January 20
Today is
International Fetish Day, so, get your freak on!
Today is
Inauguration Day in the United States. We swore in a brand new President today! And there was much rejoicing...by some. Others, not so much.
Events
1265 – The
first English parliament to include not only Lords but also representatives of the major towns holds its first meeting in the Palace of Westminster, now commonly known as the "Houses of Parliament".
1356 –
Edward Balliol surrenders his claim to the Scottish throne to
Edward III in exchange for an English pension.
1649 –
Charles I of England goes on trial for treason and other "
high crimes".
1783 – The Kingdom of Great Britain signs a peace treaty with France and Spain, officially ending hostilities in the
American Revolutionary War.
1841 –
Hong Kong Island is occupied by the British.
1887 – The United States Senate allows the Navy to lease
Pearl Harbor as a naval base.
1920 – The
American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is founded.
1929 –
In Old Arizona, the first full-length talking motion picture filmed outdoors, is released.
1936 –
Edward VIII becomes King of the United Kingdom.
1937 –
Franklin Delano Roosevelt and
John Nance Garner are sworn in for their second terms as U.S. President and U.S. Vice President, the first occasion a Presidential Inauguration to take place on 20 January following the ratification of the
20th Amendment.
1942 – World War II: At the
Wannsee Conference held in the Berlin suburb of Wannsee, senior Nazi German officials discuss the implementation of the "
Final Solution to the
Jewish question".
1945 – World War II: Germany begins the e
vacuation of 1.8 million people from East Prussia, a task which will take nearly two months.
1949 –
Point Four Program a program for economic aid to poor countries announced by United States President
Harry S Truman in his inaugural address for a full term as President.
1981 –
Twenty minutes after
Ronald Reagan was inaugurated, Iran releases
52 American hostages.
1986 – In the United States,
Martin Luther King, Jr. Day is celebrated as a federal holiday for the first time.
2009 – A protest movement in Iceland culminates as the
2009 Icelandic financial crisis protests start.
2009 –
Barack Obama (remember him?) is inaugurated as the 44th President of the United States of America, becoming the first African-American United States President.
2017 –
Donald Trump is inaugurated as the 45th President of the United States of America, becoming the first United States President to have never held political office.
Births
1798 – Anson Jones; 1894 – Harold Gray (created
Little Orphan Annie); 1896 – George Burns; 1906 – Aristotle Onassis; 1920 – Federico Fellini; 1920 – DeForest Kelley (
Star Trek TOS); 1923 – Slim Whitman♪ ♫; 1926 – Patricia Neal; 1929 – Arte Johnson; 1929 – Fireball Roberts

; 1930 – Buzz Aldrin; 1934 – Tom Baker (4th
Doctor Who); 1946 – David Lynch; 1952 – Paul Stanley

(KISS); 1956 – Bill Maher (American asshat); 1958 – Lorenzo Lamas; 1959 – R. A. Salvatore

; 1959 – Tami Hoag; 1960 – Scott Thunes

; 1963 – James Denton (
Desperate Housewives); 1964 – Jack Lewis; 1965 – John Michael Montgomery♪ ♫; 1966 – Rainn Wilson; 1967 – Stacey Dash; 1970 – Skeet Ulrich; 1971 – Questlove♪ ♫
Deaths
1965 – Alan Freed; 1984 – Johnny Weissmuller (
Tarzan movies); 1990 – Barbara Stanwyck (The Big Valley); 1993 – Audrey Hepburn; 2003 – Al Hirschfeld

;
2012 – Etta James♪ ♫