On This Day in History - January 28th - Almanac

Today is Tuesday, Jan. 28, the 28th day of 2020 with 338 to follow.

The moon is waxing. Morning stars are Jupiter, Mars, Saturn and Uranus. Evening stars are Mercury, Neptune, Uranus and Venus.

Those born on this date are under the sign of Aquarius. They include Roman Catholic St. Thomas Aquinas in 1225; English Henry VII in 1457; Canadian Prime Minister/statesman Alexander MacKenzie in 1822; Cuban revolutionary/poet Jose Marti in 1853; French novelist Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette in 1873; abstract expressionist painter Jackson Pollock in 1912; musician Acker Bilk in 1929; sculptor Claes Oldenburg in 1929 (age 91); actor Alan Alda in 1936 (age 84); actor Susan Howard in 1944 (age 76); former Liberian leader Charles Taylor in 1948 (age 72); NBA coach Gregg Popovich in 1949 (age 71); former French President Nicolas Sarkozy in 1955 (age 65); singer Sarah McLachlan in 1968 (age 52); comedian/journalist Mo Rocca in 1969 (age 51); rapper Rick Ross in 1976 (age 44); singer Joey Fatone in 1977 (age 43); singer Nick Carter in 1980 (age 40); actor Elijah Wood in 1981 (age 39); rapper J. Cole in 1985 (age 35); actor Tom Hopper in 1985 (age 35); actor Will Poulter in 1993 (age 27); actor Ariel Winter in 1998 (age 22).

On this date in history:

In 1547, Henry VIII died and 9-year-old Edward VI became king of England.

In 1782, the U.S. Congress authorized creation of the great seal of the United States.

In 1813, Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen was published.

In 1958, the Lego Group received a patent for its toy building blocks.

In 1965, British Queen Elizabeth II accepted a new national flag design for Canada that included a red maple leaf in its center.

In 1974, Israel lifted its siege of Suez City and turned over 300,000 square miles of Egyptian territory to the United Nations, ending an occupation that had begun during the October 1973 war.

In 1980, six Americans hidden for three months in the Canadian Embassy in Tehran were smuggled out of Iran by Canadian diplomats. The so-called "Canadian Caper" was featured in the 2012 movie Argo.

In 1982, kidnapped U.S. Army Brig. Gen. James Dozier was rescued in Padua, Italy, after being held 42 days by Italian Red Brigades militants.

In 1985, dozens of the biggest names in popular music recorded "We Are the World," royalties of which benefited the starving people of Africa.

In 1986, the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded 72 seconds after launch from Cape Canaveral, killing all seven crew members, including civilian teacher Christa McAuliffe.

In 1997, five former police officers in South Africa admitted to killing anti-apartheid activist Stephen Biko, who died in police custody in 1977 and whose death had been officially listed as an accident.

In 2004, the chief U.S. weapons inspector in Iraq told congressional government officials "were almost all wrong" in believing Iraq had weapons of mass destruction and called for an outside independent investigation of the apparent intelligence failure.

In 2009, the World Health Organization said more than 3,000 people died of cholera during an outbreak in Zimbabwe.

In 2019, the U.S. Department of Justice charged Chinese smartphone giant Huawei Technologies with violating U.S. sanctions against Iran.

A thought for the day: "Whether you are dealing with an animal or a child, to convince is to weaken." -- French author Colette (Sidonie Gabrielle Colette)