Today: 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”
1912 – Geophysicist and meteorologist Alfred Wegener presents his controversial theory of continental drift in a lecture at the Geological Association (Geologischen Vereinigung) 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
1950 – Great Britain announced its recognition of the People’s Republic of China.
1974 – United Kingdom begins three-day work week during energy crisis
1980 – Indira Gandhi’s Congress Party wins elections in India
1987 – Astronomers at University of California see 1st sight of birth of a galaxy
2000 – The flu outbreak in Britain puts pressure on NHS
2001 – The U.S. Congress certified George W. Bush as the winner of the 2000 presidential election following a legal battle.
2012 – A suicide bomber blows himself up at a police station in Damascus, Syria, killing 26 people and wounding 63
2016 – North Korea states that they have successfully conducted their fourth nuclear test, saying it was a hydrogen bomb in a claim disputed by most international experts
2017 – Elizabeth Warren announces her intention to run for a second term as Massachusetts Senator
Film & TV:
1975 – “Wheel Of Fortune” debuts on NBC-TV
2016 – “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” breaks North American box office record, passing the $760.5m taken by “Avatar”
Sport:
1681 – 1st recorded boxing match (Duke of Albemarle’s butler vs his butcher)
2020 – Crawford Steel executives Sid Spiegel and Gary Stern via holding company S & S Sportsco purchase the Montreal Alouettes from the Canadian Football League
Via Britannica / On This Day
