| On January 11, 1569, the first lottery was held in England at the steps of St. Paul's, consisting of 400,000 lots at 10 shillings each. In the following years, the profits from lotteries were used to repair harbors and ports and provided funds for expensive military campaigns. |
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| In 1672, Newton became a member of the Royal Society—a group of scientists committed to the experimental method. Isaac Newton’s contributions to science were many and varied. They covered revolutionary ideas and practical inventions. His work in physics, mathematics and astronomy is of importance even today. His contributions in any one of these fields would have made him famous; collectively, they make him truly outstanding. |
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| Mount Etna rises over 3300 m to dominate eastern Sicily. Its activity has been recorded for over 2500 years, making it one of the best documented volcanoes on Earth. It lies in a major earthquake zone, and volcanic eruptions are often accompanied or punctuated by earthquakes. The Catania region suffered a very large earthquake on January 11, 1693, which killed 18,000 people out of a population of 24,000. |
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| Pennsylvania also chartered in 1759 what was in effect a life insurance company for a limited class, styled the Corporation for the Relief of Poor and Distressed Presbyterian Ministers, and of the Poor and Distressed Widows and Children of Presbyterian Ministers. This is still in existence and has done a useful work. Its main design, however, being charitable, it has not been included in the list of colonial incorporations. |
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| Franklin was representing the American colonies as an ambassador in London, and sent a crate of rhubarb to his friend John Bartram. The plant, native to central Asia, had been introduced in Europe by traders; the rhubarb which Franklin sent to America had come to London from Siberia. Rhubarb first appeared in American seed catalogues in 1829, and soon became a popular ingredient in pies. John Bartram was also responsible for introducing kohlrabi and poinsettias to America. |
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| In 1787, William Herschel discovered the first moon of Uranus, six years after he had discovered the planet. Titania's diameter is 998.2 miles (1610 km) and its distance from Uranus is 271,104 miles (436,300 km). |  |
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| Jefferson in January 1803 recommended that James Monroe join Livingston in Paris as minister extraordinary. Monroe's charge was to obtain land east of the Mississippi. Monroe's instructions, drawn up by Madison and approved by Jefferson, allocated up to $10 million for the purchase of New Orleans and all or part of the Floridas. If this bid failed, Monroe was instructed to try to purchase just New Orleans, or, at the very least, secure U.S. access to the Mississippi and the port. |
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| The pineapple, long a symbol of Hawaii, did not originate there. Even though Polynesians lived on Hawaii for a great many years, the pineapple is not native to the Hawaiian Islands. In fact, pineapples did not appear there until 1813. Don Francisco de Paula y Marin, a Spanish advisor to King Kamehameha, brought the famous fruits back with him. |
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| Many people credit Alexander Campbell in January 1878. Others point to the New York Dairy Company without mentioning Campbell. But all sources agree that the first patent for a milk bottle was the Lester Milk Jar issued in January 1878.Up to that time, moo juice had been ladled out of a container by the milkman, right into the customer’s own container. |
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| Since 1902, Popular Mechanics has been published as a monthly magazine that describes the wonders of twentieth-century technology for the lay reader in a "gee-whiz" style, with do-it-yourself home-workshop projects thrown in for good measure. The periodical made its appearance in Chicago in January 1902 as “Popular Mechanics” and did not become “Popular Mechanics Magazine” until 1910, by which time it had already absorbed another small technical publication by the name of “Technical World.” Its readership started with only five subscribers in 1902 plus a few readers paying five cents a copy at the newsstand. |
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| In 1913 the Highlanders-Hilltoppers officially changed their name to the New York Yankees. They abandoned Hilltop Park and became tenants at the Polo Grounds of the Giants who had won three pennants in a row. Farrell and Devery, the co-owners, who had begun as friends, now barely spoke to each other. With their team a shambles and their varied business forays fizzling, it was time for them to move on. Enter Colonel Jake Ruppert and Col. Tillinghast L'Hommedieu Huston. They paid the $460,000 price and became co-owners of the New York Yankees, a franchise that had a 12 year record of 861-937, an average attendance of just 345,000 each season. |
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| In 1922, Leonard Thompson, age 14, was the very first person to receive an injection of insulin as a treatment for diabetes. He weighed only 65 pounds and was about to slip into a coma and die. The allergic reaction he displayed was attributed to an impurity in the pioneering extract provided by Drs. Frederick Banting and Charles Best. Twelve days later Thompson received a more purified dose of insulin prepared by Dr. James Collip. His symptoms began to disappear as his blood sugar returned to normal and he regained strength. Thompson lived another 13 years with the insulin. He died at the age of 27 due to pneumonia, a diabetes complication. |
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| Earheart departed Wheeler Field on January 11, 1935 and landed in Oakland, California to a cheering crowd of thousands. President Roosevelt sent his congratulations..."You have scored again...(and) shown even the "doubting Thomases" that aviation is a science which cannot be limited to men only." |  |
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| 1946 was a big year for Nat King Cole. The Metronome magazine readers' poll named his trio the "best small combo of the year" and "the major influence on music of 1946." In December of 1946 he had a monster hit with the Christmas Song, which reached #3 on the pop charts. The only thing keeping it from #1 was Cole's own recording of I Love You for Sentimental Reasons. In 1947, Nat made the transition from jazz pianist to singer. At the suggestion of his wife and manager, he began to stand out in front of the band. |
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| Lloyd H. Conover is credited with having invented the first antibiotic made by chemically modifying a naturally-produced drug. His creation, Tetracycline, has been one of the most frequently prescribed antibiotics in the United States for treating bacterial infections for several decades. |
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| The Chordettes were one of the longest-lived vocal groups with roots in the mainstream pop and vocal harmonies of the 1940s and early 1950s. Although the four women's arrangements owed more to the Andrews Sisters than doo wop, they did, unlike many of their peers, prove fairly adaptable to the rock era. First establishing themselves with the huge (and non-rock) pop hit "Mr. Sandman" in 1954, they continued to chart in the last half of the 1950s and the early 1960s, often with covers of rock and RB songs. The 2 1958 hit "Lollipop" was the biggest of these. |
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| Lloyd Bridges starred as Mike Nelson, an ex-Navy frogman who became an underwater trouble shooter, in "Sea Hunt" on CBS-TV. The show remained on the network for four years. The underwater sequences, for those wondering, were filmed in Silver Springs, Florida. The above-water sequences were filmed at Marineland of the Pacific. |  |
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| Danny And The Juniors were the Philadelphia group of Danny Rapp, Dave White, Frank Maffei and Joe Terranova. At the time, they were known as The Juvenairs. They were on a street corner singing when a someone who worked at a recording studio heard them and brought them in to sing. This was originally titled "Do The Bop." Dick Clark suggested renaming it "At The Hop" after "Do The Bop" flopped. Changing from "Bop" to "Hop" gave it the pop to put it over the top, and the band later signed with Clark's Swan Records. |
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| The Beatles performed "Please Please Me" on their second Ed Sullivan Show appearance in 1964.
Sullivan was not a fan of many Rock groups, but loved The Beatles and had them on his show whenever he could. This was
the second Beatles single released in England, the first being "Love Me Do." This was The Beatles first single
released in America. The Beatles couldn't get a major label to release it, so It went to a small label called Vee Jay
records, who released it as a single 3 times.
"Ask Me Why" was released as the B-side to "Please Please Me," which was the Beatles first US single. The Beatles performed this at one of their early auditions for Parlophone Records. |
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| An instrumental with space sound effects, this is about the Telstar communications satellite, which was launched shortly before this was written. This was the best-selling British single of 1962. It was also the first song by a British group to hit #1 in the US. This did not happen again until The Beatles "I Want To Hold Your Hand" in 1964. |  |
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| Lawrence had to go in and in a three hour period, deliver four sides. So, at that time, "Go Away Little Girl" was on that date. It was one of four sides. The recording probably didn't take more than four or five tries. Columbia probably decided on the second or third take. |  |
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| Though the club was billed as a discothèque, meaning only recordings with no bands, the Whisky a Go Go opened with a live band led by Johnny Rivers and a short-skirted female DJ spinning records between sets from a suspended cage at the right of the stage. When the girl DJ danced during Rivers' set, the audience thought it was part of the act and the concept of Go-Go dancers in cages was born. Rivers rode the Whisky-born "go-go" craze to national fame with records recorded partly "live at the Whisky." The Miracles recorded the song "Going to a Go-Go" in 1966, which was covered in 1982 by The Rolling Stones, and Whisky a Go Go franchises sprang up all over the country. |
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| Vinton did this in one take. He dismissed everybody from the studio, saying, "That's it. I could sing this all night, but it's not going to get any better. It's a hit just the way it is. Goodnight, everybody!" This was the last US #1 hit before the Beatles took over the charts. When this dropped off, The Beatles came on for 14 weeks, with "I Want To Hold Your Hand" (7 weeks), "She Loves You" (2 weeks), and "Can't Buy Me Love" (5 weeks). |
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| As America's first widely publicized official recognition of the dangers, it stated Cigarette smoking is a health hazard of sufficient importance in the United States to warrant appropriate remedial action. Ordered by President Kennedy (1962), the report reviewed over 7,000 articles in medical journals, and concluded that cigarette smoking was a cause of lung and larynx cancer and of chronic bronchitis. Male cigarette smokers were 1,000 times more likely to die from lung cancer than non-smokers. In 1965, the U.S. Congress required printed health warnings on cigarette packages. |
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| "I Heard it Through the Grapevine" was the longest running Motown #1 hit. It topped the US chart for 7 weeks. It was Gaye's first #1 hit. He had another 5 years later with "Let's Get It On." In 1987, this got new life when it was used in commercials for California Raisins, with claymation raisins performing the song. |  |
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| The designated hitter rule was approved on January 11, 1973. It was used during exhibition games prior to the season and the first ever official spring training designated hitter was Larry Hisle of the Minnesota Twins! Ron Blomberg of the Yankees was the first DH during the regular season. |  |
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| The trial of the Watergate Seven (Barker, Gonzalez, Hunt, Liddy, Martinez, McCord and Sturgis) began on January 6 in Washington. It is presided over by Judge John Sirica. On January 11, E. Howard Hunt pleaded guilty. |
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| In 1974 a collaboration with John Lennon, resulting in John covering The Beatles's "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" and Lennon's "One Day at a Time", and in return John and band being featured on Lennon's "Whatever Gets You Thru the Night". In what would be Lennon's last live performance, the pair performed these two No. 1 hits along with the Beatles classic "I Saw Her Standing There" at Madison Square Garden. The concert was recorded and released two years later with another live concert recording on the album "Here & There." |
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| When Ritchie left the group in 1981 to pursue a solo career, his fans rolled with him. They watched Lionel become one of the most successful artists of the '80's, earning a string of 13 top ten hits between 1981 and 1987, including five number 1 singles "Endless Love," "Truly," "All Night Long (All Night)," "Hello," and "Say You (Say Me.") Can't Slow Down (released in 1983) sold 20 million units worldwide and 1986's Dancing On The Ceiling became a pop and R&B classic (and included the Oscar nominated song "Say You Say Me). |
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| “Walk Like an Egyptian” was the biggest hit for The Bangles, but it's one of their least favorite songs. It was offered to Toni Basil, but she turned it down. The Bangles needed one more song to complete their album, so they took it. In the US, this was the #1 song of 1987. |  |
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| On his visit to Lithuania, Gorbachev appealed to Lithuanians not to press for independence and promises that the Supreme Soviet will consider laws for secession, as well as more decentralization and more democratization. Independence was achieved in September of 1991, three months before the collapse of the USSR. |
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