January 18

Birthdays:

1969 ~ Jesse L. Martin, African-American actor.

1963 ~ Martin O’Malley, American politician and 61^st Governor of Maryland.  He was a presidential candidate in the 2016 United State Presidential campaign.

1961 ~ Mark Rylance, British actor.

1955 ~ Kevin Costner, American actor.

1943 ~ Charlie Wilson (d. Apr. 14, 2013), American politician from Ohio.  He died of complications of a stroke at age 70.

1937 ~ John Hume, Northern Irish politician and recipient of the 1998 Nobel Peace Prize.

1933 ~ Ray Dolby (d. Sept. 12, 2013), American sound engineer and innovator.  He died at age 80.

1930 ~ Clarabelle Lansing (d. Apr. 28, 1988), American stewardess on the ill-fated Aloha Airlines.  She was the only fatality when the fuselage ripped open mid-flight.  She was 58 years old.

1921 ~ Yoichiro Nambu (d. July 5, 2015), Japanese-born American physicist and recipient of the 2008 Nobel Prize in Physics.  He died at age 94.

1920 ~ William Liebenow (d. Feb. 27, 2017), American Navy skipper who rescued a stranded John F. Kennedy in 1943 during World War II.  As a Lieutenant in the Navy, he used the cover of darkness to take his patrol boat into enemy waters to rescue the crew of PT-109.  He died at age 97.

1911 ~ Danny Kaye (né David Daniel Kaminsky, d. Mar. 3, 1987), American actor, singer and comedian.  He died of heart failure at age 76.

1908 ~ Jacob Bronowski (d. Aug. 22, 1974), Polish-English mathematician.  He died at age 66.

1904 ~ Cary Grant (né Archibald Alexander Leach, d. Nov. 29, 1986), British-born American actor.  He died at age 82.

1901 ~ Ivan Petrovsky (d. Jan. 15, 1973), Russian mathematician.  He died 3 days before his 72^nd birthday.

1892 ~ Oliver Hardy (né Norvell Hardy, d. Aug. 7, 1957), American comedian and half of the Laurel and Hardy comedy team.  He died of cerebral thrombosis at age 65.

1882 ~ A.A. Milne (né Alan Alexander Milne, d. Jan. 31, 1956), English author, best known for his Winnie the Pooh series of children’s books.  He died 2 weeks after his 74^th birthday.

1877 ~ Sam Zemurray (né Schmuel Zmurri, d. Nov. 30, 1961), Russian-born American businessman who founded the Cuyamel Fruit Company.  He entered into the banana trade, establishing a center in New Orleans, Louisiana.  The story of his rise in the trade was depicted in Rich Cohen’s book, The Fish that Ate the Whale.  He died in New Orleans at age 84.

1854 ~ Thomas Watson (d. Dec. 13, 1934), assistant to Alexander Graham Bell during the invention of the telephone.  He died about a month before his 81^st birthday.

1850 ~ Seth Low (d. Sept. 17, 1916), 92^nd Mayor of New York City.  He was Mayor from January 1902 through December 1903.  He died of cancer at age 66.

1813 ~ Joseph Glidden (d. Oct. 9, 1906), American farmer who patented barbed wire.

1795 ~ Anna Pavlovna of Russia (d. Mar. 1, 1865), Queen consort of the Netherlands.  She was the wife of King William II of the Netherlands.  She died at age 70.

1782 ~ Daniel Webster (d. Oct. 24, 1852), American politician and attorney.  He was the 14^th and 19^th United States Secretary of State.  He served under Presidents Millard Fillmore and William Henry Harrison, respectively.  He was born in Salisbury, New Hampshire, and died in Marshfield, Massachusetts.  He died at age 70.

1779 ~ Peter Mark Roget (d. Sept. 12, 1869), French physician and lexicographer.  He is best known for publishing the Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases, now known simply as Roget’s Thesaurus.  He died at age 90.

1519 ~ Isabella Jagiellon (d. Sept. 15, 1559), Queen of Hungary.  She died at age 40 following a long illness.

Events that Changed the World:

2016 ~ Martin Luther King, Jr., Day was observed in the United States.

2009 ~ Hamas announced it would accept the Israeli Defense Forces’s offer of a ceasefire to end the assault during the Gaza War.

1993 ~ Martin Luther King, Jr., Day was officially observed for the first time in all 50 state.

1990 ~ Marion Barry (1936 ~ 2014), Mayor of Washington, D.C., was arrested for drug possession in an FBI sting.

1978 ~ The roof of the Hartford Civic Center in Connecticut collapsed due to heavy snow.  The collapse fell just hours after the University of Connecticut basketball team beat the University of Massachusetts team.  When the roof collapsed, no one was in the building and there were no injuries.

1977 ~ The bacterium that caused Legionnaires’ disease was isolated and identified.

1974 ~ The Disengagement of Forces Agreement was signed between Israel and Egypt, thereby ending the conflict on the Egyptian front of the Yom Kippur War.

1967 ~ Albert DeSalvo (1931 ~ 1973), the criminal known as the “Boston Strangler”, was convicted of numerous crimes and murder.  He was sentenced to life in prison, where, in 1973, he was stabbed to death by a fellow inmate.

1945 ~ The Red Army liberated the Budapest ghetto.

1944 ~ The three-year Siege of Leningrad ended when Soviet forces liberated Leningrad from the Nazis.

1944 ~ The Metropolitan Opera House in New York City held its first jazz concert.  The performers included Louis Armstrong, Benny Goodman and Artie Shaw.

1943 ~ The first Warsaw Ghetto Uprising of the Jews during World War II.

1919 ~ Bentley Motors Limited was founded.

1919 ~ The Paris Peace Conference following World War I began in Paris, France.

1911 ~ Eugene B. Ely (1886 ~ 1911) landed an aircraft on the deck of the USS Pennsylvania in the San Francisco Bay.  It was the first recorded landing of an aircraft on a ship.

1903 ~ U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt sent a radio message to King Edward VII making the first transatlantic radio transmission originating from the United States.

1896 ~ An X-ray machine was formally displayed for the first time.

1778 ~ James Cook (1728 ~ 1779) is the first known European to reach the Hawaiian Islands, which he named the Sandwich Islands.

1535 ~ The Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro (1571 ~ 1541) founded Lima, which would become the capital of Peru.

1520 ~ King Christian II of Denmark and Norway defeated the Swedes at Lake Ȧsuden.

1486 ~ King Henry VII of England (1457 ~ 1509) married Elizabeth of York (1466 ~ 1503), daughter of Edward IV.

1126 ~ Emperor Huizong (1082 ~ 1135) the 8^th emperor of the Song dynasty abdicated the throne in favor of his son Enperor Qinzong (1100 ~  1161).

Good-Byes:

2017 ~ Roberta Peters (née Roberta Peterman, b. May 4, 1930), American overnight success who became an opera legend.  She died at age 86.

2016 ~ Glenn Frye (b. Nov. 6, 1948), American musician and member of the band, the Eagles.  He died following surgery at age 67.

2011 ~ Sargent Shriver (né Robert Sargent Shriver, b. Nov. 9, 1915), American politician who married into the Kennedy clan.  He was married to Eunice Kennedy.  He was the Kennedy in-law who battled poverty.  He also served as the 21^st United States Ambassador to France.  He died at age 95.

2010 ~ Robert B. Parker (b. Sept. 17, 1932), American author best known for creating Spenser in his detective series.  He died at age 77.

2008 ~ Bertram Arthur “Jimmy” James (b. Apr. 17, 1915), British RAF flier who was a participant in the Great Escape during World War II, which was later depicted in the movie of the same name.  He died at age 85.

1997 ~ Paul Efthenuis Tsongas (b. Feb. 14, 1941), American politician from Massachusetts.  He served in the United States House of Representatives and as a United States Senator.  He died of complications of pneumonia and non-Hodgkins’s lymphoma less than a month before his 56^th birthday.

1995 ~ Adolf Butenandt (b. Mar. 24, 1903), German chemist and recipient of the 1939 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work on sex hormones.  He was a member of the Nazi party and in accordance with government policy did not accept the award when it was granted.  Following World War II, however, he accepted the award.  He died at age 91.

1989 ~ Bruce Chatwin (né Charles Bruce Chatwin, b. May 13, 1940), English travel writer.  He died following a long illness at age 48.

1980 ~ Sir Cecil Walter Hardy Beaton (b. Jan. 14, 1904). British fashion photographer.  He died 4 days after his 76^th birthday.

1974 ~ Bill Finger (né Milton Finger, b. Feb. 8, 1914), American author and co-creator, along with Bob Kane, of Batman.  He died 21 days before his 60^th birthday.

1963 ~ Edward Charles Titchmarsh (b. June 1, 1899), English mathematician.  He died at age 63.

1956 ~ Konstantin Päts (b. Feb. 23, 1874), 1^st President of Estonia.  He served as president from April 1938 until July 1940.  He died at age 81.

1952 ~ Curly Howard (né Jerome Lester Horwitz, b. Oct. 22, 1952), American actor and comedian.  He was one of the Three Stooges.  He died of a cerebral hemorrhage at age 48.

1949 ~ Charles Ponzi (b. Mar. 3, 1882), Italian-born criminal, for whom the term Ponzi scheme was named.  He died at age 66.

1936 ~ Rudyard Kipling (né Joseph Rudyard Kipling, b. Dec. 30, 1865), British writer.  In 1907, he became the first English writer to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature.  He was born in British India.  He died 19 days after his 70^th birthday.

1869 ~ Bertalan Szemere (b. Aug. 27, 1812), Hungarian poet.  He also served as the 3^rd Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Hungary.  He was in Office from May 1849 until August 1849 during the short period of the Hungarian Revolution of 1848.  He died at age 56.

1862 ~ John Tyler (b. Mar. 29, 1790), 10^th President of the United States.  John Tyler became the first Vice President to become President following the death of William Henry Harrison, who died within a month of taking office.  He was also the 10^th Vice President, although he served for only a month.  He died at age 71.

1860 ~ John Nelson (b. June 1, 1791), 17^th US Attorney General.  He served in the John Tyler administration.  He served in that office from July 1843 until March 1845.  He died at age 68.