# Today in History **URL:** \ **Category:** Thread Games\ **Created:** [July 10, 2016, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-history/759530 "2016-07-10T04:53:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 22
**Author:** ![Biotop](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biotop/32/321_2.png) [@Biotop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biotop)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2017, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-history/759530/422 "2017-01-26T06:40:09Z")
**January 26, 1700** : [The 1700 Cascadia Earthquake](https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.pnsn.org/blog/2013/01/24/the-last-cascadia-great-earthquake-and-tsunami-313-years-and-ticking&ved=0ahUKEwiz2o6rl9_RAhUB7yYKHY4cDdEQFgiTATAW&usg=AFQjCNGkTIpDJHJmIu3t4i1N13eiRHga-Q&sig2=B4BUFjWhFgew5Ef6mdxUJw) kills unknown numbers of people in the sparsely populated Pacific Northwest. Huge tsunamis then strike the US Northwest, West, and even as far away as Japan. Scientists believe this kind of catastrophic earthquake happens on this fault every 300 to 500 years. There are, to say the least, a lot more people living in the area now. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2017, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-history/759530/423 "2017-01-27T04:23:40Z")
**January 26, 1998:** President Bill Clinton says: “I want to say one thing to the American people; I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky.” ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2017, 10:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-history/759530/424 "2017-01-27T10:20:34Z")
\*\*January 27, 1967: \*\*Astronauts Gus Grissom, Edward White and Roger Chaffee are killed in a fire during a test of their Apollo 1 spacecraft at the Kennedy Space Center, Florida. ---
**Author:** ![Ignatz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/3be4f8/32.png) [@Ignatz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ignatz)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2017, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-history/759530/425 "2017-01-28T00:41:31Z")
**January 27, 1945** - On this day, Soviet troops enter Auschwitz, Poland, freeing the survivors of the network of concentration camps—and finally revealing to the world the depth of the horrors perpetrated there. ---
**Author:** ![Biotop](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biotop/32/321_2.png) [@Biotop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biotop)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2017, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-history/759530/426 "2017-01-28T07:00:05Z")
**January 28, 1922** : [The Knickerbocker Theater Collapse](https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knickerbocker_Theatre_(Washington,_D.C.)&ved=0ahUKEwjF4_-9oOTRAhXG7IMKHTOSAL0QFggaMAA&usg=AFQjCNF_Zp_5-sdScFL8OKDjXxCCA0iOkA&sig2=U_Cfv9GNTCwqQveLjcx5ug) occurs. Washington DC was experiencing its heaviest snowstorm on record. When accumulation of snow on the flat top of the Knickerbocker Theater became too much to hold, the roof collapsed killing 98 people inside. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2017, 10:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-history/759530/427 "2017-01-28T10:40:21Z")
**January 28, 1896:** Walter Arnold of East Peckham, Kent, becomes the first person to be convicted of speeding. He was fined one shilling, plus costs, for speeding at 8 mph (13 km/h), thereby exceeding the contemporary speed limit of 2 mph (3.2 km/h). ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2017, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-history/759530/428 "2017-01-29T19:25:49Z")
**January 29, 1595:** William Shakespeare’s play _Romeo and Juliet_ is thought to have been first performed. But it was not officially published until two years later. ---
**Author:** ![Biotop](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biotop/32/321_2.png) [@Biotop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biotop)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2017, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-history/759530/429 "2017-01-30T06:15:08Z")
**January 30, 1945** : The German transport ship [\*MV Wilhelm Gustloff \*](https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/MV_Wilhelm_Gustloff&ved=0ahUKEwik64Ttl-nRAhXK24MKHRKFAYcQFgiLATAe&usg=AFQjCNHyGj79OKa7xkAnHkxRGdrjjcvYqA&sig2=cDy2DtuD2_o-3ieHlrBlMg) is hit by three Russian torpedoes. The death toll of approximately 9400 is the largest of any single ship maritime disaster in history. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2017, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-history/759530/430 "2017-01-30T11:41:24Z")
\*\*January 30, 1969: \*\*The Beatles’ last public performance, on the roof of Apple Records in London. The impromptu concert is broken up by the police. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2017, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-history/759530/431 "2017-01-30T15:40:07Z")
**January 30, 1649** : King Charles I executed by beheading on a scaffold outside his Banqueting House in Whitehall. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2017, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-history/759530/432 "2017-01-31T05:13:42Z")
**January 30, 1647:** The Scots agree to sell that same King Charles I to the English Parliament for £400. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2017, 7:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-history/759530/433 "2017-01-31T07:59:44Z")
**January 31, 1961:** Ham the Chimp becomes the first hominid launched into space. ---
**Author:** ![Ignatz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/3be4f8/32.png) [@Ignatz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ignatz)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2017, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-history/759530/434 "2017-02-01T00:34:46Z")
**January 31, 1865** - The U.S. House of Representatives joined the Senate in passing the 13th Amendment to the United States Constitution abolishing slavery, sending it to the states for ratification. **1971** - Ignatz eyewitnessed the astronauts Alan Shepard, Edgar Mitchell, and Stuart Roosa blast off aboard Apollo 14 on a mission to the moon. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2017, 7:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-history/759530/435 "2017-02-01T07:28:41Z")
**February 1, 2002:** Daniel Pearl, American journalist and South Asia Bureau Chief of the _Wall Street Journal,_ kidnapped January 23, 2002, is beheaded and mutilated by his captors. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2017, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-history/759530/436 "2017-02-02T05:26:19Z")
**February 1, 1587:** Queen Elizabeth I of England signs the death warrant for her cousin, Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2017, 9:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-history/759530/437 "2017-02-02T09:06:36Z")
**February 2, 1887:** In Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, the first Groundhog Day is observed. ---
**Author:** ![Biotop](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biotop/32/321_2.png) [@Biotop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biotop)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2017, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-history/759530/438 "2017-02-03T06:12:02Z")
\*\*February 3, 1943 \*\*: [The SS Dorchester](https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=http://www.robinsonlibrary.com/history/history/worldwar2/dorchester.htm&ved=0ahUKEwifzabLn_PRAhWG7SYKHf4hDqcQFgh-MBQ&usg=AFQjCNGetho9EgeD9PdzowyztAdPwKF31w&sig2=WrRncqzJdyzy6M9cpr6Dug)is sunk by a German U-boat. 672 die, including the “four chaplains,” who heroically gave up their own life jackets to try and help others survive. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2017, 9:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-history/759530/439 "2017-02-03T09:32:39Z")
**February 3, 1959:** Deaths of Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J. P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson, in a plane crash near Clear Lake, Iowa. ---
**Author:** ![Ignatz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/3be4f8/32.png) [@Ignatz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ignatz)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2017, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-history/759530/440 "2017-02-04T15:41:01Z")
February 4: 1983-Karen Carpenter died at age 32 1987-Liberace died at age 67 1987-O.J. Simpson found civilly liable for the deaths of his ex-wife and Ron Goldman 2004-Massachusetts supreme court ruled that gay couples could marry 2012-Florence Green, the last World War I veteran died at age 110 I England ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2017, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-history/759530/441 "2017-02-05T06:28:54Z")
Don’t we have a one-item-per-post rule? **February 5, 1958:** A hydrogen bomb known as the Tybee Bomb is lost by the US Air Force off the coast of Savannah, Georgia, never to be recovered. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-history/759530.md?page=21) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-history/759530.md?page=23)