On This Day January 22nd

 OTD

January 22nd is the Twenty-Second day of the year in the Gregorian calendar; 343 days remain until the end of the year.

 

Events

871 – Battle of Basing: The West Saxons led by King Æthelred I are defeated by the Danelaw Vikings at Basing.

1555 – The Ava Kingdom falls to the Taungoo Dynasty in Myanmar.

1808 – The Portuguese royal family arrives in Brazil after fleeing the French army's invasion of Portugal two months earlier.

1879 – The Battle of Isandlwana during the Anglo-Zulu War resulted in a British defeat.

1890 – The United Mine Workers of America was founded in Columbus, Ohio.

1901 – Edward VII was proclaimed King of the United Kingdom after the death of his mother, Queen Victoria.

1905 – Bloody Sunday in Saint Petersburg, the beginning of the 1905 revolution.

1917 – American entry into World War I: President Woodrow Wilson of the still-neutral United States calls for "peace without victory" in Europe.

1927 – Teddy Wakelam gives the first live radio commentary of a football match between Arsenal F.C. and Sheffield United at Highbury.

1947 – KTLA, the first commercial television station west of the Mississippi River, begins operation in Hollywood.

1968 – Apollo 5 lifts off, carrying the first Lunar module into space.

1973 – In a fight for the world heavyweight boxing championship in Kingston, Jamaica, challenger George Foreman knocks down champion Joe Frazier six times in the first two rounds before referee Arthur Mercante stops the fight.

1984 – The Apple Macintosh, the first consumer computer to popularize the computer mouse and the graphical user interface, is introduced during a Super Bowl XVIII television commercial.

2006 – Evo Morales is inaugurated as President of Bolivia, becoming the country's first indigenous president.

 

Birthdays

1552 – Walter Raleigh, English poet, soldier, courtier, and explorer (d. 1618)

1561 – Francis Bacon, English philosopher and politician, Attorney General for England and Wales (d. 1626)

1645 – William Kidd, Scottish sailor and pirate hunter (probable; d. 1701)

1788 – Lord Byron, English poet and playwright (d. 1824)

1865 – Wilbur Scoville, American chemist and pharmacist (d. 1942)

1906 – Robert E. Howard, American author, and poet (d. 1936)

1931 – Sam Cooke, American singer-songwriter (d. 1964)

1949 – Steve Perry, American singer-songwriter and producer

1946 – Malcolm McLaren, English singer-songwriter and manager (d. 2010)

1968 – Guy Fieri, American chef, author, and television host

1987 – Ray Rice, American football player

 

Holiday Spotlight

Dance of the Seven Veils Day

  The Dance of the Seven Veils can be traced to the events leading to the beheading of John the Baptist. According to Matthew 14, King Herod Antipas imprisoned John the Baptist for criticizing his marriage to Herodias, who was previously married to Antipas’s half-brother Herod II. During Antipas’s birthday, his niece danced before him and his guests, and he was pleased. That made him promise to give her anything she might ask. Having been persuaded by her mother, Herodias, the niece asked for John the Baptist’s head on a platter. Even though Antipas was sorry, he commanded it to be given to her.

 The niece was named Salomé in an account by the Romano-Jewish historian Josephus, but he did not mention the dance. The dance first appeared in the 1893 English translation of Wilde’s 1891 French play “Salomé.” The English text included the stage direction, which goes like this, “Salomé dances the dance of the seven veils.”

 Wilde is said to have been influenced by earlier French writers, including Gustave Flaubert and Arthur O’Shaughnessy. In his play, Wilde transformed the dance from a performance before the king and his guests to a personal dance in which the king is the only audience.

 In his 1905 operatic adaptation of “Salomé,” Richard Strauss included the Dance of the Seven Veils. While the dance was meant to be thoroughly decent, many productions turned the dance into an erotic performance. An example was a 1907 production of “Salomé” in New York.

 The Wilde play, and the Strauss opera paved the way for the dance to be adapted into films. That includes the 1908 Vitagraph production “Salomé” or the “Dance of the Seven Veils,” the 1953 “Salomé,” and the 1961 film “King of Kings.”

 Since 1907, Dance of the Seven Veils Day has been celebrated as an unofficial holiday.

 

 Other Include

Better Business Communication Day

Celebration of Life Day

Come in From the Cold Day

Community Manager Appreciation Day

National Answer Your Cat's Question Day

National Blonde Brownie Day

National Hot Sauce Day

National Polka Dot Day

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