paulmallon 
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This Day :1987 - Aretha Franklin becomes the first female artist to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Reply #941. Jan 03 12, 10:38 AM
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paulmallon
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Jan 4, 1999:
The euro debuts
On this day in 1999, for the first time since Charlemagne's reign in the ninth century, Europe is united with a common currency when the "euro" debuts as a financial unit in corporate and investment markets. Eleven European Union (EU) nations (Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain), representing some 290 million people, launched the currency in the hopes of increasing European integration and economic growth. Closing at a robust 1.17 U.S. dollars on its first day, the euro promised to give the dollar a run for its money in the new global economy. Euro cash, decorated with architectural images, symbols of European unity and member-state motifs, went into circulation on January 1, 2002, replacing the Austrian schilling, Belgian franc, Finnish markka, French franc, German mark, Italian lira, Irish punt, Luxembourg franc, Netherlands guilder, Portugal escudo and Spanish peseta. A number of territories and non-EU nations including Monaco and Vatican City also adopted the euro.
Reply #942. Jan 04 12, 2:57 PM
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paulmallon
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Jan 6, 1994:
Skater Nancy Kerrigan attacked
Olympic hopeful Nancy Kerrigan is attacked at a Detroit ice rink following a practice session two days before the Olympic trials. A man hit Kerrigan with a club on the back of her knee, causing the figure skater to cry out in pain and bewilderment. When the full story emerged a week later, the nation became caught up in a real-life soap opera.
One of Kerrigan's chief rivals for a place on the U.S. Figure Skating Team was Tonya Harding. In mid-December 1993, Harding's ex-husband, Jeff Gillooly, approached Shawn Eckardt about somehow eliminating Kerrigan from the competition. Eckardt set up a meeting with Derrick Smith and Shane Stant, who agreed to injure Kerrigan for a fee.
On December 28, Stant went to Massachusetts, where Kerrigan was practicing. However, he couldn't carry out the attack so he followed her to Detroit, where Smith met him. After hitting Kerrigan, Stant fled the ice rink in Smith's getaway car. With Kerrigan unable to skate, Harding won the championship and a place at the 1994 Olympics.
On January 11, Derrick Smith confessed to FBI agents. Three days later, Stant surrendered and also confessed. Harding was questioned on January 18, but denied her involvement. She claimed that she would cut off any connection with Gillooly if he was responsible. The next day, Gillooly was charged with conspiracy to assault Kerrigan. Shortly after, he agreed to a deal in which he implicated Harding
Reply #943. Jan 06 12, 2:20 PM
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paulmallon
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Jan 11, 2010:
Miep Gies, who hid Anne Frank, dies at 100
On this day in 2010, Miep Gies, the last survivor of a small group of people who helped hide a Jewish girl, Anne Frank, and her family from the Nazis during World War II, dies at age 100 in the Netherlands. After the Franks were discovered in 1944 and sent to concentration camps, Gies rescued the notebooks that Anne Frank left behind describing her two years in hiding. These writings were later published as “Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl,” which became one of the most widely read accounts of the Holocaust.
Reply #944. Jan 11 12, 4:43 AM
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paulmallon
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Jan 12, 1969:
Broadway Joe delivers
On January 12, 1969, in the most celebrated performance of his prolific career, quarterback Joe Namath leads the New York Jets to a stunning 16-7 victory over the heavily favored Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III, held in Miami, Florida.
Born in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, in 1943, Namath starred on his high school football team and at one point was offered $50,000 to play baseball for the Chicago Cubs. He chose to play football for Coach Paul (Bear) Bryant at the University of Alabama, where he was an All-American. Drafted by both the St. Louis Cardinals of the National Football League (NFL) and the Jets of the upstart American Football League (AFL), Namath chose the Jets, who paid him a signing bonus of close to $400,000. Three games into his first season, he earned the starting quarterback job; he was later voted the AFL Rookie of the Year.
With a notoriously lavish Upper East Side penthouse apartment and an active social schedule, the handsome Namath became known as Broadway Joe. He also distinguished himself on the field, becoming the first pro quarterback to pass for 4,000 yards in a single season in 1967. Namath’s brash confidence was never more on display than in a public appearance in the days leading up to Super Bowl III, when he assured a heckler that the Jets (19-point underdogs) would beat the Colts (reputedly the best team in NFL history), even going so far as to say "I guarantee it." Namath’s trash-talking drew criticism from many in the NFL, who doubted his ability and insisted the AFL could not really compete with the older, more established NFL.
Reply #945. Jan 12 12, 10:52 AM
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paulmallon
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Jan 14, 1954:
Marilyn Monroe marries Joe DiMaggio
It was the ultimate All-American romance: the tall, handsome hero of the country’s national pastime captures the heart of the beautiful, glamorous Hollywood star. But the brief, volatile marriage of Marilyn Monroe and Joe DiMaggio--the couple wed on this day in 1954--barely got past the honeymoon before cracks began to show in its brilliant veneer.
In 1952, the New York Yankees slugger DiMaggio asked an acquaintance to arrange a dinner date with Monroe, a buxom blonde model-turned-actress whose star was on the rise after supporting roles in films such as Monkey Business (1952) and a leading role in the B-movie thriller Don’t Bother to Knock (1952). The press immediately picked up on the relationship and began to cover it exhaustively, though Monroe and DiMaggio preferred to keep a low profile, spending evenings at home or in a back corner of DiMaggio’s restaurant. On January 14, 1954, they were married at San Francisco City Hall, where they were mobbed by reporters and fans. Monroe had apparently mentioned the wedding plans to someone at her film studio, who leaked it to the press.
While Monroe and DiMaggio were on their honeymoon in Japan, Monroe was asked to travel to Korea and perform for the American soldiers stationed there. She complied, leaving her unhappy new husband in Japan. After they returned to the United States, tension continued to build, particularly around DiMaggio’s discomfort with his wife’s sexy image. One memorable blow-up occurred in September 1954, on the New York City set of the director Billy Wilder’s The Seven Year Itch. As Monroe filmed the now-famous scene in which she stands over a subway grate with the air blowing up her skirt, a crowd of onlookers and press gathered; Wilder himself had reportedly arranged the media attention. As her skirt blew up again and again, the crowd cheered uproariously, and DiMaggio, who was on set, became irate.
DiMaggio and Monroe were divorced in October 1954, just 274 days after they were married. In her filing, Monroe accused her husband of “mental cruelty.” She married the playwright Arthur Miller in 1956, but their marriage also ended in divorce in January 1961, leaving Monroe in a state of emotional fragility. In February 1961, she was admitted to a psychiatric clinic; it was DiMaggio who secured her release, and took her to the Yankees’ Florida spring training camp for rest and relaxation. Though rumors swirled about their remarriage, they maintained their “good friends” status. When the 36-year-old Monroe died of a drug overdose on August 5, 1962, DiMaggio arranged the funeral. For the next two decades, until his own death in 1999, he sent roses several times a week to her grave in Los Angeles.
Reply #946. Jan 14 12, 12:47 PM
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paulmallon
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Jan 15, 2009:
Sully Sullenberger performs Miracle on the Hudson
On this day in 2009, a potential disaster turned into a heroic display of skill and composure when Captain Chesley Burnett Sullenberger III safely landed the plane he was piloting on New York City’s Hudson River after a bird strike caused its engines to fail. David Paterson, governor of New York at the time, dubbed the incident the “miracle on the Hudson.” Sullenberger, a former fighter pilot with decades of flying experience, received a slew of honors for his actions, including an invitation to Barack Obama’s presidential inauguration and resolutions of praise from the U.S. Congress
Reply #947. Jan 15 12, 10:42 AM
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paulmallon
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Jan 16, 1919:
Prohibition takes effect
The 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, prohibiting the "manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors for beverage purposes," is ratified on this day in 1919 and becomes the law of the land.
The movement for the prohibition of alcohol began in the early 19th century, when Americans concerned about the adverse effects of drinking began forming temperance societies. By the late 19th century, these groups had become a powerful political force, campaigning on the state level and calling for total national abstinence. In December 1917, the 18th Amendment, also known as the Prohibition Amendment, was passed by Congress and sent to the states for ratification.
Prohibition took effect in January 1919. Nine months later, Congress passed the Volstead Act, or National Prohibition Act, over President Woodrow Wilson's veto. The Volstead Act provided for the enforcement of prohibition, including the creation of a special unit of the Treasury Department. Despite a vigorous effort by law-enforcement agencies, the Volstead Act failed to prevent the large-scale distribution of alcoholic beverages, and organized crime flourished in America. In 1933, the 21st Amendment to the Constitution was passed and ratified, repealing prohibition.
NOTE: the Great Depression began during this time period...draw your own conclusions
Reply #948. Jan 16 12, 11:48 AM
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paulmallon
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Jan 17, 1950:
THE GREAT BRINKS ROBBERY
A team of 11 thieves, in a precisely timed and choreographed strike, steals more than $2 million from the Brinks Armored Car depot in Boston, Massachusetts. The Great Brinks Robbery, as it quickly became known, was the almost perfect crime. Only days before the statute of limitations was set to expire on the crime, the culprits were finally caught.
Tony Pino, a lifelong criminal, was the mastermind behind the audacious theft. Together with Joe McGinnis, he assembled a group that meticulously planned the heist. They staked out the depot for a year and a half to figure out when it was holding the most money. Then, the gang stole the plans for the depot's alarm system and returned them before anyone noticed that they were missing.
The criminal team held repeated rehearsals, with each man wearing blue coats and Halloween masks. On January 17, they finally put their plan into action. Inside the counting room, the gang surprised the guards and tied up the employees. Multiple canvas bags, weighing more than half a ton, were filled with cash, coins, checks, and money orders. Within 30 minutes, the Brinks robbery team was gone--taking $2.7 million with them. They left no clues at all.
Next, the gang met and split the proceeds of the theft. They agreed that each would stay out of trouble for six years and they almost made it. However, one of the men, Specs O'Keefe, left his share with another member because he had to serve a prison sentence for another crime. O'Keefe, worried that he would be cheated out of his money, indicated that he might begin to talk. The others decided to send a hit man to kill O'Keefe but he was only wounded, and the assassin was caught. O'Keefe made a deal with police and testified against the others. Eight participants in the Great Brinks Robbery were caught and convicted. However, only a small part of the money was ever recovered
Reply #949. Jan 17 12, 3:12 PM
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paulmallon
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Jan 18, 1912:
Scott reaches the South Pole
After a two-month ordeal, the expedition of British explorer Robert Falcon Scott arrives at the South Pole only to find that Roald Amundsen, the Norwegian explorer, had preceded them by just over a month. Disappointed, the exhausted explorers prepared for a long and difficult journey back to their base camp.
Scott, a British naval officer, began his first Antarctic expedition in 1901 aboard the Discovery. During three years of exploration, he discovered the Edward VII Peninsula, surveyed the coast of Victoria Land--which were both areas of Antarctica on the Ross Sea--and led limited expeditions into the continent itself. In 1911, Scott and Amundsen began an undeclared race to the South Pole.
Sailing his ship into Antarctica's Bay of Whales, Amundsen set up base camp 60 miles closer to the pole than Scott. In October, both explorers set off; Amundsen using sleigh dogs and Scott employing Siberian motor sledges, Siberian ponies, and dogs. On December 14, 1911, Amundsen's expedition won the race to the pole. Encountering good weather on their return trip, they safely reached their base camp in late January.
Scott's expedition was less fortunate. The motor sleds soon broke down, the ponies had to be shot, and the dog teams were sent back as Scott and four companions continued on foot. On January 18, they reached the pole only to find that Amundsen had preceded them by over a month. Weather on the return journey was exceptionally bad, two members perished, and Scott and the other two survivors were trapped in their tent by a storm only 11 miles from their base camp. Scott wrote a final entry in his diary in late March. The frozen bodies of he and his two compatriots were recovered eight months later.
Reply #950. Jan 18 12, 2:52 PM
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paulmallon
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Jan 20, 1969:
Richard Nixon takes office
Richard Nixon is inaugurated as president of the United States and says, "After a period of confrontation [in Vietnam], we are entering an era of negotiation." Eight years after losing to John F. Kennedy in the 1960 election, Nixon had defeated Hubert H. Humphrey for the presidency.
Reply #951. Jan 20 12, 2:04 PM
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fontenilles
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On this day my father died 26 yrs ago. He was 59. I was only 22 yrs. If I could have one wish it would be to talk to him just once q]about the things I've learnt since he died. AND to make it clear to him how I love him for giving his love and an open mind.
I still still think of you Dad
Reply #952. Jan 20 12, 3:33 PM
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fontenilles
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Sorry I'm 50 so it must have been 28 yrs ago!
Reply #953. Jan 20 12, 3:34 PM
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| Greatguggly
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Nixon, huh? I was expecting to see..."let's all erase our browsing history in his honor."
Reply #954. Jan 21 12, 8:27 AM
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fontenilles
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"Nixon, huh? I was expecting to see..."let's all erase our browsing history in his honor."
Can't see many people honouring Nixon. Although he was far froim the worst president/ prime minister in the world
Reply #955. Jan 21 12, 2:38 PM
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paulmallon
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Jan 21, 1924:
Vladimir Ilyich Lenin dies
Previous Day January 21 Calendar Next Day .
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In Moscow on the evening of January 21, 1924, shock and near-hysterical grief greets the news that Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, leader of the radical socialist Bolshevik movement that toppled the czarist regime in 1917 and head of the first government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (U.S.S.R.), had died of a massive cerebral hemorrhage.
Jan 21, 1924:
Vladimir Ilyich Lenin dies
Previous Day January 21 Calendar Next Day .
0
In Moscow on the evening of January 21, 1924, shock and near-hysterical grief greets the news that Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, leader of the radical socialist Bolshevik movement that toppled the czarist regime in 1917 and head of the first government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (U.S.S.R.), had died of a massive cerebral hemorrhage.
Jan 21, 1924:
Vladimir Ilyich Lenin dies
In Moscow on the evening of January 21, 1924, shock and near-hysterical grief greets the news that Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, leader of the radical socialist Bolshevik movement that toppled the czarist regime in 1917 and head of the first government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (U.S.S.R.), had died of a massive cerebral hemorrhage.
Reply #956. Jan 21 12, 3:31 PM
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fontenilles
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It was tragic that Lenin died when he did. For his family and for the world
Reply #957. Jan 21 12, 4:06 PM
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| Greatguggly
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John Lennon? Yes I agree. Vlad? Eh...not so much.
Reply #958. Jan 21 12, 4:11 PM
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REDVIKING57
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So,you prefer Uncle Joe Stalin,then? A bigger meglomaniac mass-murderer than Hitler?
Reply #959. Jan 21 12, 7:07 PM
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| Greatguggly
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If I don't like olives or tomatoes but olives are worse does that somehow make me a tomato lover?
Lenin created the Soviet Union. He opened the door for the almost 70 year reign of terror that followed. He did plenty of murdering, enslaving, starving and imprisoning of his own in his few years in power. One of his proud legacies is the creation of the modern day concentration camp. Yes, a wonderful man. I say the day he was born was the sad day for the world.
Reply #960. Jan 21 12, 8:12 PM
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