Today in History

JANUARY 28th:

Australian Open Women's Tennis
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1929 - Daphne Akhurst retains title; beats Louise Bickerton 6-1, 5-7, 6-2
1939 - Emily Hood Westacott beats Nell Hall Hopman 6-1, 6-2 for her only Grand Slam singles title
1952 - Thelma Coyne Long beats Helen Angwin 6-2, 6-3 for 1st of her 2 Australian singles titles
1957 - Shirley Fry Irvin wins all-American final; beats Althea Gibson 6-3, 6-4 for her only Australian singles title
1989 - Steffi Graf of Germany beats Czech Helena Suková 6-4, 6-4 for her 6th career Grand Slam title and her 2nd Australian singles crown
1995 - Mary Pierce of France beats Spain's Arantxa Sánchez Vicario 6-3, 6-2 for her 1st career Grand Slam title and her only Australian singles title
2012 - Victoria Azarenka becomes first Belarusian player to win Grand Slam singles title; beats Maria Sharapova of Russia 6-3, 6-0
2017 - Serena Williams defeats older sister Venus Williams 6–4, 6–4 for her 7th Australian title and record 23rd Grand Slam event singles victory

 

JANUARY 28th

1547 9-year-old Edward VI succeeds Henry VIII as King of England



Born: October 12th, 1537 London England
Died: July 6th, 1553 (aged 15) London England
Edward VI - Wikipedia

 

JANUARY 28th
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Pirate Attack

1671 Welsh pirate Henry Morgan captures Panama City from its Spanish defenders



Henry Morgan and the Sack of Panama City - 28 January 1671 (todayinbritishhistory.com)

 

JANUARY 28th
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1986 Space Shuttle Challenger
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Explodes 73 seconds after liftoff from Cape Canaveral, with all 7 crew members killed, including Christa McAuliffe who was to be the first teacher in space
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Following the explosion, the orbiter, which included the crew compartment, was broken up by aerodynamic forces.
The crew compartment and many other vehicle fragments were recovered from the ocean floor after a three-month search and recovery operation
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Space Shuttle Challenger disaster - Wikipedia

 

JANUARY 29th
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1845 American writer Edgar Allan Poe's poem "The Raven
= 1st published in The Evening Mirror newspaper (New York City)


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The Raven - Wikipedia
Words to the poem The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe (oatridge.co.uk)

 

JANUARY 29th
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1879 Custer Battlefield



National Monument established 1879 Custer Battlefield National Monument established

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Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument - Wikipedia

 

And Lest we forget ...
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And: =
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JANUARY 29th
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1936 1st players elected to Baseball Hall of Fame: Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Honus Wagner, Christy Mathewson & Walter Johnson

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MLB LegendTy Cobb- -
Baseball LegendBabe Ruth - - - -
MLB ShortshopHonus Wagner

 

JANUARY 29th

• .1985 Oxford University refuses to award Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher an honorary degree

BBC ON THIS DAY | 29 | 1985: Thatcher snubbed by Oxford dons

 

JANUARY 29th

• 1979 = Not a Good Monday

16-year-old Brenda Spencer killed two people and wounded nine others when she fired from her house across the street onto the entrance of San Diego's Grover Cleveland Elementary School. Spencer fired the shot's from a .22-caliber rifle her father had given her for Christmas.
When asked why she did it, she answered 'I don't like Mondays.' The Boomtown Rats went on to write and recorded a song based on the event.



Cleveland Elementary School shooting (San Diego) - Wikipedia

 

JANUARY 30th
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1647 - Charles I

After nine months of negotiations, Scottish Presbyterians sell captured Charles I to English Parliament for around £100,000

1649 - Charles I
Charles was tried, convicted, and executed for high treason in January 1649.
The monarchy was abolished and the Commonwealth of England was established as a republic.

• The monarchy was restored to Charles's son, Charles II, in 1660.

Charles I of England - Wikipedia

 

JANUARY 30th
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1661 Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England is ritually executed

Nearly two years after his death, on the 12th anniversary of the execution of Charles I — Cromwell's body was exhumed by supporters of the monarchy from its resting place at Westminster Abbey and beheaded. His head was displayed atop a pole outside Westminster Hall for more than 20 years

 

JANUARY 30th
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• 1858 Charles Hallé founds Halle Orchestra

The Hallé gave its first concert in the city's Free Trade Hall In Manchester, England on 30 January 1858.
Following the death of Sir Charles, the orchestra continued to develop under the guidance of such distinguished figures as Dr Hans Richter, Sir Hamilton Harty and Sir John Barbirolli.

Charles Hallé - Wikipedia

 

JANUARY 30th
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1889 Austrian Romeo and Juliet



Archduke Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria, heir to the Austro-Hungarian crown, is found dead with his mistress Baroness Mary Vetsera in Mayerling in an apparent suicide pact
Lovesick Prince in Suicide Pact - On This Day
Mayerling incident - Wikipedia

 

JANUARY 30th
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• 1948 Mahatma Gandhi assassinated by Hindu extremist Nathuram Godse

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Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated at the age of 78 in the compound of Birla House (now Gandhi Smriti), a large mansion in central New Delhi. ... Godse considered Gandhi to have been too accommodating to Muslims during the Partition of India of the previous year.

Assassination of Mahatma Gandhi - Wikipedia

 

JANUARY 30th
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1965 State funeral for Winston Churchill



Held at St Paul's Cathedral in London; at the time, it was the world's largest ever state funeral

, , , . . .

The State Funeral of Sir Winston Churchill - BBC 100

Death and state funeral of Winston Churchill - Wikipedia

 

JANUARY 30th

• .1968 Viet Cong and the North Vietnamese launch the Tet offensive against South Vietnames and US forces

Milestones: 1961–1968 - Office of the Historian (state.gov)

 

February 6th:

• 1928 A Russian claim:

A woman dubbed Anna Anderson [possibly Franziska Schanzkowska] arrives in NYC, using the alias "Anastasia Tschaikovsky" claims to be Grand Duchess Anastasia, daughter of Tsar Nicholas II

(Bodies of Alexei Nikolaevich and the remaining daughter—either Anastasia or her older sister Maria—were discovered in 2007).



Her purported survival has been conclusively disproved.)

 

February 6th:
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1952 God Save the Queen
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Queen Elizabeth II succeeds King George VI to the British throne.
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After a long illness, King George VI of Great Britain and Northern Ireland dies in his sleep at the royal estate at Sandringham. Princess Elizabeth, the oldest of the king’s two daughters and next in line to succeed him, was in Kenya at the time of her father’s death;
<> She was crowned Queen Elizabeth II on June 2, 1953, at age 27
Born into royalty as the daughter of the second son of King George V. After her uncle Edward VIII abdicated in 1936 (subsequently becoming duke of Windsor), her father became King George VI, and she became heir presumptive.
- Elizabeth assumed the title of Queen upon her father's death
She became the first sovereign in over 200 years to accede the throne while abroad.