Epic Idiot's what happened
On This Day

January 18

1995
Longest time between the birth of surviving twins: Celeste Keys is born 95 days after her twin brother Timothy.

1994
First female cadet to attend the Citadel: The U.S. Supreme Court rules that the 151-year-old military college's male-only admissions policy is unconstitutional. Two days later, Shannon Faulkner became the first female cadet.

1991
Closest recorded approach of an asteroid to Earth, 105,700 miles.

1990
Marion Barry: The Washington D.C. mayor is filmed by the FBI smoking crack in a hotel room. He was later convicted of misdemeanor drug possession.

1967
Boston Strangler: Albert DeSalvo is convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment on charges unrelated to the strangulations. Although he confessed, he was never tried for the murders due to lack of evidence.

1958
First black to play in an NHL game, Willie O'Ree for the Boston Bruins.

1948
The Original Amateur Hour debuts on DuMont. It was one of only four shows to appear on all four major TV networks (ABC, CBS, NBC, DuMont). Its contestants included future stars Pat Boone and Gladys Knight. Elvis Presley had been turned down for the show.

1943
World War II: American bakers are ordered to quit selling sliced bread for the remainder of the war.

1911
First plane to land aboard a ship: Eugene Ely lands on the USS Pennsylvania.

1955
Kevin Costner, American actor. Film: The Big Chill (1983, Alex's corpse), The Untouchables (1987), Bull Durham (1988), and Dances with Wolves (1990).

1941
Bobby Goldsboro, American pop singer. Music: Honey (1968, #1) and Autumn of My Life (1968).

1933
Ray Dolby, American inventor. He developed the Dolby noise reduction system. He also won an Emmy award for his contribution to the first video recorder (1957).

1933
John Boorman, English film director. Film: Deliverance (1972) and Hope and Glory (1987).

1918     d. 1936
Norman Myers Chaney, American actor, Chubby of The Little Rascals. He appeared in 18 Our Gang films. He had a glandular ailment and continued to gain weight as he got older. His weight dropped from over 300 pounds to less than 140 pounds after undergoing surgery for his ailment in 1935. He died a year later at age 18.

1904     d. 1986
Cary Grant (Archibald Leach), British-born Oscar-winning actor. Film: North By Northwest (1959) and That Touch of Mink (1962).

1892     d. 1957
Oliver Hardy (Oliver Norvell Hardy), American comedian, actor. He made over 100 films with partner Stan Laurel.

1882     d. 1956
A.A. Milne (Allan Alexander Milne), English author. Writings: Winnie-the-Pooh (1926).

1854     d. 1934
Thomas Augustus Watson, American telephone technician and shipbuilder. He was Alexander Bell's assistant during his discovery of the telephone and was one of the founders of Bell Telephone.

1813     d. 1906
Joseph Farwell Glidden, American farmer. He invented the first practical barbed wire.

1782     d. 1852
Daniel Webster, American statesman.

1779     d. 1869
Peter Roget, English lexicographer, compiler of Roget's Thesaurus (1852).

1993     b. circa 1906
Eleanor Hibbet, British historical novelist. Writings: Widow of Windsor and The Bride of Pendorric. Her books, written under names including Victoria Holt, Jean Plaidy, Philippa Carr, have sold an estimated 75,000,000 copies.

1978     b. 1920
Carl Betz, American Emmy-winning actor. TV: The Donna Reed Show (Donna's husband) and Judd for the Defense (the tough Texas lawyer).

1967     b. 1921
Goose (Reese Tatum), American basketball player, "Clown Prince of Basketball." He played with the Harlem Globetrotters (1946-55).

1939     b. 1866
Carl Emil "Bunny" Schultze, American cartoonist, creator of Foxy Grandpa (1900).

1936     b. 1865
Rudyard Kipling, English Nobel-winning author, poet. Writings: The Jungle Book (1894).

1862     b. 1790
John Tyler, 10th U.S. President (1841-45) and 10th U.S. Vice-President (1841). He took office after Pres. Harrison died after having served only 31 days. He was also the only president to elope (1844) and the first President to decline to run for a second term.

1861     b. 1783
John Heathcoat, English manufacturer. He invented a lacemaking machine (1808) which was considered by far to be the most complicated machine of its time.

Please send Corrections and Omissions to epicidiot.com