Saturday History
By Andrews McMeel Syndicate
Today is the seventh day of 2023 and the 18th day of winter.
TODAY’S HISTORY:
— In 1785, Jean-Pierre Blanchard and John Jeffries crossed the English Channel in a balloon.
— In 1927, the first commercial trans-Atlantic telephone call was made between London and New York City.
— In 1955, Marian Anderson made her debut at New York’s Metropolitan Opera House, becoming the first African American soloist to sing there.
— In 2015, gunmen killed 12 people at the Paris offices of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.
TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS: Millard Fillmore (1800-1874), 13th U.S. president; Zora Neale Hurston (1891-1960), author; Francis Poulenc (1899-1963), composer; Charles Addams (1912-1988), cartoonist; Katie Couric (1957-), TV news anchor; Rand Paul (1963-), politician; Nicolas Cage (1964-), actor; John Ondrasik aka Five for Fighting (1965-), singer-songwriter; Jeremy Renner (1971-), actor; John Rich (1974-), singer-songwriter; Francisco Rodriguez (1982-), baseball player; Jon Lester (1984-), baseball player.
TODAY’S FACT: Millard Fillmore, who assumed the presidency in 1850 upon the death of Zachary Taylor, was the last president from the Whig party. Fillmore sought re-election in 1852, but the Whig party nominated Gen. Winfield Scott instead.
TODAY’S SPORTS: In 1927, the Harlem Globetrotters (who were actually from Chicago) played their first game in Hinckley, Ill.
TODAY’S QUOTE: “There is a basin in the mind where words float around on thought and thought on sound and sight. Then there is a depth of thought untouched by words, and deeper still a gulf of formless feelings untouched by thought.” — Zora Neale Hurston, “Their Eyes Were Watching God”
TODAY’S NUMBER: 2.5 hours — length of the first balloon trip across the English Channel, which crossed at the channel’s narrowest point (21 miles).
TODAY’S MOON: Between full moon (Jan. 6) and last quarter moon (Jan. 14).
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