republic's parliament.

1986: Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme was shot to death in central Stockholm.

1987: Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev announced the Kremlwas ready for a separate accord with the United States to rid Europe of medium-range nuclear missiles.

1988: The 15th Winter Olympic Games held its closing ceremony Calgary, Canada; the United States won six medals, two of them gold, its weakest Winter Games 52 years.

1988: Ethnic unrest broke out between Armenians and Azerbaijanis the city of Sumgait.

1989: In Chicago, Richard M. Daley, son of Mayor Richard J. Daley, defeated acting Mayor Eugene Sawyer in a Democratic primary election.

1989: Humorist-poet Richard Armour died in Claremont, California, at age 82.

1990: The space shuttle Atlantis blasted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on a secret mission to place a spy satellite orbit.

1991: Allied and Iraqi forces suspended their attacks as Iraq pledged to accept all United Nations resolutions concerning Kuwait. 

1992: The U.N. Security Council warned Iraq its continued refusal to destroy its Scud missile facilities would bring "serious consequences."

1993: A gun battle erupted at a compound near Waco, Texas, when Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents tried to serve warrants on the Branch Davidians; four agents and six Davidians were killed as a 51-day standoff began.

1993: Three US planes carried out the first mission to drop relief supplies over Bosnia-Herzegovina.

1993: A "Te Deum" by Arvo Part was recorded for ECM New Series by Tonu Kaljuste and the Estonian Philharmonic and Choir and the Talinn Chamber Orchestra.

1994: Moldova's maindependence party claimed a clear victory the country's first post-Soviet parliamentary elections.

1994: Two US F-16 fighter jets downed four Serb warplanes that UN officials said had bombed an arms plant run by Bosnia's Muslim-led government.

1995: U.S. Marines swept ashore Somalia to protect retreating U.N. peacekeepers. early March the Marines completed Operation United Shield.

1995: Denver International Airport opened after 16 months of delays and $3.2 billion in budget overruns.

1995: The brother of former Mexican President Carlos Salinas de Gortari, Raul Salinas de Gortari, was arrested connection with the slaying of Jose Francisco Ruiz Massieu, the No. 2 man the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party.

1996: President Clinton and the Congress agreed on a sanctions bill aimed at driving foreign investors from Cuba.

1996: Britain's Princess Diana agreed to divorce Prince Charles.

1996: Alanis Morissette's "Jagged Little Pill" won best rock album and album of the year at the Grammy Awards; Seal's "Kiss from a Rose" won for record and song of the year.

1997: Brushing aside congressional calls for a tougher stance against Mexico, President Clinton recertified the country as a fully cooperating ally in the struggle against drug smuggling.

1997: In North Hollywood, California, two heavily armed masked robbers bungled a bank heist and came out firing, unleashing their arsenal on police, bystanders, cars and TV choppers before they were killed.

1998: President Clinton interrupted a weekend with his wife and daughter at a Utah ski resort to fly to Los Angeles where he comforted victims of California.'s deadly mudslides and headed to Beverly Hills to raise more than $500,000 for his party from a galaxy of Hollywood stars.

1998: About 10,000 environmental activists angered by Hungary's decision to build a new Danube dam rallied in Budapest vowing to fight the plan. Their protest came a day after Hungary and Slovakia signed a protocol agreement on the principles of the dam to support Slovakia's controversial Gabcikovo hydro-electric project.

1998: Two naked women making an anti-fur protest were led away by police minutes after they emerged to cross a busy street in Hong Kong's central business district. The two women, members of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals pressure group, painted their nude bodies with leopard spots, drew cat-like whiskers on their whitened cheeks and carried a banner reading "Only animals should wear fur."   

1999: Guerrillas detonated two bombs beside a military convoy in southern Lebanon, killing a brigadier general and three other Israelis; Israel retaliated with air raids on suspected guerrilla hideouts.

 2000: Right-wing Austrian leader Joerg Haider resigned as head of the Freedom Party in an apparent bid to end Austria's international ostracism following his party's rise to power.