Today is Monday, Jan. 29, the 29th day of 2018. There are 336 days left in the year.
Today’s highlight: On Jan. 29, 1845, Edgar Allan Poe’s famous narrative poem “The Raven” (“Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary…”) was first published in the New York Evening Mirror.
On this date:
In 1820, King George III died at Windsor Castle at age 81; he was succeeded by his son, who became King George IV.
In 1843, the 25th president of the United States, William McKinley, was born in Niles, Ohio.
In 1856, Britain’s Queen Victoria introduced the Victoria Cross to reward military acts of valor during the Crimean War.
In 1861, Kansas became the 34th state of the Union.
In 1919, the ratification of the 18th Amendment to the Constitution, which launched Prohibition, was certified by Acting Secretary of State Frank L. Polk.
In 1936, the first inductees of baseball’s Hall of Fame, including Ty Cobb and Babe Ruth, were named in Cooperstown, New York.
In 1958, actors Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward were married in Las Vegas.
In 1963, the first charter members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame were named in Canton, Ohio (they were enshrined when the Hall opened in September 1963). Poet Robert Frost died in Boston at age 88.
In 1964, Stanley Kubrick’s nuclear war satire “Dr. Strangelove Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb” premiered in New York, Toronto and London. The Winter Olympic Games opened in Innsbruck, Austria. Actor Alan Ladd, 50, died in Palm Springs, California.
In 1975, a bomb exploded inside the U.S. State Department in Washington, causing considerable damage, but injuring no one; the radical group Weather Underground claimed responsibility.
In 1984, President Ronald Reagan announced in a nationally broadcast message that he and Vice President George H.W. Bush would seek re-election in the fall.
In 1998, a bomb rocked an abortion clinic in Birmingham, Alabama, killing security guard Robert Sanderson and critically injuring nurse Emily Lyons. (The bomber, Eric Rudolph, was captured in May 2003 and is serving a life sentence.)
Ten years ago: John McCain won a breakthrough triumph in the Florida primary, easing past Mitt Romney for his first-ever triumph in a primary open only to Republicans. Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton claimed victory in a campaign-free Florida presidential primary in which all the candidates had signed pledges not to compete. (The national Democratic Party had stripped the state of its delegates as punishment for moving its primary ahead of Feb. 5.) Margaret Truman, the only child of President Harry S. Truman, died in Chicago at age 83. Raymond Jacobs, believed to be the last surviving member of the group of Marines photographed during the first U.S. flag-raising on Iwo Jima, died in Redding, California, at age 82.
Five years ago: BP PLC closed the book on the Justice Department’s criminal probe of its role in the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster and Gulf of Mexico oil spill, with a U.S. judge agreeing to let the London-based oil giant plead guilty to manslaughter charges for the deaths of 11 rig workers and pay a record $4 billion in penalties. The Senate overwhelmingly confirmed President Barack Obama’s choice of five-term Sen. John Kerry to be secretary of state, 94-3. (Kerry voted present.)
One year ago: Six people were killed in a shooting at a Quebec City mosque during evening prayers; a 27-year-old university student was charged with murder and attempted murder. The White House vigorously defended President Donald Trump’s immigration restrictions, as protests against the order banning travelers from seven predominantly Muslim countries spread throughout the country. The AFC won a 20-13 victory over the NFC in the Pro Bowl in Orlando, Florida. Roger Federer won his 18th Grand Slam title, defeating Rafael Nadal 6-4, 3-6, 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 at the Australian Open.
Today’s birthdays: Writer-composer-lyricist Leslie Bricusse is 87. Feminist author Germaine Greer is 79. Actress Katharine Ross is 78. Feminist author Robin Morgan is 77. Actor Tom Selleck is 73. Rhythm-and-blues singer Bettye LaVette is 72. Actor Marc Singer is 70. Actress Ann Jillian is 68. Rock musician Louie Perez (Los Lobos) is 65. Rhythm-and-blues/funk singer Charlie Wilson is 65. Talk show host Oprah Winfrey is 64. Actor Terry Kinney is 64. Country singer Irlene Mandrell is 62. Actress Diane Delano is 61. Actress Judy Norton Taylor (TV: “The Waltons”) is 60. Rock musician Johnny Spampinato is 59. Olympic gold-medal diver Greg Louganis is 58. Rock musician David Baynton-Power (James) is 57. Rock musician Eddie Jackson (Queensryche) is 57. Actor Nicholas Turturro is 56. Rock singer-musician Roddy Frame (Aztec Camera) is 54. Actor-director Edward Burns is 50. Actor Sam Trammell is 49. Actress Heather Graham is 48. House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., is 48. Actor Sharif Atkins is 43. Actress Sara Gilbert is 43. Actress Kelly Packard is 43. Actor Justin Hartley is 41. Actor Sam Jaeger is 41. Writer and TV personality Jedediah Bila is 39. Actor Andrew Keegan is 39. Actor Jason James Richter is 38. Blues musician Jonny Lang is 37. Pop-rock singer Adam Lambert (TV: “American Idol”) is 36. Country singer Eric Paslay is 35.
Thought for today: “Any idiot can face a crisis — it’s this day-to-day living that wears you out.” — Anton Chekhov, Russian author and playwright (born this date in 1860, died in 1904).
— Associated Press
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