- Today is National Static Cling Day.
- Today in England is Plough Monday, time to get back to work on the farms after the festivities of the 12 days of Christmas.
- Today is Word Nerd Day, celebrating all those who enjoy playing with words (sponsored by Maria Schneider of Writer's Digest).
- Today is National Stuffed Animal Laundry Day.
- Today is National Milk Shake and Muffin Day.
- Today is Aviation in America Day, marking the first manned free balloon flight on this date in 1793 at Philadelphia. Jean-Pierre Francois Blanchard rose 5,800 feet, traveled 15 miles, and landed 46 minutes after lift-off in New Jersey. Blanchard also had a passenger -- a little black dog.
- Today is Martyrs Day in Panama.
On this date in . . .
1902: New York State introduced a bill to outlaw flirting in public.
1913: Richard Milhous Nixon, the 37th U.S. president, was born in Yorba Linda, California. Today is a public holiday in Yorba Linda.
1940: Singer/actor Jimmy Boyd was born in McComb, Missouri. From 1957 until 1961 he played Howard Meechim on TV’s "Bachelor Father." His biggest song was 1952's Christmas hit, "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus."
1959: CBS-TV premiered Rawhide, starring newcomer Clint Eastwood as Rowdy Yates, Eric Fleming as Gil Favor, Sheb Wooley as Pete Nolan, and Paul Bringar as Wishbone. The western lasted 7½ seasons.
1975: The longest continuous yodel was recorded, lasting five hours and three minutes.
1979: Olivia Newton-John, Rita Coolidge, the Bee Gees, Rod Stewart, Donna Summer, John Denver, Kris Kristofferson, Abba and Earth, Wind & Fire led "A Gift of Song," a benefit concert at the United Nations General Assembly in New York..
1982: The Johnny Cash Parkway was opened in Hendersonville, Tennessee.
1987: Actor Arthur Lake died at age 81. He starred as Dagwood Bumstead in 27 Blondie movies. Although Penny Singleton played Blondie in the films, Lake’s wife Patricia Van Cleve was one of three Blondies on radio. Lake also played Dagwood in the 1957 Blondie TV series.
1993: Responding to a sensor alarm, Mission Control at Cape Canaveral scolded space shuttle Endeavor astronauts to please remember and put the toilet seat down.
1993: When German bank robber Rolf Gorlach called to complain that the newspaper had made a mistake in reporting his robbery, reporters taped the conversation. Police recognized Rolf’s voice and arrested him immediately.
1994: Following a speech to NATO leaders in Belgium, U.S. President Bill Clinton was given a saxophone from Dinant, Belgium, the home town of the instrument’s inventor, Adolphe Sax.
2003: U.N. weapons inspectors said there was no "smoking gun" to prove Iraq had nuclear, chemical, or biological weapons.
2003: A 20-ounce burger fashioned from ultra-tender Kobe beef debuted at New York's landmark Old Homestead restaurant. At $41, it was the most expensive hamburger in the city and the first time the 135-year-old steakhouse ever sold a burger. It came with garlic shoestring fries.
2004: Archaeologists announced they'd found five more chambers in the tomb of Qin Shihuang, China's first emperor. The rooms were believed to cover 750,000 square feet.
Birthdays:
- singer Crystal Gayle 56;
- singer Joan Baez 65;
- singer David Johansen 56;
- singer Jimmy Boyd 66;
- Backstreet Boy A.J. McLean 28;
- guitarist Jimmy Page 62;
- rocker Dave Matthews 39;
- sportscaster Dick Enberg 71;
- golfer Sergio Garcia 26;
- NBA guard Muggsy Bogues 40;
- football’s Bart Starr 73.
