Then & now: Cracker Jack and its signature sailor mascot have
evolved over the years.

One of the oldest American forms of junk food, the Cracker Jack was invented
and trademarked in 1896 when the brothers who formed F.W. Rueckheim &
Bro., mixed molasses-flavored, caramel-coated popcorn and peanuts together.

Fredrich William Rueckheim

   
Louis Rueckheim
           

Today,January 19, celebrates all of the different ways the corn-based treat      
popcorn can be enjoyed savory or sweet, caramelized, buttered or plain.

The Popcorn Board, a non-profit started in 1998, says Americans consume
13 billion quarts of popcorn a year, more than any other country in the
world.

CAMILLE
BOHANNON

On this day in 2001, President Bill Clinton escaped indictment by surrendering his Arkansas law license for five years and admitting
that he made false statements under oath about his affair with
Monica Lewinsky.

A twelve-year-old Dolly Parton.

       Dolly Parton at Sevier High School.  

Dolly Rebecca Parton is 73 years young today.

Country singer Dolly Parton has released twenty-six #1 Billboard hits,
including "Jolene," "Coat of Many Colors," and "9 to 5." Parton’s music
includes 25 Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA)-certified
gold, platinum and multi-platinum awards.

She grew up alongside eleven brothers and sisters in a one-room cabin
in Appalachia, Tennessee where she learned to sing at church.

She received the nickname The Queen of Country Music after releasing
more #1 hits than any other country singer in U.S. history. Dolly is one
of only seven female artists to win the Country Music Association’s
Entertainer of the Year Award and has received 47 Grammy nominations.

Porter Wagoner and Dolly Parton in 1969.

Glen Wood (July 18, 1925 – January 18, 2019)

(Fox News) – Glen Wood died on Friday, leaving behind one
of the most glorious legacies in the sport’s history.

Glen and his brother Leonard founded their namesake Wood
Brothers Racing team in 1950 and entered the NASCAR Cup
series in 1953. Glen would go on to win four races over an
11-year driving career, then help shepherd a long list of racers
that would include 19 named to NASCAR’s 50 Greatest Drivers
list alongside him. Stars like Buddy Baker, Cale Yarborough,
Junior Johnson and Bill Elliott were among the top drivers
that spent time in a Wood Brothers car.

The Wood brothers from left: Glen and Leonard.

CAMILLE BOHANNON

On this day in 1943 during World War II, the Soviets announced that
they had broken the Nazi siege of Leningrad, which had began in September of 1941. As many as 200,000 Soviet soldiers were killed between September 1941 and May 1943 in the fighting.

Antiaircraft guns guarding the sky of Leningrad, in front of St. Isaac’s Cathedral.

On January 18, 2018, Russian President Vladimir Putin puts flowers
on a monument at Nevsky Pyatachok near Kirovsk, marking the 75th
anniversary of the battle that broke the Seige of Leningrad, in St.
Petersburg, Russia.
 

On this day in 1912, after a two-month ordeal, the expedition of
British explorer Robert Falcon Scott (above) arrives at the South
Pole only to find that Roald Amundsen, the Norwegian explorer,
had preceded them by just over a month. Disappointed, the
exhausted explorers prepared for a long and difficult journey
back to their base camp.

This notebook spent 100 years buried in Antarctic ice, left there by explorer Robert Falcon Scott.

Alton Glenn Miller (March 1, 1904 – December 15, 1944)

People magazine recently reported a retired trawlerman from
England is “utterly convinced” he pulled up the wreck of the
famed American bandleader’s aircraft in his fishing net 32 years
ago. And now, U.S.-based historical aircraft researchers from
TIGHAR say his account is “totally credible.”

According to TIGHAR, which stands for The International Group
for Historic Aircraft Recovery, the man was advised to drop his
unusual catch back into the English Channel, where it has
remained ever since. But he recorded the coordinates and the
magazine noted it is this key piece of evidence that may finally
lead to the site of Miller’s final resting place.

Miller, recognized as “the hottest recording artist of his era,”
dominated the swing music scene during his lifetime and was
famous for his self-penned signature tune, 1939’s “Moonlight
Serenade.”

A C-64 Norseman aircraft (above) is similar to the one Glenn Miller
was traveling to Paris in when it disappeared over the English 
Channel on December 15, 1944.