This Day in History – January 18, 2012

1733 – First polar bear exhibited in America (Boston) 1778 – James Cook is the first known European to discover the Hawaiian Islands, which he names the “Sandwich Islands.” 1788 – The first elements of the First Fleet carrying 736 convicts from England to Australia arrives at Botany Bay. 1862 – Confederate Territory of Arizona is formed 1865 – Battle of Fort Moultrie, SC 1866 – Wesley College, Melbourne is established. 1871 – Wilhelm I of Germany is proclaimed the first German Emperor in the Hall of Mirrors of the Palace of Versailles ( France ) towards the end of the Franco-Prussian War. The empire is known as the Second Reich to Germans. 1896 – The X-ray machine is exhibited for the first time. 1903 – President Theodore Roosevelt sends a radio message to King Edward VII: the first transatlantic radio transmission originating in the United States. 1911 – Eugene B. Ely lands on the deck of the USS Pennsylvania stationed in San Francisco harbor, the first time an aircraft landed on a ship. 1916 – A 611 gram chondrite type meteorite strikes a house near the village of Baxter in Stone County, Missouri. 1919 – Bentley Motors Limited is founded.a. 1919 – World War I: The Paris Peace Conference opens in Versailles, France. 1929 – “New York Daily Mirror” columnist Walter Winchell debuts on radio 1929 – Stalin proposes to ban Trotsky from the Politburo 1933 – White Sands National Monument, NM established 1943 – Warsaw Ghetto Uprising: The first uprising of Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto. 1944 – The Metropolitan Opera House in New York City hosts a jazz concert for the first time. The performers are Louis Armstrong, Benny Goodman, Lionel Hampton, Artie Shaw, Roy Eldridge and Jack Teagarden. 1944 – First Chinese naturalized US citizen since repeal of exclusion acts 1945 – Liberation of the Budapest ghetto by the Red Army. 1957 – 3 B-52’s set record for around-the-world flight, 45 hours 19 minutes 1958 – First black in the NHL (William O’Ree, Boston Bruins) 1960 – Capital Airlines Flight 20 crashes into a farm in Charles City County, Virginia, killing all 50 aboard, the third fatal Capital Airlines crash in as many years. 1962 – Southern University closed due to demonstrations 1964 – Beatles 1st appearance in Billboard Chart (I Want to Hold Your Hand-#35) 1964 – Plans for the World Trade Center announced (New York City NY) 1966 – Robert C Weaver, confirmed as first black cabinet member (HUD) 1967 – Albert DeSalvo, the “Boston Strangler”, is convicted of numerous crimes and is sentenced to life imprisonment. 1969 – United Airlines Flight 266 crashes into Santa Monica Bay killing all 32 passengers and six crew members. 1973 – John Cleese’s final episode on “Monty Python’s Flying Circus” on BBC 1974 – A Disengagement of Forces agreement is signed between the Israeli and Egyptian governments, ending conflict on the Egyptian front of the Yom Kippur War. 1974 – “The $6 Million Man” starring Lee Majors premieres on ABC TV 1975 – “The Jeffersons” spin-off from “All in the Family” premieres on CBS 1976 – Lebanese Christian militias overrun Karantina, Beirut, killing at least 1,000. 1976 – Super Bowl X Pittsburgh Steelers beat Dallas Cowboys, 21-17 in Miami; Super Bowl MVP Lynn Swann, Pittsburgh, Wide Receiver 1977 – Scientists identify a previously unknown bacterium as the cause of the mysterious Legionnaires’ disease. 1980 – Studio 54 owners Steve Rubell & Ian Schrager sentenced to 3½ years in prison for tax evasion & fined $20,000 1981 – Phil Smith and Phil Mayfield parachute off a Houston skyscraper, becoming the first two people to BASE jump from objects in all four categories: buildings, antennae, spans (bridges), and earth (cliffs). 1983 – The International Olympic Committee restores Jim Thorpe’s Olympic medals to his family. 1989 – Otis Redding, Dion, Rolling Stones, Temptations & Stevie Wonder inducted into Rock & Roll Hall of Fame 1990 – Washington, D.C. Mayor Marion Barry is arrested for drug possession in an FBI sting. 1993 – Martin Luther King, Jr. Day is officially observed for the first time in all 50 states. 1996 – Lisa Marie Presley filed for divorce from Michael Jackson in NY 2000 – The Tagish Lake meteorite impacts the Earth. 2005 – The Airbus A380, the world’s largest commercial jet, is unveiled at a ceremony in Toulouse, France 2009 – Gaza War: Hamas announces they will accept Israeli Defense Forces’s offer of a ceasefire, ending the assault. 2012 – SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) and PIPA (Protect IP Act) is opposed online on internet by Blackout]]]]> ]]>