Did you know that it was on this day in 1493 Christopher Columbus sets sail for Spain from Hispaniola, ending his first voyage to the New World? Or that it was on this day in 1759 the British Museum opens?
And on this day in 1889 The Coca-Cola Company, then known as the Pemberton Medicine Company, is originally incorporated in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1919 not only are Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht, two of the most prominent socialists in Germany, tortured and murdered by the Freikorps, but the Boston Molasses Disaster takes place, a large molasses tank in Boston, Massachusetts, bursts and a wave of molasses rushes through the streets, killing 21 people and injuring 150 others, in 1943 the world’s largest office building, The Pentagon, is dedicated in Arlington, Virginia and in 1962 The Derveni papyrus, Europe’s oldest surviving manuscript dating to 340 BC, is found in northern Greece.
It was also on this day in 1967 the first Super Bowl is played in Los Angeles, California. The Green Bay Packers defeat the Kansas City Chiefs 35-10, in 1970 Moammar Gadhafi is proclaimed premier of Libya, in 1991 the United Nations deadline for the withdrawal of Iraqi forces from occupied Kuwait expires, preparing the way for the start of Operation Desert Storm, in 2001 Wikipedia, a free Wiki content encyclopedia, goes online and in 2009 US Airways Flight 1549 makes an emergency landing in the Hudson River shortly after takeoff from LaGuardia Airport in New York, New York. All passengers and crew members survive.
Some birthdays to remember on this day, or forget if you prefer, are Molière, French playwright (1622-1673), Aristotle Onassis, Greek shipping magnate (1906-1975), Jean Bugatti, German-born automobile designer (1909-1939), Lloyd Bridges, American actor (1913-1998), Martin Luther King, Jr., American civil rights leader, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (1929-1968), Captain Beefheart, American musician and visual artist (1941-2010) and James Nesbitt, Northern Irish actor (1965).
Need a reason to raise a glass of bubbly on this day? Why not join in the celebration of Tree Planting Day (Egypt), Korean Alphabet Day (North Korea) or One of the two Carmentalia, in honor of Carmenta. (Roman Empire).
For more information about historic events on this day, please go here.
A Glass of Bubbly 