41 – Claudius succeeds his nephew Caligula as Roman Emperor after the later’s assassination by officers of the Praetorian Guard.
1857 – University of Calcutta founded as the first full-fledged university in South Asia.
1899 – Rubber heel for boots or shoes patented by American Humphrey O’Sullivan.
1908 – Lieutenant General Robert Baden-Powell publishes “Scouting for Boys” as a manual for self-instruction in outdoor skills and self-improvement. The book becomes the inspiration for the Scout Movement.
1984 – Apple Computer Inc unveils its revolutionary Macintosh personal computer.
2004 – Launched in mid-2003, the six-wheeled robotic rover Opportunity landed on Mars this day in 2004 and—like its twin rover, Spirit, which had landed on January 3—analyzed rocks and soils and relayed pictures back to Earth.
2011 – a bomb explodes in the international arrivals hall of Moscow’s Domodedovo International Airport, killing 35 people and injuring 173 others.
2017 – President Trump withdraws the US from the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA)
2018 – UK charity Presidents Club forced to close after revelations of sexual harassment at event revealed by the “Financial Times”
2019 – 17 temperature records broken in South Australia including highest ever recorded for capital Adelaide at 46.6C
2019 – US government recognises Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido as the country’s president
2019 – Search for missing Argentine footballer Emiliano Sala is called off after rescuers fail to find aircraft that disappeared from radar over English Channel 3 days earlier; search resumes funded by soccer community donations; wreckage discovered Feb 3
Film:
1940 – “The Grapes of Wrath”, directed by John Ford and based on John Steinbeck’s novel of the same name, starring Henry Fonda and Jane Darwell, is released.
Music: 2011 – “21” 2nd studio album by Adele is released (Grammy Award for Album of the Year 2012, Brit Award for British Album of the Year, 2011 Billboard Album of the Year).
Births & Dates:
1941 – American singer-songwriter Neil Diamond, who wrote pop songs for other musicians before launching a successful solo recording career, was born.
1965 – Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill, the British leader who guided Great Britain and the Allies through the crisis of World War II, dies in London at the age of 90.
