Today in History - January 17, 1949

Andy Kaufman born in New York. The comic would go on to create such characters as lounge singer Tony Clifton, Taxi’s Latka Gravas and Joaquin Phoenix.

Today in History - January 16, 1945

Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun move into the Führerbunker. Because they moved in the middle of the month, it was easier to get movers. Also, they got a deal because it was a sublet, but it was no smoking and pets, but what do you do? They were in a bit of a pinch.

Today in History - January 13, 1929

Lawman Wyatt Earp, who survived the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, dies in apartment in L.A. of cancer. Unlucky? Maybe not. Anticlimactic? Definitely.

Today in History - January 12, 2010

Earthquake in Haiti destroys much of Port-au-Prince. Since then, the country has been plagued by controversy, disease, and an infestation of Sean Penn.

Today in History - January 11, 1903

Cry, The Beloved Country author Alan Paton born in Pietermaritzburg. In 1953, Paton founded the Liberal Party of South Africa, which fought against the apartheid legislation introduced by the National Party. He died before Little Steven was able to play at Sun City.

Today in History - January 10, 1927

Fritz Lang’s Metropolis released in Germany. Critics panned it. Future Nazi Propaganda honcho Joseph Goebbels dug it however. In 1928, he said, “the political bourgeoisie is about to leave the stage of history. In its place advance the oppressed producers of the head and hand, the forces of Labour, to begin their historical mission.”

Today in History - January 9, 1908

French existentialist writer Simone de Beauvoir born in Paris. She would become famous for The Second Sex, her proto-feminist tract. 

Today in History - January 6, 1118

Alfonso the Battler retakes Zaragoza from the muslims in what is now Spain. Alfonso was the King of Aragon from 1104 to 1134, and holder of the WWE Heavyweight belt from 1098-1113.

Today in History - January 5, 1066

Edward the Confessor dies. He succeeded Harthacnut, son of the unfortunately named Cnut the Great, in 1042. Being dead, Edward missed the whole Battle of Hastings later that year.

Today in History - January 4, 2012

Gordon Hirabayashi dies at the age of 93 in Edmonton. Hirabayashi was imprisoned for defying the American government’s internment of Japanese-Americans during WWII. It would be 46 years before he was exonerated. 

Today in History - February 28, 2011

Actress Jane Russell dies at the age of 89. Russell was born in Bemidji, MN, the home of Babe the Blue Ox.

Today in Canadian History - February 24, 2011

Lawyer Harry Walsh dies in Winnipeg at the age of 97. Still practising up until a recent fall, the Order of Canada recipient was Canada’s longest-serving lawyer.

(He was called to the bar a decade before my own father, Joseph Barry Hughes, who died in 2000.)

Today in History - October 15, 1966

Black Panther Party created by Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale

Today in History - October 14, 1906

Writer and political theorist Hannah Arendt born in Hanover, Germany

Today in History - October 13, 1307

Hundreds of Knights Templar in France are simultaneously arrested by agents of Philip the Fair, to be tortured into a confession of heresy. People would later realize that Fair in this case did not mean Just, but more like Meh.