January 28th in History

On this day in history —

  • The Diet of Worms begins (1521)
  • The word “serendipity” is coined by Horace Walpole in a letter (1754)
  • Pride and Prejudice is published (1813)
  • Walter Arnold of East Peckham, Kent, becomes the first person convicted of speeding, and is fined one shilling plus costs. He was doing 8 mph in a 2 mph zone (1896)
  • The name “Pakistan” is coined. The word means “Land of the Pure” in Urdu and Persian, but is actually an acronym for Punjab, Afghania, Kashmir, Sindh, and BaluchisTAN. (1933)
  • Elvis makes his first US television appearance (1956)
  • Legos are patented (1958)
  • The last episode of The Goon Show is broadcast (1958)
  • Space shuttle Challenger explodes after liftoff (1986)

It’s the birthday of —

  • Henry VII of England (1457)
  • John Baskerville, typographer (1706)
  • Henry Morton Stanley, journalist and explorer who reportedly asked, “Dr. Livingston, I presume?” (1841)
  • Colette, novelist (1873)
  • Arthur Rubenstein, pianist (1887)
  • Ernst Lubitsch, filmmaker (1892)
  • Jackson Pollock, painter (1912)
  • Kurt Biedenkopf, German politician (1930)
  • Alan Alda, actor (1936)
  • Susan Howard, actress (1944)
  • Mikhail Baryshnikov, dancer (1948)
  • Gregg Popovich, basketball coach (1949)
  • Barbi Benton, playmate (1950)
  • Rick Warren, televangelist and author (1954)
  • Sarah McLachlan, singer-songwriter (1968)
  • Elijah Wood, actor (1981)

Deaths —

  • Charlemagne, emperor (814)
  • Henry VIII of England (1547)
  • W. B. Yeats, poet (1939)
  • Jerry Siegel, co-creator of Superman (1996)

Holidays and Celebrations —

  • Army Day (Armenia)
  • Data Privacy Day

Informal and made-up holidays include National Kazoo Day and Thank a Plug-In Developer Day.

(*O.S., or Old Style, when used, refers to the fact that Russia did not convert from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar until 1918.)