Today in History: January 15, Martin Luther King Jr. is born

Today is Monday, Jan. 15, the 15th day of 2024. There are 351 days left in the year. This is Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

Today’s Highlight in History:

On Jan. 15, 1929, civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. was born in Atlanta.

On this date:

In 1559, England’s Queen Elizabeth I was crowned in Westminster Abbey.

In 1892, the original rules of basketball, devised by James Naismith, were published for the first time in Springfield, Massachusetts, where the game originated.

In 1919, in Boston, a tank containing an estimated 2.3 million gallons of molasses burst, sending the dark syrup coursing through the city’s North End, killing 21 people.

In 1943, work was completed on the Pentagon, headquarters of the U.S. Department of War (now Defense).

In 1967, the Green Bay Packers of the National Football League defeated the Kansas City Chiefs of the American Football League 35-10 in the first AFL-NFL World Championship Game, known retroactively as Super Bowl I.

In 1973, President Richard Nixon announced the suspension of all U.S. offensive action in North Vietnam, citing progress in peace negotiations.

In 1974, the sitcom “Happy Days” premiered on ABC-TV.

In 1978, two students at Florida State University in Tallahassee, Lisa Levy and Margaret Bowman, were slain in their sorority house. (Ted Bundy was later convicted of the crime and was sentenced to death. But he was executed for the rape and murder of a 12-year-old girl, which occurred 3 weeks after the sorority slayings.)

In 1981, the police drama series “Hill Street Blues” premiered on NBC.

In 1989, NATO, the Warsaw Pact and 12 other European countries adopted a human rights and security agreement in Vienna, Austria.

In 1993, a historic disarmament ceremony ended in Paris with the last of 125 countries signing a treaty banning chemical weapons.

In 2009, US Airways Capt. Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger put his Airbus 320 down in the Hudson River after a flock of birds disabled both engines; all 155 people aboard survived.

In 2018, singer Dolores O’Riordan of the Irish rock band The Cranberries died at a London hotel at the age of 46; a coroner found that she had accidentally drowned in a bathtub after drinking.

In 2019, Musical comedy star Carol Channing — best known to Broadway audiences for her role in “Hello, Dolly!” — died in California at age 97.

In 2023, a plane making a 27-minute flight to a Nepal tourist town crashed into a gorge while attempting to land at a newly opened airport, killing all 72 people aboard.

Today’s birthdays: Actor Margaret O’Brien is 86. Actor Andrea Martin is 77. College and Pro Football Hall of Famer Randy White is 71. Actor-director Mario Van Peebles is 67. Rock musician Adam Jones (Tool) is 59. Actor James Nesbitt is 59. Actor Chad Lowe is 56. Alt-country singer Will Oldham (aka Bonnie Prince Billy) is 54. Actor Regina King is 53. Actor Dorian Missick is 48. Actor Eddie Cahill is 46. Former NFL quarterback Drew Brees is 45. Rapper/reggaeton artist Pitbull is 43. Actor Victor Rasuk is 39. Actor Jessy Schram is 38. Electronic dance musician Skrillex is 36. Actor/singer Dove Cameron is 28. Singer-songwriter Grace VanderWaal (TV: “America’s Got Talent”) is 20.

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