On This Day February 1

Beyonce's February 1, 2017 photograph revealing that she is pregnant with twins was the ‘most-liked’ Instagram post of 2017. The artistic image of the pregnant singer holding her stomach, had the caption: “We would like to share our love and happiness. We have been blessed two times over. We are incredibly grateful that our family will be growing by two, and we thank you for your well wishes. – The Carters.”

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On This Day January 31

Scotch® Cellulose Tape, later renamed Cellophane Tape, was invented by a college dropout named Richard Drew from St  Paul, Minnesota. Drew worked for a small sandpaper company founded in 1902 called Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing, later known as 3M. It was first sold by 3M on January 31, 1930 and marketed as an attractive, moisture-proof way for grocers and bakers to seal packages.

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On This Day January 30

On January 30, 1948, Mahatma Gandhi was walking through a garden to a pergola on his way onto a prayer meeting at the Birla House Gardens, New Delhi. He was shot by a Hindu nationalist fanatic, Nathuram Godse at 5.13 pm. Gandhi was carried back to his couch in Biria House, where he was given a cup of milk which he couldn't drink. His famous last words were, "He Ram!" (O God!). He died 40 minutes later.

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On This Day January 29

Princess Victoria was 13 when she was given a King Charles spaniel called Dash. As Victoria was raised largely isolated from other children, her pet soon became a much loved companion. The Princess spent January 29, 1835 travelling from St. Leonard's back to Kensington Palace. She wrote in her diary that "Dear Dashy was in our carriage and behaved like a darling." The first thing the newly crowned Queen Victoria did after coronation was to give her beloved pet his usual bath.

Portrait of Victoria with her spaniel Dash by George Hayter, 1833

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On This Day January 28

Choudhry Rahmat Ali published a pamphlet entitled Now or Never; Are We to Live or Perish Forever? on January 28, 1933 while a student at Cambridge University's Emmanuel College. In it he called for the creation of a Muslim state in northwest India that the young student termed "Pakstan" (without the letter "i"). “Pak” means spiritually pure in Urdu and “Stan” means land. The name was adopted by the Indian Muslims for their Pakistan Movement seeking independence. The picture below shows Chaudhry Rehmat Ali as a Cambridge University student.

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On This Day January 27

The 21-year-old Elvis Presley created a sensation with his rock 'n' roll-styled "Heartbreak Hotel," the first of his 14 records in a row that sold more than a million copies each. Released on January 27, 1956, it climbed to the top of the pop chart reaching #1 in April and spending eight weeks at the summit. The success of "Heartbreak Hotel" began Elvis' period as the most famous American musician and teen idol.

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On This Day January 26

The world's largest diamond ever, the Cullinan was found on January 26, 1905 at the Premier Mine near Pretoria in South Africa during a routine inspection by the mine's superintendent. It weighed 1.33 pounds.  In 1907, the Transvaal Colony government bought the Cullinan and then presented it to Edward VII, King of the UK, sending it by ordinary registered mail. Edward VII exclaimed on seeing it: "I should have kicked it aside as a lump of glass if I had seen it on the road."

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On This Day January 25

Nike was founded on January 25, 1964 by University of Oregon track athlete Phil Knight and his celebrated track and field coach Bill Bowerman. They were originally known as Blue Ribbon Sports and operated as a distributor for Japanese shoe maker Onitsuka Tiger (now ASICS), In 1971 Blue Ribbon decided it wanted a name change. They decided on their new name in honor of Nike, the Greek goddess of victory, either in war or in an athletic contest.

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On This Day January 24

On January 15, 1965, Sir Winston Churchill suffered a stroke — a severe cerebral thrombosis — that left him gravely ill. He died nine days later, on January 24, 1965, 70 years to the day of his father's death. His daughter Mary wrote to him on his death bed. "I owe you what every Englishman, woman and child owes you - liberty itself."

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On This Day January 23

In 1948 a young American just out of the army, Walter Frederick Morrison, applied for a patent for a plastic flying disc. It is said the idea originated when Morrison and his wife began flinging pie tins to one another on the beach. On January 23, 1957 Morrison sold the rights to his flying disc to the Wham-O toy company, (inventors of the hula- hoop). Called at first the “Toy Flying Saucer”, they changed its name to the Frisbee disc.

Walter Frederick Morrison promoting his Pluto Platters, forerunner of the Frisbee.

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On This Day January 22

The Apple Macintosh, the first consumer computer to popularize the computer mouse and the graphical user interface, was introduced during Super Bowl XVIII on January 22, 1984 with its famous "1984" television commercial. Inside the beige plastic enclosure of every 128K Macintosh – the first model sold – were engraved signatures from everyone on the Apple Mac team, including Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak.

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On This Day January 21

Louis XVI of France was guillotined on January 21, 1793 during the French Revolution. As he mounted the scaffold, the former French king appeared dignified and resigned. He delivered a short speech in which he prayed, "I trust that my death will be for the happiness of my people, but I grieve for France, and I fear that she may suffer the anger of the Lord," but his speech was drowned out by a roll of drums.

Execution of Louis XVI – copperplate engraving 1793

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On This Day January 20

King Richard II married Anne of Bohemia in Westminster Abbey on January 20, 1382. It was the fifth royal wedding in the Abbey and was not followed by any other royal wedding in Westminster Abbey for another 537 years. Tournaments were held for several days after the ceremony, in celebration. Richard and Anne then made a tour of the realm, staying at many major abbeys along the way. Richard II had to pawn the Crown Jewels to pay for the wedding.

Anne and Richard's coronation in the Liber Regalis

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On This Day January 19

71.7% of all television sets in the United States were tuned into I Love Lucy on January 19, 1953 to watch her give birth. The Lucy Goes to the Hospital episode had actually been filmed on November 14, 1952 and to increase the publicity of this episode, the original air date was chosen to coincide with Lucille Ball's real-life delivery of Desi, Jr. by Caesarean section.

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On This Day January 18

On January 18, 1778, Captain James Cook became the first known European to discover the Hawaiian Islands, which he named the "Sandwich Islands," in honor of his sponsor, John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich. Cook recorded in Tahiti the traditional Polynesian sport of surfing. In 1778 when he arrived in Hawaii the natives took him to Lono, the god of surfing on his giant canoe.

Kaʻawaloa in 1779 by John Webber, artist aboard Cook's ship

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On This Day January 17

Robert Falcon Scott's ill-fated Terra Nova Expedition reached the South Pole on January 17, 1912, only to find that Roald Amundsen's team had beaten them by 33 days. Amundsen had left a letter to be delivered to King Haakon VII of Norway should the Norwegian expedition perish on their return journey. Scott made his disappointment clear in his diary: "The worst has happened"; "All the day dreams must go"; "Great God! This is an awful place".

Scott's party at the South Pole: Oates, Bowers, Scott, Wilson and Evans

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On This Day January 16

Benny Goodman's concert on January 16, 1938 at New York City's Carnegie Hall was the premiere performance given by a jazz orchestra in the famed venue. It was considered instrumental in establishing jazz as a legitimate form of music. The LP, The Famous 1938 Carnegie Hall Jazz Concert by Benny Goodman, issued in 1950, was the first ever double album, and one of the first records on the new long-playing format to sell over a million copies.

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On This Day January 15

In December 1891, Canadian YMCA trainer James Naismith set out to invent a game to occupy students between the football and baseball seasons. Naismith nailed two peach baskets on opposite ends of the YMCA International Training School in Massachusetts and instructed his students to toss soccer balls into them. Half-bushel peach baskets were used at first, thus providing the name "basketball." James Naismith first published his basketball rules on January 15, 1892.

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On This Day January 14

Victor Hugo's novel, The Hunchback of Notre-Dame, was first published in France on January 14, 1831 and was quickly translated into other languages across Europe. The success of the book inspired a renewed appreciation for pre-Renaissance buildings, which thereafter began to be actively preserved. It especially shamed the city of Paris into restoring the much-neglected Cathedral of Notre Dame, which was attracting thousands of tourists who had read the popular novel.

Notre-Dame de Paris 1st edition cover. Wikipedia

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On This Day January 13

The year after the 1845 U.S. annexation of Texas, Commodore John D. Sloat of the United States Navy sailed into Monterey Bay and began the military occupation of California by the United States, Northern California capitulated in less than a month to the US forces. After a series of defensive battles in Southern California, the Treaty of Cahuenga was signed by the Californios on January 13, 1847, securing American control in California.

Campo de Cahuenga, scene of the signing of the Treaty of Cahuenga

  

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On This Day January 12

The sitcom format was born on January 12, 1926 with the initial broadcast of Sam 'n' Henry on WGN radio in Chicago, Illinois. The ten-minute program starred Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll as Sam Smith and Henry Johnson, two African-Americans from Birmingham who moved north to Chicago to seek their fortune. 

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On This Day January 11

At Toronto's General Hospital, 14-year-old diabetic Leonard Thompson became on January 11, 1922 the first person to be treated with the insulin drug, using a fetal calf pancreas extract. However, the ox extract was so impure, Thompson suffered a severe allergic reaction, and further injections were canceled. A second dose was injected twelve days later with an improved extract. This was completely successful in completely eliminating the glycosuria sign of diabetes.

Insulin

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On This Day January 10

The London Underground, the world's oldest subway railway, opened between Paddington station and Farringdon station on January 10, 1863. This first section of the Metropolitan Railway was 3.75 miles (6 km) long and originally used gas-lit wooden carriages hauled by steam locomotives. The London Underground was soon carrying tens of thousands of passengers each day. It transported 9.5 million in its first year. 

 

 Locomotive as used on the underground Metropolitan Railway from 1863 to 1869.

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On This Day January 9

On January 9, 2007, Apple Inc CEO Steve Jobs unveiled the iPhone—a touch screen mobile phone with an iPod, camera and Web-browsing capabilities—at the Macworld convention in San Francisco. Jobs called the iPhone a "revolutionary and magical product that is literally five years ahead of any other mobile phone." During the first live iPhone presentation, Steve Jobs had to frequently switch phone to an identical one behind his desk because it would otherwise run out of RAM and crash.

 

The word "Computer" was removed from Apple's name on January 9, 2007, the same day Steve Jobs introduced the iPhone, reflecting its shifted focus towards consumer electronics.

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On This Day January 8

When British forces threatened New Orleans in the War of 1812, Andrew Jackson took command of the defenses, including militia from several western states and territories. Jackson's 4,000 militiamen and 16 heavy cannons behind barricades of cotton bales opposed 10,000 British regulars marching across an open field, led by General Edward Pakenham. The Battle of New Orleans was a total American victory and made Andrew Jackson a national hero.

E. Percy Moran, The Battle of New Orleans (1910)

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On This Day January 7

Frenchman Jean-Pierre Blanchard, (1753-1809), the inventor of the parachute, successfully made the first balloon crossing of the English Channel from Dover to Calais on January 7, 1785. Mr. Blanchard and his American passenger, Dr. John Jeffries, had to shed all of their clothes as the wind died and the balloon’s airbag cooled too quickly over the sea. Neither man could swim.

 

Crossing of the English Channel by Blanchard in 1785.

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On This Day January 6

Anne of Cleves, the pudding-faced sister of the German protestant leader, the Duke of Cleves, was recommended as a wife for Henry VIII of England by Thomas Cromwell. They met at Blackheath Common pageant,  but Henry was not impressed by her looks. Despite Henry's very vocal misgivings, the two were married at the royal Palace of Placentia in Greenwich, London by Archbishop Thomas Cranmer on January 6, 1540. However, Henry quickly pensioned Anne off.

Anne of Cleves Portrait by Hans Holbein the Younger, c. 1539. 

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On This Day January 5

Clyde Barrow (1909–34) first met Bonnie Parker (1911–34) at the West Dallas, Texas home of Clyde’s friend Clarence Clay on January 5, 1930. Two months after he first met Parker, Barrow was arrested on seven accounts of burglary and car theft, convicted, and sentenced to two years in jail. Parker smuggled a gun to him and he escaped. Bonnie and Clyde then embarked on a crime spree with their gang until the pair were betrayed by a friend.

Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow, sometime between 1932 and 1934

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On This Day January 4

William III of England and his wife Mary disliked Whitehall Palace, which had been the main residence of the English monarchs since 1530, They lived mostly in Hampton Court. William was not too put out when one of the maid servants that they had bought with them from Holland set fire to Whitehall Palace and burned most of it down on January 4, 1698.

View Of A Fire At Whitehall Palace Pastel On Paper by English School

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On This Day January 3

Adolf Hitler's father Alois Hitler died on January 3, 1903. Alois Hitler was a petty clerk in the Austrian Customs Service. Adolf's mother Klara Pölzl, was Alois' niece and third wife. Their marriage was not a happy one. In Mein Kampf, Hitler described his father as an irascible tyrant; however, there is little indication that Alois Hitler treated his son more strictly than was usual for that time and place. "My father I respected, my mother I loved." he wrote.

Alois Hitler

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On This Day January 2

American engineer Willis Carrier invented the first electric air conditioning unit after he was commissioned to come up with the design by a printing company whose work was being wrecked by humidity in the factory.  He was awarded a patent for his appliance on January 2, 1902. The installation marked the birth of air conditioning because of the addition of humidity control.

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