On January 28th...

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814 Charlemagne, King of the Franks and Holy Roman Emperor, died.

1099 Crusaders laid seige to Hosn-el-Akrad, in present-day Syria.

1393 Fire during athe Ball of the Ardents in Paris, France, killed 4 persons.

1457 King Henry VII of England was born.

1495 Pope Alexander VI gave his son Cesare as hostage to King Charles VIII of France.

1521 Emperor Charles V opened the Diet of Worms.

1547 King Henry VIII of England died.

1561 The Edict of Orleans suspended French persecution of Huguenots.

1573 The Warsaw Confederation, sanctioning freedom of religion in Poland, was signed.

1600 Pope Clement IX was born.

1621 Pope Paul V died.

1624 Sir Thomas Warner founded the first English colony in the Caribbean, on St. Christopher.

1724 The Russian Academy of Sciences was founded (as the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences).

1770 Frederick North became Prime Minister of Great Britain.

1822 Alexander Mackenzie, Canadian Prime Minister, was born.

1841 Explorer Henry Morton Stanley was born.

1848 The King of Naples granted his subjects a constitution.

1851 Northwestern University was chartered.

1853 Cuban freedom fighter José Marti was born.

1858 Anatomist/anthropologist Eugene DuBois was born.

1878 The first telephone exchange began operating in New Haven, Connecticut.
1878 George W. Coy was hired as the first full-time telephone operator.
1878 The Yale Daily News, the first daily college newspaper, began publication.

1881 Author Fyodor Dostoevsky died.

1884 Balloonists Auguste and Jean Piccard were born.

1887 Pianist Artur Rubinstein was born.

1890 Robert Stroud, subject of the movie Birdman of Alcatraz, was born.

1902 The Carnegie Foundation was founded.
1912 Painter Jackson Pollock was born.

1914 Beverly Hills, California, was incorporated.

1915 The U. S. Coast Guard was created.

1918 Rebels seized control of Helsinki, Finland.
1918 John McCrae, author of "In Flanders Fields," died.

1921 The French Tomb of the Unknown Soldier was installed under the Arc de Triomphe.

1922 The roof of the Kinickerbocker Theater in Washington, D. C., collapsed after a heavy snowfall, killing 98 persons.
1922 The American Pro Football Association was renamed National Football League.

1930 The Chrysler Building was completed in New York City.

1932 Wisconsin enacted the first state unemployment insurance act.

1936 Actor Alan Alda was born.

1939 Poet/playwright William Butler Yeats died.

1942 German troops occupied Benghazi, Libya.

1956 Elvis Presley made his first ever national television appearance, on the musical variety program Stage Show singing "Heartbreak Hotel."

1958 Legos were patented.
1958 Brooklyn Dodgers catcher Roy Campanella was seriously injured in an automobile accident.

1960 The Minnesota Vikings were founded.

1961 The Republic of Rwanda was proclaimed.

1973 "Barnaby Jones" premiered on CBS-TV.

1975 Antonín Novotný, former First Secretary of the Czechoslovak Communist Party, died.

1978 "Fantasy Island" premiered on ABC-TV.

1985 "We Are the World" was recorded by USA For Africa.

1986 The Space Shuttle "Challenger" exploded soon after liftoff, killing all 7 crew members aboard..

1990 The San Francisco 49ers defeated the Denver Broncos 55-10 in Super Bowl XXIV.

1991 Football player Red Grange died.

1996 The Dallas Cowboys defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers 27-17 in Super Bowl XXX.

2001 The Baltimore Ravens defeated the New York Giants 34-7 in Super Bowl XXXV.

2002 A Boeing 727-100 crashed in the Andes Mountains in southern Colombia, killing 92 persons.

2013 A freight train struck a bus in Heihi City, China, killing 10 persons and injuring 11 others.
2013 A Bombardier CRJ200 crashed near Almaty, Kazakhstan, killing 20 persons.

2016 Musician Paul Kantner died.

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This page was last updated on January 28, 2019.