EVENTS
- 888 – Odo becomes King of the Franks.
- 1559 – Elizabeth I crowned queen of England.
- 1847 – Mexican-American War ends.
- 1854 – The accordion is patented.
- 1893 – The British Independent Labor Party was founded with James Keir Hardie as its leader.
- 1898 – French author Emile Zola published J’Accuse, a letter accusing the French government of a cover-up in the Alfred Dreyfus case. Dreyfus had been convicted of treason for selling military secrets to the Germans and had been sent to Devil’s Island. As a result of Zola’s letter and subsequent trail, Dreyfus was completely vindicated.
- 1915 – The worst earthquake in Italian history kills 30,000. The quake hit the town of Avezzano, about 100 km (60 m) east of Rome.
- 1930 – The Mickey Mouse comic strip starts.
- 1935 – The population of the Saar region bordering France and Germany voted for incorporation into Hitler’s Reich. The 737 square-mile area with its valuable coal deposits had been under French control following Germany’s defeat in World War I.
- 1957 – Wham-O Company produces the first Frisbee.
- 1968 – Johnny Cash performs live at Folsom State Prison. The album “Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison” became a huge success.
- 1990 – Douglas Wilder of Virginia became the first African American governor in the U.S. as he took the oath of office in Richmond.
- 2000 – Bill Gates steps down as CEO of Microsoft. Gates co-founded Microsoft in 1975 together with Paul Allen.
- 2001 – An earthquake devastates El Salvador. This quake killed nearly 1000 people; at least 315 people feel victim to a second quake on February 13, 2001.
- 2012 – The cruise ship Costa Concordia sinks, killing 32. The ship’s captain was later accused of imprudence, negligence, and incompetence.
BIRTHDAYS
- 1596 – Jan van Goyen (Dutch Painter)
- 1834 – Horatio Alger (Minister)
- 1887 – George Gurdjieff (Armenian mystic)
- 1961 – Julia Louis Dreyfus (Actress from Seinfeld)
- 1964 – Bill Bailey (English comedian, actor, singer, guitarist)
- 1966 – Patrick Dempsey (Actor Greys Anatomy)
- 1969 – Stephen Hendry (Scottish snooker player)
- 1970 – Marco Pantani (Italian cyclist)
- 1977 – Orlando Bloom (Actor)
- 1978 – Nate Silver (American journalist, statistician, developed PECOTA)
- 1988 – Josh Freeman (NFL Quarterback)
DEATHS
- 1929 – Wyatt Earp (American police officer)
- 1941 – James Joyce (Irish author)
- 1962 – Ernie Kovacs (American comedian, actor)
- 1978 – Hubert Humphrey (American politician, 38th Vice President of the United States)
- 2007 – Michael Brecker (American saxophonist, composer)