http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history
Jan 26, 1788: Australia Day
On January 26, 1788, Captain Arthur Phillip guides a fleet of 11 British ships carrying convicts to the colony of New South Wales, effectively founding Australia. After overcoming a period of hardship, the fledgling colony began to celebrate the anniversary of this date with great fanfare.
Australia, once known as New South Wales, was originally planned as a penal colony. In October 1786, the British government appointed Arthur Phillip captain of the HMS Sirius, and commissioned him to establish an agricultural work camp there for British convicts. With little idea of what he could expect from the mysterious and distant land, Phillip had great difficulty assembling the fleet that was to make the journey. His requests for more experienced farmers to assist the penal colony were repeatedly denied, and he was both poorly funded and outfitted. Nonetheless, accompanied by a small contingent of Marines and other officers, Phillip led his 1,000-strong party, of whom more than 700 were convicts, around Africa to the eastern side of Australia. In all, the voyage lasted eight months, claiming the deaths of some 30 men.
The first years of settlement were nearly disastrous. Cursed with poor soil, an unfamiliar climate and workers who were ignorant of farming, Phillip had great difficulty keeping the men alive. The colony was on the verge of outright starvation for several years, and the marines sent to keep order were not up to the task. Phillip, who proved to be a tough but fair-minded leader, persevered by appointing convicts to positions of responsibility and oversight. Floggings and hangings were commonplace, but so was egalitarianism. As Phillip said before leaving England: "In a new country there will be no slavery and hence no slaves."
Though Phillip returned to England in 1792, the colony became prosperous by the turn of the 19th century. Feeling a new sense of patriotism, the men began to rally around January 26 as their founding day. Historian Manning Clarke noted that in 1808 the men observed the "anniversary of the foundation of the colony" with "drinking and merriment."
Finally, in 1818, January 26 became an official holiday, marking the 30th anniversary of British settlement in Australia. And, as Australia became a sovereign nation, it became the national holiday known as Australia Day. Today, Australia Day serves both as a day of celebration for the founding of the white British settlement, and as a day of mourning for the Aborigines who were slowly dispossessed of their land as white colonization spread across the continent.
Jan 26, 1788: First Australian penal colony established
The first 736 convicts banished from England to Australia land in Botany Bay. Over the next 60 years, approximately 50,000 criminals were transported from Great Britain to the "land down under," in one of the strangest episodes in criminal-justice history.
The accepted wisdom of the upper and ruling classes in 18th century England was that criminals were inherently defective. Thus, they could not be rehabilitated and simply required separation from the genetically pure and law-abiding citizens. Accordingly, lawbreakers had to be either killed or exiled, since prisons were too expensive. With the American victory in the Revolutionary War, transgressors could no longer be shipped off across the Atlantic, and the English looked for a colony in the other direction.
Captain Arthur Phillip, a tough but fair career naval officer, was charged with setting up the first penal colony in Australia. The convicts were chained beneath the deck during the entire hellish six-month voyage. The first voyage claimed the lives of nearly 10 percent of the prisoners, which remarkably proved to be a rather good rate. On later trips, up to a third of the unwilling passengers died on the way. These were not hardened criminals by any measure; only a small minority were transported for violent offenses. Among the first group was a 70-year-old woman who had stolen cheese to eat.
Although not confined behind bars, most convicts in Australia had an extremely tough life. The guards who volunteered for duty in Australia seemed to be driven by exceptional sadism. Even small violations of the rules could result in a punishment of 100 lashes by the cat o'nine tails. It was said that blood was usually drawn after five lashes and convicts ended up walking home in boots filled with their own blood--that is, if they were able to walk at all.
Convicts who attempted to escape were sent to tiny Norfolk Island, 600 miles east of Australia, where the conditions were even more inhumane. The only hope of escape from the horror of Norfolk Island was a "game" in which groups of three prisoners drew straws. The short straw was killed as painlessly as possible and a judge was then shipped in to put the other two on trial, one playing the role of killer, the other as witness.
Jan 26, 1950: Republic of India born
On January 26, 1950, the Indian constitution takes effect, making the Republic of India the most populous democracy in the world.
Mohandas Gandhi struggled through decades of passive resistance before Britain finally accepted Indian independence. Self-rule had been promised during World War II, but after the war triangular negotiations between Gandhi, the British, and the Muslim League stalled over whether to partition India along religious lines. Eventually, Lord Mountbatten, the viceroy of India, forced through a compromise plan. On August 15, 1947, the former Mogul Empire was divided into the independent nations of India and Pakistan. Gandhi called the agreement the "noblest act of the British nation," but religious strife between Hindus and Muslims soon marred his exhilaration. Hundreds of thousands died, including Gandhi, who was assassinated by a Hindu fanatic in January 1948 during a prayer vigil to an area of Muslim-Hindu violence.
Of Gandhi's death, Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru said, "The light has gone out of our lives, and there is darkness everywhere." However, Nehru, a leader of the Indian struggle for independence and Gandhi's protege, persisted in his efforts to stabilize India, and by 1949 the religious violence began to subside. In late 1949, an Indian constitution was adopted, and on January 26, 1950, the Republic of India was born.
With universal adult franchise, Nehru hoped to overcome India's "caste-ridden" society and promote greater gender equality. Elections were to be held at least every five years, and India's government was modeled after the British parliamentary system. A president would hold the largely ceremonial post of head of state but would be given greater powers in times of emergency. The first president was Rajendra Prasad.
Nehru, who won his first of three subsequent elections in 1952, was faced with staggering challenges. A massively underdeveloped economy and overpopulation contributed to widespread poverty. Nehru also had to force the integration of the former princely states into the Indian union and suppress movements for greater autonomy in states like Punjab. In his years of struggle against Britain, he always advocated nonviolence but as prime minister sometimes had to stray from this policy. He sent troops into the Portuguese enclaves of Goa and Daman and fought with China over Kashmir and Nepal. He died in 1964 and was succeeded by Lal Bahadur Shastri. Later, Nehru's only child, Indira Gandhi, served four terms as a controversial prime minister of India.
Jan 26, 1945: Soviets liberate Auschwitz
On this day, Soviet troops enter Auschwitz, Poland, freeing the survivors of the network of concentration camps—and finally revealing to the world the depth of the horrors perpetrated there.
Auschwitz was really a group of camps, designated I, II, and III. There were also 40 smaller "satellite" camps. It was at Auschwitz II, at Birkenau, established in October 1941, that the SS created a complex, monstrously orchestrated killing ground: 300 prison barracks; four "bathhouses" in which prisoners were gassed; corpse cellars; and cremating ovens. Thousands of prisoners were also used for medical experiments overseen and performed by the camp doctor, Josef Mengele, the "Angel of Death."
The Red Army had been advancing deeper into Poland since mid-January. Having liberated Warsaw and Krakow, Soviet troops headed for Auschwitz. In anticipation of the Soviet arrival, the German Gestapo began a murder spree in the camps, shooting sick prisoners and blowing up crematoria in a desperate attempt to destroy the evidence of their crimes. When the Red Army finally broke through, Soviet soldiers encountered 648 corpses and more than 7,000 starving camp survivors. There were also six storehouses filled with literally hundreds of thousands of women's dresses, men's suits, and shoes that the Germans did not have time to burn.
Jan 26, 1500: Pinzon discovers Brazil
Spanish explorer Vicente Yanez Pinzon, who had commanded the Nina during Christopher Columbus' first expedition to the New World, reaches the northeastern coast of Brazil during a voyage under his command. Pinzon's journey produced the first recorded account of a European explorer sighting the Brazilian coast; though whether or not Brazil was previously known to Portuguese navigators is still in dispute.
Pinzon subsequently sailed down the Brazilian coast to the equator, where he briefly explored the mouth of the Amazon River. In the same year, Portuguese explorer Pedro Alvares Cabral claimed Brazil for Portugal, arguing that the territory fell into the Portuguese sphere of exploration as defined by the 1494 Treaty of Tordesillas. However, little was done to support the claim until the 1530s, when the first permanent European settlements in Brazil were established at Sao Vicente in Sao Paulo by Portuguese colonists.
Jan 26, 1918: Ukraine declares its independence
Soon after the Bolsheviks seized control in immense, troubled Russia in November 1917 and moved towards negotiating peace with the Central Powers, the former Russian state of Ukraine declares its total independence.
One of pre-war Russia's most prosperous areas, the vast, flat Ukraine (the name can be translated as at the border or borderland) was one of the major wheat-producing regions of Europe as well as rich with mineral resources, including vast deposits of iron and coal. The majority of Ukraine was incorporated into the Russian empire after the second partition of Poland in 1793, while the remaining section—the principality of Galicia--remained part of the Austro-Hungarian empire and was a key battleground on World War I's Eastern Front.
Immediately following the overthrow of the czar in February 1917, Ukraine set up a provisional government and proclaimed itself a republic within the structure of a federated Russia. After Vladimir Lenin and his radical Bolsheviks rose to power in November, Ukraine—like its fellow former Russian property, Finland—took one step further, declaring its complete independence in January 1918.
But Ukraine's Rada government, formed after the secession, had serious difficulty imposing its rule on the people in the face of Bolshevik opposition and counter-revolutionary activity within the country. Seeing Ukraine as an ideal and much-needed source of food for their hunger-plagued people, Germany and Austria brought in troops to preserve order, forcing the Russian troops occupying the country to leave under the terms of the treaty at Brest-Litovsk, signed in March 1918, and virtually annexing the region, while supposedly recognizing Ukrainian independence. In the words of Wilhelm Groener, a German army commander in Kiev, The [Ukrainian] administrative structure is in total disorder, completely incompetent and in no way ready for quick results.It would be in our interests to treat the Ukrainian government as a cover' and for us to do the rest ourselves.
The defeat of the Central Powers and the signing of the armistice in November 1918 forced Germany and Austria to withdraw from Ukraine. At the same time, with the fall of the Austro-Hungarian empire, an independent West Ukrainian republic was proclaimed in the Galician city of Lviv. The two Ukrainian states proclaimed their union in early 1919, but independence was short-lived, as they immediately found themselves in a three-way struggle against troops from both Poland and Russia. The Ukrainian government briefly allied themselves with Poland, but could not withstand the Soviet assault. In 1922, Ukraine became one of the original constituent republics of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (U.S.S.R.); it would not regain its independence until the U.S.S.R.'s collapse in 1991.
Jan 26, 1939: Franco captures Barcelona
During the Spanish Civil War, Barcelona, the Republican capital of Spain, falls to the Nationalist forces of General Francisco Franco.
In 1931, King Alfonso XIII approved elections to decide the government of Spain, and voters overwhelmingly chose to abolish the monarchy in favor of a liberal republic. Alfonso subsequently went into exile, and the Second Republic, initially dominated by middle-class liberals and moderate socialists, was proclaimed. During the first five years of the republic, organized labor and leftist radicals forced widespread liberal reforms as independence-minded Spanish regions such as Catalonia and the Basque provinces achieved virtual autonomy. The landed aristocracy, the church, and a large military clique increasingly employed violence in their opposition to the Second Republic, and in July 1936, General Francisco Franco led a right-wing army revolt in Morocco, which prompted the division of Spain into two key camps: the Nationalists and the Republicans.
Franco's Nationalist forces rapidly overran much of the Republican-controlled areas in central and northern Spain, and Catalonia became a key Republican stronghold. During 1937, Franco unified the Nationalist forces under the command of the Falange, Spain's fascist party, while the Republicans fell under the sway of the communists. Germany and Italy aided Franco with an abundance of planes, tanks, and arms, while the Soviet Union aided the Republican side. In addition, small numbers of communists and other radicals from France, the USSR, America, and elsewhere formed the International Brigades to aid the Republican cause. The most significant contribution of these foreign units was the successful defense of Madrid until the end of the war.
In June 1938, the Nationalists drove to the Mediterranean Sea and cut the Republicans' territory in two. Later in the year, Franco mounted a major offensive against Catalonia. In January 1939, its capital, Barcelona, was captured, and soon after the rest of Catalonia fell. With their cause all but lost, the Republicans attempted to negotiate a peace, but Franco refused. On March 28, 1939, the victorious Nationalists entered Madrid, and the bloody Spanish Civil War came to an end. Up to a million lives were lost in the conflict, the most devastating in Spanish history.
Jan 26, 1986: Bears beat Patriots in Super Bowl XX
On January 26, 1986, in New Orleans, Louisiana, the Chicago Bears score a Super Bowl record number of points to defeat the New England Patriots, 46-10, and win their first championship since 1963.
Led by Coach Mike Ditka, a tight end for the Bears during their last Super Bowl win, Chicago won 17 of 18 games to reach the championship match-up with the Patriots, who became only the fourth wild-card team in history to advance to the Super Bowl. After Tony Franklin kicked a 36-yard field goal only one minute and 19 seconds into the game, New England took the quickest lead in Super Bowl history. It was mostly downhill for the Patriots from there, as the Bears built a 23-3 lead by halftime, gaining a total of 236 yards, compared with New England’s minus 19. The young Patriots quarterback, Tony Eason, had zero completions in six passes, was sacked three times and fumbled once before being replaced by Steve Grogan near the end of the first half.
The mighty Bears defense made a crucial impact on the game, causing six Patriot turnovers (four of which led to touchdowns) and holding New England to a total of only seven rushing yards all game. The Bears were hot on offense as well, as quarterback Jim McMahon completed 12 of 20 passes for 256 yards and no interceptions. Defensive tackle William "The Refrigerator" Perry had one of the game’s most memorable moments, running in a one-yard touchdown and spiking the ball in celebration. The celebrated Chicago running back Walter Payton carried 22 times for 61 yards but did not score, the one disappointment in an otherwise triumphant game for the Bears.
When the game was over, the Bears had set a new NFL record for margin of victory (36 points), bettering the mark of 29 set by the Los Angeles Raiders when they beat the Washington Redskins 38-9 in Super Bowl XVIII. They also scored more points than any other team in the history of the Super Bowl, beating the previous record (38) shared by the Raiders and the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl XIX. The Bears defensive end Richard Dent, who contributed one and a half of Chicago’s record seven sacks, was named the Most Valuable Player of Super Bowl XX, becoming only the fourth defender to win the honor.
Super Bowl XX is also remembered for the ubiquitous "Super Bowl Shuffle," a rap song and accompanying video released by the Bears during the weeks leading up to their championship meeting with the Patriots. Payton, McMahon, Dent, Perry and linebacker Mike Singletary were among the Bears who participated in the song’s production, which reached #41 on the Billboard charts and earned a Grammy Award nomination for Best Rhythm & Blues Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group.
Wow! Some unbelievable, monumental events of great significance came on this date in history! Australia was founded, and set up as a penal colony for Britain, which had an overcrowded prison system at the time. Brazil was discovered on this date. Ukraine gained independence, although it would lose it not much later on, getting absorbed into the Soviet Union. India became a republic on this day. And, of course, on a lighter note, one of the most memorable and dominant teams in sports history won the Super Bowl on this day, the only event elaborated on above that I can actually remember! What a team that was, probably the best that I have ever seen! Fitting to add that in, given that this is Super Bowl week coming up, and both teams are slated to arrive in New York later today, and then the real preparations for the big game begin!
Here's a more detailed look at events that transpired on this date throughout history:
66 - 5th recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet
1340 - English king Edward III proclaimed king of France
1500 - Vicente Yáñez Pinzón becomes the first European to
set foot on Brazil.
1531 - Lisbon hit by Earthquake; about 30,000 die
1564 - The Council of Trent issued its conclusions in the
Tridentinum, establishing a distinction between Roman Catholicism and
Protestantism.
1589 - Job is elected as Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia.
1654 - Portuguese troops conquer last Dutch base on Recife
1666 - France declares war on England & Munster
1689 - Jean Racine's "Esther," premieres in
Saint-Cyr
1697 - Isaac Newton receives Jean Bernoulli's 6 month
time-limit problem, solves problem before going to bed that same night
1699 - Venice, Poland & Austria sign Treaty of Carlowitz
with Ottoman Empire
1700 - The magnitude 9 Cascadia Earthquake took place off
the west coast of the North America, as evidenced by Japanese records.
1736 - Stanislaus I of Poland abdicates his throne.
1748 - Britain, Netherlands, Austria & Sardinia sign
anti-French treaty
1784 - Ben Franklin expresses unhappiness over eagle as
America's symbol
1788 - Captain Arthur Phillip and british colonists hoist
the English flag on Botany Bay, New South Wales, now celebrated as Australia
Day
1789 - John Odell signs contract for £336 to build St
Peter's church (Bronx)
1790 - Mozart's opera "Cosi Fan Tutte" premieres
in Vienna
1797 - Russia, Prussia & Austria sign treaty
Physicist & Mathematician Isaac NewtonPhysicist &
Mathematician Isaac Newton 1802 - Congress passes an act calling for a US
Capitol library
1808 - Rum Rebellion, the only successful (albeit
short-lived) armed takeover of the government in Australia.
1833 - Gaetano Dinozetti's opera "Lucrezia
Borgia," premieres in Milan
1837 - Michigan admitted as 26th US state
1838 - Tennessee enacts the first prohibition law in the
United States
1841 - Hong Kong proclaimed a sovereign territory of Britain
1850 - 1st German language daily newspaper in US published,
NYC
1861 - Louisiana becomes 6th state to secede
1862 - Lincoln issues General War Order #1, calling for a
Union offensive McClellan ignores order
1863 - American Civil War: Massachusetts Governor receives
permission from Secretary of War to raise a militia organization for men of
African descent (54th Massachusetts Regiment)
1870 - Virginia rejoins US
1871 - British Rugby Union forms
1871 - US income tax repealed
1875 - Electric dental drill is patented by George F Green
1881 - Union of Baptists Communities forms in Foxholl
1882 - France government of Gambetta falls
1884 - 1st Dutch Wagner version of Elizabeth aria
1885 - Muhammad Ahmed ("Mahdi") rebels conquer
Khartoum
1886 - Karl Benz patents 1st auto with burning motor
1887 - Battle of Dogali: Abyssinian Emperor John IV defeats
Italians
Writer/Poet Oscar WildeWriter/Poet Oscar Wilde 1891 - Oscar
Wilde's "Duchess of Padua," premieres in NYC
1897 - Battle at Bida Gold Coast: British troops beat Nupe's
army
1900 - Henrik Ibsen's "Naar vi Dode Vaaguer,"
premieres in Stuttgart
1905 - Arnold Schoenberg's "Pelleas und
Melissande," premieres in Vienna
1905 - Han Yong-woon [Bongwan, Manhae] (1879-1944) ordained
a monk in Korea
1905 - World's largest diamond, the 3,106-carat Cullinan, is
found
1907 - 1st federal corrupt election practices law passed
1907 - J M Synge's "Playboy of Western World"
opens; police are called
1907 - The Short Magazine Lee-Enfield Mk III is officially
introduced into British Military Service, and remains the oldest military rifle
still in official use.
1910 - Heavy rains cause floods in Paris
1911 - Glenn Curtiss pilots 1st successful hydroplane, San
Diego
1911 - Richard Strauss's opera "Die Rosenkavalier"
premieres, Dresden
1913 - Jim Thorpe relinquishes his 1912 Olympic medals for
playing as a professional
1914 - 600 Dutch textile workers go on strike
1914 - Vatican puts Belgian Nobel winner Maeterlinck's works
in their index
Versatile Athlete Jim ThorpeVersatile Athlete Jim Thorpe
1915 - Rocky Mountain National Park, Colo established
1918 - Herbert Hoover, US Food Administrator, calls for
"wheatless" & "meatless" days for war effort
1920 - Amadeo Modigliani's mistress jumps out of a window
1920 - Former Ford Motor Co. executive Henry Leland launches
the Lincoln Motor Company which he later sold to his former employer.
1921 - Soccer team GVAV of Groningen Neth forms
1921 - Toronto St Pat Corb Denneny scores 6 goals vs
Hamilton Tigers
1922 - Ralph Vaughan Williams' "Pastoral
Symphony," premieres in London
1924 - Charles Jewtraw, US 500m skater, takes 1st Winter
Olympics gold medal
1926 - Television 1st demonstrated (J L Baird, London)
1927 - Maxwell Anderson's "Saturday's Children,"
premieres in NYC
1929 - Indian National Congress proclaims goal for India's
independence
1930 - Cleveland's Terminal Tower opens (52 stories)
1931 - Hungary-Austria sign peace treaty
1931 - Lynn Riggs' "Green Grow the Lilacs,"
premieres in NYC
1932 - British submarine M-2 sinks in Channel (60 dead)
31st US President Herbert Hoover31st US President Herbert
Hoover 1932 - KUT-AM in Austin Texas changes call letters to KNOW
1934 - Bradman scores 128 NSW v Victoria, 96 mins, 17 fours
4 sixes
1934 - Nazi Germany & Poland sign non-attack treaty for
10 years
1934 - The Apollo Theater reopens in Harlem, New York City.
1934 - German-Polish Non-Aggression Pact is signed.
1939 - Federal Hall National Monument established
1939 - Filming begins on "Gone With the Wind"
1939 - Franco conquers Barcelona
1940 - Nazis forbid Polish Jews to travel on trains
1942 - 1st US force in Europe during WW II go ashore in
Northern Ireland
1942 - Italian supreme command demands dismissal of German
Marshal Rommel
1945 - Soviet forces reach Auschwitz concentration camp
1947 - KLM Dakota crashes near Copenhagen, 22 die
1948 - Executive Order 9981, end segregation in US Armed
Forces signed
1949 - WHIO TV channel 7 in Dayton, OH (CBS) begins
broadcasting
German WWII Field Marshal Erwin RommelGerman WWII Field
Marshal Erwin Rommel 1950 - India becomes a republic, ceasing to be a British
dominion
1951 - Mel Ott & Jimmie Foxx elected to Baseball Hall of
Fame
1954 - Ground breaking begins on Disneyland
1956 - 7th Winter Olympic games open in Cortina d'Ampezzo,
Italy
1956 - Hank Greenberg & Joe Cronin are elected to
Baseball Hall of Fame
1956 - Porkkala military base returned to Finland by USSR
1957 - Bernanos & Poulenc's opera "Dialogue des
Carmelites," premieres
1957 - Dutch PSP, Pacifist Socialistic Party, forms
1957 - India annexes Kashmir
1957 - Joseph F Cairnes succeeds Lou Perini as Pres of
Milwaukee Braves
1958 - H Laskow replaces Moshe Dayan on as Israeli minister
of Defense
1958 - Jack Smith takes over for Art Baker as TV host of
"You Asked for It"
1958 - Marlene Hagge wins LPGA Lake Worth Open Golf
Invitational
1958 - Japanese ferry Nankai Maru capsized off southern
Awaji Island, Japan, 167 killed.
1959 - Italy government of Fanfani resigns
Baseball Player Hank GreenbergBaseball Player Hank Greenberg
1959 - KOKH TV channel 25 in Oklahoma City, OK (IND/PBS) begins broadcasting
1960 - High-school basketball sensation Danny Heater scores
135 points
1960 - Oakland enters AFL
1960 - Pete Rozelle elected NFL commissioner on 23rd ballot
1961 - "Are You Lonesome Tonight?" by Elvis
Presley peaks to #1
1961 - 1st woman "personal physician to
president"-JG Travell
1962 - Bishop Burke of Buffalo Catholic dioceses declares
Chubby Checker's
1962 - Canadian Marine Service renamed Coast Guard
1962 - David Diamond's 7th Symphony, premieres in
Philadelphia
1962 - US launches Ranger 3, misses Moon by 22,000-mi
(37,000-km)
1962 - "Twist" is impure & bans it from all
Catholic schools
1963 - "Milk & Honey" closes at Martin Beck
Theater NYC after 543 perfs
1963 - Major League Rules Committee votes to expand strike
zone
1965 - South Vietnam milt coup under general Nguyen Khanh
1966 - Ard Schenk skates world record 1500m (2:06.2)
Singer & Cultural Icon Elvis PresleySinger &
Cultural Icon Elvis Presley 1966 - The Beaumont Children go missing from
Glenelg Beach near Adelaide, South Australia.
1967 - USSR performs nuclear test at Sary Shagan USSR
1967 - Chicago Blizzard strikes with a record 23 inches of
snow fall causing 800 buses and 50,000 automobiles to be abandoned
1968 - Israeli submarine Dakar sinks in Mediterranean Sea,
69 die
1969 - "Red, White, & Maddox" opens at Cort
Theater NYC for 41 performances
1970 - Pendleton, Ford & Cryer's "Last Sweet Days
of Isaac," premieres in NYC
1971 - Charles Manson convicted of murder
1971 - Dutch 2nd Chamber accepts law against limitation of
war crimes
1972 - Air stewardess Vesna Vulovic survives 10,160m fall
without parachute
1973 - Belgium government of Leburton forms
1975 - Edward Albee's "Seascape," premieres in NYC
1976 - 6th AFC-NFC pro bowl, NFC wins 23-20
1976 - Belgium Catholic elite starts amnesty campaign for
war criminals
1976 - David Mamet's "American Buffalo," premieres
in NYC
1976 - Israel opens "Good Fence" to Lebanon
1976 - NFL Pro Bowl: NFC beats AFC 23-20
1977 - Soviet figure skaters Sergei Shakrai & Marine
Tcherkasova are 1st to perform a quadruple twist lift, Helsinki
1978 - Frank Herbert completes his novel "Destination:
Void"
1978 - International Ultraviolet Explorer placed in Earth
orbit
1978 - Mario Soares forms Portuguese government
1978 - Strikers riot in Tunisia, killing about 40
1979 - "Dukes of Hazzard" premieres on CBS's vast
wasteland
1979 - Music Center Vredenburg opens in Utrecht Neth
Singer/Actor Frank SinatraSinger/Actor Frank Sinatra 1980 -
175,000 pay to hear Frank Sinatra sing in Rio de Janeiro
1980 - Islanders & Whalers play a NHL penalty-free game
1980 - Israel & Egypt establish diplomatic relations
1980 - Mary Decker became 1st woman to run a mile in under
4½ minutes
1981 - Sandeep Patil scores memorable 174 v Australia at
Adelaide Oval
1982 - Islanders score 4 goals within 1:38, 5 within 2:37 vs
Penguins
1982 - Mauno Koivisto elected president of Finland
1983 - Dutch/British infrared satellite IRAS launched from
Calif
1984 - Nordiques' Michel Goulet scored on 9th penalty shot
against Islanders
1984 - US navy exhibits Piasecki helistat-4 helicopters
& a blimp able to lift 26 tons-Lakehurst, NJ
1985 - 42th Golden Globes: Amadeus wins
1985 - Edmonton Oiler Wayne Gretzky scores 50th goal in 49th
game of season
1986 - Hein Vergeer becomes European skating champ
1986 - Val Skinner wins LPGA Mazda Golf Classic
1986 - Yoweri Museveni's rebel army conquerors Kampala
Uganda
1986 - Super Bowl XX: Chicago Bears beat NE Patriots, 46-10
in New Orleans Super Bowl MVP: Richard Dent, Chicago, DE
Singer and actress Whitney HoustonSinger and actress Whitney
Houston 1987 - 14th American Music Award: Whitney Houston, Lionel Richie &
Alabama
1987 - Hart Foundation beat British Bulldogs for WWF tag
team title
1988 - "Phantom of the Opera" opens at Majestic
Theater NYC for 4,000+ perfs
1988 - Australian 200th anniversary parade of tall ships in
Sydney Harbour
1989 - "Black & Blue" opens at Minskoff
Theater NYC for 829 performances
1989 - AT&T reports 1st loss in 103 years; $1.67 B in
1988
1989 - Allan Border takes 7-46 against the West Indies at
the SCG
1989 - Madison Sq Garden announces 2-year $100 M renovation
plan
1989 - Test debut of Mark Taylor, Australia v West Indies,
Sydney
1989 - US computer security expert warns of catastrophic
virus
1990 - Annular eclipse visible over Antarctica & South
Atlantic
1990 - Boston Red Sox hires Elaine Weddington as asst GM
(highest-ranking black female in a major-league front office)
1991 - "Few Good Men" closes at Music Box Theater
NYC after 497 performances
1991 - 65th Australian Womens Tennis: Monica Seles beats J
Novotna (57 63 61)
1991 - Alfaro Vive guerrilla group of Ecuador gives arms to
Catholic church
1991 - Houston guard Vernon Maxwell is 4th NBAer to score 30
pts in a quarter
1991 - Jan Stenerud becomes 1st pure placekicker to make NFL
Hall of Fame
1991 - NY Lotto pays $90 million to nine winner (#s are
5-15-30-35-46-50)
1992 - "Little Hotel on the Side" opens at Belasco
Theater NYC for 41 perfs
1992 - 80th Australian Mens Tennis: Jim Courier beats S
Edberg (63 36 64 62)
1992 - Americans with Disabilities Act went into effect
1992 - Super Bowl XXVI: Wash Red Skins beat Buffalo Bills,
37-24 in Minn Super Bowl MVP: Mark Rypien, Washington, QB
1993 - West Indies defeat Australia by one run in 4th Test
at Adelaide
Radio shock jock Howard SternRadio shock jock Howard Stern
1995 - NJ Governor Christine Whitman, dedicates a rest stop to Howard Stern
1996 - "Les Miserables," opens at Musichall
Theatre, Duisburg
1997 - "Ideal Husband" closes at Barrymore Theater
NYC after 308 performances
1997 - 85th Australian Mens Tennis: Pete Sampras beats
Carlos Moya (62 63 63)
1997 - Brunswick World Bowling Tournament of Champions won
by John Gant
1997 - Super Bowl XXXI: Green Bay Packers beat NE Patriots,
35-21 in New Orleans
1998 - 25th American Music Award: Spice Girls & Babyface
win
1998 - Intel launches 333 MHz Pentium II chip
1998 - President Bill Clinton says "I want to say one
thing to the American people; I did not have sexual relations with that woman,
Miss Lewinsky"
2001 - An earthquake hits Gujarat, India, causing more than
20,000 deaths.
2003 - Super Bowl XXXVII: Tampa Bay Buccaneers beat Oakland
Raiders, 48-21 at the Qualcomm Stadium MVP: Dexter Jackson, Tampa Bay, S
2004 - President Hamid Karzai signs the new constitution of
Afghanistan.
2004 - A whale explodes in the town of Tainan, Taiwan. A
build-up of gas in the decomposing sperm whale is suspected of causing the
explosion.
2005 - Condoleezza Rice is sworn in as U.S. Secretary of
State, becoming the first African American woman to hold the post.
2005 - Glendale train crash: Two trains derail killing 11
and injuring 200 in Glendale, California, near Los Angeles.
Tennis Player Pete SamprasTennis Player Pete Sampras 2006 -
Western Union discontinues use of its telegram service.
2013 - 30 people are killed during a violent protest in Port
Said, Egypt
2013 - 10 people are killed and 20 are injured by a suicide
bombing in Kunduz, Afghanistan
2013 - The United States Sentencing Commission is hacked by
Anonymous in response to the suicide of Aaron Swartz
2013 - Miloš Zeman wins the Czech Republic’s presidential
election
2013 - Victoria Azarenka defeats Li Na to win the women's
singles at the 2013 Australian Open
1500 - Vicente Yáñez Pinzón discovered Brazil. 1736 - Stanislaus I formally abdicated as King of Poland. 1784 - In a letter to his daughter, Benjamin Franklin expressed unhappiness over the eagle as the symbol of America. He wanted the symbol to be the turkey. 1788 - The first European settlers in Australia, led by Captain Arthur Phillip, landed in what became known as Sydney. The group had first settled at Botany Bay eight days before. This day is celebrated as Australia Day. 1802 - The U.S. Congress passed an act calling for a library to be established within the U.S. Capitol. 1827 - Peru seceded from Colombia in protest against Simón Bolívar's alleged tyranny. 1837 - Michigan became the 26th state to join the United States. 1841 - Britain formally occupied Hong Kong, which the Chinese had ceded to the British. 1861 - In the U.S., Louisiana seceded from the Union. 1870 - The state of Virgina rejoined the Union. 1875 - George F. Green patented the electric dental drill for sawing, filing, dressing and polishing teeth. 1905 - The Cullinan diamond, at 3,106.75 carats, was found by Captain Wells at the Premier Mine, near Pretoria, South Africa. 1911 - Inventor Glenn H. Curtiss flew the first successful seaplane. 1934 - The Apollo Theatre opened in New York City. 1939 - In the Spanish Civil War, Franco's forces, with Italian aid, took Barcelona. 1942 - The first American expeditionary force to go to Europe during World War II went ashore in Northern Ireland. 1947 - "The Greatest Story Ever Told" was first heard on ABC radio. 1950 - India officially proclaimed itself a republic as Rajendra Prasad took the oath of office as president. 1950 - The American Associated Insurance Companies, of St. Louis, MO, issued the first baby sitter’s insurance policy. 1959 - "Alcoa Presents" debuted on ABC-TV. The show would later be renamed "One Step Beyond". 1961 - U.S. President John F. Kennedy appointed Dr. Janet G. Travell as the first woman to be the "personal physician to the President". 1962 - The U.S. launched Ranger 3 to land scientific instruments on the moon. The probe missed its target by about 22,000 miles. 1965 - Hindi was made the official language of India. 1969 - California was declared a disaster area two days of flooding and mudslides. 1972 - In Hermsdorf, Czechoslovakia, a JAT Yugoslav Airlines flight crashed after the detonation of a bomb in the forward cargo hold killing 27 people. The bomb was believed to have been placed on the plane by a Croatian extremist group. Vesna Vulovic, a stewardess, survived after falling 33,000 feet in the tail section. She broke both legs and became paralyzed from the waist down. 1979 - The ‘Gizmo’ guitar synthesizer was first demonstrated. 1984 - CBS television debuted Mickey Spillane's "Mike Hammer." 1992 - Russian president Boris Yeltsin announced that his country would stop targeting U.S. cities with nuclear weapons. 1993 - Former Czechoslovak President Vaclav Havel was elected president of the new Czech Republic. 1994 - In Sydney, Australia, a young man lunged at and fired two blank shots at Britain's Prince Charles. 1996 - U.S. First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton testified before a grand jury concerning the Whitewater probe. 1998 - U.S. President Clinton denied having an affair with a former White House intern, saying "I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky." 1999 - Saddam Hussein vowed revenge against the U.S. in response to air-strikes that reportedly killed civilians. The strikes were U.S. planes defending themselves against anti-aircraft fire. 1999 - Gary Busey was released from jail after being arrested the night before for investigation of misdemeanor spousal abuse. Tiana Busey had no visible injuries. 2001 - Near Ciudad Boliva, Venezuela, twenty four people were killed when a 50-year-old DC-3 crashed. 2009 - The first trial at the International Criminal Court was held. Former Union of Congolese Patriots leader Thomas Lubanga was accused of training child soldiers to kill, pillage, and rape. 2009 - The Icelandic government and banking system collapsed. Prime Minister Geir Haarde resigned. 2010 - It was announced that James Cameron's movie "Avatar" had become the highest-grossing film worldwide.
1788 The first European settlers landed in Sydney, Australia. 1802 Congress passed an act calling for establishment of a library within the US Capitol. 1837 Michigan became the 26th state in the United States. 1950 India, three years after gaining its independence from the United Kingdom, formally became a republic. 1979 Former Vice President Nelson Rockefeller died in New York at age 70. 1988 Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera opened on Broadway. It would go on to become the longest-running Broadway show. 1993 Vaclav Havel was elected president of the new Czech Republic. 2001 A magnitude 7.7 earthquake rocked the Indian state of Gujarat, killing more than 20,000 people. 2004 President Hamid Karzai signed the new constitution of Afghanistan.
1500 - Vicente Yáñez Pinzón discovered Brazil. 1736 - Stanislaus I formally abdicated as King of Poland. 1784 - In a letter to his daughter, Benjamin Franklin expressed unhappiness over the eagle as the symbol of America. He wanted the symbol to be the turkey. 1788 - The first European settlers in Australia, led by Captain Arthur Phillip, landed in what became known as Sydney. The group had first settled at Botany Bay eight days before. This day is celebrated as Australia Day. 1802 - The U.S. Congress passed an act calling for a library to be established within the U.S. Capitol. 1827 - Peru seceded from Colombia in protest against Simón Bolívar's alleged tyranny. 1837 - Michigan became the 26th state to join the United States. 1841 - Britain formally occupied Hong Kong, which the Chinese had ceded to the British. 1861 - In the U.S., Louisiana seceded from the Union. 1870 - The state of Virgina rejoined the Union. 1875 - George F. Green patented the electric dental drill for sawing, filing, dressing and polishing teeth. 1905 - The Cullinan diamond, at 3,106.75 carats, was found by Captain Wells at the Premier Mine, near Pretoria, South Africa. 1911 - Inventor Glenn H. Curtiss flew the first successful seaplane. 1934 - The Apollo Theatre opened in New York City. 1939 - In the Spanish Civil War, Franco's forces, with Italian aid, took Barcelona. 1942 - The first American expeditionary force to go to Europe during World War II went ashore in Northern Ireland. 1947 - "The Greatest Story Ever Told" was first heard on ABC radio. 1950 - India officially proclaimed itself a republic as Rajendra Prasad took the oath of office as president. 1950 - The American Associated Insurance Companies, of St. Louis, MO, issued the first baby sitter’s insurance policy. 1959 - "Alcoa Presents" debuted on ABC-TV. The show would later be renamed "One Step Beyond". 1961 - U.S. President John F. Kennedy appointed Dr. Janet G. Travell as the first woman to be the "personal physician to the President". 1962 - The U.S. launched Ranger 3 to land scientific instruments on the moon. The probe missed its target by about 22,000 miles. 1965 - Hindi was made the official language of India. 1969 - California was declared a disaster area two days of flooding and mudslides. 1972 - In Hermsdorf, Czechoslovakia, a JAT Yugoslav Airlines flight crashed after the detonation of a bomb in the forward cargo hold killing 27 people. The bomb was believed to have been placed on the plane by a Croatian extremist group. Vesna Vulovic, a stewardess, survived after falling 33,000 feet in the tail section. She broke both legs and became paralyzed from the waist down. 1979 - The ‘Gizmo’ guitar synthesizer was first demonstrated. 1984 - CBS television debuted Mickey Spillane's "Mike Hammer." 1992 - Russian president Boris Yeltsin announced that his country would stop targeting U.S. cities with nuclear weapons. 1993 - Former Czechoslovak President Vaclav Havel was elected president of the new Czech Republic. 1994 - In Sydney, Australia, a young man lunged at and fired two blank shots at Britain's Prince Charles. 1996 - U.S. First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton testified before a grand jury concerning the Whitewater probe. 1998 - U.S. President Clinton denied having an affair with a former White House intern, saying "I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky." 1999 - Saddam Hussein vowed revenge against the U.S. in response to air-strikes that reportedly killed civilians. The strikes were U.S. planes defending themselves against anti-aircraft fire. 1999 - Gary Busey was released from jail after being arrested the night before for investigation of misdemeanor spousal abuse. Tiana Busey had no visible injuries. 2001 - Near Ciudad Boliva, Venezuela, twenty four people were killed when a 50-year-old DC-3 crashed. 2009 - The first trial at the International Criminal Court was held. Former Union of Congolese Patriots leader Thomas Lubanga was accused of training child soldiers to kill, pillage, and rape. 2009 - The Icelandic government and banking system collapsed. Prime Minister Geir Haarde resigned. 2010 - It was announced that James Cameron's movie "Avatar" had become the highest-grossing film worldwide.
1788 The first European settlers landed in Sydney, Australia. 1802 Congress passed an act calling for establishment of a library within the US Capitol. 1837 Michigan became the 26th state in the United States. 1950 India, three years after gaining its independence from the United Kingdom, formally became a republic. 1979 Former Vice President Nelson Rockefeller died in New York at age 70. 1988 Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera opened on Broadway. It would go on to become the longest-running Broadway show. 1993 Vaclav Havel was elected president of the new Czech Republic. 2001 A magnitude 7.7 earthquake rocked the Indian state of Gujarat, killing more than 20,000 people. 2004 President Hamid Karzai signed the new constitution of Afghanistan.
The following links are to web sites that were used to complete this blog entry:
http://www.historyorb.com/today/events.php
http://on-this-day.com/onthisday/thedays/alldays/jan26.htm
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history
http://www.infoplease.com/dayinhistory
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