January 2
It’s Run up the Flagpole and See if Anyone Salutes Day
ON THIS DAY…
0366 The Alamanni cross the frozen Rhine River in large numbers, invading the Roman Empire
0533 Mercurius becomes Pope John II, the first pope to adopt a new name upon elevation to the papacy
1788 Georgia becomes the fourth state to ratify the Constitution
1839 French pioneering photographer Louis Daguerre took the first photograph of the moon
1842 The first wire suspension bridge was opened to traffic in Fairmount, PA
1860 The discovery of the planet Vulcan is announced at a meeting of the Académie des Sciences in Paris
1870 The construction of Brooklyn Bridge begins
1872 Brigham Young is arrested on charges of bigamy for having 25 wives
1882 John D. Rockefeller unites his oil holdings into the Standard Oil trust
1890 Alice Sanger becomes the first female staffer for the White House under President Benjamin Harrison
1903 President Theodore Roosevelt shuts down the post office in Indianola, MS for refusing to accept its appointed postmistress because she was black
1929 Canada and the United States agree on a plan to preserve Niagara Falls
1935 Bruno Hauptmann goes on trial for the murder of Charles Lindbergh, Jr., infant son of aviator Charles Lindbergh
1936 The first electron tube to enable night vision was described, in St Louis, MO
1938 Book publisher Simon and Schuster is founded
1959 Luna 1, the first lunar space shot to escape the Earth’s gravitational pull, is launched by the U.S.S.R.
1960 Senator John F. Kennedy announces his run for the Presidency
1960 John Reynolds sets the age of solar system at 4,950,000,000 years
1968 Christian Barnard performs the second heart transplant
1968 KBHK-TV (Channel 44) in San Francisco begins broadcasting
1971 Stephen King weds Tabitha Spruce
1972 Mariner 9 begins mapping Mars
1974 Richard Nixon signs a bill lowering the maximum US speed limit to 55 MPH
1975 Kenneth C. Brugger discovered the long-unknown winter destination of the monarch butterfly in the mountains of Mexico
1978 Rhino Records releases their first album, Wild Man Fischer’s “Wildmania”
1979 Sid Vicious’ trial for murder of girlfriend Nancy Spungen begins
BORN:
1822 Rudolf Clausius, mathematical physicist who was one of the founders of thermodynamics
1900 William Haines, actor (Tell it To the Marines, Show People)
1902 Sybil Seely, actress (One Week, The Scarecrow)
1920 Isaac Asimov, biochemist/writer (I, Robot, Nightfall)
1936 Roger Miller, musician (“King of the Road,” “Dang Me”)
1947 Jack Hanna, zoologist
1948 Deborah Watling, actress (Doctor Who, That’ll Be the Day)
1956 Lynda Barry, cartoonist (Ernie Pook’s Comeek)
1957 Joanna Pacula, actress (Gorky Park, Tombstone)
1961 Todd Haynes, director (Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story, Velvet Goldmine)
1967 Tia Carrere, actress (Wayne’s World, True Lies)
1968 Cuba Gooding Jr., Oscar Award-winning actor (Jerry Maguire, Outbreak)
1969 Christy Turlington, model (Calvin Klein Eternity)
1971 Taye Diggs, actor (How Stella Got Her Groove Back, Equilibrium)
1973 Lucy Davis, actress (The Office, Shaun of the Dead)
1983 Kate Bosworth, actress (Superman Returns, Blue Crush)
DIED:
1913 Léon-Philippe Teisserenc de Bort, meteorologist who discovered the stratosphere, dies at 57
1937 Ross Alexander, actor (Captain Blood, A Midsummer Night’s Dream), commits suicide at 29
1963 Dick Powell, actor (42nd Street, Gold Diggers of 1933), dies at 58
1963 Jack Carson, actor (Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Love Crazy), dies at 52
1974 Tex Ritter, singer/actor (Raiders of San Joaquin, Deep in the Heart of Texas), dies at 68
1983 Dick Emery, comedian/actor (The Dick Emery Show, Yellow Submarine), dies at 67
1986 Una Merkel, actress (Destry Rides Again, The Mating Game), dies at 82
1990 Alan Hale Jr., actor (Gilligan’s Island, Up Periscope), dies at 68
1995 Nancy Kelly, actress (Jesse James, The Bad Seed), dies at 73
2000 Patrick O’Brian, CBE, author (AubreyMaturin series of nautical novels), dies at 85
2003 Sydney Omarr, astrologer, dies at 76
2004 Lynn Cartwright, actress (The Wasp Woman, A League of Their Own), dies at 76
2005 Frank Kelly Freas, 11-time Hugo Award-winning artist, dies at 82
2006 John Woodnutt, actor (Knightmare, Doctor Who), dies at 81
2007 George MacDonald Fraser, OBE, author of the popular series of Flashman novels, dies at 82