January 18


January 18 is the 18th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. There are
347 days remaining (348 in leap years)

Events

   * 350 - General Magnentius deposes Roman Emperor Constans, proclaims
     himself Emperor
   * 532 - Nika riots in Constantinople fail
   * 1520 - King Christian II of Denmark and Norway defeats the Swedes at
     Lake Asunde
   * 1535 - Lima, Peru founded by Francisco Pizarro
   * 1670 - Henry Morgan captures Panama
   * 1701 - Frederick I becomes King of Prussia
   * 1778 - James Cook is the first known European to discover the Hawaiian
     Islands, which he names the "Sandwich Islands."
   * 1861 - Georgia joins the Confederacy
   * 1871 - Wilhelm I of Germany becomes the first German Emperor.
   * 1886 - Modern field hockey is born with the formation of The Hockey
     Association in England.
   * 1896 - The X-ray machine is exhibited for the first time.
   * 1911 - Eugene B. Ely lands on the deck of the USS Pennsylvania
     stationed in San Francisco harbor, marking the first time an aircraft
     landed on a ship
   * 1919 - World War I: A peace conference opens in Versailles, France.
   * 1919 - Bentley Motors is founded
   * 1939 - Louis Armstrong records "Jeepers Creepers."
   * 1943 - World War II: Soviet officials announce they have broken the
     Nazi siege of Leningrad.
   * 1943 - The first uprising of Jews in the Warsaw ghetto
   * 1944 - The Metropolitan Opera House in New York City for the first time
     hosts a jazz concert; the performers are Louis Armstrong, Benny
     Goodman, Lionel Hampton, Artie Shaw, Roy Eldridge and Jack Teagarden.
   * 1958 - Willie O'Ree, the first African American National Hockey League
     player, make his NHL debut with the Boston Bruins.
   * 1964 - The Beatles appear on the Billboard magazine charts for the
     first time
   * 1967 - Albert DeSalvo, the "Boston Strangler," is convicted of numerous
     crimes and is sentenced to life in prison.
   * 1975 - The Jeffersons debuts on CBS.
   * 1977 - Scientists identify a previously unknown bacterium as the cause
     of the mysterious "legionnaire's disease."
   * 1977 - Australia's worst rail disaster occurs at Granville, Sydney
     killing 83.
   * 1978 - The European Court of Human Rights finds the United Kingdom
     government guilty of mistreating prisoners in Northern Ireland, but not
     guilty of torture.
   * 1983 - The International Olympic Committee restores the medals to the
     family of Jim Thorpe
   * 1990 - Former preschool operators Raymond Buckey and his mother Peggy
     McMartin Buckey are acquitted in a Los Angeles, California court of 52
     child molestation charges.
   * 1990 - Washington, DC, Mayor Marion Barry is arrested for drug
     possession in an FBI sting.
   * 1991 - Eastern Airlines shuts down after 62 years citing financial
     problems.
   * 1993 - For the first time, Martin Luther King Jr. holiday is officially
     observed in all 50 United States states.
   * 1995 - In southern France near Vallon-Pont-d'Arc a network of caves are
     discovered that contain paintings and engravings that are 17,000 to
     20,000 years old.
   * 1997 - In north west Rwanda, Hutu militia members kill 3 Spanish aid
     workers, 3 soldiers and seriously wound one other.
   * 1997 - Boerge Ousland of Norway becomes the first person to cross
     Antarctica alone and unaided

Births

   * 1689 - Montesquieu, French writer (+ 1755)
   * 1779 - Peter Roget, lexicographer (+ 1869)
   * 1782 - Daniel Webster, statesman (+ 1852)
   * 1854 - Thomas Watson, telephone pioneer
   * 1882 - A. A. Milne, author (+ 1956)
   * 1892 - Oliver Hardy, comedian, actor (+ 1957)
   * 1903 - Werner Hinz, actor (+ 1985)
   * 1904 - Cary Grant, actor (+ 1986)
   * 1905 - Joseph Bonanno, gangster (+ 2002)
   * 1913 - Danny Kaye, actor (+ 1987)
   * 1914 - Arno Schmidt, author (+ 1979)
   * 1932 - Robert Anton Wilson, author
   * 1933 - John Boorman, director
   * 1937 - John Hume, politician, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1998
   * 1938 - Curt Flood, baseball star (+ 1997)
   * 1941 - David Ruffin, singer (+ 1991)
   * 1947 - Takeshi Kitano, actor and director
   * 1949 - Philippe Starck, French designer
   * 1955 - Kevin Costner, actor
   * 1956 - Ray Dolby, inventor of the Dolby noise reduction system

Deaths

   * 474 - Leo I, emperor of the Byzantine Empire
   * 1862 - John Tyler, former President of the United States, member of the
     Congress of the Confederate States of America
   * 1873 - Edward George Bulwer-Lytton, author
   * 1927 - Empress Carlotta of Mexico
   * 1936 - Rudyard Kipling, British writer
   * 1952 - Curly Howard, actor, comedian, member of the Three Stooges
   * 1954 - Sydney Greenstreet, actor
   * 1966 - Kathleen Norris, writer
   * 1980 - Sir Cecil Beaton, fashion designer
   * 1991 - Leo Hurwitz, documentary film producer
   * 2003 - Richard Crenna, actor

Holidays and observances

   * Catholicism - Week of Prayer for Christian Unity