Edgar Allan Poe can thank you for the birthday wishes...nevermore!
Today is Friday, January 19, 2017 the 19th day of the year with 346 days remaining.
- Sunrise: 7:22am
- Sunset: 5:19pm
...giving us 9 hours and 57 minutes of daylight. 2% of the now waxing moon may be visible, setting at 8:00pm
Tides at the Golden Gate
- High: 1:38am/12:21pm
- Low: 6:26am/6:59pm
Special international celebrations today…
- Epiphany - Georgia, Ethiopia
- World Day of Migrants and Refugees
- International Fetish Day
It’s also…
- National Popcorn Day
- Bean Day
- Arbor Day in Florida
- Tin Can Day (See 1825)
- Women's Healthy Weight Day
On this day in…
1764 - John Wilkes was expelled from the British House of Commons for seditious libel.
1793 - King Louis XVI was tried by the French Convention, found guilty of treason and sentenced to the guillotine.
1825 - Ezra Daggett and Thomas Kensett of New York City patented a canning process to preserve salmon, oysters and lobsters.
1861 -Georgia seceded from the Union.
1883 - Thomas Edison's first village electric lighting system using overhead wires began operation in Roselle,NJ.
1907 - The first film reviews appeared in "Variety" magazine.
1915 - George Claude, of Paris, France, patented the neon discharge tube for use in advertising signs.
1915 - More than 20 people were killed when German zeppelins bombed England for the first time. The bombs were dropped on Great Yarmouth and King's Lynn.
1937 - Howard Hughes set a transcontinental air record. He flew from Los Angeles to New York City in 7 hours, 28 minutes and 25 seconds.
1942 - The Japanese invaded Burma (later Myanmar).
1944 - TheU.S. federal government relinquished control of the nation's railroads after the settlement of a wage dispute.
1949 - The salary of the President of theUnited States was increased from $75,000 to $100,000 with an additional $50,000 expense allowance for each year in office.
1952 - The National Football League (NFL) bought the franchise of the New York Yankees from Ted Collins. The franchise was then awarded to a group in Dallas on January 24.
1953 - Sixty-eight percent of all TV sets in theU.S. were tuned to CBS-TV, as Lucy Ricardo, of "I Love Lucy," gave birth to a baby boy.
1955 -U.S. President Eisenhower allowed a filmed news conference to be used on television (and in movie newsreels) for the first time.
1957 - Philadelphia comedian, Ernie Kovacs, did a half-hour TV show without saying a single word of dialogue.
1966 - Indira Gandhi was elected prime minister of India.
1969 - In protest against the Russian invasion of 1968, Czech student Jan Palach set himself on fire in Prague's Wenceslas Square.
1971 - At the Charles Manson murder trial, the Beatles' "Helter Skelter" was played. At the scene of one of his gruesome murders, the words "helter skelter" were written on a mirror.
1971 - "No, No Nanette" opened at the 46th Street Theatre in New York City.
1977 -U.S. President Ford pardoned Iva Toguri D'Aquino (the "Tokyo Rose").
1979 - FormerU.S. Attorney General John N. Mitchell was released on parole after serving 19 months at a federal prison inAlabama.
1981 - TheU.S. and Iran signed an agreement paving the way for the release of 52 Americans held hostage for more than 14 months and for arrangements to unfreeze Iranian assets and to resolve all claims against Iran.
1983 - China announced that it was banning 1983 purchases of cotton, soybeans and chemical fibers from the United States.
1993 - IBM announced a loss of $4.97 billion for 1992. It was the largest single-year loss inU.S. corporate history.
1995 - Russian forces overwhelmed the resistance forces in Chechnya.
1996 -U.S. first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton was subpoenaed to appear before a federal grand jury. The investigation was concerning the discovery of billing records related to the Whitewater real estate investment venture.
1997 - Yasser Arafat returned to Hebron for the first time in more than 30 years. He joined 60,000 Palestinians in celebration over the handover of the last West Bank city in Israeli control.
2000 - In New York's Time Square, the first WWF restaurant opened.
2001 -Texas officials demoted a warden and suspended three other prison workers in the wake of the escape of the"Texas 7."
2006 - NASA's New Horizons spacecraft was launched. The mission was the first to investigate Pluto.
2013 - In Scottsdale,AZ, the original Batmobile for the TV series "Batman" sold at auction for $4.6 million. It was the first of six Batmobiles produced for the show.
Today’s birthday celebrants include (or included)...
- James Watt 1736 - Inventor, mechanical engineer, chemist
- Robert E. Lee 1807
- Edgar Allen Poe 1809
- Sir Henry Bessemer 1813 - Inventor
- Paul Cezanne 1839 - Painter
- Ish Kabibble 1908 - Comedian, cornet player
- Jean Stapleton 1923 - Actor (TV series: All in the Family)
- Fritz Weaver 1926 - Actor
- Robert MacNeil 1931 - Novelist, television news anchor, journalist
- Tippi (Natalie) Hedren 1930 - Actress, fashion model
- Phil Everly 1939 - Singer, musician (The Everly Brothers)
- Michael Crawford 1942 - Actor, comedian, singer
- Janis Joplin 1943 - Singer, songwriter
- Laurie London 1944 - Singer
- Shelley Fabares 1944
- Dolly Parton 1946 - Singer
- Ann Compton 1947 - News reporter
- Robert Palmer 1949 - Singer, musician
- Martha Davis 1951 - Musician (The Motels)
- Dewey Bunnell 1952 - Musician, singer, guitarist (America)
- Desi Arnaz Jr. 1953
- Katy Sagal 1956 - Actress (TV: Married...with Children), singer
- Mickey Virtue 1957 - Musician (UB40)
- Paul McCrane 1961 - Actor, singer
- William Ragsdale 1961 - Actor
- Stefan Edberg 1966 - Tennis player
- Shawn Wayans 1971 - Actor, comedian (TV: In Living Color)
- John Wozniak 1971 - Musician (Marcy Playground)
- A.J. McLean 1978 - Singer (Backstreet Boys)
