Fun Facts for Today – January 5

January 5

It’s National Bird Day

ON THIS DAY…

1531 Pope Clemens VII forbids King Henry VIII to re-marry; this event leads to the creation of the Church of England
1759 George Washington marries Martha Dandridge Custis
1781 Richmond, VA is burned by British naval forces led by Benedict Arnold
1836 Davy Crockett arrives in Texas, just in time for the Alamo
1892 The first successful auroral photograph was made by the German physicist Martin Brendel
1895 Alfred Dreyfus is convicted of treason, stripped of his rank and sentenced to life imprisonment on Devil’s Island
1896 The word hamburger first appeared in print in the Walla Walla Union, a Walla Walla, WA newspaper
1896 An Austrian newspaper reports that Wilhelm Roentgen has discovered a type of radiation later known as X-rays
1919 The National Socialist German Workers Party, later called the Nazi Party, is formed in Germany
1925 Nellie Tayloe Ross becomes the first female governor (Wyoming) in the US
1933 Work begins on the Golden Gate Bridge on the Marin County side
1940 FM radio is demonstrated to the FCC for the first time
1945 Pepe LePew makes his first appearance in the Warner Bros. cartoon Odor-able Kitty
1948 Warner Brothers-Pathe showed the very first color newsreel (Tournament of Roses Parade and the Rose Bowl football game)
1961 Mr. Ed premiers (as a syndicated TV program)
1971 The Harlem Globetrotters lose 100-99 to the New Jersey Reds, ending 2,495-game winning streak
1972 President Richard Nixon orders the development of a space shuttle program
1976 Cambodia is renamed Democratic Kampuchea by the Khmer Rouge

BORN:

1855 King C. Gillette, inventor and manufacturer of the safety razor with disposable blades
1904 Jeane Dixon, astrologer
1910 Hugh Brannum, actor (Mr. Green Jeans on Captain Kangaroo )
1911 Jean-Pierre Aumont, actor (Lili, Jefferson in Paris)
1914 Aaron “Bunny” Lapin, inventor of Reddi-Wip
1914 George Reeves, actor (The Adventures of Superman, Blood and Sand)
1917 Jane Wyman, Oscar Award-winning actress (Johnny Belinda, Star Trek)
1923 Sam Phillips, owner of Sun Records
1931 Robert Duvall, Oscar Award-winning actor (Tender Mercies, Apocalypse Now, MASH)
1932 Umberto Eco, author (In the Name of the Rose, Foucault’s Pendulum)
1935 David Ryall, actor (Goodnight Sweetheart, Restoration)
1938 Bela Lugosi, Jr., lawyer
1940 Michael O’Donoghue, Emmy Award-winning writer (National Lampoon, Saturday Night Live)
1942 Charlie Rose, talk show host
1945 Roger Spottiswoode, director (The Pursuit of D.B. Cooper, And the Band Played On)
1946 Diane Keaton, Oscar Award-winning actress (Annie Hall, Sleeper, Manhattan)
1948 Ted Lange, actor (The Love Boat, That’s My Mama)
1953 Pamela Sue Martin, actress (The Nancy Drew Mysteries, Dynasty)
1959 Clancy Brown, actor (The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension, Highlander, Lost)
1962 Suzy Amis, actress (Twister, The Usual Suspects)
1965 Vinnie Jones, football player / actor (Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, X-Men: The Last Stand)
1968 Carrie Ann Inaba, dancer / dance judge (Dancing With the Stars, In Living Color)
1969 Marilyn Manson [Brian Hugh Warner], musician

DIED:

1066 Edward de Belijder, the Confessor, King of England (1043-66), dies
1589 Catherine de’ Medici, queen of Henry II of France (1547-1559), dies at 69
1904 Karl Alfred von Zittel, paleontologist who proved that the Sahara had not been under water during the Pleistocene Ice Age, dies at 64
1922 Ernest H. Shackleton, explorer (Endurance), dies at 47
1933 President John Calvin Coolidge, Jr., (1923-1929), dies at 60
1943 George Washington Carver, educator / botanical researcher, dies at 78
1979 Charles Mingus, musician (Pithecanthropus Erectus), dies at 56
1982 Harvey Lembeck, actor (Stalag 17, Beach Blanket Bingo), dies at 58
1982 Hans Conried, actor (Fractured Flickers, The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T.), dies at 64
1991 Thomas P “Tip” O’Neill, Speaker of House (1977-86), dies at 81
1995 S. Joseph Begun, inventor who, in 1934, built the first tape recorder for broadcasting, dies at 89
1997 Burton Lane, songwriter (“That Old Devil Moon”), dies at 84
1998 Representative Sonny Bono, actor / songwriter / musician / politian, dies in a skiing accident at 62
2003 Jean Kerr, Tony Award-winning playwright / songwriter / author (Please Don’t Eat the Daises, King of Hearts), dies at 70
2004 Norman Heatley, biochemist who solved the problem of extraction the of penicillin from its mould, and paved the way for mass production
2005 Danny Sugerman, rock band manager (The Doors, Iggy Pop), dies at 50