On this day

January 22nd

1903 - USA: The Hay-Herrain Treaty, granting a 99-year lease and U.S sovereignty over a canal zone in Panama was signed with Columbia. The U.S Senate ratified it on March 17 of that year.

1904 - Norway: A fire destroys the city of Alesund; 12,000 people are left destitute.

1906 - Germany: A "Red Monday" Socialist reform rally attracts around 250,000 people.

1912 - USA: The Florida East Coast Railroad between Key West and the mainland opened for passenger traffic. Passenger and freight service to New York City was also initiated. The line was not very successful, partly because of storms. After bad hurricane damage in 1935, the line was abandoned. In 1938 the roadbed was paved for automobile traffic.

1917 - USA: President Woodrow Wilson outlined his "Ten Points" under which he would urge the U.S. to enter a world federation designed to prevent future wars. This speech, given before the Senate, came to be known as his "Peace Without Victory" speech.

1924 - UK: The King appoints James Ramsey MacDonald as Britain's first Labour Prime Minister.

1931 - UK: Doctors claim to have discovered a method of immunisation against polio.

1932 - USA: The Reconstruction Finance Corporation was established with $2,000,000,0000 at its disposal to lend to failing banks, farm mortgage associations, building and loan societies, railroads, and insurance companies.

1933 - Berlin: Nazi paramilitaries scuffle with Communists at a Nazi rally.

1937 - USA: 150,000 people are reported homeless when the Ohio floods, killing 16 people.

1942 - Libya: Rommel recaptures Agedabia; the Axis forces in North Africa are formally named Panzerarmee Afrika.

1944 - Italy: Allied troops landed at Anzio, in a move to outflank the German defensive positions on the Gustav line across central Italy.

1946 - UK: British pit owners protest at Labour's plan to nationalise the coal mines.

1953 - UK: BOAC grounds all its Stratocruiser airliners after discovering an engine defect.

1957 - UK: The Vulcan bomber enters RAF service.

1964 - Northern Rhodesia: The nation's first premier, Kenneth Kaunda is sworn in.

1967 - USA: The Monkees performed live for the first time at the Cow Palace, in San Francisco.

1968 - USA: The unmanned Apollo 5 spacecraft was successfully launched into Earth orbit. During the flight its Lunar Excursion Module (LEM) was tested.

1971 - Singapore: The Commonwealth Conference ends with disagreement over UK arms sales to South Africa.

1973 - USA: In a decision on abortion, the Supreme Court struck down state laws restricting abortions during the first six months of pregnancy.

1977 - USA: Wings went to No.1 on the U.S. album chart with "Wings Over America."

1983 - USA: The new 24-hour music video network MTV started broadcasting to the West Coast of America, after being picked up by Group W. Cable, Los Angeles.

1986 - Glasgow: Frankie Goes To Hollywood appeared at the Glasgow Exhibition Centre.

1988 - London: Faith No More, made their live UK debut at Dingwall's in the capital.

1992 - London: HPI, the vehicle information bureau, reported that the number of stolen cars offered for sale had risen by 300% in the last year.

1994 - Headingly: Underdogs Castleford thrash Wigan 33-2 to win the Rugby League Regal Trophy.

2000 - USA: Savage Garden went to No.1 on the US singles chart with "I Knew I Loved You."

2001 - UK: The Strokes released their first record "The Modern Age EP" on Rough Trade Records.

2007 - India: India's SRE1 spacecraft successfully completes a 12 day orbital test flight, making India one of the few nations to return a craft from orbit.

2009 - USA: Microsoft announces it is to cut 5,000 jobs, due to a rapid decline in demand for personal computers.

2011 - Aden: Malaysian Navy commanders foil a ship hijack by Somali Pirates, rescuing 23 crew, and capturing 7 pirates in the Gulf of Aden.

2013 - China: A human ancient fossil in China is found to be closely related to both Asian and Native American peoples.

January 23rd

1689 - USA: Saco, in south-western Maine, was attacked by Abenaki Indians. Nine settlers were killed in the fighting.

1789 - USA: Georgetown College, the first Catholic college in the U.S. was founded by Father John Carroll.

1869 - USA: The first state bureau of labor in the U.S, was organised in Massachusetts.

1909 - London: A new direct 7,000 mile telegraphic link with India is hailed a great achievement.

1916 - London: The British and Natural History Museums close for the remaining duration of the Great War.

1919 - UK: Around 150,000 miners join nationwide strikes for a shorter working week.

1925 - Chile: The government is overthrown in a military coup d'état.

1929 - USSR: The Russian secret police arrest a reported 400 Trotskyists over an alleged plot to start a civil war.

1939 - Barcelona: As General Franco's troops begin converging on the city it is put under martial law.

1940 - London: Britain and France warn that they will attack German shipping encountered by their navies in the Pan-American neutral zone.

1941 - Malta: The damaged British aircraft carrier "Illustrious" limps out of Valetta harbour for full repairs at Alexandria.

1942 - Novi Sad, Yugoslavia: Hungarian soldiers drive 292 Serbs and 550 Jews out onto the frozen River Danube. All 842 are drowned after the ice around them is shelled.

1943 - USSR: Soviet forces capture Armavir, an important rail junction in the Caucasus oilfields.

1945 - Berlin: Adolf Hitler belatedly agrees to a major new ship-building programme, and orders the extension of the slave-labour system in the northern dockyards.

1955 - UK: 17 people are killed and 43 are injured when the York to Bristol express is derailed at Sutton Coalfield.

1957 - Barbados: Pakistan's Hanif Mohammed scores 337 runs against the West Indies in the longest-ever test innings, lasting 16 hours 10 minutes.

1959 - UK: A committee investigates possible links between leukaemia outbreaks and the Windscale power station.

1961 - USA: In a film censorship ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a Chigago, Illinois, ordinance forbidding the showing of any motion picture without permission of the city censors.

1965 - USA: "Downtown" made Petula Clark the first UK female singer to have a No.1 on the US singles chart since Vera Lynn in 1952.

1968 - London: The Port of London announces it will close London docks and sell St. Katherine Docks to the GLC.

1968 - North Korea: The "Pueblo" incident began when the navy intelligence ship U.S.S Pueblo was seized off the coast of North Korea by North Korean patrol boats. It was claimed that the "Pueblo" had been caught within North Korean waters. Its crew of 83 were subjected to harsh treatment until their release on December 23 1968.

1974 - Egypt: Israel begins troop withdrawals from the West Bank of the Suez Canal.

1977 - UK: Anti-hunting saboteurs dig up the grave of legendary Lake District huntsman John Peel.

1978 - Ethiopia: Fighting resumes between Ethiopians and Somalis in the Ogaden Desert.

1981 - Seoul: The death sentence on opposition leader Kim Dae Jung is commuted to life imprisonment.

1985 - Manila: Army Chief of Staff General Fabian Ver is among 26 people charged with murdering Benigno Aquino.

1990 - Hungary: The Red Army leaves Hungary after 45 years of occupation.

1995 - Sarajevo: Lt-General Sir Michael Rose is replaced by Lt-General Rupert Smith as commander of UN troops in Bosnia.

2001 - UK: Former rubbish collector Mark Oliver was found guilty by a London court of stealing luggage belonging to Victoria Beckham from Heathrow Airport.

2005 - Cardiff: One of the biggest charity concerts since Live Aid raised £1.25 million for victims of the Asian Tsunami disaster. Held at the Millennium Stadium artists appearing included, Eric Clapton, Keane, Snow Patrol, Craig David, and the Manic Street Preachers.

2007 - Japan: A rare eel like creature, described as a frilled shark is discovered by fishermen in Japan.

2010 - Venezuela: A new study by the National Geological Survey states Venezuela may hold double the oil reserves of Saudi Arabia.

2013 - USA: The USAF overturns its ban on women serving in combat, reversing a 1994 rule, and clearing the way for women to serve in front line units and elite commando forces.

January 24th

1807 - USA: The first number of Salmagundi, a series of whimsical, mildly satirical, and very popular essays written by William and Washington Irving and James Kirke Paulding, was published. Following the informal style of London essayists of the previous century, they afforded delightful glimpse of New York's social, cultural and political life in the early 1800's.

1848 - USA: Gold was discovered at John A.Sutter's mill on the American river, near Sacramento California, by one of his employees. The discovery resulted in the great gold rush of 1849.

1902 - USA: A treaty with Denmark for the purchase of the Virgin Islands (Danish West Indies) was signed. The U.S Senate approved the treaty, but the Danish Rigsdag rejected it. In 1917 after a Danish plebiscite favoured the sale, the islands of St.Croix, St. Thomas, and St. John were finally purchased for $25,000,000.

1906 - Canada: 120 people are drowned when the steamer "Valencia" runs aground off Vancouver.

1907 - Europe: Arctic weather grips the continent with Austria seeing temperatures dip to -30 degrees.

1921 - Berne: The Swiss government bars the import of foreign labour.

1930 - London: MP's approve a bill abolishing the offences of blasphemy, atheism, and heresy.

1938 - London: The BBC broadcast's television's first opera Wagner's "Tristan und Isolde."

1939 - Chile: 30,000 people are feared dead when a massive earthquake destroys the cities Chillan and Concepcion.

1940 - Berlin: Hermann Goering appoints the Gestapo chief Reinhart Heydrich to "solve the Jewish question by emigration and evacuation."

1941 - Libya: The British 4th Armoured Tank Brigade push back Italian forces at Mechili.

1943 - Guadalcanal: The U.S. Navy shell Japanese positions on the island.

1944 - Anzio: Luftwaffe aircraft attack and sink the British Hospital ship "St. David."

1950 - UK: Joey Maxim of the U.S knocks out Britain's Freddie Mills for the world light-heavyweight title.

1958 - UK: Elvis Presley was at No.1 on the UK singles charts with "Jailhouse Rock."

1960 - USA: The longest steel strike in the nation's history was settled when the steel companies and the United Steel Workers agreed on a wage increase. The Strike had begun on July 15, 1959.

1962 - UK: Brian Epstein signs a management deal with the Beatles.

1966 - France: 117 people are killed when an Air India airliner crashes into Mont Blanc.

1969 - UK: Ford unveils its new sports saloon car, the "Capri."

1975 - USA: Fraunces Tavern was bombed in New York City, killing four people and injuring 53. A terrorist group seeking Puerto Rican independence claimed responsibility.

1976 - USA: Bob Dylan began a five-week run at No.1 on the US album chart with "Desire."

1979 - USA: The Clash released their first single in the U.S. "I Fought The Law."

1980 - Stockholm: Britain's Robin Cousins wins the European Figure Skating Championship.

1985 - USA: The first secret space shuttle flight was made by the shuttle "Discovery". Even the launch time had been kept secret for the mission, which was devoted entirely to achieving military objectives.

1986 - USA: The Spacecraft "Voyager 2" flew within 50,679 miles of the planet Uranus, discovering new moons and rings, and obtaining the first evidence of a magnetic field around the planet.

1987- Lebanon: Three Americans were taken hostage in Lebanon. All were members of the faculty of Beirut University College, they were kidnapped by gunmen in West Beirut. They were Allen Steen, Jesse Turner, and Robert Polhill.

1995 - New York: David Cole, producer and keyboardist with C&C Music Factory dies of complications from Spinal Meningitis brought on by AIDS at the age of 32.

1998 - UK: Oasis went to No.1 on the UK singles chart with "All Around The World."

2003 - USA: The U.S. Department of Homeland Security officially begins operations.

2008 - Brazil: The government passes legislation aimed at curbing Amazon de-forestation.

2010 - USA: James Cameron's movie "Avatar" becomes the second highest grossing movie in the U.S and Canada, and the best selling movie overseas.

2013 - UK: Scientists from the European Bioinformatics Institute in Hinxton, successfully use DNA as a means of data storage.

January 25th

1787 - USA: Shay's Rebellion, a farmers uprising named for its leader Daniel Shays, reached its climax when Shays led 1100 men in an attempt to seize the arsenal in Springfield, Massachusetts. State militia commanded by General William Shepherd routed the insurgents. The uprising had been caused by the harsh economic conditions faced by Massachusetts farmers, who sought reforms and the issuance of paper money.

1898 - Cuba: The U.S. battleship "Maine" arrived at Havana, on a friendly visit. The real purpose of the "Maine" was to protect American life and property.

1902 - St. Petersburg: Russia abolishes the death penalty.

1915 - USA: The Supreme Court ruled unconstitutional a Kansa state law forbidding employers from requiring that their employees be non-union.

1917 - Atlantic: 350 people are killed when HMS "Laurentic" is sunk by a mine.

1922 - UK: France hold England to an 11-11 draw in a rugby international at Twickenham.

1926 - UK: Surgeon Sir Berkley Moynihan states cancer of the tongue is caused partly by smoking.

1932 - Moscow: The USSR and Poland sign a non-aggression pact.

1933 - Dresden: Police kill nine Communists at a Nazi Party rally.

1936 - Berlin: In an interview with the French paper "Paris-Soir" Adolf Hitler states he wants to recover Germany's lost colonies.

1941 - UK: The first medal of the war awarded to an animal was given to "Chum the Airedale." He was given the "Dogs VC" for saving the life of Mrs Marjorie French of Purley who was trapped in her air-raid shelter after her home had been destroyed by a bomb.

1942 - Bangkok: Thailand declares war on Britain and the U.S.

1944 - USSR: The Red Army captures the railway junction at Krasnogvardeysk, south-west of Leningrad.

1945 - Bonin Islands: Iwo Jima is heavily bombarded by U.S ships to prepare for landings in February.

1949 - Israel: Ben-Gurion's Mapai (Labour) Party wins the first Israeli Elections.

1951 - Korea: UN ships bombard Inchon.

1952 - Egypt: 46 Egyptians are killed when British troops capture the police headquarters in Ismailia.

1955 - UK: The government announces a scheme to give most women civil servants the same pay as men by 1961.

1960 - USA: "Payola", money illegally offered or accepted by disc jockeys for broadcasting phonograph records, would bring a $500 fine and a one-year prison term in a law proposed by Donald H. McGannon, Chairman of the National Association of Broadcasters TV review board. The proposal followed extensive investigations into payola practices in the broadcasting industry.

1964 - USA: "Echo 2", the first U.S.-USSR co-operative space program was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. It sent messages around the world by reflecting radio signals from one point on Earth to another.

1968 - Canada: Escaped Great Train Robber Charles Wilson is arrested.

1971 - USA: Charles Manson was convicted, along with Susan Atkins, Leslie Van Houten, and Patricia Krenwinkel, of the 1969 murders of actress Sharon Tate and six others. On April 19, they were sentenced to death.

1975 - USA: The Carpenters went to No.1 on the US singles charts with "Please Mr Postman."

1978 - UK: Joy Division, made their live debut, playing at Pips in Manchester.

1980 - USA: The Specials made their live U.S debut at New York's Hurrah Club.

1984 - UK: Yoko Ono donates £250,000 to the Liverpool old folks home "Strawberry Fields."

1986 - UK: A-Ha were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with "The Sun Always Shines On TV."

1989 - USA: Madonna began divorce proceedings for the second time from actor Sean Penn at Los Angeles County Court.

1992 - USA: Guns N Roses played the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas on a 14 date tour of the U.S.

1996 - Strasbourg: Europe's leading human rights organisation, the Council of Europe, admits Russia as a member.

1997 - Melbourne: 16-year old Martina Hingis of Switzerland, wins the Australian Open, becoming the youngest tennis player this century to win a grand slam tournament.

1999 - California: The computer company Intel Corporation announces that its latest microprocessor, the Pentium III, will incorporate a feature to protect user privacy.

2004 - UK: Katie Melua began a three-week run at No.1 on the UK album chart with her debut release "Call Off The Search."

2008 - Las Vegas: A fire at the Monte Carlo Resort and Casino, causes the entire building to be evacuated.

2011 - UK: The BBC World Service announces it is to close five of its language services with the loss of 650 jobs.

2013 - Australia: Tropical cyclone "Oswald" makes landfall in Queensland, causing widespread flooding.

January 26th

1870 - USA: Virginia was granted representation in the U.S. Congress on condition that the members of the Virginia legislature take an oath never to amend their constitution to deny blacks the right to vote, hold office, or gain an education.

1907 - New York: The Metropolitan Opera House bans Richard Strauss's opera "Salome" as obscene.

1918 - USA: To promote food conservation, Food Administrator Herbert Hoover called for one meatless day, two wheatless days, and two porkless days each week.

1921 - UK: 17 people are killed when two passenger trains collide in Montgomeryshire.

1927 - Oxford: The student magazine "Isis" deplores the fashion for floppy "Oxford Bags" trousers.

1934 - Berlin: Germany signs a ten-year non-aggression pact with Poland.

1937 - USA: Cincinnati is paralysed as the Ohio flood death toll reaches 135; 750,000 people are reported homeless.

1938 - Australia: The Dominion celebrates the 150th anniversary of European Settlement.

1940 - Berlin: The Nazis warn that listening to foreign radio is an offence punishable by death.

1941 - Albania: Italy mounts an unsuccessful counter-attack on the town of Klisura.

1942 - Libya: German troops recapture Msus, crushing the British 2nd Armoured Brigade.

1944 - Iceland: Ten U-boats attack convoy JW-56A, sinking three merchant ships off the Icelandic coast.

1950 - New Delhi: India is proclaimed a republic.

1954 - Yugoslavia: Tito is re-elected President.

1958 - Israel: Moshe Dayan resigns as army chief of staff.

1959 - London: The government announces a bill to improve care of the mentally ill.

1962 - USA: Ranger 3, a lunar probe designed to transmit close-up TV pictures of the moon before landing scientific instruments on its surface, was launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida. Two days later, because of excessive velocity, it passed the moon and went into orbit around the sun.

1965 - Australia: 50 fans swarm the stage at the Town Hall in Brisbane forcing Keith Richards and Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones to flee the stage.

1968 - London: The National Provincial Bank and the Westminster Bank announce a merger.

1973 - UK: The Sweet were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with "Blockbuster."

1974 - USA: Ringo Starr went to No.1 on the U.S. Singles chart with "You're Sixteen."

1980 - USA: Prince made his TV debut on the U.S TV show "American Bandstand."

1981 - London: Industry Secretary Keith Joseph announces an extra £990 million state aid for British Leyland.

1984 - Belfast: The Governor of Maze Prison resigns following criticism in a report on the previous years IRA breakout.

1985 - Venezuela: Pope John Paul II begins a 12-day visit to South America.

1990 - UK: Britain's trade deficit for 1989 was a record £20.31 billion.

1994 - Sydney: An Asian student fires two blank shots from a stating pistol at the Prince of Wales.

1998 - USA: President Bill Clinton denies having had a sexual relationship with White House aid Monica Lewinsky, and encouraging her to lie in court.

2004 - Taiwan: A build-up of gas in the decomposing body of a sperm whale in the town of Tainan, causes it to explode.

2007 - Beijing: UK retail giant Tesco, opens its first own-brand supermarket branch in the Chinese capital.

2009 - USA: A state of emergency is declared in Coatsville, Pennsylvania, following a spate of arson attacks.

2010 - Peru: Peruvian authorities begin evacuating over 2,000 tourists stranded by heavy rains on Machu Picchu.

2013 - Australia: Victoria Azerenka wins the Australian Open Women's Tennis Final beating Li Na 4-6, 6-4. 6-3.

January 27th

1880 - USA: A patent for an incandescent lamp was received by Thomas A. Edison. The filament was made with a carbonized cotton thread. The first public demonstration of the lamp had been held on Dec 31, 1879, at Edison's laboratories at Menlo Park, New Jersey. The first commercial installation of these lamps was made in the steamship Columbia of the Oregon Railroad and Navigation Company.

1901 - London: King Edward VII appoints his nephew, the German Kaiser, a field-marshal in the British Army.

1903 - UK: 51 people are killed after a fire in a mental hospital at Colney Hatch, north of London.

1914 - Panama: The Panama Canal Zone received a permanent civil government by executive order of U.S. President Woodrow Wilson. George W. Goethals was named its first governor and received the conformation of the Senate on Feb 4.

1916 - UK: The Labour Party conference votes heavily against conscription.

1923 - Munich: The National Socialist Party led by Adolf Hitler holds its first public congress.

1926 - Washington: The Senate votes in favour of the U.S. joining the International Court of Justice.

1932 - UK: 50 crew members are feared dead after the Royal Navy Submarine M.2 sinks.

1938 - Leicester: The city carries out a mock wartime "Black-out" exercise.

1941 - Tokyo: The Peruvian Ambassador to Japan warns his American counterpart, Joseph Grew, that the Japanese plan to destroy the U.S fleet. The information is passed on to Washington.

1942 - USSR: Soviet troops in the Ukraine make an attack on the main German supply base at Dnepropetrovsk.

1943 - USSR - The railway line between Leningrad and Moscow is reopened, enabling supplies to be delivered to the starving population.

1945 - Lyons: Charles Maurras, the leader of Action Francais, is sentenced to life imprisonment for collaborating with the Nazis.

1955 - USA: Serge Rubenstein, a wealthy financier and convicted World War II draft dodger, was strangled in his New York City home.

1958 - USA: Little Richard entered the Oakwood Theological College in Huntsville, where he was ordained as a Seventh Day Adventist Minister.

1959 - Moscow: Nikita Khrushchev claims the USSR has the upper hand in the space race, following the success of Lunik.

1963 - Cuba: The government claims it has broken up two U.S. spy networks.

1966 - UK: The Overlanders were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with their version of the Beatles song "Michelle."

1967 - USA: A 63-nation space demilitarization treaty signed by U.S. and the USSR. The treaty prohibited the orbiting of nuclear weapons and forbade territorial claims on celestial bodies. It came effective on October 10.

1968 - USA: The Bee Gees made their live U.S debut, playing the Anaheim Center in California.

1969 - Northern Ireland: Protestant Leader Ian Paisley is jailed for three months for unlawful assembly.

1973 - USA: An end to draft call-ups was announced by Secretary of Defence Melvin R. Laird.

1975 - UK: Five IRA bomb go off in London; 19 people are hurt in a bomb blast in Manchester.

1977 - UK: The Clash signed to CBS Records.

1979 - UK: Ian Dury and the Blockheads were No.1 on the UK singles chart with "Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick."

1980 - London: Def Leppard played the first of two nights at The Marquee.

1984 - UK: Madonna made her first appearance in the UK on the TV music show "The Tube", performing "Holiday." The show was broadcast live from the Hacienda Club in Manchester.

1991 - USA: The first female ACLU president in its 71-year history was elected by the American Civil Liberties Union. She was Nadine Strossen, a professer of constitutional law at the New York Law School.

1996 - UK: Babylon Zoo began a five-week run at No.1 on the UK singles chart with "Spaceman"; the fastest selling non-charity single ever. (it sold 420,000 copies in six days).

1998 - UK: Prime Minister Tony Blair announces a forthcoming enquiry into the 1972 Bloody Sunday events in Ulster.

2007 - Australia: Serena Williams wins the Australian Open Women's Tennis Final, gaining her 8th grand slam title, beating Maria Sharapova 6-1 6-2.

2010 - USA: Steve Jobs unveils the Apple I-Pad at a press conference in San Francisco.

2011 - Japan: A cull begins on some 150,000 chickens after a fifth reported outbreak of bird flu.

2013 - Brazil: A fire at the Kiss nightclub in the Southern Brazilian city of Santa Maria, kills around 235 people and injures 169 more.

January 28th

1905 - Far East: The Japanese drive the Russians out of Hei-kou-tai.

1906 - Germany: 164 people are killed in a mine explosion in Saarbrucken.

1909 - Cuba: The second military occupation of Cuba by U.S. Troops which begun in 1906 ended, with the last troops leaving on March 31 of that year.

1915 - Atlantic: A German warship sinks the U.S ship "William P. Frye."

1916 - USA: Louis D. Brandeis was appointed to the Supreme Court by President Woodrow Wilson. The appointment made Brandeis the first Jew to become a justice of the Supreme Court.

1917 - Mexico: U.S. forces were recalled from Mexico, after nearly a year of fruitless searching for Pancho Villa.

1921 - Berlin: Professor Albert Einstein causes a stir with his suggestion that the universe could be measured.

1922 - Washington: 107 people are killed when the roof of the Knickerbocker Theatre collapses under the weight of snow.

1925 - Paris: Film star Gloria Swanson marries the Marquis de la Falaise de la Coudraie.

1930 - USA: Figures show a 600% rise in deaths from alcohol since the beginning of prohibition in 1920.

1932 - China: Japanese forces occupy Shanghai.

1939 - UK: The Committee on Nursing Services reports that nurses are overworked and underpaid.

1942 - Rastenburg: Adolf Hitler presents Luftwaffe ace pilot Adolf Galland with the Diamonds to the Knights Cross.

1944 - UK: A wave of anger sweeps Britain and the U.S. after joint statements denounced Japanese brutality towards Allied POW's.

1945 - Berlin: Civilians are ordered to begin digging anti-tank trenches around the city.

1946 - UK: The first post-war bananas arrive in Britain.

1955 - USA: Defence of the Formosa and the Pescadores Islands was pledged by the Senate by a vote of 85-3. On the following day the Chinese demanded that the UN order U.S. withdrawal from the entire Formosan area.

1957 - UK: Prince Charles has his first day at prep school.

1961 - USA: Plans for establishing the Peace Corps, a project advocated by President Kennedy, were made public by the U.S. State Department.

1963 - USA: School desegregation in South Carolina, the last state to end segregation in its schools, was achieved when a student Harvey B. Gantt was enrolled in Clemson College.

1965 - Holland: Protest's greet Crown Princess Beatrix's announcement that she is to marry a German.

1965 - UK: The Who made their first appearance on the UK TV show, "Ready Steady Go!"

1973 - Londonderry: Troops use plastic bullets to break up riots marking the anniversary of "Bloody Sunday."

1977 - USA: A blizzard paralysed much of east and mid-west America, worsening a severe shortage of natural gas. One of the worst hit cities was Buffalo in New York, which suffered 160 inches of snowfall.

1978 - UK: The Fleetwood Mac album "Rumours" went to No.1 on the UK album charts. The album went on to sell over 15 million copies worldwide, and spent 440 weeks on the UK chart.

1984 - London: Leading Soviet writer Oleg Bitov is granted asylum in Britain.

1985 - USA: The recording took place for "We Are The World", the U.S. equivalent of Band Aid. Written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie, the all-star cast included Stevie Wonder, Tina Turner, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, Ray Charles, and Diana Ross.

1986 - London: The government issues a green paper on plans to replace the rates with a "community charge."

1986 - USA: The space shuttle "Challenger" exploded 74 seconds after take off at Cape Canaveral Florida, killing all seven astronauts aboard, including schoolteacher Christa McAuliffe aged 37, the first private citizen chosen for a space shuttle flight. On June 9 a presidential commission report identified failure of a seal on a solid-fuel booster rocket as the cause of the explosion and criticized NASA for a long history of managerial and engineering mistakes.

1988 - USA: 11 years after it was released, The Sex Pistols album "Never Mind The Bollocks, Here's The Sex Pistols" went gold in the U.S. with sales of over 500,000.

1989: Moscow: At an unusual meeting in Moscow of American, Cuban, and Soviet officials who had been involved in the superpower showdown over Russian nuclear weapons in Cuba in October 1962, the Russians revealed that, unknown to the U.S. there were 20 nuclear warheads in Cuba before President Kennedy declared a naval blockade of Cuba on October 23, 1962. The warheads had not been attached to missiles but the Soviets said that they could have been done in a matter of hours.

1994 - UK: Paul and Linda McCartney attended the premiere of Wayne's World II in London. They then went to the Hard Rock Café, where the film's star Mike Myers, presented them with a cheque for the Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts for £25,000.

1996 - Pennsylvania: Millionaire John du Pont is arrested on suspicion of killing Olympic gold medal wrestler Dave Schultz, found shot dead two days earlier.

2001 - UK: Limp Bizkit began a two week run at No.1 on the UK album chart with "Chocolate Starfish."

2004 - USA: Elvis Presley fans expressed their anger at plans to cut up a rare tape of the singers early songs and sell the snippets at auction. U.S. firm Master Tape Collection said the tape would be cut into two-inch snippets and sold at auction for $460 each.

2007 - Australia: Roger Federer defeats Fernando Gonzalez 7-6, 6-4, 6-4 to win the Australian Open, claiming his 10th Grand Slam title.

2009 - USA: Winter storms kill 19 people and cuts electricity to 600,000 homes and businesses from Oklahoma to West Virginia.

2013 - UK: The Boomtown Rats reform for the Isle of Wight Festival, it's their first show since 1986.

January 29th

1795 - USA: The Naturalization Act was passed. It required a residence of five years and renunciation of allegiances and titles of nobility as prerequisites to citizenship.

1802 - USA: The librarian of the Library Of Congress was John Beckley of Virginia, previously clerk of the House of Representatives. The library had its beginnings as a parliamentary library.

1843 - USA: William McKinley, 25th President of the United States, was born in Niles, Ohio.

1900 - USA: The American League was formed in Chicago, Illinois. The new baseball league demanded recognition as a major league, but was refused by the National League until 1903 when the National, American, and minor leagues joined forces and set up a ruling body known as the National Commission.

1905 - Poland: Unruly troops and mobs loot Warsaw, as protests continue against Russian rule.

1917 - USA: Congress passed a new immigration law requiring all immigrants over 16 to know 30 to 80 words of English.

1924 - UK: An eight-day rail strike ends.

1926 - Moscow: All students were ordered to commence compulsory military training.

1927 - London: The Park Lane Hotel opened. It was the country's first hotel with a private bathroom to each bedroom.

1929 - Germany: U.S. motor manufacturers General Motors buy the German firm Opel.

1931 - Geneva: The League of Nations condemns Poland for its mistreatment of the German minority in Polish Upper Silesia.

1940 - Paris: The exiled Polish government state that the Nazis have killed around 18,000 prominent Polish people.

1941 - China: Nationalist Soldiers and Kuomintang guerrillas retake Zhenyang from the Japanese.

1942 - UK: The BBC broadcasts the first edition of "Desert Island Discs", presented by Roy Plomley.

1943 - USSR: Soviet forces liberate Kropotkin in the Caucasus.

1944 - USSR: Soviet forces clear the important railway line between Moscow and Leningrad.

1945 - Burma: Japanese forces fail to drive the Chinese from their positions defending the "Stilwell Road" near Lashio.

1947 - UK: Chaos and power cuts spread as freezing weather grips Britain, with temperatures falling to -16 degrees F.

1955 - USA: Plans for the first artificial satellites were announced by the U.S. The satellites were scheduled to be launched in 1957.

1958 - UK: A BMA report names cigarette smoking as the chief cause of lung cancer.

1959 - UK: The worst winter fog since 1952 cripples transport throughout Britain.

1964 - USA: A new weight-into-orbit record was set by the fifth Saturn rocket test in preparation for the manned Apollo program. A 20,000-lb payload was boosted into orbit by the rocket from Cape Kennedy in Florida.

1966 - USA: The worst blizzard in 70 years struck an area stretching from North Carolina to New England, killing 165 people over a two-day period.

1969 - USA: The federal deadline for school desegregation was extended 60 days for five southern school districts before federal funds would be cut off. This reprieve was widely interpreted as a sign that the Nixon administration was not committed to enforcing desegregation.

1972 - UK: The triple album "Concert For Bangladesh" went to No.1 on the UK album chart. Organised by George Harrison its aim was to raise funds for people caught up in war and famine in the area.

1975 - UK: TV licences are raised, with colour going by £6 to £18 and black and white £1 to £7.

1977 - London: Seven IRA bombs go off in the capitals West End.

1978 - Stockholm: Sweden becomes the first country to pass a law against aerosol sprays which affect the ozone layer.

1980 - Iran: Six Americans escaped from Iran with the aid of Canadian embassy personnel. The U.S. citizens who had posed as Canadians, had not been among those held in the U.S. Embassy in Tehran.

1985 - Oxford: University dons refuse to grant Margaret Thatcher an honorary degree.

1989 - UK: Marc Almond began a four week stint at No.1 on the UK singles chart with "Something's Gotten Hold of Heart" with guest vocals from Gene Pitney.

1992 - London: A pressure group "Working For Childcare" states Britain's child care is the worst in Europe.

1994 - Germany: Slalom skiing champion Ulrike Maier is killed after a 60mph crash, after hitting soft snow on the Kandahar course.

1999 - Kosovo: Serbs and ethnic Albanian leaders agree to meet the following month for peace talks following the massacre of 24 more ethic Albanians by Serbs.

2007 - Japan: Yone Minagawa, aged 114, becomes the worlds oldest person.

2008 - Outer Space: Near-Earth asteroid 2007 TU24 passes Earth at a distance of 334,000 miles.

2011 - Germany: 10 people are killed when a passenger train collides with a goods train in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt near the city of Magdeberg.

2013 - Syria: 65 corpses are discovered in the Queiq River near Aleppo. All appeared to had been executed by gunshots.

1942, BBC radio aired a new program 'Desert Island Discs' presented by Roy Plomley, which went on to become the longest running UK radio show.

1961, Bob Dylan achieved his dream of meeting his idol Woody Guthrie when Guthrie was on weekend release from hospital where he was being treated for Huntington's Chorea. Dylan told him; ‘I was a Woody Guthrie jukebox’. Guthrie gave Dylan a card which said: ‘I ain't dead yet’.

1964, The Beatles spent the day at Pathe Marconi Studios in Paris, France, The Beatles' only studio recording session for EMI held outside the UK. They recorded new vocals for ‘She Loves You’, ‘I Want to Hold Your Hand’ and ‘Can't Buy Me Love’, after EMI's West German branch persuaded Brian Epstein that they would be unable to sell large quantities of records in Germany unless they were recorded in the German language. A translator coached John, Paul, and George, although their familiarity with the German language from their Hamburg days made things much easier.

1967, Jimi Hendrix and The Who appeared at The Saville Theatre, London, England. 20 year-old future Queen guitarist Brian May was in the audience.

1968, The Doors appeared at The Pussy Cat A Go Go, Las Vegas. 
After the show singer Jim Morrison taunts a security guard in the parking lot by pretending to smoke a joint, resulting in a fight. The police arrive who arrest Morrison and charge him with vagrancy, public drunkenness, and failure to possess sufficient identification.

1969, Fleetwood Mac had their only UK No.1 single with the instrumental 'Albatross' which was composed by guitarist Peter Green. 'Albatross' is the only Fleetwood Mac composition with the distinction of having inspired a Beatles song, 'Sun King' from 1969's Abbey Road.

1972, The triple album 'The Concert For Bangladesh' went to No.1 on the UK album chart. Organised by George Harrison to raise funds for the people caught up in the war and famine from the area. The set featured; Bob Dylan, Ringo Starr, Billy Preston, Eric Clapton, Ravi Shankar and members from Badfinger. 

1977, Gwen Dickey former backing band for The Temptations, went to No.1 on the US singles chart as Rose Royce with 'Car Wash', a No.9 hit in the UK.

1979, 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. 

 
1982, Shakin' Stevens was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'Oh Julie', the Welsh singers third UK No.1. Barry Manilow covered the song in the US.

1982, Flying Back from Cannes, France, Gary Numan made a forced landing after running low on fuel at an RAF base outside Southampton, the press ran stories that he had in fact crash landed on the A3057.

1983, Australian group Men At Work went to No.1 on the British and American singles and album charts simultaneously with 'Down Under' and 'Business As Usual'. The last artist to achieve this was Rod Stewart in 1971. 

1992, American blues singer and guitarist Willie Dixon died of heart failure. He wrote the classic songs 'You Shook Me', 'I Can't Quit You Baby', 'Hoochie Coochie Man', 'I Just Want to Make Love to You' and 'Little Red Rooster'. Dixon was a major influence on The Rolling Stones, Cream, The Yardbirds and Led Zeppelin.

1994, The Supremes' Mary Wilson was injured when her jeep crashed on a freeway and turned over just outside of Los Angeles, California. Wilson's 14-year old son was killed in the accident.

1996, George Michael had the UK No.1 single with 'Jesus To A Child', the singers sixth UK No.1 as a solo artist and the first single from his come-back album 'Older', (after lengthy litigation with his record company). 

2001, A New York based data company issued a chart listing sales of posthumous albums. The idea came about after radio stations wanted to distinguish between proper recordings when the artists were alive and CD's released after they died. Mike Shalett founder of SoundScan said there was only one problem. What to call the chart. The Top 5 chart had The Doors at No.5, Eva Cassidy at 4, Jimi Hendrix at 3, Bob Marley at 2 and 2Pac at No.1. 

2005, Ciara feat Petey Pablo Goodies went to No.1 on the UK singles chart with her debut single. The eighteen year old R&B singer from Atlanta, Georgia, was just the eighteen years old.

2006, Arctic Monkeys went to No.1 on the UK album chart with their debut album 'Whatever People Say I Am That's What I'm Not'. The Sheffield-based bands album became the fastest-selling debut in chart history after shifting more than 360,000 copies in its first week of release. The album's title was taken from a line from the novel Saturday Night and Sunday Morning written by Alan Sillitoe. 

2009, Singer-songwriter John Martyn died in hospital in Ireland at the age of 60. The folk, blues and funk artist was widely regarded as one of the most soulful and innovative singer-songwriters of his generation and had been cited as an influence by artists as varied as U2, Portishead and Eric Clapton. 

2009, Former American Idol winner Kelly Clarkson made the largest ever leap to number one in US chart history, rising 96 places. Her single, My Life Would Suck Without You, rose from 97 to the top of the Billboard chart after selling 280,000 downloads in its first week of release. A clip from the video for the single was premiered in the commercial break of that week's episode of American Idol.

2010, Sly Stone filed a $50m (£30.9m) legal claim against his former manager, alleging fraud and 20 years of stolen royalties. The 66-year-old funk musician of the 1970s group Sly and the Family Stone, claimed in the Los Angeles Superior Court that Jerry Goldstein diverted millions in royalties to fund a lavish lifestyle.2013, The Official UK Album Chart saw its lowest sales in nearly 17 years as Ed Sheeran returned to the top spot. The singer's debut record, +, went back to No.1 for the first time since September with sales of just 20,607. This was the lowest total since September 1995 when the Levellers' Zeitgeist was top with 13,885 sales.

January 30th

1847 - USA: Writer Edgar Allen Poe began a dark year with the death of his sickly wife Virginia. Except for "Ulalume" a haunting poem on death written in a effort to console himself, Poe wasted most of the year on fruitless quarrels and plagiarism suits against editors and other authors, while his health swiftly deteriorated.

1875 - USA: The Hawaiian Reciprocity Treaty was signed. It provided that no Hawaiian territory be turned over to any third power.

1912 - London: The House of Lords rejects the Home Rule Bill.

1915 - Irish Sea: Three UK merchant vessels are sunk by a German submarine.

1920 - Ireland: Cork and Limerick declare allegiance to Sinn Fein's illegal Irish parliament, the Dail Eireann.

1925 - UK: Distillers Buchanan Dewar and John Walker & Sons agreed to a Merger.

1932 - Finland: The government lifts the prohibition of alcohol.

1933 - Paris: Edouard Daladier becomes premier.

1937 - Berlin: Adolf Hitler guarantees the neutrality of Belgium and the Netherlands.

1940 - Berlin: Reinhard Heydrich orders more expulsion of Jews from the Reich to Lublin in eastern Poland; Himmler authorizes the deportation of around 30,000 gypsies.

1942 - USA: The Price Control Bill was signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, officially giving the Office of Price Administration the power to set all prices except for farm products.

1943 - Germany: The RAF raid Hamburg, using H2S radar navigation for the first time.

1944 - Italy: USAAF aircraft attack Luftwaffe targets in the Po Valley.

1945 - Berlin: Hitler gives Josef Goebbels the decorative title of Defender of Berlin, and in a radio broadcast asks the German people to die in order to preserve Nazism.

1951 - New York: The UN names China as an aggressor in Korea.

1958 - USA: "Sunrise at Campobello" by Dore Schary opened at the Cort Theatre in New York. The play starring Ralph Bellamy as Franklin D. Roosevelt, concerned Roosevelt's attack of polio in 1921 and his struggle to overcome his paralysis in order to return to politics.

1961 - USA: President Kennedy decried the crisis in U.S. education in his first State of the Union message, noting that some 2,000,000 children were being instructed by 90,000 teachers "not properly qualified."

1964 - UK: The Searchers were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with "Needles And Pins."

1969 - London: "The Dales" the BBC's longest running radio show is announced it will end on 25 April on that year.

1972 - UK: Paul McCartney wrote and recorded his protest song "Give Ireland Back To The Irish" within 24 hours of Bloody Sunday, when 13 Catholics were killed by British paratroopers.

1973 - USA: Pan Am and TWA scrap plans to purchase 13 Concordes.

1978 - London: The Police played The Vortex on Wardour Street.

1982 - UK: Paul McCartney appeared on BBC radio's "Desert Island Discs." His selections included "Heartbreak Hotel" by Elvis Presley, "Sweet Little Sixteen" by Chuck Berry, and "Beautiful Boy" by John Lennon.

1983 - USA: Super Bowl XVII was won by the Washington Redskins defeating the Miami Dolphins 27-17.

1987 - UK: The floatation of British Airways began.

1988 - USA: INXS had their first U.S No.1 single with "Need You Tonight"

1989 - Lebanon: Amal and Hizbollah, the rival Shia groups, sign a pact ending their year long feud.

1990 - France: Bob Dylan is honoured in France, becoming a commander in the Order of Arts and Letters.

1996 - USA: Magic Johnson who retired from basketball four and a half years ago after testing HIV positive, makes a comeback playing for the Los Angeles Lakers.

1997 - India: The last remaining ashes of Mahatma Gandhi, the founding father of modern India, are poured into the River Ganges, after lying unclaimed in a bank vault for 49 years.

1999 - UK: In the NME readers poll the winner of "The pop personality that you would like as your doctor" was won by Natalie Imbruglia.

2007 - Greece: Around 2,000 Greek schoolchildren form a human chain around the Acropolis of Athens to demand that the UK return the Elgin Marbles.

2009 - Norway: Norway announces it is to raise the German submarine U-864 from the North Sea.

2013 - South Korea: South Korea launches its first civilian rocket NARO-1, carrying a scientific satellite STSAT-2c amid tension with North Korea.