TODAY IN HISTORY

TODAY is Saturday, January 11, 2014. On this day:

1569 - England’s first state lottery was held.

1770 - The first shipment of rhubarb was sent to the United States from London.

1787 - Two moons of Uranus, Titania and Oberon, are discovered.

1815 - U.S. General Andrew Jackson achieved victory at the Battle of New Orleans. 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.

1867 - Benito Juarez returned to the Mexican presidency, following the withdrawal of French troops and the execution of Emperor Maximilian.

1874 - Colonel Peter Warburton completes his gruelling nine-month crossing of the Great Sandy Desert.

1878 - In New York, milk was delivered in glass bottles for the first time by Alexander Campbell.

1896 - Bourke, New South Wales, sees the end of thirteen days of extreme temperatures which kill 47.

1913 - The first sedan-type car was unveiled at the National Automobile Show in New York City. The car was manufactured by the Hudson Motor Company.

1922 - At Toronto General Hospital, Leonard Thompson became the first person to be successfully treated with insulin.

1942 - Japan declared war against the Netherlands. The same day, Japanese forces invaded the Dutch East Indies.

1943 - The United States and Britain signed treaties relinquishing extraterritorial rights in China.

1964 - U.S. Surgeon General Luther Terry released a report that said that smoking cigarettes was a definite health hazard.

1978 - Two Soviet cosmonauts aboard the Soyuz 27 capsule linked up with the Salyut 6 orbiting space station, where the Soyuz 26 capsule was already docked.

1986 - The Gateway Bridge in Brisbane, Australia, is officially commissioned.

2011 - Despite Brisbane being supposedly flood-proof, a flood of epic proportions begins to inundate the city.