Anna of Brittany announced all those who would ally with the King of France would be considered guilty of the crime of lese-majesty. (1490)
Ferdinand of Austria, younger brother to Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, issued the first secular mandate forbidding the Anabaptist religious movement. (1524)
Hans Bret, a young Anabaptist Protestant in Antwerp, was martyred by being burned at the stake. He had been tortured for months in an attempt to force him to deny his faith but kept such a bold testimony his persecutors clamped and seared his tongue so that he could not preach to the crowd when taken to the stake. (1577)
King Charles I with 400 soldiers attacked the English parliament. (1642)
Most of the Palace of Whitehall in London, the main residence of the English monarchs, was destroyed by fire. (1698)
Benjamin Franklin arrived in London. (1725)
Great Britain declared war on Spain and Naples, beginning the Seven Years War. (1762)
Louis Braille, creator of Braille system of reading for the blind, was born. (1809)
Samuel Colt sold his first revolver pistol to the United States government. (1847)
The New Apostolic Church was established in Germany. (1863)
Four wheeled roller skates were patented by James Plimpton of New York. (1863)
The New York Stock Exchange opened its first permanent headquarters at 10-12 Broad near Wall Street in New York City. (1865)
Dr W W Grant of Iowa performed the first appendectomy. (1885)
US President Cleveland granted amnesty to Mormons guilty of polygamy. (1895)
Following Mormon denouncement of polygamy, Utah was admitted as the 45th US state. (1896)
The French Panama Canal Company offered to sell its right to build a canal to the US for 40 million. Because of this, the canal went through Panama instead of Nicaragua. (1902)
Topsy the elephant was electrocuted by her owners at Luna Park, Coney Island and filmed by Edison Manufacturing movie company. (1903)
Smallest earth-moon distance of the twentieth century was 356,375 km from center-to-center. (1912)
First elected Jewish governor, Moses Alexander, took office in Idaho. (1915)
First Black baseball league, National Negro Baseball League, organized. (1920)
WW2: Reich-bishop Müller issued a decree known as the “Muzzling Order” forbidding ministers to say anything in their sermons against the Nazi regime or teach against a superior Arian race. Although most churches complied, 320 ministers pledged support to the Confessing Church and stood against the Nazi regime. (1934)
Bob Hope was first heard on network radio as part of The Intimate Revue. (1935)
Billboard magazine published its first music hit parade. (1936)
WW2: Hermann Goering appointed Reinhard Heydrich head of Jewish Emigration. (1939)
WW2: Resistance fighters d’Estienne d’Orves and Jan Doornik first met. (1941)
Ralph Bunche was appointed the first black official in the US State Department. (1944)
WW2: Germans executed resistance fighters in Amsterdam. (1945)
WW2: US jeep-aircraft carrier Ommaney Bay sinks after Japanese kamikaze attack. (1945)
The US Senate appointed Peter Marshall to be their chaplain. (1947)
Emilio G. Segrè and Carlo Perrier announced technetium, a previously unknown element and the first artificially synthesized chemical element. (1947)
Korean War: Chinese forces recaptured Seoul. (1951)
Elvis Presley recorded a 10 minute demo in Nashville. (1954)
Sir Edmund Hillary reached the South Pole. (1958)
Luna 1, Mechta became the first craft to leave Earth’s gravity. (1959)
Longest recorded strike ended. The Danish Barbers’ Assistants Strike lasted 33 years. (1961)
US President Lyndon B. Johnson delivered his Great Society State of the Union Address. (1965)
T. S. Eliot, the most influential English poet of the twentieth century, died. He had converted to Christianity and joined the Church of England. (1965)
US President Richard Nixon refused to hand over tapes subpoenaed by Watergate Committee. (1974)
The 104th Congress became the first held entirely under Republican control since the Eisenhower era thanks to Newt Gingrich and his Contract with America. (1994)
Newt Gingrich, Republican, became Speaker of the US House of Representatives. (1995)
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