Celebrated annually this day, Epiphany is a major feast that commemorates, for Western Christians, the coming of the Magi and, for Eastern Orthodox Christians, Jesus’ birth, baptism by John, and first miracle.
1649 - The English Rump Parliament votes to put Charles I on trial for treason and other “high crimes”. 1838 – Samuel Morse’s telegraph system is demonstrated for the first time at the Speedwell Iron Works in Morristown, New Jersey. 1912 - Alfred Wegener, geophysicist and meteorologist, presents his controversial theory of continental drift in a lecture at the Geological Association (GeologischenVereinigung) at the Senckenberg-Museum, Frankfurt. 1941– US President Franklin Roosevelt makes his “Four Freedoms” speech (freedom of speech and worship; freedom from want and fear) during his US State of Union address. 1941 – Adolf Hitler declared that Germany was at war with the United States following the Japanese attacks on the U.S., British, and Dutch positions in the Pacific and in East Asia. 1950 – Great Britain announced its recognition of the People’s Republic of China. 1946 – UNICEF—a UN program devoted to improving the health, nutrition, education, and general welfare of children—was established. 1975 – A crowd of 2,000-plus lines up outside Boston Garden to buy tickets to the rock band Led Zeppelin. Some in the crowd then entered into to the near-empty arena and caused thousands of dollars in damage. 1987 - Astronomers at University of California see 1st sight of birth of a galaxy. 2001 – The U.S. Congress certified George W. Bush as the winner of the 2000 presidential election following a legal battle.
Music: 1958 - Gibson patents Flying V Guitar.
Births & Deaths:1946 – Syd Barrett, English guitarist and early vocalist of the band Pink Floyd, born in Cambridge, England (d. 2006). 1949 – Victor Fleming, American film director (The Wizard of Oz, Gone With Wind), dies at 65. 1955 – Rowan Atkinson, English comedian and actor (Mr Bean, Blackadder), born in Consett, County Durham, England.
