What Happened On
Clinton: I did not have sexual relations with that woman
January 26, 1998
U.S. President Bill Clinton goes on national TV and states, "I want you to listen to me, I'm going to say this again. I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky." However, after the FBI determined that semen stains on Lewinsky's blue dress were Clinton's, he made his famous "What the meaning of 'IS' is" argument in defense of these statements.
Photo Credit: Churchill Archives Centre, Churchill College
Photo Credit: Churchill Archives Centre, Churchill College
Winston Churchill Prescribed Alcohol
January 26, 1932
The English statesman and future Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Winston Churchill is prescribed alcohol by his doctor for use in the U.S. during prohibition.
He was on a lecture tour in the U.S. the previous December when he was hit by car. He had stepped in front of a moving vehicle after forgetting that traffic drives on the right in the U.S. After recovering from the accident, he continued his lecture tour with his doctor giving him a prescription for alcohol to help alleviate the pain.
"This is to certify that the post-accident convalescence of the Hon. Winston S. Churchill necessitates the use of alcoholic spirits especially at meal times. The quantity is naturally indefinite but the minimum requirements would be 250 cubic centimeters."
This allowed him to circumvent the U.S. prohibition restrictions on alcohol consumption.
Baird using dummies to demonstrate an early TV system
Baird using dummies to demonstrate an early TV system
First Public Demonstration of Television
January 26, 1926
John Logie Baird demonstrates his invention to members of the Royal Institution in London. It was the first demonstration of a television system that could broadcast live moving images with tone graduation.
Benjamin Franklin Disapproves of Eagle
January 26, 1784
Benjamin Franklin writes a letter to his daughter expressing his disapproval of the eagle as our nation's symbol. He thought the bald eagle was of bad moral character and found the turkey a more respectable bird.
From his letter: "For my own part I wish the Bald Eagle had not been chosen the Representative of our Country. He is a Bird of bad moral Character. He does not get his Living honestly. You may have seen him perched on some dead Tree near the River, where, too lazy to fish for himself, he watches the Labour of the Fishing Hawk; and when that diligent Bird has at length taken a Fish, and is bearing it to his Nest for the Support of his Mate and young Ones, the Bald Eagle pursues him and takes it from him.
With all this injustice, he is never in good case but like those among men who live by sharping & robbing he is generally poor and often very lousy. Besides he is a rank coward: The little King Bird not bigger than a Sparrow attacks him boldly and drives him out of the district. He is therefore by no means a proper emblem for the brave and honest Cincinnati of America who have driven all the King birds from our country…"
"I am on this account not displeased that the Figure is not known as a Bald Eagle, but looks more like a Turkey. For the Truth the Turkey is in Comparison a much more respectable Bird, and withal a true original Native of America… He is besides, though a little vain & silly, a Bird of Courage, and would not hesitate to attack a Grenadier of the British Guards who should presume to invade his Farm Yard with a red Coat on."
Civil War
January 26, 1870
Virginia is readmitted to the Union.
Civil War - Louisiana Secedes
January 26, 1861
Louisiana becomes the 6th state to secede from the Union.
First U.S. Prohibition Law
January 26, 1838
Tennessee passes a law making it a misdemeanor to sell alcohol in taverns and stores.
Michigan
January 26, 1837
Michigan becomes the 26th state. Michigan is Chippewa for "great water."
Birthdays
Photo Credit: Håkan Dahlström
Photo Credit: Håkan Dahlström
Wayne Gretzky
Born January 26, 1961
Canadian hockey player. "The Great One." He is the all-time leader in scoring (2,328) and assists (1,563) and has won the MVP award a record nine times.
Bob Uecker
Born January 26, 1935
American baseball catcher, actor. "Mr. Baseball". Uecker is the primary broadcaster for the Milwaukee Brewers of Major League Baseball.
TV: Mr. Belvedere (1985-90. George).
Paul Newman
Born January 26, 1925 d. 2008
American Oscar-winning actor, philanthropist. Film: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958), The Hustler (1961), and The Sting (1973).
Bessie Coleman
Born January 26, 1892 d. 1926
American daredevil aviator. She was the world's first black female aviator to obtain a pilot's license (1921). Her father was of mostly Cherokee descent, making her also the first female of native American descent to earn a pilot's license. U.S. pilot schools were unwilling to take a black female student, so she learned French and went to Paris to earn her license.
She died in a plane crash while preparing for a show. While flying as a passenger with a student pilot, the plane suffered a mechanical failure and spun out of control. Not seat belted in, she fell out of the plane and plummeted to her death. The pilot died in the crash.
Douglas MacArthur
Born January 26, 1880 d. 1964
American 5-star general. "I shall return." He and his father were the first father and son to receive the U.S. Medal of Honor.
Andrew Ridgeley
Born January 26, 1963
British singer, with Wham!. Music: Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go (1984 #1).
Photo Credit: Alan Light
Photo Credit: Alan Light
Ellen DeGeneres
Born January 26, 1958
American Emmy-winning comedian, actress. Ellen DeGeneres was voted Showtime's "Funniest Person In America" (1982). In 1997, DeGeneres came out as a lesbian on The Oprah Winfrey Show and then her character on her TV show Ellen came out to her therapist, played by Oprah Winfrey.
TV: HBO's One Night Stand, The Tonight Show (she was the first female comedian to sit on the couch after being invited by Johnny Carson after performing their standup routine), Ellen (1994-98), The Ellen DeGeneres Show (2003‑), and Ellen's Game of Games (2017‑). Film: Finding Nemo (2003, voice of Dory) and Finding Dory (2016, voice of Dory). She has also hosted the Academy Awards, Grammy Awards, and the Primetime Emmys.
Photo Credit: Carl Lender
Photo Credit: Carl Lender
Eddie Van Halen
Born January 26, 1955 d. 2020
Dutch-born American guitarist. He is considered one of the greatest guitarists of all time. Music: Runnin' With the Devil (1976) and Jump (1984, #1).
Gene Siskel
Born January 26, 1946 d. 1999
American movie critic. He and Roger Ebert hosted a series of popular review shows on television (1975-99).
Jules Feiffer
Born January 26, 1929
American cartoonist, author, creator of Munro and The Explainers.
Roger Vadim (Roger Vadim Plemiannikov)
Born January 26, 1928 d. 2000
French director. Film: And God Created Woman (1956, which featured his young bride, Brigitte Bardot, in the nude) and Barbarella (1968).
William Hopper (left) as Paul Drake
William Hopper (left) as Paul Drake
William Hopper (William Hopper, Jr.)
Born January 26, 1915 d. 1970
American actor. TV: Perry Mason (1957-66, Paul Drake).
His mother was the famous Hollywood gossip columnist Hedda Hopper.
Film: Rebel Without a Cause (1955, father of Natalie Wood's character), 20 Million Miles to Earth (1957), The Deadly Mantis (1957).
Trapp Family Singers (Maria is third from left)
Trapp Family Singers (Maria is third from left)
The Sound of Music
Maria von Trapp
Born January 26, 1905 d. 1987
Austrian-born singer, matriarch of the singing von Trapp family. Her book, The Story of the Trapp Family Singers (1949) was the inspiration for The Sound of Music movies and plays.
François Faber
Born January 26, 1887 d. 1915
Luxembourgian cyclist, Tour de France winner (1909, winning 5 consecutive stages). He was the first non-Frenchman to win the Tour de France. During WWI after receiving a telegram announcing the birth of his daughter, he jumped for joy in his trench and was killed by a German bullet.
Mary Mapes Dodge
Born January 26, 1831 d. 1905
American author. Writings: Hans Brinker, or the Silver Skates (1865).
Deaths
Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller
Died January 26, 1979 b. 1908
American politician. 41st U.S. Vice-President (1974-77), governor of New York (1959-73), and 1st Under Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare (1953-54). He was a grandson of John D. Rockefeller Sr., founder of Standard Oil.
William Wrigley, Jr.
Died January 26, 1932 b. 1861
American businessman. He founded the Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company in 1891. It would add chewing gum to its line of products the following year.
He originally sold Wrigley's Scouring Soap, offering premiums such as baking powder, as an incentive to buy his soap. He then switched to selling the baking powder offering chewing gum as an incentive to buy the baking powder. The chewing gum proved so popular that he began focusing on selling gum.
Wrigley's gum was originally made out of chicle, the milky latex of the sapodilla tree. In the 1960s they switched from chicle to synthetic rubber.
Invented Baseball, Cable Cars, and Fired the First Union Shot of the Civil War
Abner Doubleday
Died January 26, 1893 b. 1819
American Union soldier. He is credited with inventing baseball, although he never claimed so and modern research indicates similar games were played before he was born. He aimed the cannon that fired the first shot at the Confederacy after it fired on Fort Sumter at the start of the American Civil War. He also patented the cable car railway that runs in San Francisco.
U.S. President For a Day?
David Rice Atchison
Died January 26, 1886 b. 1807
American politician. U.S. President for a Day? Some claim that on March 4, 1849 he became U.S. President for a day. Outgoing President James K. Polk's term ended at noon on March 4, which was a Sunday. His successor, Zachary Taylor, refused to be sworn into office on Sunday. Under the presidential succession law in place at the time, Atchison who was President pro tempore and therefore Acting Vice President, was believed by some to have become Acting President. And at 41 years of age, this would have made him the youngest ever U.S. President.
However, most historians dismiss this claim citing the Constitution doesn't require the President-elect to take the oath of office to hold the office, just to execute the powers. And since Atchison never swore the oath either, he did not become Acting President.
Jenner Giving the First Vaccination
Jenner Giving the First Vaccination
Invented the Vaccination
Edward Jenner
Died January 26, 1823 b. 1749
English physician. He invented the vaccination (1796). After observing that milkmaids were generally immune to smallpox, Jenner postulated that the pus in the blisters that milkmaids received from cowpox (a disease similar to smallpox, but much less virulent) protect someone from smallpox. He then went on to test and prove his theory. Although others had previously observed that those who contracted cowpox were immune to smallpox, it was Jenner who proved that the pus from someone with cowpox would provide immunity.
It was estimated at the time that 60% of the population acquired smallpox and 20% of the population died of it. It is said that his work has saved more lives than the work of any other human.
Napoleon Bonaparte, who at the time was at war with Britain, vaccinated all of his troops. When Jenner requested he release English prisoners of war and permit their return home, Napoleon did so, remarking he could not "refuse anything to one of the greatest benefactors of mankind." Smallpox eventually became the first disease eradicated by man.
Cloris Leachman
Died January 26, 2021 b. 1926
American Oscar-Emmy-winning actress. Leachman was nominated for 22 Primetime Emmy Awards, making her the most nominated actress in Emmy history. She won eight, tying with Julia Louis-Dreyfus for the most awarded actress in Emmy history.
Film: The Last Picture Show (1971), Young Frankenstein (1974, Frau Blücher, "neigh!"), and History of the World, Part I (1981). TV: The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1970-75, Phyllis Lindstrom), Phyllis (1975-77, Phyllis Lindstrom), and Malcolm in the Middle (2001-2006, Ida).
She was a runner-up in the 1946 Miss America Pageant, from which she earned a scholarship that she used to study acting.
Photo Credit: Keith Allison
Photo Credit: Keith Allison
Kobe Bryant (Kobe Bean Bryant)
Died January 26, 2020 b. 1978
American Oscar-winning basketball player. He entered the NBA directly from high school, playing his entire 20-year career with the Los Angeles Lakers (1996-2016), winning five NBA championships and NBA's Most Valuable Player in 2008. He is regarded as one of the greatest basketball players of all time. He also won gold medals as a member of the U.S. Olympic basketball team at the 2008 and 2012 Summer Olympics. In 2018, Bryant won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film for his film Dear Basketball.
Bryant died in a crash of his personal helicopter outside of Calabasas, California, at the age of 41. Eight others also died in the crash, including Bryant's 13-year-old daughter.
Michel Legrand
Died January 26, 2019 b. 1932
French Oscar-winning film composer. Film Music: Summer of '42 (1971, Oscar) and Brian's Song (1972, Oscar).
Mike Connors (Krekor Ohanian)
Died January 26, 2017 b. 1925
American actor. TV: Mannix (1967-75, Joe Mannix). He also played Kirk Ohanian in the TV movie The Killer Who Wouldn't Die (1976).
Hus birth name was Krekor Ohanian, but he originally took the stage name "Touch Connors" based on his basketball nickname "Touch". When Connors later decided he wanted to be credited using his birth name of Ohanian, Columbia Pictures told him that he had already done too much work as Connors, though he was allowed to change his first name to Mike. Connors later stated he hated the name "Touch Connors" from the beginning and said not using his real name the only big regret of his career.
Barbara Hale
Died January 26, 2017 b. 1922
American Emmy-winning actress. Known for playing Perry Mason's secretary Della Street on TV's Perry Mason (1957-66). She also played in 30 made for TV Perry Mason films (1985-95). Her real-life son William Katt played detective Paul Drake, Jr. in nine of her Perry Mason TV movies and also played the lead in the TV series Greatest American Hero (1981-83).
Abe Vigoda
Died January 26, 2016 b. 1921
American actor. TV: Barney Miller (1975-77, Detective Fish). Film: The Godfather (1972, Salvatore Tessio).
Robert Hegyes
Died January 26, 2012 b. 1951
American actor. TV: Welcome Back Kotter (1975-79, Juan Epstein).
Dimitra Arliss
Died January 26, 2012 b. 1932
American actress. TV: Rich Man, Poor Man-Book II (1976, Maria Falconetti). Film: The Sting (1973, Hit woman Loretta).
Donald J. Budge
Died January 26, 2000 b. 1915
American tennis Hall of Famer. First to win the tennis Grand Slam (1938). He was the World No. 1 ranked player for five years.
José Ferrer (José Vicente Ferrer de Otero y Cintrón)
Died January 26, 1992 b. 1912
Puerto Rican Oscar-Tony-winning actor. He was the first Hispanic actor to win an Oscar. Film: Whirlpool (1949) and Cyrano de Bergerac (1950, Oscar).
Bear Bryant (Paul William Bryant)
Died January 26, 1983 b. 1913
American football coach. Head coach of the University of Alabama's Crimson Tide (1958-82), and was at the time the winningest coach in college football history (323 wins), six national championships, and thirteen conference championships.
Edward G. Robinson (Emmanuel Goldenberg)
Died January 26, 1973 b. 1893
American actor. Film: Little Caesar (1931, the gangster boss).
Nikolaus August Otto
Died January 26, 1891 b. 1832
German co-inventor of the internal combustion engine (1867) and built a four-stroke Otto cycle engine (1876) which is used in most automobiles.
Kirkpatrick Macmillan
Died January 26, 1878 b. 1812
Scottish blacksmith. He is credited with inventing the rear-wheel-driven bicycle (1839), although many historians believe Thomas McCall was the inventor.