On This Day:
Thursday January 19, 2012
This is the 19th day of the year, with 347 days remaining
in 2012.
Fact of the Day: AIDS
The current consensus on the origin of the HIV (Human
Immunodeficiency Virus) virus is that it was a virus living
in simians (monkeys) in Western Africa, that somehow
"jumped" across the species border to become a human-viable
disease - possibly as a result of the use of monkey meat as
a foodstuff in Western Africa. A version of the virus known
as SIV (Simian Immundeficiency Virus) is prevalent among
monkeys in that region. In the Western world, the disease
first became commonly recognized as a sexually-transmitted
disease spreading among the gay community on the West Coast
of the U.S.A., and among inhabitants of Haiti. It is
possible that the disease reached the western hemisphere
through Haiti. Originally known as GRIDS (Gay-Related Immune
Deficiency Syndrome), the disease later received the name
AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) in recognition of
the fact that it was not specifically a homosexual disease.
Holidays
Feast day of St. Canute IV of Denmark, Saints Abachum and
Audifax, St. Fillan or Foelan, St. Albert of Cashel, St.
Charles of Sezze, St. Germanicus, Saints Marius and Martha,
St. Messalina, St. Henry of Uppsala, St. Nathalan, and St.
Wulfstan.
Singapore:
Singapore
Kite Festival.
Texas:
Confederate Heroes Day.
Ethiopia,
Eritrea: Timket (sometimes on Jan. 20).
Philippines:
Ati-Atihan Festival.
Events
1419
- Rouen
surrendered to Henry
V, completing his conquest of Normandy.
1783
- William
Pitt became the youngest Prime Minister of England
at age 24.
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 patented a process for canning food in tin
containers.
1840
- During an expedition, Captain Charles
Wilkes sighted the coast of eastern Antarctica
and claimed it for the United
States. In February 1821 the first landing on the
Antarctic continent was made by American John
Davis at Hughes
Bay on the Antarctic
Peninsula. In 1959, the Antarctic
Treaty made Antarctica
an international zone, set guidelines for scientific
cooperation, and proh
ibited military operations, nuclear explosions, and the
disposal of radioactive waste on the continent.
1861
- Georgia
seceded from the Union.
1915
- During World
War I, Britain was hit by an air attack when two
German zeppelins drop bombs on Great
Yarmouth and King's
Lynn.
1918
- The Bolsheviks
dissolved the Russian
Constitutional Assembly.
1937
- Millionaire Howard
Hughes set a transcontinental air record by flying his
monoplane from Los
Angeles, California
to Newark,
New
Jersey, in seven hours, 28 minutes and 25 seconds.
1944
- The U.S. federal government relinquished control of the
nation's railroads following settlement of a wage dispute.
1963
- The first disco,
called "Whiskey-a-go-go," opened in Los
Angeles.
1966
- Indira
Gandhi was elected prime minister of India.
1981
- The United
States and Iran
signed an agreement for the release of 52 Americans held
hostage for more than 14 months.
1983
- Klaus
Barbie, the Nazi Gestapo chief of Lyons,
France,
during the German occupation, was arrested in Bolivia
for his crimes against humanity.
2000
- Michael
Skakel, a nephew of Robert
F. Kennedy, surrendered to police in Greenwich,
Connecticut,
to face charges in the 1975 death of a 15-year-old girl.
Births
1736
- James
Watt, Scottish inventor of the steam engine.
1807
- Robert
E. Lee, American commander-in-chief of the Confederate
armies.
1809
- Edgar
Allan Poe, American poet, author.
1839
- Paul
Cézanne, French painter.
1908
- Ish
Kabibble (Merwyn
Bogue), American comic singer.
1930
- Tippi
Hedren, an American film actress.
1943
- Janis
Joplin, American blues and pop singer.
1946
- Dolly
Parton, American songwriter, singer.
1955
- Paul
Rodriguez, Hispanic-American comedian.
1972
- Drea
de Matteo, American actress.
1980
- Jenson
Button, English Formula
One driver.
Deaths
1990
- Bhagwam
Shree Rajneesh, Indian guru.
1998
- Carl
Perkins, American pioneer of rockabilly
music, a mix of rhythm
and blues and country
western music.
2000
- Bettino
Craxi, Prime
Minister of Italy.
2000
- Hedy
Lamarr, Austrian-born actress.
2006
- Wilson
Pickett, American R&B and soul singer.
2007
- Denny
Doherty, Canadian singer and songwriter, and a
founding member of the 1960s
musical group The
Mamas and the Papas.
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