Epiphany (Twelfth Night in England): Celebrating the visit of the Magi to the baby Jesus in the manger.

1994 Nancy Kerrigan-Tonya Harding Kerrigan, the 1993 U.S. figure skating champion and Olympic bronze medalist, is attacked after a practice by a man who hit her on the knee with a club.

1973 First woman to receive an electoral vote Theodora Nathan, vice-presidential candidate for the Libertarian Party.

1971 Successful synthesis a human growth hormone is announced by the Univ. of California.

1969 Presidential UFO Future U.S. President, Jimmy Carter sights a UFO. He would file a report of the incident in 1973 stating, "It was the darndest thing I've ever seen. It was big, it was very bright, it changed colors and it was about the size of the moon. We watched it for ten minutes, but none of us could figure out what it was. …If I become President, I'll make every piece of information this country has about UFO sightings available to the public and the scientists." Source: Above Top Secret

1966 First black American-born Catholic bishop Harold Robert Perry is named auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of New Orleans.

1955 First woman lieutenant governor Consuelo Northrop Bailey of Vermont is sworn in.

1948 The Treasure of the Sierra Madre The Oscar-winning Bogart classic movie is released. "Badges!? We ain't got no badges. We don't need no badges! I don't have to show you any stinking badges!"

1942 First around-the-world commercial flight A Pan American Airways flight, that had started from San Francisco December 12, arrives in New York City. It had covered 31,500 miles.

1941 World War II Pres. F.D. Roosevelt defines the "Four Freedoms" - freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from fear, and freedom from want.

1912 New Mexico becomes the 47th state.

1885 First black state legislator to represent white-majority constituency Bishop Benjamin William Arnett of Ohio (1885-87).

1866 First U.S. robbery of a train while en route $500,000 is stolen during a trip from New York City to Boston. The robbers were caught and sentenced to prison.

1844 First U.S. iron patent It is granted for a process of obtaining malleable iron from iron ore.

1838 Telegraph Samuel F.B. Morse demonstrates his telegraph.

1702 Louisiana The territory's capital is established by Bienville on west side of Mobile Bay, the first settlement in Alabama.

1639 First American surplus crop destruction It was ordered by the Virginia General Assembly to increase the price of tobacco.

1540 King Henry VIII takes his fourth wife, Anne of Cleves. Later, displeased with his new wife, he executed first minister Thomas Cromwell who had arranged the marriage.

1957 Nancy Lopez American golfer, 1978 Sportswoman of the Year.

1944 Bonnie Franklin American actress. TV: One Day at a Time (Ann Romano).

1929 Vic Tayback d. 1990 American actor. TV: Alice (Mel).

1925 John DeLorean d. 2005 American auto executive. In 1982 he was arrested for possession of 59 pounds of cocaine with the intent to distribute. He plead not guilty and was acquitted. He was responsible for Pontiac's GTO and Firebird and the DeLorean (as featured in the Back to the Future movies) automobiles.

1924 Earl Scruggs American bluegrass musician, with Lester Flatt. Music: Foggy Mountain Breakdown (1948), and the themes for The Beverly Hillbillies and Petticoat Junction.

1921 Lou Harris American public opinion analyst.

1920 Sun Myung Moon Korean evangelist, founder of the Unification Church, whose members are known as "moonies."

1914 David Bruce d. 1976 (Andrew McBroom), actor. TV: Beulah (Harry Henderson).

1913 Tom Brown d. 1990 American actor. TV: Gunsmoke (Ed O'Connor) and General Hospital (Al Weeks).

1913 Loretta Young (Gretchen Young), American Oscar-Emmy-winning actress. Film: The Farmer's Daughter (1947, Oscar). TV: The Loretta Young Show.

1912 Danny Thomas d. 1991 (Amos Jacobs), American actor. TV: Make Room for Daddy (daddy).

1880 Tom Mix d. 1940 American silent film western actor. His action-packed films set the pattern for future westerns.

1878 Carl Sandburg d. 1967 American Pulitzer-winning poet and Lincoln biographer.

circa 1852 Sherlock Holmes fictional detective created by Arthur Conan Doyle.

1412 Joan of Arc d. 1431 (Jeanne D'Arc), French patriot. She led the French armies against the English. Condemned by the Church, she was burned at the stake. She was canonized in 1920.

1367 Richard II d. 1400 King of England (1377-99).

2006 Lou Rawls b. 1933 American Grammy-winning blues singer, actor. Music: Love Is A Hurtin' Thing (1966, #1) and You'll Never Find Another Love Like Mine (1976, #1). Also known for his phrase "Yeahhhh, buddy!"

1993 Rudolf Nureyev b. 1938 Russian ballet dancer. He defected to the West in 1961, and became the Paris Opera ballet director (1983-89). He died of AIDS.

1993 Dizzy Gillespie b. 1917 (John Birks Gillespie), American jazz trumpeter. He ran for U.S. president in 1963.

1949 Victor Fleming b. 1883 American director. Film: The Wizard of Oz (1939) and Gone With the Wind (1939, Oscar).

1944 Ida M. Tarbell b. 1857 American author. Writings: The History of the Standard Oil Company (1904), for which Pres. Teddy Roosevelt called her a "muckraker."

1919 Theodore Roosevelt b. 1858 26th U.S. President (1901-09), 25th U.S. Vice-President (1901, the youngest president - age 42). He was the first president to: ride in an automobile (1902), submerge in a submarine (1905), and fly in an airplane (1910). He was also the only president not to use the word "I" is his inaugural address (1905), and the first American to win a Nobel Peace Prize (1906). Known for his athleticism, during his presidency he participated in a boxing match with a professional fighter that cost him his sight in one eye (1904).

1918 Georg Cantor b. 1845 German mathematician. He founded the theory of infinite ensembles, was one of the first to define real numbers, and co-developed the Cantor-Dedekind axiom describing the one-to-one correspondence between real numbers and points on a line.

1884 Gregor Johann Mendel b. 1822 Austrian monk, botanist. His experiments with the garden pea constitute the basis of modern genetics. His work was all but ignored until 1900.

1882 Richard Henry Dana b. 1815 American sailor, lawyer, author. Writings: Two Years Before the Mast (1840).

1852 Louis Braille b. 1809 French teacher of the blind. Blind since the age of three, he created the Braille reading system for the blind.

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