On this date in history....Jan. 28th.....

On The Way To Today...

814 - Emperor Charlemagne, king of the Franks 768-814, died.

1547 - King Henry VIII of England died and was succeeded by his son, Edward VI.

1788 - The first British penal settlement was founded at Botany Bay in New South Wales, Australia.

1807 - London's Pall Mall became the first street to be illuminated by gaslight.

1808 - The United States' first trotting horse, Messenger, was buried.

1829 - Irish murderer and body-snatcher William Burke was hanged.

1871 - Paris surrendered to the Prussians in the Franco-Prussian War.

1878 - In New Haven, Connecticut, the first telephone switchboard was installed. The phone company owning the switchboard had 21 subscribers.

1878 - The first daily, collegiate newspaper in the United States, "The Yale News" was published for the first time.

1885 - A British relief force arrived in Khartoum following its capture by the Mahdi and the killing of British General Gordon two days earlier.

1902 - Steel industrialist Andrew Carnegie established the Carnegie Institution in Washington.

1904 - Two months after his debut at the Metropolitan Opera house, Enrico Caruso signed his first contract with Victor Records.

1915 - Congress passed legislation creating the United States Coast Guard, combining the Life Saving Service and the Revenue Cutter Service.

1922 - The National Football League franchise in Decatur, Illinois, moved to Chicago, Illinois to become the Chicago Bears.

1922 - The roof of the Knickerbocker Theater in Washington, D.C., collapsed under the weight of 29 inches of snow, and 98 people were killed.

1927 - Twenty years before the now famous Art Mooney track was recorded, Jean Goldkette and his orchestra recorded, "I’m Looking Over a Four-Leaf Clover". Two of Goldkette's sidemen were famous: Bix Beiderbecke and Joe Venuti.

1930 - The dictatorship of Miguel Primo de Rivera ended in Spain.

1932 - The Japanese army occupied Shanghai to force an end to a Chinese boycott of Japanese goods.

1934 - As a result of a compliment from Walter Winchell's newspaper column, a local disc jockey began getting offers from talent scouts and producers. The DJ became known as Redhead, to those in Washington, DC and later, by millions across the United States on CBS radio and television. His trademark, strumming a ukulele and delivering down-home talk, endeared him to fans. His name was Arthur Godfrey.

1934 - Robert Royce’s ski lift was used for the first time in Woodstock, Vermont. Previously, snow skiers had no way to get to the top of the mountain conveniently.

1935 - Iceland became the first country to legalize abortion on medical-social grounds.

1943 - Adolf Hitler mobilized the entire German adult population for the country's war effort.

1944 - Charles de Gaulle made his landmark appeal for a new relationship between France and Africa.

1945 - A convoy of United States trucks from India crossed the Burmese-Chinese border, opening the famous "Burma Road."

1950 - The French Assembly ratified the agreement under which Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos became independent states within the French union.

1955 - President Dwight D. Eisenhower received full authority from the Senate to use armed forces abroad to defend Formosa (Taiwan) against possible attacks by the Chinese Communists.

1956 - Elvis Presley appeared on national television for the first time on "The Dorsey Brothers Show". Elvis sang "Blue Suede Shoes" and "Heartbreak Hotel", backed by the Dorsey band.

1957 - The Brooklyn Dodgers announced they had hired circus clown Emmett Kelly to entertain fans at baseball games. The next year, the Dodgers moved to Chavez Ravine in Los Angeles, California.

1958 - One of the most respected baseball players, Roy Campanella, was seriously injured in a New York auto accident. ‘Campy’ would never play again; but would be a part of the Dodgers organization for years. The talented catcher’s career with the Dodgers lasted from 1948 to 1957.

1963 - Black student Harvey Gantt entered Clemson College in South Carolina, the last state to hold out against integration.

1965 - General Motors reported the biggest profit in the history of any United States company. In 1964, earnings for the #1 of the Big Three automakers totaled $1.735 billion.

1966 - Film actress Hedy Lamarr was arrested for shoplifting in a May Company store. She was later found not guilty. The beautiful Lamarr was popular in movies during the '30s and '40s, appearing in Boom Town, White Cargo, and Samson and Delilah.

1973 - CBS-TV presented the first episode of "Barnaby Jones". Lee Meriwether, Miss America 1955, played the detective’s daughter-in-law assistant. The actor, playing the detective, started in movies back in the 1920s, and was chosen to play a part in "The Wizard of Oz", but bowed out. He also shot the first film used in Walt Disney's the animation tests for a character named Mortimer Mouse, who would be known as Mickey Mouse. He is best known for portrying Jed Clampett the CBS-TV series, "The Beverly Hillbillies". "Barnaby Jones" was played by Buddy Ebsen.

1978 - The words "De plane, de plane!" were first broadcast on ABC with the premiere of "Fantasy Island."

1982 - Italian anti-terrorist police rescued United States Brigadier General James Dozier from Red Brigades guerrillas who had kidnapped him 42 days earlier.

1983 - The surreal Videodrome, starring James Woods and Debbie Harry of Blondie fame, opened in United States theaters.

1985 - 45 of the top recording artists in the world were invited to an all-night recording session at Los Angeles, California's A&M studios. As each artist entered the studio door, they saw a hand-lettered sign, by Lionel Richie, saying, "Check your ego at the door." The session, conducted by producer Quincy Jones, started at 10 p.m., and by 8 a.m. the following morning, "USA for Africa", spearheaded by promoter Ken Kragen, was recorded and mixed. The resulting song, "We Are the World", featured Michael Jackson, Cyndi Lauper, Kenny Rogers, Dolly Parton, Sting, Harry Belafonte, Diana Ross, Paul Simon and others. It became the top song in the United States.

1986 - Seven astronauts died after the space shuttle Challenger exploded 72 seconds after liftoff from Cape Canaveral. On board was 37 year old, New Hampshire school teacher Christa McAuliffe, who was on her way to becoming the first ordinary U.S. civilian to travel into space. Hundreds on the ground stared in disbelief as the shuttle exploded in a forking plume of smoke and fire. Millions more watched the wrenching tragedy unfold on live television.

1987 - ABC-TV relocated reporter, Charles Gibson, to the coanchor chair next to Joan Lunden for the start of another chapter of "Good Morning America" when host of 11 years, David Hartman.

1987 - After 7 tempestuous years, Roger Mudd left NBC news. Previously, Mudd an icon at CBS news Mudd felt passed over when it was announced Dan Rather would replace Walter Cronkite as anchor of "The CBS Evening News". He went on to work at PBS, where he contributed to "The MacNeil Lehrer News Hour".

1988 - Soviet spy Klaus Fuchs died; his information enabled Moscow to detonate its first nuclear weapon in August 1949.

1994 - Christian Democrat Giovanni Goria became Italy's second former prime minister to be committed for trial on corruption charges.

1996 - Thieves knocked through a wall and plundered an exhibit of original Muppets at the Erfut Garden Show, 110 miles northeast of Frankfurt. Bert and Ernie puppets, valued at $126,000, were stolen and a glass case was smashed in an unsuccessful attempt to seize the Miss Piggy puppet. The trio were among 36 original Muppets rented by a Danish firm for the exhibit.

1997 - At South Africa's Truth Commission, police confessed to the 1977 murder of Steve Biko.

I remember exactly where I was when they told us the shuttle exploded.

....I was on my way back from Lafayette, La...between Alexandria and Monroe...had to pull over and catch my breath before I could drive the rest o'the way home...I was only 18yrs. old then... :cry:

I was 19 years old, working for a DoD contractor, and they had televisions set up in the courtyard of my building for those who wanted to watch the launch.

:eyes: