This Week In History
Jan 19, 1915
French physicist Georges Claude was granted a patent for the neon sign. It swiftly became a revolutionary tool within the advertising industry
1419: In the anglo-french Hundred years’ War, Henry V of England completed his conquest of normandy
1915: Germany carried out the first Zeppelin air raid on Britain, attacking eastern coastal towns in Norfolk
1995: russian forces in Chechnya hoisted the national tricolour over Grozny’s battered presidential palace
2010: Japan Airlines, Asia’s biggest air carrier and over Us$25bil in debt, filed for bankruptcy protection
Jan 20, 1945
Franklin D. Roosevelt was sworn in for his fourth term as US president, a record that will go unbroken as there is now a limit of two elected terms
1882: a draper’s in newcastle upon Tyne, England, became the world’s first shop to be lit by electric light
1920: Italian film director Federico Fellini was born. His best known films included La Dolce Vita
1995: The united States agreed a trade pact with north Korea and lifted sanctions in place since the Korean War
2010: A French court ruled that an Orthodox church built in Nice by Tsar Nicholas II belonged to Russia
Jan 21, 1954
USS Nautilus, the world’s first nuclear-powered submarine, was launched. Her many records included the first submerged transit of the North Pole in 1958
1790: French doctor Joseph Guillotin proposed a new, humane method of execution, the guillotine
1905: French fashion designer Christian Dior was born
1950: British novelist George Orwell, whose works included Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-four, died
2000: President Jamil Mahuad of Ecuador was ousted following mass protests at his plans to replace the national currency with the US dollar
Jan 22, 2015
King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia died at around 90 years of age. Seen as something of a reformer, he became a vocal advocate of peace in the Middle East
1905: Over 200 unarmed workers were killed by troops on “Bloody Sunday”, the start of russia’s 1905 revolution
1964: Kenneth Kaunda was sworn in as the first prime minister of Northern Rhodesia, now Zambia
1970: The first “jumbo jet”, the Boeing 747, entered commercial service, making air travel affordable to millions
1984: The Apple Macintosh computer was introduced in a TV commercial during the Super Bowl
Jan 23, 1960
The bathyscaphe Trieste dived to a depth of 10,916m in the Mariana Trench in the Pacific Ocean, the deepest known point of the Earth’s oceans
971: In China, Song dynasty troops armed with crossbows defeated the war elephant corps of the Southern Han
1930: Wilhelm Frick became the first Nazi Party member to be appointed a minister in a state government
1980: Israel completed its withdrawal from two-thirds of the Sinai Peninsula, under the Camp david accords
2004: The ESA’S Mars Express Orbiter confirmed the presence of water ice at the south pole of Mars
Jan 24, 1960
A major insurrection, the “week of barricades”, began in Algiers in protest against French President Charles de Gaulle’s policy of self-determination for Algeria
1935: The first canned beer went on sale, with a special coating to prevent the beer from reacting with the tin
1950: US engineer Percy Spencer was issued a patent for the original microwave oven
1995: The trial of O.J. Simpson, for the murder of his wife nicole and a male companion, started in Los angeles
2015: The radical anti-austerity Syriza party swept to victory in Greece’s general election
Jan 25, 2019
A dam collapse at an iron ore mine in Brumadinho, Brazil, triggered mudflows that slammed through the mine’s offices and cafeteria, killing over 270 people
1911: The us cavalry was sent to preserve the neutrality of rio Grande during the Mexican Civil War
1945: The US city of Grand Rapids became the first in the world to add fluoride to drinking water to reduce tooth decay
1955: The Supreme Soviet officially ended the state of war with Germany
1990: Benazir Bhutto of Pakistan became the first head of government to give birth while in office