On This Day January 30th

 OTD

January 30th is the Thirtieth day of the year in the Gregorian calendar; 340 days remain until the end of the year.

 

Events

1287 – King Wareru founds the Hanthawaddy Kingdom, proclaiming independence from the Pagan Kingdom.

1607 – An estimated 200 square miles (51,800 ha) along the Bristol Channel and Severn Estuary coasts in England are destroyed by massive flooding, resulting in an estimated 2,000 deaths.

1661 – Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, is ritually executed more than two years after his death, on the 12th anniversary of the execution of the monarch he deposed.

1703 – The Forty-seven Ronin, under the command of Ōishi Kuranosuke, avenge the death of their master by killing Kira Yoshinaka.

1820 – Edward Bransfield sights the Trinity Peninsula and claims the discovery of Antarctica.

1847 – Yerba Buena, California is renamed San Francisco, California.

1862 – The first American ironclad warship, the USS Monitor, is launched.

1902 – The first Anglo-Japanese Alliance is signed in London.

1930 – The Politburo of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union ordered the confiscation of lands belonging to the Kulaks in a campaign of Dekulakization, resulting in the executions and forced deportations of millions.

1948 – British South American Airways' Tudor IV Star Tiger disappears over the Bermuda Triangle.

1968 – Vietnam War: Tet Offensive launched by forces of the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army against South Vietnam, the United States, and their allies.

1975 – The Monitor National Marine Sanctuary is established as the first United States National Marine Sanctuary.

 

Birthdays

1563 – Franciscus Gomarus, Dutch theologian and academic (d. 1641)

1661 – Charles Rollin, French historian and educator (d. 1741)

1861 – Charles Martin Loeffler, German-American violinist and composer (d. 1935)

1882 – Franklin D. Roosevelt, American lawyer and statesman, 32nd President of the United States (d. 1945)

1899 – Max Theiler, South African-American virologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1972)

1911 – Roy Eldridge, American jazz trumpet player (d. 1989)

1925 – Douglas Engelbart, an American computer scientist, invented the computer mouse (d. 2013)

1930 – Gene Hackman, American actor and author

1937 – Boris Spassky, Russian chess player

1949 – Peter Agre, American physician and biologist, Nobel Prize laureate

1951 – Phil Collins, English drummer, singer-songwriter, producer, and actor

1973 – Jalen Rose, American basketball player and sportscaster

1980 – Wilmer Valderrama, American actor, and producer

1981 – Peter Crouch, English footballer

1993 – Katy Marchant, English track cyclist

 

 

Holiday Spotlight

National Storytelling Day

  Once upon a time, long ago, people would inscribe their stories on the walls of caves. These included animals, humans, and other intriguing as-yet-unidentified objects. Some even resembled ancient versions of a graphic novel without the speech bubbles.

 Of course, scientists believe storytelling has existed in some form since the development of languages, and the earliest evidence we have is these cave drawings. Then, as the world (and man) evolved, so did our storytelling abilities. The ancient cultures — Greeks, Sumerians, Egyptians — gave us oral stories. And then there was Aesop, who was probably also a teller of oral tales. Epic poems like the “Iliad” and the “Odyssey” were initially passed down by word-of-mouth and were only later written down.

 Similarly, cultures and people like the Native Americans also passed stories down verbally, a tradition that continues in some cultures. Over time, stories changed to incorporate modern inventions. Photographs, video recordings, and television became new ways to tell stories.

 In the 21st century, people can explore stories in any form and enjoy any kind they want.

 

 Other Include

Martyrs' Day

National Croissant Day

National Draw A Dinosaur Day

National Escape Day

National Inane Answering Message Day

National Plan for Vacation Day

School Day of Non-Violence and Peace (DENIP)

Yodel for Your Neighbors Day