TIM MAGUIRE

On this day in 1964, Pan Am flight 101 was greeted by over 5,000
Beatles fans as it arrived at New York’s JFK airport, bringing The
Beatles to the U.S. for the first time.

Ramzi Yousef, a Pakistani national who planned and carried out
the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center that killed six people
and injured 1,000 others, was arrested on this day in 1995.

Hussein bin Talal (November 14, 1935 – February 7, 1999)

Hussein was King of Jordan from the abdication of his father,
King Talal, on 11 August 1952, until his death from cancer in
1999.

Charles John Huffam Dickens (February 7, 1812 – June 9, 1870)

Charles Dickens was a prolific and highly influential 19th century British
author, who penned such acclaimed works as ‘Oliver Twist,’ ‘A Christmas
Carol,’ ‘David Copperfield’ and ‘Great Expectations.’

singer/songwriter Troyal Garth Brooks is 56 years old today.

According to the RIAA, Garth Brooks is the best-selling solo albums artist
in the U.S. with 148 million domestic units sold, ahead of Elvis Presley, and
is second only to the Beatles in total album sales overall. He is also one of 
the world’s best-selling artists of all time, having sold more than 170 million records. Brooks was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame October
21, 2012. He was also inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2011. 

ROSS SIMPSON

On this day in 1937, President Franklin D. Roosevelt proposed the
enlargement of the U.S. Supreme Court. The plan failed.

On February 8, 1937, the Senate Judiciary Committee met to
consider President Roosevelt’s request.

On this day in 1994, white separatist Byron De La
Beckwith was convicted in Jackson, MS, of the
1963 murder of civil rights leader Medgar Evers
(pictured below).

Medgar Wiley Evers
(July 2, 1925 – June 12, 1963)

William Seward Burroughs II
(February 5, 1914 – August 2, 1997)

Burroughs was a writer and artist, a primary figure of the
Beat Generation and a major postmodernist author whose
influence is considered to have affected a range of popular
culture as well as literature. He wrote eighteen novels and
novellas, six collections of short stories and four collections
of essays.

The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour was a comedy and variety 
show television series hosted by the Smothers Brothers (below)
and initially airing on CBS from on this day in 1967 to 1969.

Richard Remick Smothers and Thomas Bolyn Smothers lll.

Henry Louis Aaron is 84 years old today.

Hank Aaron, nicknamed "Hammer" or "Hammerin’ Hank", is a retired
American Major League Baseball right fielder who is currently the senior
vice president of the Atlanta Braves. He played 21 seasons for the Milwaukee/Atlanta Braves in the National League (NL) and two seasons
for the Milwaukee Brewers in the American League, from 1954 through
1976. Aaron held the MLB record for career home runs for 33 years, and
he still holds several MLB offensive records. He hit 24 or more home runs
every year from 1955 through 1973, and is one of only two players to hit
30 or more home runs in a season at least fifteen times. In 1999, The
Sporting News ranked Aaron fifth on its "100 Greatest Baseball Players"
list.

CARLATA BRADLEY

During World War II on this day in 1943, the remainder of Nazi forces from the Battle of Stalingrad surrendered to the Soviets. Stalingrad
has since been renamed Volgograd.

On this day in 1971, Idi Amin assumed power in Uganda after a coup
that ousted President Milton Obote.

James Augustine Aloysius Joyce
(February 2, 1882- January 13, 1941)

James Joyce was an Irish novelist, short story writer, and poet. He is
regarded as one of the most influential and important authors of the
20th century. Joyce is best known for his landmark 1922 work, Ulysses.

Eugene Curran Kelly (August 23, 1912 – February 2, 1996)

Gene Kelly was a dancer, actor of film, stage, and television,
singer, film director, producer, and choreographer. He was
known for his energetic and athletic dancing style.

ROSS SIMPSON

President George W. Bush’s first State of The Union Speech on
this day in 2002.

A bomb exploded at an abortion clinic in Birmingham, AL, killing an
off-duty policeman and severely wounding a nurse on this day in
1998.  Eric Rudolph (below) was charged with this bombing and
three other attacks in Atlanta.

Edgar Allan Poe’s "The Raven" was published for the first time in the "New York Evening Mirror on this day in 1845.

Edgar Allan Poe 
(January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849)

On this day in 1936, Ty Cobb received the most votes of any player
on the inaugural Baseball Hall of Fame ballot, receiving 222 out of
a possible 226 votes (98.2%); no other player received a higher percentage of votes until Tom Seaver in 1992. In 1999, editors at
the Sporting News ranked Ty Cobb third on their list of "Baseball’s
100 Greatest Players".

TY COBB, BABE RUTH, HONUS WAGNER, CHRISTY
MATHEWSON, WALTER JOHNSON.

Oprah Winfrey (Orpah Gail Winfrey) is 64 today.

Television host and producer Oprah Winfrey was named the
most influential woman in the world by TIME magazine and
hosted The Oprah Winfrey Show, the highest-rated syndicated
program on air, from 1986 to 2011. She was crowned Miss Black
Tennessee while in college and began co-anchoring the evening
news when she was nineteen. Oprah became the world’s first
female black billionaire and the richest self-made American
woman. She had a net worth over $2 billion in 2013.

The first issue, June 2000.

MIKE GRACIA

Hubert Horatio Humphrey Jr. (May 27, 1911 – January 13, 1978)

Japanese Chief Government Spokesman Koichi Kato issues an
official apology concerning World War ll sex slaves.

On this day in 1992, Japan apologized for forcing tens of thousands of Korean
women to serve as sex slaves or “comfort girls”, as they were called, for the 
Japanese soldiers during World War II. He said, "We cannot deny that the
former Japanese army played a role" in abducting and detaining the "comfort
girls," and "We would like to express our apologies and contrition".

L. Douglas Wilder of Virginia, the nation’s first elected black
governor, took the oath of office in Richmond on this day in 
1990.

Lawrence Douglas Wilder will turn 87 on January 17.

Emile Zola’s "J’accuse" was published in Paris on this day in 1898.

Stephen Collins Foster  (July 4, 1826 – January 13, 1864)

Foster is known as "the father of American music", was an American
songwriter known primarily for his parlor and minstrel music. Foster
wrote over 200 songs; among his best-known are "Oh! Susanna",
"Camptown Races", "My Old Kentucky Home", and "Beautiful
Dreamer".