January 21

Birthdays:

1963 ~ Hakeem Olajuwon, Nigerian-born American basketball player.

1956 ~ Geena Davis, American actress.

1955 ~ Jeff Koons, American artist.

1951 ~ Eric Holder, 82^nd United States Attorney General.  He served in the Obama administration from February 2009 until April 2015.

1950 ~ Gary Faye Locke, 36^th United States Secretary of Commerce.  He served under President Barack Obama.  He served in that Office from August 2011 until March 2014.

1950 ~ Billy Ocean (né Leslie Sebastian Charles), Trinidadian-British musician.

1947 ~ Jill Eikenberry, American actress.

1943 ~ Michael Henry Heim (d. Sept. 29, 2012), American translator who gave his all to world literature.  He was a professor of Slavic languages and translated many works of literature in Czech, Russian, Dutch, French, Italian, and Serbo-Croatian.  He died of complications from melanoma at age 69.

1942 ~ Martin Sharp (né Martin Ritchie Sharp, d. Dec. 1, 2013), Australian graphic artist who set a psychedelic tone for the 1960s.  He died at age 71.

1941 ~ Richard Pierce “Richie” Havens (d. Apr. 22, 2013), African-American eclectic singer who opened Woodstock.  He died at age 72.

1941 ~ Plácido Domingo, Spanish tenor.

1940 ~ Jack Nicklaus, American golfer.

1938 ~ Wolfman Jack (né Robert Weston Smith, d. July 1, 1995), American radio disc jocky and personality.  He died of a heart attack at age 57.

1926 ~ Kurt Chew-Een Lee (d. Mar. 3, 2014), Chinese-American officer-hero who changed the Marines.  He died at age 88.

1924 ~ Benny Hill (né Alfred Hawthorne Hill, d. Apr. 20, 1992), British comedian.  He died at age 68.

1923 ~ Dina Gottliebová Babbitt (d. July 29, 2009), Czech-born Auschwitz prisoner who survived by painting.  She died at age 86.

1922 ~ Telly Savalas (né Aristotelis Savalas, d. Jan. 22, 1994), Greek American actor, best known for his role as Kojak on the television show of the same name.  He died 1 day after his 72^nd birthday.

1922 ~ Paul Scofield (né David Paul Scofield, d. Mar. 19, 2008), British actor.  He died at age 86 of leukemia.

1915 ~ André Lichnerowicz (d. Dec. 11, 1998), French mathematician.  He died at age 83.

1912 ~ Konrad Emil Bloch (d. Oct. 15, 2000), German-American biochemist and recipient of the 1964 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.  He died of heart failure at age 88.

1905 ~ Christian Dior (d. Oct. 23, 1957), French fashion designer.  He died of a heart attack at age 52.

1905 ~ Karl Wallenda (d. Mar. 22, 1978), German-born acrobat and member of the Flying Wallendas.  He fell from an attempted high-wire walk between two towers of a ten-story building in San Juan, Puerto Rico.  He was 73 years old.

1884 ~ Roger Nash Baldwin (d. Aug. 26, 1981), American civil rights activist and co-founder of the American Civil Liberties Union.  He died at age 97.

1882 ~ Pavel Florensky (d. Dec. 8, 1937), Russian Orthodox theologian, philosopher, and mathematician.  He was executed at age 55 for crimes against the government.

1869 ~ Grigori Rasputin (d. Dec. 30, 1916), Russian monk.  He was murdered by a group led by Prince Felix Yusupov just 22 days before his 48^th birthday.

1846 ~ Pieter Hendrick Schoute (d. Apr. 18, 1923), Dutch mathematician.  He died at age 77.

1843 ~ Louis A. Wiltz (d. Oct. 16, 1881), 29^th Governor of Louisiana.  He served as Governor for only a year and 10 months ~ from January 1880 until October 1881.  He died in office at age 38 of tuberculosis.

1829 ~ King Oscar II of Sweden (d. Dec. 8, 1907).  He died at age 78.

1827 ~ Ivan Mekheevich Pervushin (d. June 17, 1900), Russian mathematician.  He died at age 73.

1824 ~ Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson (d. May 10, 1863), General in the Confederate army.  He had been shot by friendly fire 8 days prior to his death.  He was 39 years old.

1808 ~ Juan Crisóstomo Torrico (d. Mar. 27, 1875), Peruvian soldier and President of Peru.  He died at age 67.

1738 ~ Ethan Allen (d. Feb. 12, 1789), American military leader during the American Revolutionary War.  He was the leader of Vermont’s Green Mountain Boys.  He died 22 days after his 51^st birthday.

1338 ~ King Charles V of France (d. Sept. 16, 1380).  He died at age 42.

Events that Changed the World:

2017 ~ The Women’s March, protesting the inauguration of Donald Trump, took place in Washington, D.C., as well as in over 400 cities across American and in over 160 countries worldwide.

2013 ~ The inauguration of U.S. President Barak Obama was held to begin his second term of office.

2013 ~ Martin Luther King, Jr., Day was celebrated in the United States.

2003 ~ A 7.6 magnitude earthquake hit Colima, Mexico leaving over 10,000 people homeless.

1997 ~ Newt Gingrich (b. 1943) was disciplined for ethical misconduct while Speaker of the House of Representatives.

1985 ~ President Ronald Reagan’s second inauguration took place.  Because January 20, fell on a Sunday, the inauguration was postponed for a day.  It had to be moved indoors due to freezing temperatures and high winds.

1981 ~ Production of the DeLorean DMC-12 sports car began.

1977 ~ President Jimmy Carter (b. 1924) pardoned nearly all the American Vietnam War draft dodgers, many of whom had fled to Canada.

1976 ~ The SST Concorde made it first commercial flight.

1954 ~ The first nuclear-powered submarine was launched in Groton, Connecticut.  The submarine was the USS Nautilus.

1950 ~ Alger Hiss (1904 ~ 1996) was convicted of perjury.

1948 ~ The Flag of Quebec was formally adopted and flown for the first time over the National Assembly of Quebec.  This date has become known as Quebec Flag Day.

1915 ~ The Kiwanis International organization was founded in Detroit, Michigan.

1908 ~ New York City passed the Sullivan Ordinance, which made it illegal for woman to smoke in public.  The City’s Mayor, George B. McClellan (1865 ~ 1940) used his veto power to strike the ordinance.

1899 ~ Opel manufactured its first automobile.

1861 ~ Jefferson Davis (1808 ~ 1889) resigned from the United States Senate.

1720 ~ Sweden and Prussia signed the Treaty of Stockholm.

Good-Byes:

2015 ~ Darrell Winfield (b. July 30, 1929), American rancher and cowboy who defined the Marlboro Man.  He died at age 85.

2013 ~ Donald Frederick Hornig (b. Mar. 17, 1920), American scientist who babysat the first atom bomb.  He was an explosives expert and developed the firing unit that triggered the bomb’s detonation.  He died in Providence, Rhode Island at age 92.

2002 ~ Peggy Lee (née Norma Deloris Egstrom, b. May 26, 1920), American singer and actress.  She died at age 81 of complications from diabetes following a heart attack.

1998 ~ Jack Lord (né John Joseph Patrick Ryan, b. Dec. 30, 1920), American actor.  He died of heart failure 22 days after his 77^th birthday.

1997 ~ Colonel Tom Parker (né Andreas Cornelis van Kuijk, b. June 26, 1909), American talent manager who managed the singing career of Elvis Presley.  He died at age 87.

1985 ~ James Beard (b. May 5, 1903), American chef.  He died at age 81.

1959 ~ Cecil B. DeMille (b. Aug. 12, 1881), American film director.  He is best known for his epic The Ten Commandments.  He was born in Ashfield, Massachusetts.  He died of heart failure at age 77.

1950 ~ George Orwell (né Eric Arthur Blair, b. June 25, 1903), British writer, famous for his novels Animal Farm and 1984.  He died at age 46 after an artery burst in his lungs.

1928 ~ George Washington Goethals (b. June 29, 1858), American general and civil engineer.  He was the co-designer of the Panama Canal.  He died at age 69.

1926 ~ Camillo Golgi (b. July 7, 1843), Italian physician and recipient of the 1906 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.  He died at age 82.

1924 ~ Vladimir Lenin (b. Apr. 22, 1870), Russian revolutionary.  He died at age 53.

1921 ~ Mary Watson Whitney (b. Sept. 11, 1847), American astronomer from Waltham, Massachusetts.  She was the head of the Vassar Observatory for 22 years and during her tenure and guidance over 100 scientific papers were published.  She died at age 73 of pneumonia.

1901 ~ Elisha Gray (d. Aug. 2, 1835), American inventor and businessman.  He founded Western Electric.  He died in Newtonville, Massachusetts at age 65.

1899 ~ Hiram Walker (b. July 4, 1816), American businessman and founder of Canadian club whiskey.  He died at age 82.

1892 ~ John Couch Adams (b. June 5, 1819), English mathematician and astronomer.  He was 72 years old.

1793 ~ King Louis XVI of France (b. Aug. 23, 1754).  He was executed by guillotine after having been found guilty of treason by the French Convention.  He was 38 at the time of his execution.

1519 ~ Vasco Núñez de Balboa (b. 1475), Spanish explorer.  The exact dates of his birth and death are not known, however, he is believed to have been executed sometime between January 12 and 21, 1519.

1118 ~ Pope Paschal II (né Ranierius, b. 1050).  He was Pope from August 1099 until his death in January 1118.  The exact date of his birth is not known.

939 ~ Yang Pu (b. 900), Chinese emperor.  He was the last emperor of the Five Chinese Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period.  The exact date of his birth is not known.

304 ~ Saint Agnes (b. 291), martyred saint.  The exact dates of her birth and death are not known.