On This Day January 21

1994
John Wayne Bobbitt: Lorena Bobbitt is acquitted by reason of temporary insanity on charges resulting from when she cut off her husband's penis. She claimed he had abused and raped her.

1968
Nuclear Accident: Radiation, from the four hydrogen bombs it was carrying, is released into the atmosphere when an American B-52 bomber crashes near Greenland.

1930
Photos of the planet Pluto are taken at the Lowell Observatory in Arizona, although the planet wasn't identified until a month later.

1908
Smoking: New York City passes the Sullivan Ordinance making it illegal for women to smoke in public.

1789
First novel written in America by an American author is published, The Power of Sympathy. Originally credited to Sarah Wentworth Morton, it is now credited to her neighbor William Hill Brown.

1785
The Chippewa, Delaware, Ottawa, and Wyandot Indians cede their lands south of the Ohio to the U.S. with the Treaty of Fort McIntosh.

1989
Christopher John Bollig, his birth made Augusta Bunge (109) a great-great-great-great-grandmother.

1968
Charlotte Ross, American actress, singer. TV: Days of Our Lives (Eve Donovan) and The Heights. Music: How Do You Talk To an Angel? (1992, from the TV show The Heights).

1957
Geena Davis, American Oscar-winning actress. Film: Tootsie (1982), The Fly (1986), The Accidental Tourist (1988, Oscar), and Earth Girls are Easy (1989).

1956
Robby Benson, American actor. Film: One on One (1977). TV: Search For Tomorrow (Bruce Carson). He directed White Hot (1988), which was the first American film shot directly on High Definition Video (HDTV).

1950
Billy Ocean (Leslie Sebastian Charles), British singer. Music: Caribbean Queen (1984, #1, Grammy) and Loverboy (1984).

1947
Warren Zevon, American singer, songwriter, Excitable Boy (1978) and Werewolves of London (1978).

1947
Jill Eikenberry, American actress, Ann Kelsey of L.A. Law. She is married to Michael Tucker who plays her husband on L.A. Law.

1940
Jack Nicklaus, American golfer, 6-time Masters winner, and 5-time PGA player of the year. He is the all-time leader in major tournament wins.

1926
Steve Reeves, American actor, body builder. He held the Mr. America, Mr. World, and Mr. Universe titles.

1925 d. 1992
Benny Hill, British comedian, singer. Music: Ernie (The Fastest Milkman in the West) (1971, British #1).

1924 d. 1994
Telly Savalas (Aristotle Savalas), American Emmy-winning actor. Film: The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965, Pontius Pilate - for which he shaved his head). TV: Kojak (Emmy, detective Theo Kojak).

1921 d. 1983
Barney B. Clark, American dentist, first person to have a permanent artificial heart successfully implanted (Dec. 2, 1982).

1815 d. 1848
Horace Wells, American dentist, first to use nitrous oxide (laughing gas) for dental anesthesia (1844).

1813 d. 1890
Major General John Charles Fremont, American mapmaker, explored the Western U.S., and was the first Republican candidate for U.S. president (1856). He was court-martialed and convicted of mutiny by the U.S. Army (1847-48).

1743 d. 1798
John Fitch, American pioneer steamboat builder. He launched his first steamboat in 1787.

1985 b. 1928
Barbara Cowsill, American singer, member and mother of the singing family The Cowsills. Music: The Rain The Park And Other Things (1967, #2). They were the basis for TV's The Partridge Family.

1984 b. 1904
Johnny Weismuller, American swimmer, actor, won three gold medals in the 1924 and two in the 1928 Olympics. He is famous for his portrayal of Tarzan.

1984 b. ????
J. R. "Bob" Dobbs, American founder of the Church of the SubGenius He was vacuum cleaner salesman in the 1950s until he saw a vision of God on a television set. The vision inspired him to write the "PreScriptures" (as described in the Book of the SubGenius) and found his Church. He was assassinated in San Francisco in 1984, though the Church states that he has come back from the dead several times since then. Quote: "You'll PAY to know what you really think."

1959 b. 1881
Cecil Blount De Mille, American Oscar-winning film director, called the founder of Hollywood. Film: The Ten Commandments (1923 and 1956), The King of Kings (1927), Cleopatra (1934), and Samson and Delilah (1949).

1959 b. 1927
Carl Switzer, American actor. Film: Alfalfa of The Little Rascals, It's a Wonderful Life (1946, Freddie Othello). He was shot to death, after attacking a man with a knife, during an argument over $50.

1950 b. 1903
George Orwell (Eric Arthur Blair), English author. Writings: 1984 (1949).

1928 b. 1858
George Washington Goethals, American engineer. He built the Panama Canal (1914) and was the first governor of the Canal Zone (1914-16).

1924 b. 1870
Vladimir Lenin (Vladimir Ilich Ulyanov), Russian revolutionary, founder of the Soviet Union in (1917).

1901 b. 1835
Elisha Gray, American inventor. He filed a patent for the telephone the same day as Alexander Graham Bell (1876). A long legal battle ensued which Bell ultimately won (1888). He also invented a teleautograph for transmitting handwriting.

1892 b. 1819
John Couch Adams, English astronomer, in 1845 he correctly predicted the existence of the planet Neptune, which was discovered the following year.

1793 b. 1754
Louis XVI, King of France (1774-92), responsible for square handkerchiefs; as a favor to Marie Antoinette he decreed that all handkerchiefs must have this shape. He was beheaded by French revolutionaries.

1736 b. ????
Jean Louis, French-born seaman, his will established a charity hospital in New Orleans, which is now the oldest hospital in the U.S.

1609 b. 1540
Joseph Justus Scaliger, French scholar, founder of modern chronology. He created the Julian Period calendar - it starts on January 1, 4713 B.C.

January 21

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Birthdays

Deaths