History for January 29

History for January 29 - On-This-Day.com:
Thomas Paine 1737, William McKinley (U.S.) 1843, W.C. Fields 1880


Katharine Ross 1942 - Actress, Tom Selleck 1945 - Actor (Television: "Magnum P.I."), Oprah Winfrey 1954


1820 - Britain's King George III died insane at Windsor Castle.


1848 - Greenwich Mean Time was adopted by Scotland.


1850 - Henry Clay introduced in the Senate a compromise bill on slavery that included the admission of California into the Union as a free state.


1856 - Britain's highest military decoration, the Victoria Cross, was founded by Queen Victoria.


1886 - The first successful petrol-driven motorcar, built by Karl Benz, was patented.


1940 - The W. Atlee Burpee Seed Company displayed the first tetraploid flowers at the New York City Flower Show.


1958 - Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward were married.


1963 - Britain was refused entry into the EEC.


1990 - Joseph Hazelwood, the former skipper of the Exxon Valdez, went on trial in Anchorage, AK, on charges that stemmed from America's worst oil spill. Hazelwood was later acquitted of all the major charges and was convicted of a misdemeanor.