Trevor WholohanThis Day in History, January 17th
January 16th 2008 23:52
This Day in History
1773 - Captain James Cook becomes 1st to cross Antarctic Circle (66º 33' S)
1775 - 9 old women burnt as witches for causing bad harvests, Kalisk, Poland
1806 - James Madison Randolph, grandson of U.S. President Thomas Jefferson, was the first child born in the White House.
1861 - Flush toilet patented by Mr Thomas Crapper (Honest!)
1912 - Explorer Robert Scott reached the South Pole to find out Roald Amundsen had beaten him there by one month. Scott and his party died during the return trip.
1916 - The Professional Golfers Association was formed in New York City.
1917 - US pays Denmark $25 million for the Virgin Islands
1926 - George Burns marries Gracie Allen
1929 - Popeye makes 1st appearance, in comic strip "Thimble Theatre"
1943 - Tin Can Drive Day
1945 - Soviet and Polish forces liberated Warsaw(end of Nazi occupation).
1945 - Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg disappeared in Hungary while in Soviet custody. Wallenberg was credited with saving tens of thousands of Jews.
1948 - Trial of 11 US Communist party members begins in New York City NY
1950 - The Great Brinks Robbery - 11 thieves steal more than $2 million from an armored car Company's offices in Boston, Mass.
1951 - China refuses cease-fire in Korea
1954 - Jacques Cousteau's 1st network telecast airs on "Omnibus" (CBS)
1961 - U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower delivers a televised farewell address.
1966 - A B-52 bomber collides with a KC-135 Stratotanker over Spain, dropping three 70-kiloton hydrogen bombs near the town of Palomares and one other into the sea
1969 - Beatles release Yellow Submarine album
1969 - Debut album of Led Zeppelin released in US
1970 - 357 baseball players are available in the free-agent draft
1970 - Sporting News names Willie Mays as Player of the Decade for the 1960s
1977 - Convicted murderer Gary Gilmore is executed by a firing squad in Utah
1982 - "Cold Sunday" in the United States sees temperatures fall to their lowest levels in over 100 years. Wisconsin saw -40F to -52F without wind chill factor.
1987 - President Reagan signs secret order permitting covert sale of arms to Iran
1991 - Iraq fires 8 SCUD missiles on Israel - 1st US pilot shot down & Desert Storm begins
1993 - U.S. missiles attacked an Iraqi nuclear weapons facility outside Baghdad in an effort to destroy Saddam Hussein's ability to build weapons of mass destruction.
1997 - NBA suspends Dennis Rodman indefinitely & fines him $25,000 for kicking cameraman
1998 - President Clinton faces sexual harassment charges from Paula Jones
2000 - Almost 50,000 people marched in Columbia, S.C., to protest the flying of the Confederate battle flag over the state Capitol.
2004 - Authorities placed the U.S. military death toll in Iraq at 500, including 346 in combat.
2007 - Doomsday Clock is set to 5 minutes to midnight in response to N. Korea nuclear testing
Famous Birthday’s
1706 - Benjamin Franklin, Boston, kite flyer/statesman/writer/invent or/diplomat(Died 1790)
1899 - Al “Scarface”Capone Italy, gangster (Chicago bootlegging) Dies in 1947.
1922 - Betty White Oak Park IL, actress (Mary Tyler Moore Show, Golden Girls)
1925 - Rock Hudson Winnetka IL, actor (McMillian & Wife)
1928 - Vidal Sassoon, English cosmetologist/hairdresser.
1931 - James Earl Jones, actor/narrator (Conan the Barbarian, The Hunt for Red October, Click Sandlot 1 2, Voice of Darth Vader in Star Wars & Mufasa in The Lion King 1 2.
1934 - Shari Lewis Bronx NY, ventriloquist/puppeteer (Lamb Chop) Died 1998
1942 - Muhammad Ali [Cassius Clay] heavyweight boxer (61 fights, 56 wins, 37 by KO, 5 loses
1949 - Andy Kaufman New York City NY, comedian/actor (Latka Gravas-Taxi)D. 1984
1954 - Robert F Kennedy Jr attorney (Natural Resources Defense Council)
1962 - Jim Carrey Ontario Canada, actor (Dumb & Dumber, Mask, Liar Liar, Bruce Almighty)
1971 - Kid Rock, singer/rapper(Cowboy, Bull God) Married Pamela Anderson 18 times and got divorced 3 months later.
Famous Death’s
1893 - Rutherford B Hayes 19th US President (1877-81), dies in Fremont OH at 70
1910 - Thomas Crapper, inventor of the flush toilet dies
Joke of the Day
Who is Calling
The local high school has a policy that the parents must call the school if a student is to be absent for the day. Kelly (name changed to protect the guilty), deciding to skip school and go to the mall with her friends waited until her parents had left for work and called the school herself. This is the actual conversation of the telephone call.
Kelly: "Hi, I'm calling to report that Kelly so-and-so is unable to make it to school today because she is ill.
Secretary at high school: "Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. I'll note her absence. Who is this calling?"
Kelly: "This is my mother."
Using the FBI
The phone rings at FBI headquarters. "Hello?"
"I'm calling to report my neighbor. He is hiding marijuana inside his firewood."
"Thank you very much for the call sir," replied the dispatcher.
The next day, FBI agents sneak up on the neighbor's house. They search the shed where the firewood is kept.
Using axes, they bust open every piece of wood, but find no marijuana. They yell at the neighbor and leave.
The phone rings at the neighbor's house.
"Hey, Bill, did the FBI come?"
"Sure Did!"
"Did they chop your firewood?!"
"Yep!"
"Great, now it's your turn to call. I need my garden plowed!!"
World Records
Shortest Woman
Pauline Musters(Netherlands) measured 12 inches at birth, and that nine years of age she was 21.5 inches tall and weighed 3 pounds, when she died of pneumonia at age 19 she was exactly 24 inches tall.
Heaviest Man
The heaviest person in medical history was John Brower Minnoch. He was 6'1" tall and weighed 1,399 pounds, much of which was water accumulation due to his congestive heart failure.
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