1606 - Guy Fawkes, a co-conspirator in the Gunpowder Plot, was executed.
1863 - During the Civil War, the First South Carolina Volunteers, an all-Black Union regiment composed of many escaped slaves, was mustered into federal service at Beaufort, South Carolina.
1865 - The House of Representatives approved the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, which abolished slavery in the United States. (The amendment was ratified the following December.)
1865 - Robert E. Lee was appointed commander-in-chief of Confederate forces during the Civil War.
1940 - The first social security check was issued to Ida Fuller for $22.54.
1945 - Pvt. Eddie Slovik, age 24, became the first U.S. soldier since the Civil War to be executed for desertion as he was shot by an American firing squad in France.
1958 - The first American satellite, Explorer I, was launched.
1961 - NASA launched Ham the Chimp aboard a Mercury-Redstone rocket from Cape Canaveral; Ham was recovered safely from the Atlantic Ocean following his 16 ½-minute suborbital flight.
1971 - Astronauts Alan Shepard, Edgar Mitchell and Stuart Roosa blasted off aboard Apollo 14 on a mission to the moon.
1990 - McDonald's opened its first store in Russia.
2000 - An Alaska Airlines MD-83 jet crashed into the Pacific Ocean off Port Hueneme, California, killing all 88 people aboard.
2001 - A Scottish court sitting in the Netherlands convicted one Libyan and acquitted a second, in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland. Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi was given a life sentence, but was released after eight years on compassionate grounds by Scotland's government. He died in 2012.
2012 - Facebook announced plans to go public with a stock offering.
2015 - Bobbi Kristina Brown, the daughter of the late singer Whitney Houston, was found unresponsive in a bathtub at her Georgia townhome and was taken to an Atlanta-area hospital. (She died six months later.)
2017 - President Donald Trump nominated Neil Gorsuch, a fast-rising conservative judge, to the U.S. Supreme Court. (Gorsuch would be confirmed in April 2017 by a 54-45 vote.)
2018 - Much of the world was treated to a rare triple lunar treat - a total lunar eclipse combined with a particularly close full moon that was also the second full moon of the month.
2020 - The United States declared a public health emergency over the new coronavirus, and President Donald Trump signed an order to temporarily bar entry to foreign nationals, other than immediate family of U.S. citizens, who had traveled in China within the preceding 14 days.
Birthdays
28 - Joel Courtney (actor)
31 - Amy Jackson (model)
31 - Tahnee Atkinson (model)
37 - Tyler Hubbard (singer)
39 - Tyler Ritter (actor)
43 - Justin Timberlake (singer)
47 - Kerry Washington (actress)
47 - Bobby Moynihan (actor/comedian)
51 - Portia de Rossi (actress)
54 - Minnie Driver (actress)
65 - Anthony LaPaglia (actor)
65 - Kelly Lynch (actress)
77 - Jonathan Banks (actor)
77 - Nolan Ryan (baseball player)
77 - Glynn Turman (actor)
87 - Philip Glass (composer)
========================================
Today in Sports History - January 31
1919 - Baseball Hall-of-Famer Jackie Robinson was born in Cairo, Georgia.
1920 - Joe Malone (Quebec Bullldogs) set an NHL record with 7 goals in a game.
1952 - Harry Heilmann and Paul Waner are elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.
1988 - The Washington Redskins defeated the Denver Broncos 42-10 to win Super Bowl XXII.
1993 - The Dallas Cowboys defeat the Buffalo Bills 52-17 to win Super Bowl XXVII.
1999 - The Denver Broncos defeated the Atlanta Falcons 34-19 to win Super Bowl XXXIII.
2003 - The Chicago White Sox announced a deal that would change the name of Comiskey Park after a 93-year association with the Comiskey name.
2013 - Caleb Moore, 25, an innovative freestyle snowmobile rider who'd been hurt in a crash at the Winter X Games in Colorado, died at a hospital in Grand Junction.
2015 - The Atlanta Hawks set an NBA record by going 17-0 in the month of January.
2016 - Novak Djokovic maintained his perfect streak in six Australian Open finals with a 6-1, 7-5, 7-6 (3) victory over Andy Murray.
1863 - During the Civil War, the First South Carolina Volunteers, an all-Black Union regiment composed of many escaped slaves, was mustered into federal service at Beaufort, South Carolina.
1865 - The House of Representatives approved the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, which abolished slavery in the United States. (The amendment was ratified the following December.)
1865 - Robert E. Lee was appointed commander-in-chief of Confederate forces during the Civil War.
1940 - The first social security check was issued to Ida Fuller for $22.54.
1945 - Pvt. Eddie Slovik, age 24, became the first U.S. soldier since the Civil War to be executed for desertion as he was shot by an American firing squad in France.
1958 - The first American satellite, Explorer I, was launched.
1961 - NASA launched Ham the Chimp aboard a Mercury-Redstone rocket from Cape Canaveral; Ham was recovered safely from the Atlantic Ocean following his 16 ½-minute suborbital flight.
1971 - Astronauts Alan Shepard, Edgar Mitchell and Stuart Roosa blasted off aboard Apollo 14 on a mission to the moon.
1990 - McDonald's opened its first store in Russia.
2000 - An Alaska Airlines MD-83 jet crashed into the Pacific Ocean off Port Hueneme, California, killing all 88 people aboard.
2001 - A Scottish court sitting in the Netherlands convicted one Libyan and acquitted a second, in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland. Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi was given a life sentence, but was released after eight years on compassionate grounds by Scotland's government. He died in 2012.
2012 - Facebook announced plans to go public with a stock offering.
2015 - Bobbi Kristina Brown, the daughter of the late singer Whitney Houston, was found unresponsive in a bathtub at her Georgia townhome and was taken to an Atlanta-area hospital. (She died six months later.)
2017 - President Donald Trump nominated Neil Gorsuch, a fast-rising conservative judge, to the U.S. Supreme Court. (Gorsuch would be confirmed in April 2017 by a 54-45 vote.)
2018 - Much of the world was treated to a rare triple lunar treat - a total lunar eclipse combined with a particularly close full moon that was also the second full moon of the month.
2020 - The United States declared a public health emergency over the new coronavirus, and President Donald Trump signed an order to temporarily bar entry to foreign nationals, other than immediate family of U.S. citizens, who had traveled in China within the preceding 14 days.
Birthdays
28 - Joel Courtney (actor)
31 - Amy Jackson (model)
31 - Tahnee Atkinson (model)
37 - Tyler Hubbard (singer)
39 - Tyler Ritter (actor)
43 - Justin Timberlake (singer)
47 - Kerry Washington (actress)
47 - Bobby Moynihan (actor/comedian)
51 - Portia de Rossi (actress)
54 - Minnie Driver (actress)
65 - Anthony LaPaglia (actor)
65 - Kelly Lynch (actress)
77 - Jonathan Banks (actor)
77 - Nolan Ryan (baseball player)
77 - Glynn Turman (actor)
87 - Philip Glass (composer)
========================================
Today in Sports History - January 31
1919 - Baseball Hall-of-Famer Jackie Robinson was born in Cairo, Georgia.
1920 - Joe Malone (Quebec Bullldogs) set an NHL record with 7 goals in a game.
1952 - Harry Heilmann and Paul Waner are elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.
1988 - The Washington Redskins defeated the Denver Broncos 42-10 to win Super Bowl XXII.
1993 - The Dallas Cowboys defeat the Buffalo Bills 52-17 to win Super Bowl XXVII.
1999 - The Denver Broncos defeated the Atlanta Falcons 34-19 to win Super Bowl XXXIII.
2003 - The Chicago White Sox announced a deal that would change the name of Comiskey Park after a 93-year association with the Comiskey name.
2013 - Caleb Moore, 25, an innovative freestyle snowmobile rider who'd been hurt in a crash at the Winter X Games in Colorado, died at a hospital in Grand Junction.
2015 - The Atlanta Hawks set an NBA record by going 17-0 in the month of January.
2016 - Novak Djokovic maintained his perfect streak in six Australian Open finals with a 6-1, 7-5, 7-6 (3) victory over Andy Murray.
