January 29
Activity of the day
Today is . . .
- Constitution Day in Gibraltar
- Feast day of St Gildas the Wise
On this day . . .
- The first performance of The Beggar's Opera (1728)
- Britain's King George III dies insane at Windsor Castle (1820)
- Edgar Allan Poe's poem The Raven is first published (1845)
- Greenwich Mean Time is adopted by Scotland (1848)
- Kansas becomes the 34th state of Union (1861)
- The first petrol driven car is patented by Karl-Friedrich Benz (1886)
- In World War I, Paris is bombed by German zeppelins for the first time (1916)
- The radio show Desert Island Discs is first broadcast by the BBC (1942)
- La Fenice Opera House in Venice destroyed by fire (1996)
Births
- Frederick Delius, English composer (1862)
- W.C. Fields, American comedian (1879)
- Sacha Distel, French singer (1933)
- Germaine Greer, Autralian feminist writer (1939)
- Tom Selleck, American actor (1941)
- Marc Singer, Canadian-born actor (1948)
- Oprah Winfrey, American TV presenter (1954)
- Greg Louganis, American diver (1960)
- Marc Gasol, Spanish basketball player (1985)
Deaths
- George III, King of England (1820)
- Alfred Sisley, English painter (1899)
- Robert Frost, American poet (1963)
- Alan Ladd, American film actor (1964)
- Jimmy Durante, American actor and comedian (1980)
- John Martyn, Scottish singer and songwriter (1986)