Also on Jan. 7, 1979, Vietnamese forces captured the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh, overthrowing the Khmer Rouge government.

On January 8, 1815, he Battle of New Orleans began. The War of 1812 had officially ended on December 24, 1814, with the signing of the Treaty of Ghent. The news of the signing had not reached British troops in time to prevent their attack on New Orleans...

Also on Jan. 8, 1918, President Woodrow Wilson outlined his 14 points for peace after World War I.

On January 9, 1902, New York State introduced a bill to outlaw flirting in public...

Also on Jan. 9, 1968, the Surveyor 7 space probe made a soft landing on the moon, marking the end of the American series of unmanned explorations of the lunar surface.

On Jan. 10, 1946, the first General Assembly of the United Nations convened in London.

Also on January 10, 1901, oil was discovered at the Spindletop oil field near Beaumont, TX...

On January 11, 1861, Alabama seceded from the United States...

Also on Jan. 11, 1935, aviator Amelia Earhart began a trip from Honolulu to Oakland, Calif., becoming the first woman to fly solo across the Pacific Ocean.

On Jan. 12, 1915, the United States House of Representatives rejected a proposal to give women the right to vote.

And at some later date the vote was given to women... which was smart?

On that very same day, the U.S. Congress established the Rocky Mountain National Park...

On January 13, 1854, Anthony Faas of Philadelphia, PA, patented the accordion..

Also on Jan. 13, 1990, Douglas Wilder of Virginia became the nation's first elected black governor as he took the oath of office in Richmond

On Jan. 14, 1943, President Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill opened a wartime conference in Casablanca.

On that same date in 1943, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt became the first U.S. President to fly in an airplane while in office. He flew from Miami, FL, to French Morocco where he met with British Prime Minister Winston Churchill to discuss World War II (see above...)

On January 15, 1624, many riots occurred in Mexico when it was announced that all churches were to be closed...

Also on Jan. 15, 1967, the first Super Bowl was played as the Green Bay Packers of the National Football League defeated the Kansas City Chiefs of the American Football League, 35-10

On January 16, 1961, Mickey Mantle signed a contract that made him the highest paid baseball player in the American League at $75,000 for the 1961 season...

On January 17, 1795. the Dudingston Curling Society was organized in Edinburgh, Scotland...

Also on Jan 17, 1950, 11 men steal more than $2 million from the Brinks Armored Car depot in Boston, Massachusetts.

On January 18, 1778, English navigator Captain James Cook discovered the Hawaiian Islands, which he called the "Sandwich Islands..."

On Jan. 19, 1937, millionaire Howard Hughes set a transcontinental air record by flying his monoplane from Los Angeles to Newark, N.J., in 7 hours, 28 minutes and 25 seconds..

Also on January 19, 1957, Philadelphia comedian, Ernie Kovacs, did a half-hour TV show without saying a single word of dialogue...

On Jan. 20, 1981, Iran released 52 Americans held hostage for 444 days, minutes after the presidency had passed from Jimmy Carter to Ronald Reagan

Also on January 20, 1942, Nazi officials held the Wannsee conference, during which they arrived at their "final solution" that called for exterminating Europe's Jews...

On January 21, 1853, Dr. Russell L. Hawes patented the envelope folding machine...

Also on Jan. 21, 1924, Russian revolutionary Vladimir Ilyich Lenin died at age 54.

On January 22, 1889, the Columbia Phonograph Company was formed in Washington, DC...

Also on Jan. 22, 1973, the Supreme Court handed down its Roe vs. Wade decision, which legalized abortion.

On January 23, 1571, the Royal Exchange in London, founded by financier Thomas Gresham, was opened by Queen Elizabeth I...

Also on this day in 1957, machines at the Wham-O toy company roll out the first batch of their aerodynamic plastic discs--now known to millions of fans all over the world as Frisbees.

On January 24, 1848, James W. Marshall discovered a gold nugget at Sutter's Mill in northern California. The discovery led to the gold rush of '49...

Also on Jan. 24, 1965, Winston Churchill died in London at age 90.

On Jan. 25, 1915, the inventor of the telephone, Alexander Graham Bell, inaugurated U.S. transcontinental telephone service. 20 years later, not sure what date, my grandfather had a phone installed in the family home.

Also on January 25, 1858, Mendelssohn’s "Wedding March" was presented for the first time, as the daughter of Queen Victoria married the Crown Prince of Prussia...

On Jan. 26, 1950, India proclaimed itself a republic.

Also on January 26, 1784, in a letter to his daughter, Benjamin Franklin expressed unhappiness over the eagle as the symbol of America. He wanted the symbol to be the turkey...

On Jan. 27, 1967, Astronauts Virgil I. ''Gus'' Grissom, Edward H. White and Roger B. Chaffee died in a flash fire during a test aboard their Apollo I spacecraft at Cape Kennedy, Fla.

Also on January 27, 1880, Thomas Edison patented the electric incandescent lamp...

On Jan. 28, 1986, space shuttle Challenger exploded 73 seconds after liftoff from Cape Canaveral, killing all seven crew members.

Also on January 28, 1521, the Diet of Worms began, at which Protestant reformer Luther was declared an outlaw by the Roman Catholic church...

On January 29, 1848, Greenwich Mean Time was adopted by Scotland...

Also on January 29th, 1845 Edgar Allan Poe's poem "The Raven" was first published, in the New York Evening Mirror.

The crew of the space shuttle Challenger honored us by the manner in which they lived their lives. We will never forget them, nor the last time we saw them, this morning, as they prepared for their journey and waved goodbye and "slipped the surly bonds of earth" to "touch the face of God."

I know it was yesterday, but I just wanted to take a moment to remember these fine people, and the speech given by our then President Ronald Reagan.... in it's entirety;

"Ladies and Gentlemen, I'd planned to speak to you tonight to report on the state of the Union, but the events of earlier today have led me to change those plans. Today is a day for mourning and remembering. Nancy and I are pained to the core by the tragedy of the shuttle Challenger. We know we share this pain with all of the people of our country. This is truly a national loss.

Nineteen years ago, almost to the day, we lost three astronauts in a terrible accident on the ground. But we've never lost an astronaut in flight. We've never had a tragedy like this.

And perhaps we've forgotten the courage it took for the crew of the shuttle. But they, the Challenger Seven, were aware of the dangers, but overcame them and did their jobs brilliantly. We mourn seven heroes: Michael Smith, Dick Scobee, Judith Resnik, Ronald McNair, Ellison Onizuka, Gregory Jarvis, and Christa McAuliffe.

We mourn their loss as a nation together.

For the families of the seven, we cannot bear, as you do, the full impact of this tragedy. But we feel the loss, and we're thinking about you so very much. Your loved ones were daring and brave, and they had that special grace, that special spirit that says, "Give me a challenge, and I'll meet it with joy." They had a hunger to explore the universe and discover its truths. They wished to serve, and they did. They served all of us.

We've grown used to wonders in this century. It's hard to dazzle us. But for twenty-five years the United States space program has been doing just that. We've grown used to the idea of space, and, perhaps we forget that we've only just begun. We're still pioneers. They, the members of the Challenger crew, were pioneers.

And I want to say something to the schoolchildren of America who were watching the live coverage of the shuttle's take-off. I know it's hard to understand, but sometimes painful things like this happen. It's all part of the process of exploration and discovery. It's all part of taking a chance and expanding man's horizons. The future doesn't belong to the fainthearted; it belongs to the brave. The Challenger crew was pulling us into the future, and we'll continue to follow them.

I've always had great faith in and respect for our space program. And what happened today does nothing to diminish it. We don't hide our space program. We don't keep secrets and cover things up. We do it all up front and in public. That's the way freedom is, and we wouldn't change it for a minute.

We'll continue our quest in space. There will be more shuttle flights and more shuttle crews and, yes, more volunteers, more civilians, more teachers in space. Nothing ends here; our hopes and our journeys continue.

I want to add that I wish I could talk to every man and woman who works for NASA, or who worked on this mission and tell them: "Your dedication and professionalism have moved and impressed us for decades. And we know of your anguish. We share it."

There's a coincidence today. On this day three hundred and ninety years ago, the great explorer Sir Francis Drake died aboard ship off the coast of Panama. In his lifetime the great frontiers were the oceans, and a historian later said, "He lived by the sea, died on it, and was buried in it." Well, today, we can say of the Challenger crew: Their dedication was, like Drake's, complete.

The crew of the space shuttle Challenger honored us by the manner in which they lived their lives. We will never forget them, nor the last time we saw them, this morning, as they prepared for their journey and waved goodbye and "slipped the surly bonds of earth" to "touch the face of God."

Thank you."

On Jan. 30, 1948, Indian political and spiritual leader Mahatma Gandhi was murdered by a Hindu extremist.

Also on January 30, 1847, the town of Yerba Buena was renamed San Francisco...

On Jan. 31, 1865, the House of Representatives passed a constitutional amendment to abolish slavery.

Also on January 31, 1606, Guy Fawkes was executed after being convicted for his role in the "Gunpowder Plot" against the English Parliament and King James I..

On February 1st in 1884, the first portion, or fascicle, of the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), considered the most comprehensive and accurate dictionary of the English language, is published.

Also on February 1, 1893, Thomas A. Edison completed work on the world's first motion picture studio in West Orange, NJ...

It's funny. You give a date about a revolutionary man but you don't speak about a big day from french revolution : jan 21 1793, the king Louis XVI is dead, killed by the people. Louis XVI was the king who help young America against english army

fev 02, 1635 : New York's foundation by Dutch (New Amsterdam)

On February 2, 1887, Groundhog Day, featuring a rodent meteorologist, is celebrated for the first time at Gobbler's Knob in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. According to tradition, if a groundhog comes out of its hole on this day and sees its shadow, there will be six more weeks of winter weather; no shadow means an early spring.

Also, Tully, on February 2, 1848, the Mexican War was ended with the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. The treaty turned over portions of land to the U.S., including Texas, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, California and parts of Colorado and Wyoming. The U.S. gave Mexico $15,000,000 and assumed responsibility of all claims against Mexico by American citizens. Texas had already entered the U.S. on December 29, 1845...

On February 3, 1959 A plane crash in an Iowa farm field killed Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, J.P. "the Big Bopper" Richardson and 21-year-old pilot Roger Peterson.

So today is the day the music died...

Also on February 3, 1913, the 16th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified. It authorized the power to impose and collect income tax...

fev 4, 1794 : first slavery abolition in France by the national convention but slaves are really free later (march 4, 1848)

Also on February 4, 2000- An Alaska Airlines jet plunged into the ocean off Southern California on a flight from Mexico to San Francisco, killing all 88 people on board.

Also on February 4, 1783, Britain declared a formal cessation of hostilities with its former colonies, the United States of America...

On February 5, 1958, Gamel Abdel Nasser was formally nominated to become the first president of the United Arab Republic...

Also on Feb. 5, 1937, President Roosevelt proposed increasing the number of Supreme Court justices; critics charged Roosevelt was attempting to "pack" the court.

On February 6, 1843, "The Virginia Minstrels" opened at the Bowery Amphitheatre in New York City. It was the first minstrel show in America...

Also on Feb. 6, 1895, George Herman 'Babe' Ruth, baseball's great star, was born.

On Feb. 7, 1984, space shuttle astronauts Bruce McCandless II and Robert L. Stewart went on the first untethered spacewalk.

Also on February 7, 1882, the last bareknuckle fight for the heavyweight boxing championship took place in Mississippi City...

On February 8, 1927, the original version of "Getting Gertie’s Garter" opened at the Hippodrome Theatre in New York City...

Also on February 8, 1922- President Warren G. Harding had a radio installed in the White House

On Feb. 9, 1943, the World War II battle of Guadalcanal in the southwest Pacific ended with an American victory over Japanese forces.

And on a related note, on February 9, 1885, the first Japanese arrived in Hawaii...

On Feb. 10, 1962, the Soviet Union exchanged captured American U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers for Rudolph Ivanovich Abel, a Soviet spy held by the United States.

Also on February 10, 1897, "The New York Times" began printing "All the news that's fit to print" on their front page...

On Feb. 11, 1945, President Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet leader Josef Stalin signed the Yalta Agreement during World War II.

Also on Februar 11, 1808, Judge Jesse Fell experimented by burning anthracite coal to keep his house warm. He successfully showed how clean the coal burned and how cheaply it could be used as a heating fuel...

On February 12, 1554, Lady Jane Grey was beheaded after being charged with treason. She had claimed the throne of England for only nine days...

I am here, turns out the weather is too poor to go fishing this morning.

Lady Jane Grey was a Jeopardy answer/question Thurs... Why is stupid stuff like this stuck in my brain and not important facts like the name of the lovely lady I met the other day? Have phone number no name... that would not go well I'm afraid.

Ok back to our regularly scheduled trivial information thread...

Also on February 12th, 1915- The cornerstone for the Lincoln Memorial was laid in Washington, D.C.

On February 13, 1542, Catherine Howard was executed for adultery. She was the fifth wife of England's King Henry VIII...

Also on Feb. 13 in 1935, a jury in Flemington, N.J., found Bruno Richard Hauptmann guilty of first-degree murder in the kidnap-death of the infant son of Charles and Anne Lindbergh. Hauptmann was later executed.

On February 14, 1859, Oregon became the 33rd member of the Union...

Also on Feb. 14th in 1929- the St. Valentine's Day Massacre took place in a Chicago garage as seven rivals of Al Capone's gang were gunned down.

On February 15th, 1898- The U.S. battleship Maine blew up in Havana harbor, killing more than 260 crew members and bringing the U.S. closer to war with Spain over the issue of Cuban independence.

Also on February 15, 1903, Morris and Rose Michtom, Russian immigrants, introduced the first teddy bear in America...

On February 16th, 1948- NBC-TV aired its first nightly newscast, "The Camel Newsreel Theatre," which consisted of Fox Movietone newsreels.

Also on February 16, 1857, the National Deaf Mute College was incorporated in Washington, DC. It was the first school in the world for advanced education of the deaf. The school was later renamed Gallaudet College...

On February 17, 1876, Julius Wolff was credited with being the first to can sardines...

On February 18, 1913, the famous French painting "Nude Descending a Staircase", by the French artist, Marcel Duchamp, was displayed at an "Armory Show" in New York City...

On February 19th, 1945- Some 30,000 U.S. Marines landed on Iwo Jima and began a month-long battle to seize control of the island from Japanese forces during World War II.

On February 19, 1878, Thomas Alva Edison patented a music player (the phonograph)...

On February 20, 1962, John Glenn made space history when he orbited the world three times in 4 hours, 55 minutes. He was the first American to orbit the Earth. He was aboard the Friendship 7 Mercury capsule...

Also on February 20th in 1839- Congress prohibited dueling in the District of Columbia.

Maybe they should bring it back?

On February 21st, 1975- Former Attorney General John N. Mitchell and former White House aides H.R. Haldeman and John D. Ehrlichman were sentenced to 2 1/2 to 8 years in prison for their roles in the Watergate cover-up.

On February 21, 1858, the first electric burglar alarm was installed in Boston, MA...

On February 22nd, 1879- Frank Winfield Woolworth opened a five-cent store in Utica, N.Y.

Also on February 22, 1819, Spain ceded Florida to the United States...

On Feb. 23, 1954, the first mass inoculation of children against polio with the Salk vaccine began in Pittsburgh.

Also on February 23, 1792, the Humane Society of Massachusetts was incorporated...

On February 24th, 1821- Mexico declared its independence from Spain.

Also on February 24, 1868, the first parade to use floats occurred in New Orleans at Mardi Gras...

On Feb. 25, 1870, Hiram R. Revels, R-Miss., became the first black member of the United States Senate as he was sworn in to serve out the unexpired term of Jefferson Davis.

Also on February 25, 1913, the 16th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified. It authorized a graduated income tax...

On February 26, 1907, the U.S. Congress raised their own pay to $7500...

On February 27, 1827, New Orleans held its first Mardi Gras celebration...