YouTube download / AP video / Highlights of Today in History: France's King Louis XVI executed; Vladimir Lenin dies; Alger Hiss found guilty of lying to grand jury; President Jimmy Carter pardons Vietnam draft evaders; Concorde begins service. (Jan. 21)
- 1077 German King Heinrich IV petitions Pope Gregory VII for forgiveness
- 1287 The treaty of San Agayz is signed. Minorca is conquered by King Alfons III of Aragon.
- 1324 Zen Buddhist religious debate between Tendai & Shingon
- 1542 English Parliament passes bill of attainder against Queen Katherine Howard
- 1677 1st medical publication in America (pamphlet on smallpox), published in Boston
- 1732 Russia & Persia sign Treaty of Riascha
- 1793 Louis XVI of France is executed by the guillotine in Paris, following his conviction for high treason
- 1853 Envelope-folding machine patented by Russell Hawes in Worcester, Massachusetts
- 1924 Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov Lenin, Russian Revolutionary leader and Premier, dies of a stroke at 53
- 1925 Albanian parliament announces itself a republic; Ahmed Zogoe president
- 1932 USSR & Finland stop non-attack treaty
- 1944 447 German bombers attack London
- 1950 New York jury finds former State Department official Alger Hiss guilty of perjury
- 1965 Iranian premier Hassan Ali Mansur assassinated by 17-year-old Mohammad Bokharaei, a member of the Fadayan-e Islam
- 1968 The Battle of Khe Sanh - one of the most publicized and controversial battles of the Vietnam War - begins at the Khe Sanh Air Base
- 1976 Supersonic Concorde has its 1st commercial flights
- 1977 US President Jimmy Carter pardons almost all Vietnam War draft evaders
- 1981 Bernhard Goetz is assaulted for 1st time on a New York City subway train
- 1988 US accepts immigration of 30,000 US-Vietnamese children
- 1994 Lorena Bobbitt found temporarily insane when she cut off her husband's penis
- 2013 18 people are killed and 24 are injured after a bus falls down a ravine in Yungas, Bolivia
- 2017 More than 2 million people protest worldwide in the 'Women's March' against Donald Trump, with 500,000 marching in Washington D.C.
Birthdays:
- 1905 Christian Dior, French fashion designer (New Look), born in Granville, France (d. 1957)
- 1922 Telly Savalas, American actor (Kojak), born in Garden City New Jersey, (d. 1994)
- 1924 Benny Hill [Alfred Hawthorn Hill], British comedian (The Benny Hill Show), born in Southampton, Hampshire, England (d. 1992)
- 1938 Wolfman Jack [Robert Weston Smith], American disk jockey (Midnight Special), born in Brooklyn, New York (d. 1995)
- 1941 Ivan Putski, Polish-born American professional wrestler
- 1942 Edwin Starr, [Charles Hatcher], US singer (War)
- 1942 Mac Davis, American country music singer-songwriter, actor (Mac Davis Show, North Dallas 40), born in Lubbock, Texas
- 1950 Billy Ocean, [Leslie S Charles], Trinidad, singer (Caribbean Queen)
- 1953 Paul Allen, American entrepreneur, co-founder of Microsoft, born in Seattle, Washington
- 1956 Geena Davis, American actress (Beetlejuice, Fly), born in Wareham, Massachusetts
- 1963 Hakeem Olajuwon, Nigerian-American NBA center (Houston Rockets, Olympic gold 1996), born in Lagos, Nigeria.
Deaths:
- 1950 George Orwell, British author (Animal Farm, 1984), dies in London at 46
- 1959 Cecil B. DeMille, American filmmaker (The Ten Commandments, Samson and Delilah), dies of heart failure at 77
- 1997 Col. Tom Parker [Andreas Cornelis van Kuijk], Dutch-born talent manager (Elvis Presley), dies at 87
- 1998 Jack Lord, American actor (Hawaii FIVE-O), dies at 772002 Peggy Lee, American singer (b. 1920).
Sources: AP, Bio Today
-- Henry Frederick, Headline Surfer, Orlando, FL