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What happened on January 08 Please support our Sponsors - They help us keep this site Alive! 0794 Church at Lindisfarne, England destroyed by Vikings 0871 Battle of Ashdown - Ethelred of Wessex defeats a Danish invasion army. 1198 Lotario di Segni elected Pope Innocentius III 1214 Earl Ferrand of Flanders drops ties with France 1297 Monaco gains its independence. 1499 Louis XII of France after papal divorce marries Anne, Duchess of Brittany to keep the duchy for the crown 1558 French troops under duke de Guise occupy Calais 1598 Genoa Italy expels Jews 1642 Astronomer Galileo Galilei dies in Arcetri, Italy at age 77. 1656 Oldest surviving commercial newspaper begins (Haarlem, Netherlands) 1675 First American commercial corporation chartered (New York Fishing Co) 1675 The New York Fishing Company becomes the first corporation to be chartered in the U.S. 1679 Explorer and fur trader Cavalier de La Salle reaches Niagara Falls; one of his boats is wrecked on Lake Ontario on this day. 1705 Georg F Händels first opera "Almira," premieres in Hamburg 1716 Dutch gang leader "Sjako" arrested 1734 Premiere of George Frideric Handel's Ariodante at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. 1745 England, Austria, Netherlands & Saxon sign anti-Prussian Quadruple Alliance 1746 Bonnie Prince Charlie occupies Stirling. 1760 Comet C/1760 A1 (Great comet) approaches within 0.0682 AUs of Earth 1790 George Washington delivers first "State of the Union" address 1798 11th Amendment ratified, judicial powers construed 1800 Austrians defeat French in 2nd battle of Novi 1800 Wild Boy of Aveyron discovered in southern France 1806 Cape Colony becomes a British colony. 1806 Lewis & Clark find skeleton of 105' blue whale in Oregon 1811 Unsuccessful slave revolt led by Charles Deslandes in St. Charles and St. James, Louisiana. 1815 Andrew Jackson's troops defeat the British at Chalmette in the Battle of New Orleans. 1815 Battle of New Orleans-War of 1812 ended 12/24/1814 but nobody knew 1815 War of 1812: Battle of New Orleans - Andrew Jackson leads American forces in victory over the British. 1821 Confederate Gen. James Longstreet is born. - USA 1833 Boston Academy of Music, first US music school, established 1835 US national debt is 0 for the first and only time. 1838 Alfred Vail demonstrates a telegraph using dots and dashes (this is the forerunner of Morse code). 1838 Edward Theller 1804-1859 fires on Fort Malden from vessel 'Anne', while Thomas Sutherland occupies Bois Blanc Island; US sympathizers of rebels called Hunter's Lodges. 1838 Rebellion at Amherstburg, Ontario breaks out 1838 The first telegraph message sent using dots & dashes, New Jersey 1842 Dutch King Willem II charters Technical College Delft 1847 Battle of San Gabriel (Navy, Marines, Army defeat Mexicans in CA) 1848 Austrian soldiers kill 10 students, Pavia 1853 The first US bronze equestrian statue (of Andrew Jackson) unveiled, Washington 1856 Dr. John Veatch discovers Borax (hydrated sodium borate), Tuscan Springs CA, still popular as a hand and laundry cleaner in the 1950s and 1960s. 1863 American Civil War: Second Battle of Springfield 1867 African American men granted the right to vote in the District of Columbia. 1867 Legislation gives suffrage to DC blacks, despite President Johnson's veto 1870 US mint at Carson City NV begins issuing coins 1877 Crazy Horse and his warriors fight their last battle with the United States Cavalry at Wolf Mountain (Montana Territory). 1878 Secret meeting of King Leopold II's agent & Henry Morton Stanley 1884 Chrome tanning process for leather patented by Augustus Schultz 1889 Dr Herman Hollerith receives first US patent for a tabulating machine (1st Computer) 1892 A hundred workers die in a mine explosion in McAlister, Oklahoma. 1894 Columbus World's fair in Chicago destroyed by fire 1900 The Boers attack the British in Ladysmith, South Africa, but the British hold fast. 1901 New South Wales score 918 all out vs South Australia in 560 minutes 1901 The first American Bowling Congress tournament begins in Chicago, Illinois. 1904 Pope Pius X banned low cut dresses in the presence of churchmen 1906 A landslide in Haverstraw, New York, kills 20 people due to the excavation of clay along the Hudson River. 1908 A train collision occurs in the Park Avenue Tunnel in New York City killing 17 people, injuring 38 and leading to increased demand for electric trains. 1908 Subway transit service between Brooklyn and Manhattan begins. 1912 The African National Congress was founded. 1916 World War I: Allied forces withdraw from Gallipoli. 1917 Austria-Hungarian troops conquer Forlani Italy 1917 Canadian actress Mary Pickford, born Gladys Smith in Toronto, stars in a new silent film, Pride of the Clan 1918 Mississippi becomes first state to ratify 18th amendment (prohibition) 1918 President Wilson outlines his 14 points for peace after WWI 1920 The Czechoslovak Hussite Church was founded by Dr. Karel Farsk. 1922 The Social Democratic Youth League of Norway is founded. 1923 Larry Storch, comedian, actor: F Troop was born 1923 Typography strike in Amsterdam 1926 Abdul-Aziz ibn Sa'ud becomes king of Hejaz; renames it Saudi Arabia 1929 The first telephone connection between Netherlands & West-Indies 1930 Belgium Princess Marie-José marries Italian's crown prince Umberto 1932 Ratification of present San Francisco City Charter 1935 Citizen are jailed for failing to salute in Strazsund, Germany. 1935 Spectrophotometer patented, AC Hardy 1937 -50ºF (-45.6ºC), San Jacinto NV (state record) 1937 Shirley Bassey, singer: James Bond themes: Goldfinger, Diamond’s Are Forever was born 1938 Bradman scores 107 for South Australia vs Queensland (1st innings) 1940 Great Britain begins the rationing of meat, butter, and sugar to help the war effort during WWII. 1940 World War II: Britain introduces food rationing. 1941 British Air Marshal Richard Peirse resigns 1941 Federal Minister Ian Mackenzie announces that the RCMP will be registering all Japanese Canadians in British Columbia; a national security matter under the War Measures Act. They are later moved inland to detention camps. 1947 General George Marshall becomes Secretary of State 1947 Toronto Maple Leaf rookie Howie Meeker scores 5 goals in a game 1948 A.G.L. 'Andy' McNaughton 1887-1966 appointed permanent delegate to United Nations, and Canada's representative on UN Security Council. 1948 Queen Wilhelmina signs death sentence against Ans van Dijk for treason 1951 Thought extinct since 1615, a Cahow is rediscovered in Bermuda 1952 Jordan adopts constitution 1953 René Mayer forms French government 1954 Elvis Presley pays $4 to a Memphis studio & records his first two songs, "Casual Love" & "I'll Never Stand in Your Way" 1954 First Alberta crude oil reaches Ontario through pipeline from Edmonton. 1955 Visitor posting - Demetra is born 1956 Elvis Presley's "Don't Be Cruel/Hound Dog," single goes to #1 & stays #1 for a record 11 weeks (for a single) 1956 Operation Auca: Five U.S. missionaries are killed by the Huaorani of Ecuador shortly after making contact with them. 1957 Jackie Robinson announces that he is retiring from baseball. 1958 Bobby Fisher wins the U.S. Chess Championship at age 14. 1958 Cuban revolutionary forces capture Havana 1959 Charles de Gaulle inaugurated as President of France's 5th Republic 1959 Conquest of Cuba by Fidel Castro is completed with the conquest of Santiago de Cuba. 1961 In France, a referendum supports Charles de Gaulle's policies in Algeria. 1962 Dutch express train crashes into slow commuter train, 91 die (Netherlands) 1962 Golfer Jack Nicklaus, 21, first pro appearance, he came in 50th 1962 Harmelen train disaster kills 93 people in The Netherlands. 1962 Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa is exhibited in the United States for the first time (National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.). 1963 "Mona Lisa," on loan, unveiled in America's National Gallery of Art 1964 European Parliament accept Mansholt Plan 1964 President Lyndon B Johnson declares "War on Poverty" 1965 NBC TV debuts the weekly rock 'n roll TV dance show Hullabaloo. 1965 Star of India returned to American Museum of Natural History 1966 Beatles' "Rubber Soul," album goes #1 & stays #1 for 6 weeks 1966 Georges Pompidou appointed French premier 1966 Who & the Kinks perform on the last "Shindig" TV show on ABC 1968 Jacques Cousteau's first undersea special on US network TV 1971 29 pilot whales beach themselves & die at San Clemente Island CA 1971 Voyageurs National Park, Minnesota established 1972 Number one hit on UK music charts - New Seekers - I'd Like To Teach The World To Sing 1973 Greg Chappell's best Test bowling, 5-61 vs Pakistan at SCG 1973 Secret peace talks between US & North Vietnam resumed near Paris 1973 Soviet space mission Luna 21 is launched. 1973 USSR launches Luna 21 for Moon landing 1973 Watergate scandal: The trial of seven men accused of illegal entry into Democratic Party headquarters at Watergate begins. 1974 Gold hits record $126.50 an ounce in London 1974 Loch Ness Monster photographed? 1974 Silver hits record $3.40 an ounce in New York 1975 Ella Grasso becomes Governor of Connecticut, becoming the first woman to serve as a Governor in the United States who did not succeed her husband. 1975 Judge Sirica orders release of Watergate's John W Dean III, Herbert W Kalmbach & Jeb Stuart Magruder from prison 1976 Franklin Mint strikes first gold coins for Netherlands Antilles 1978 Israel's Cabinet votes to `strengthen' settlements in occupied Sinai 1979 512 die as oil tanker Bantry Bay blows up 1979 Argentina & Chile sign Beagle Canal accord 1979 The NBC game show Password Plus premieres, hosted by Allen Ludden. 1979 The tanker Betelgeuse explodes in Bantry Bay, Ireland (The Betelgeuse incident). 1979 Today Show gets a new theme song 1979 Vietnamese troops overtook Khmer Rouge & occupy Phnom Penh 1981 India all out 63 in one-day international vs Australia 1982 AT& T agrees to divest itself of the 22 Bell System companies 1982 AT&T agrees to divest itself of twenty-two subdivisions. 1982 American Telephone & Telegraph agrees to be broken up in settlement of an anti-trust suit filed in 1974. 1982 Justice Department withdraws antitrust suit against IBM, pending since 1969 1985 Japan launches Sakigake space probe to Halley's Comet 1986 President Reagan freezes Libyan assets in the US 1987 The Dow Jones industrial average closes at over 2000 points for the first time. 1988 Dow Jones down 140.58 points 1988 Hewlett-Packard introduces the HP-28S Advanced Scientific Calculator 1989 Beginning of Japanese Heisei era. 1989 Boeing 737-400 crashes in England, 46 die 1989 Kegworth air disaster kills 47 people in Leicestershire, England. 1989 Soviet Union promises to eliminate stockpiles of chemical weapons 1990 Canada formally joins the Organization of American States (OAS) as its 33rd member. 1991 Gaylord Perry, Ferguson Jenkins & Rod Carew elected to Hall of Fame 1992 US President George Bush gets ill & vomits on Japanese prime minister's lap during Japanese tour 1993 Elvis Presley Commemorative Postage Stamp goes on sale 1993 NBC offers "Tonight Show" to David Letterman 1993 Visitor posting - Allison Herrera was born - USA 1994 Visitor posting - Birth of Marvel Velez 1994 Rintje Ritsma skates world record 1500m (1 51.60) 1994 Russian cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov on Soyuz TM-18 leaves for Mir. He will stay on the space station until March 22, 1995, for a record 437 days in space. 1995 "Guys & Dolls" closes at Martin Beck Theater New York City NY after 1143 performances 1995 Visitor posting - Ciaran Burns is born 1996 An Antonov 32 cargo turboprop powered plane crashes into the central market in Kinshasa, Zaire killing more than 350 people. 1996 Blizzard buries eastern US causing at least 50 deaths 1996 Fisheries Minister Brian Tobin announces he is quitting federal politics to run for the job of provincial Liberal leader and Premier of Newfoundland, only to return and get a plum government posting 1996 For first time in 25 years no one is elected to Baseball Hall of Fame 1998 National Defence deploys 4,000 soldiers to help Hydro-Quebec with the worst ice storm damage; 1.3 million households will lose power in Eastern Ontario and Quebec. 1998 Roseanne files for divorce from 3rd husband Ben Thomas 1998 Unabomber suspect Theodore Kaczynski asks to act as his own lawyer 1999 RailAmerica Inc. takes over the operation of the Esquimalt and Nanaimo Railway from CP. The new company, known as E&N Railway Company (1998) Ltd, purchased the line between Port Alberni and Nanaimo and leased the section from Victoria to Nanaimo. 2000 Winning Lines, a worldiwde national lottery game show, premieres on CBS and is hosted by Dick Clark. 2004 RMS Queen Mary 2, the largest passenger ship ever built, was christened by her namesake's granddaughter, Queen Elizabeth II. 2006 A magnitude 6.9 earthquake epicentered just off the Greek island of Kythira hits much of the country and is felt throughout the entire eastern Mediterranean Sea. 2006 Exercise Northstar V, a large scale civil defence exercise, is held in Singapore and contains 4 MRT Stations and Toa Payoh Bus Interchange. 2008 Visitor posting - Oscar and Joanna's Year together:) [our date!] 2011 Visitor posting - Justin and Julia Perkins get married - USA More historical events added daily - keep checking back Add your own Personal Historic listing FREE! - Click Here Return to Daily Calendar Contact us at: info @ datesinhistory.com (remove the spaces) "This site contains links to other Internet sites. 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