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ON THIS DAY: January 16, 2019
Posted on January 16, 2019 by wordcloud9
January 16th is
Appreciate a Dragon Day *
Civil Service Day *
Hot and Spicy Food Day
National Religious Freedom Day *
MORE! Robert Service, Nel Benschop and Buckminster Fuller, click
Benin – Martyr's Day
Democratic Republic of the Congo –
Laurent Kabila Memorial *
Myanmar and Thailand –
Russia – Moscow:
Kuzminki Russian Winter Exhibition
27 BC – The Roman Republic ends as Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus is granted the title Augustus by the Roman Senate, considered first Emperor of the Roman Empire
378 – General Siyai K'ak'('Fire is Born'), Mayan warlord, conquers Tikal, enlarging the domain of Atlati Cauac of Teotihuacán (dubbed 'King Spearthrower Owl' by archaeologists because of the Mayan glyphs used for his name)
Warrior or priest dancing – from Teotihuacán
550 – During the Gothic War between the Byzantine Empire under Justinian I and the Ostrogothic Kings, King Totila's troops conquer the city of Rome after a long siege by bribing the Isaurian garrison
929 – Emir Abd-ar-Rahman III becomes Caliph of Córdoba (912–961)
972 – Chinese Emperor Shengzong of the Liao dynasty born; he succeeded his father 982, but was too young to rule, so his mother, Empress Dowager Xiao became regent. Emperor Taizong of the Northern Song dynasty launched an invasion on the Liao dynasty's southern capital (present-day Beijing) in the contentious Sixteen Prefectures in 986. Three large Song armies were sent to three different strategic locations on the approach to the southern capital, and were initially successful, But the young Emperor Shengzong, along with Empress Dowager Xiao, led an army of Liao cavalry to counter the enemy and defeated the Song forces at the Battle of the Qigou Pass in June. Empress Dowager Xiao appointed Yelü Xiuge as her senior general to continue attacks on the Song dynasty in retaliation until the following year. After the Liao carried out a large-scale invasion of Song territory in 1004, the Treaty of Shanyuan was signed, obligating the Song to pay an annual tribute of 200,000 bolts of silk and 100,000 taels of silver to the Liao in exchange for peace. Emperor Shengzong institutionalized state examinations for officials and made feudal reforms, liberating many slaves, and actively patronized Buddhism. He ruled until his death in 1031
Liao dynasty sancai (three color) jar
1412 – The Medici family is appointed the official banker of the Papacy
1492 – The first grammar of the Spanish language is presented to Queen Isabella I
1547 – Ivan IV, better known as Ivan the Terrible, becomes Czar of Russia
1556 – Philip II ('the Prudent') becomes King of Spain
Philip II of Spain – by Sofonisba Anguissola, his official court painter
1572 – Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk is tried for treason for his part in the Ridolfi plot to restore Catholicism in England, by assassinating Queen Elisabeth I and putting Mary Queen of Scots on the throne
1605 – The first edition of El ingenioso hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha (Book One of Don Quixote) by Miguel de Cervantes is published in Madrid
1634 – Dorothe Engelbretsdotter born, Norway's first recognized woman poet whose pen name was "Bergens Debora" considered a proto-feminist for her defense of female creative power; her first book, a collection of verses, hymns and devotional pieces, Siælens Sang-Offer, was her most successful
1707 – The Scottish Parliament ratifies the Act of Union, paving the way for the creation of Great Britain
1728 – Niccolò Piccinni born, Italian composer
1786 – The Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom was signed January 16, 1786, and is commemorated each year on National Religious Freedom Day *. Thomas Jefferson's landmark statute became the basis for Congressman Fisher Ames' establishment clause of the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…"
1862 – John C. Frémont is appointed Governor of the new California Territory
1866 – Everet Barney patents the metal screw clamp skate
Barney skating – 1898
1868 – William Davis patents a refrigerated railway car, designed for shipping fish
1872 – Henri Büsser born, French composer
1874 – Robert W. Service born, English-Canadian poet
1882 – Margaret Wilson born, American novelist, short story writer, Presbyterian missionary in the Punjab region of India (1905-1910), and high school teacher; awarded the 1924 Pulitzer Prize for The Able McLaughlins. After her marriage to George Douglas Turner, a Scotsman she met in India, she moved to England. When he became warden of Dartmoor Prison, she wrote a non-fiction study on prison reform, The Crime of Punishment
1883 – Civil Service Day * – The Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act becomes law, creating the U.S. Civil Service Commission to oversee and enforce regulation of competitive exams for non-appointed federal positions, and protection of workers from being fired or demoted for political reasons
1898 – Margaret Booth born, American film editor and executive producer, whose career stretched from editing silent films for D.W. Griffith beginning in 1915, to editing Greta Garbo pictures, including Camille, at MGM, to executive producer on The Slugger's Wife in 1985 at age 87; received an Academy Award for Lifetime Achievement in Editing in 1978, and lived to be 104 years old
1900 – Kiku Amino born, Japanese author and translator of English and Russian literature; recipient of the 1947 Women's Literature Prize for Kin no kan (A Golden Coffin), the 1967 Yomiuri Prize and the Japan Academy of the Arts prize for Ichigo ichie (Once in a Lifetime)
1905 – Ernesto Halffter born, Spanish composer
1909 – Ernest Shackleton's expedition finds the magnetic South Pole
1918 – Nel Benschop born, Dutch Christian poet and teacher who became the best-selling poet in the Netherlands, after her first volume of poetry, Gouddraad uit vlas (Gold thread from flax) was published in 1967
1919 – The U.S. ratifies the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, authorizing Prohibition in the United States one year after ratification
1920 – The League of Nations holds its first council meeting in Paris
1930 – Mary Ann McMorrow born, American lawyer and first woman elected to the Illinois Supreme Court (1992) and its first woman Chief Justice (2002-2006); became a judge on the Illinois Appellate Court in 1985, and the first woman chair of the Executive Committee of the Appellate Court. In 1976, she was elected as a Judge of the Circuit Court . After practicing law (1953-1970?), she was appointed as Assistant State's Attorney of Cook County, assigned to the Criminal Division, and was the first woman to prosecute felony cases in Cook County
1932 – Dian Fossey born, American zoologist and primatologist, notable for extensive study of mountain gorilla groups in Rwanda; author of Gorillas in the Mist
1933 – Susan Sontag born, American author and essayist; Against Interpretation
1938 – Benny Goodman and his orchestra perform at NY's Carnegie Hall
1938 – Marina Vaizey born, Lady Vaizey, Anglo-American art critic and author based in the UK; noted for biographies of painters
1944 – General Eisenhower takes command of the Allied invasion force in London
1944 – Jill Tarter born as Jill Cornell, American astronomer known for her work on the SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence); former director of the Center for SETI Research
1945 – Adolf Hitler moves into his underground bunker in Berlin, the so-called Führerbunker
1948 – Ruth Reichl born, American chef, food writer, television series host, and former editor of Gourmet magazine
1952 – Julie Anne Peters born, American author of young adult fiction, often featuring LGBT characters; Luna (2004) was the first mainstream release YA novel with a transgender character
1957 – Little Richard records "Lucille"
1958 – Lena Ek born, Swedish lawyer and politician; Minister for the Environment (2011-2014); Member of the European Parliament (2004-2011), on the European Parliament's Committee on Industry, Research and Energy and the delegation to the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly. She was a Member of the Riksdag (Swedish parliament, 1998-2004). Ek is a member of the Centre Party, part of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe
1959 – Lisa Milroy born, Canadian artist; won the 1989 John Moores Painting Prize
Frolicking Geishas by Lisa Milroy
1964 – Hello, Dolly! opens on Broadway, beginning a run of 2,844 performances
1968 – Rebecca Stead born, American author of childen's and young adult fiction; winner of the 2010 Newbery Medal for When You Reach Me
1969 – Soviet spacecraft Soyuz 4 and Soyuz 5 perform the first-ever docking of manned spacecraft in orbit, which is also a first in-space transfer of crew between space vehicles
1970 – Buckminster Fuller receives the Gold Medal award from the American Institute of Architects in recognition of a significant body of work of lasting influence
1979 – Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the last Iranian Shah flees the country with his family, relocating to Egypt
1991 – Coalition Forces go to war with Iraq, beginning the Gulf War
1992 – El Salvador officials and rebel leaders sign the Chapultepec Peace Accords in Mexico City, ending the 12-year Salvadoran Civil War that claimed at least 75,000 lives
1998 – Researchers announce an altered gene has helped defend against HIV
2001 – Laurent Kabila, President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo since he overthrew Mobutu Sese Seko in 1997, is assassinated by one of his bodyguards
2002 – UN Security Council unanimously institutes an arms embargo and freezes assets of Osama bin Laden, al-Qaeda, and the remaining members of the Taliban
2004 – Appreciate a Dragon Day * is launched by retired schoolteacher Mrs. Paul, to celebrate dragons and dragon lore, so read your favorite dragon book or create some dragon art
2006 – Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is sworn in as Liberia's first woman president, and Africa's first female elected head of state
Ogden Nash's Custard the Dragon
This entry was posted in History, Holidays, On This Day and tagged Buckminster Fulle, Jill Tarter, Mary Ann McMorrow, Miguel de Cervantes, Nel Benschop, Robert Service, Thomas Jefferson. Bookmark the permalink.
4 Responses to ON THIS DAY: January 16, 2019
Hal Barbera says:
A lot of history in a post.🤠
Thanks Hal – The hardest part is deciding what to leave out!
Malisha says:
MY favorite dragon is "Custard the Dragon" by Ogden Nash.
Found here:
https://www.eecs.harvard.edu/~keith/poems/Custard.html
He is adorable – I've added a picture of Custard and family to the end of today's post, just for you.