TODAY’S HISTORY

1606: Guy Fawkes was executed for his role in the Gunpowder Plot in Britain. January 31, 2023

1958: Explorer

1 was launched, marking the first successful launch of an American satellite into orbit.

1968: The North Vietnamese Tet Offensive began in South Vietnam.

2010: James Cameron’s “Avatar” became the first film to reach a worldwide gross of $2 billion.

2020: The

United Kingdom’s membership in the European Union ended.

TODAY’S

BIRTHDAYS: Franz Schubert (1797-1828), composer; John O’hara (19051970), author; Jackie Robinson (1919-1972), baseball player/civil rights activist; Carol Channing (1921-2019), actress; Norman Mailer (1923-2007), author/journalist; Ernie Banks (1931-2015), baseball player; Jessica Walter (1941-2021), actress; Nolan Ryan (1947-), baseball player; Minnie Driver (1970-), actress; Kerry Washington (1977-), actress; Justin Timberlake (1981-), singer-songwriter; Marcus Mumford (1987-), singer-songwriter.

TODAY’S FACT: After retiring from baseball, Jackie Robinson became the vice president of personnel for coffee brand Chock Full o’nuts, where he worked to improve the conditions of a workforce with a large percentage of Black employees.

TODAY’S SPORTS: In 1999, Hall of Fame quarterback John Elway won his second consecutive Super Bowl and the final game of his NFL playing career, leading the Denver Broncos to a 34-19 victory over the Atlanta Falcons in Super Bowl XXXIII. Elway was also selected as the game’s MVP.

TODAY’S QUOTE: “George Gershwin died on July 11,

1937, but I don’t have to believe it if I don’t want to.” — John O’hara

TODAY’S NUMBER: $22.54 — amount of the first Social Security check, issued on this day in 1940 to Ida May Fuller, who lived on a Vermont farm. Having worked less than three years under Social Security, she paid only $24.75 into the system, but she had collected $22,888.92 by the time of her death in 1975.