Today in History for January 1997

Months in 1997: February March April May June July August September October November December

Historical Events

Events 1 - 52 of 52

1st - The Republic of Zaïre officially joins the World Trade Organization, as Zaïre.
2nd - Howard Stern Radio Show premieres in Columbus OH on WBZX 99.7 FM
3rd - Bryant Gumbel co-hosted his final "Today" show on NBC-TV
3rd - Eddo Brandes takes ODI hat-trick v England at Harare
3rd - Zimbabwe clean-sweep ODI series v England 3-0
3rd - The People's Republic of China announces it will spend $27.7 billion USD to fight erosion and pollution in the Yangtze and Yellow river valleys.
5th - "Juan Darien-Carnival Mass" closes at Vivian Beaumont NYC
5th - "Love Thy Neighbor," closes at Booth Theater NYC
5th - "Show Boat," closes at Gershwin Theater NYC
6th - "It's a Slippery Slope," closes at Vivian Beaumont Theater NYC
7th - Newt Gingrich, narrowly re-elected speaker of the House
9th - Heart attacks sends Frank Sinatra back to hospital
10th - "Rehersal," closes at Criterion Theater NYC
10th - 1st Comet of 1997 Discovered: Comet 1997 A1
10th - 4,000th episode of "Entertainment Tonight"
10th - Dow Corning provides $295 billion to settle breast implant suits
10th - Italy's new 1,000 lire coin shows divided Germany on map
10th - Right-winger Arnoldo Aleman sworn in as president of Nicaragua
11th - 23rd People's Choice Awards: Bill Cosby wins
Tennis Star Martina Hingis 11th - Martina Hingis beats Jennifer Capriati at Sydney Tennis Intl
11th - Telstar 401 Satellite Fails
12th - 17th United Negro College Fund raises
12th - Annika Sorenstam wins LPGA Chrysler-Plymouth Tournament of Champions
12th - Chrysler-Plymouth LPGA Tournament of Champions
12th - HAL became operational (2001: A Space Odyssey)
12th - Ice skater Oksana Baiul injured slightly whiled driving intoxicated
12th - Space Shuttle STS 81 (Atlantis 18), launches into space
12th - Tiger Woods wins Mercedes Championships
12th - wins Chrysler-Plymouth Tournament Of Champions
15th - Chicago Bull Dennis Rodman kicks cameraman, Eugene Amosin the groin
15th - Space Shuttle Atlantis docks with Mir Space Station
16th - Anthony Stuart takes ODI hat-trick, Aus v Pakistan, MCG
17th - NBA suspends Dennis Rodman indefinitely for kicking cameraman
18th - 47th NHL All-Star Game: East beat West 11-7 at San Jose Arena
Basketball Player Dennis Rodman 18th - In north west Rwanda, Hutu militia members kill 3 Spanish aid workers, 3 soldiers and seriously wound one other.
18th - Boerge Ousland of Norway becomes the first person to cross Antarctica alone and unaided.
19th - 54th Golden Globes: English Patient, Brenda Blethyn & Geoffrey Rush
19th - Cerebral Palsy telethon
19th - Michelle McGann wins LPGA Healthsouth Inaugural
19th - Yasser Arafat returns to Hebron after more than 30 years and joins celebrations over the handover of the last Israeli-controlled West Bank city.
20th - Comet Hale-Bopp crosses Mars' orbit
20th - Howard Stern Radio Show premieres in New Orleans LA on KKND 106.7 FM
20th - Pakistan defeat West Indies 2-0 to win Aust one-day Series
22nd - Space Shuttle Atlantis Returns to Earth, Successful
25th - 71st Australian Womens Tennis: Martina Hingis beat Mary Pierce (62 62)
26th - "Ideal Husband" closes at Barrymore Theater NYC after 308 performances
26th - 85th Australian Mens Tennis: Pete Sampras beats Carlos Moya (62 63 63)
26th - Brunswick World Bowling Tournament of Champions won by John Gant
26th - Superbowl XXXI: Green Bay Packers beat NE Patriots, 35-21 in New Orleans
Champion Tennis Player Pete Sampras 27th - "Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus," opens at Gershwin NYC
27th - 24th American Music Award: Toni Braxton & Alanis Morissette win
30th - Minuteman III launches

Famous Birthdays

Birthdays 1 - 2 of 2

9th - Lauryn McClain, American actress and singer
26th - Pasaye, Palatine Ill, twin born 92 days after his brother (Oct 26)

Famous Weddings

Weddings 1 - 2 of 2

4th - Czech Republic's first president Vaclav Havel (60) weds Czech actress Dagmar Havlova (43) in Prague, Czech Republic
4th - "Smothers Brothers" actor-singer Dick Smothers (58) weds Denby Franklin (47) in Las Vegas

Famous Divorces

Divorces 1 - 1 of 1

27th - "Wall Street" actor Charlie Sheen (31) divorces model Donna Peele after nearly 5 months of getting married

Famous Deaths

Deaths 1 - 91 of 91

1st - Graham Kersey, cricket wicket keeper, dies in car crash
1st - Joan Rice, actress (Payroll, Steel Key, Curtain Up), dies at 66
1st - John Burgess, rugby administrator, dies at 71
1st - Townes Van Zandt, musician, dies at 52
1st - Hagood Hardy, Canadian composer and musician (b. 1937)
2nd - Jim Rodger, sports writer, dies at 75
2nd - Randy California, [Wolfe], rock guitarist, dies at 45
3rd - Burton Lane, composer, dies at 84
4th - Harry B Helmsley, owner (Empire State Building), dies at 87
5th - Andre Franquin, cartoonist, dies at 72
6th - Ian Peter Leslie Smith, journalist, dies at 52
6th - Litz Pisk, movement teacher, dies at 87
6th - Vince Williams, actor (Hamp-Guiding Light), dies of cancer at 39
6th - Catherine Scorsese, Italian-American actress (b. 1912)
7th - Desmond Flower, publisher, dies at 89
7th - Sandor Vegh, violinist teacher/conductor, dies at 84
8th - Carole Carr, singer/actress (Down Among the Z Men), dies at 68
8th - Jesse White, actor (Maytag repairman), dies at 77
8th - Joseph George Handy Hendleman, musician, dies at 76
8th - Melvin Calvin, scientist, dies at 85
8th - Phyllis Hartnoll, writer/editor, dies at 90
8th - Ronald William Eastman, cinematogrpaher, dies at 60
9th - Edward Osobka-Morawski, prime minister of Poland (1945-47), dies
9th - Junaidu ibn Buhari, scholar, dies at 90
10th - Alvinio Misciano, Italian tenor, killed in a fall from a window
10th - Elspeth Josceline Huxley, writer, dies at 96
10th - George Young, footballer, dies at 74
10th - Hilary Grover Barratt Brown, conservationist, dies at 71
11th - Cavan O'Connor, singer, dies at 97
11th - Duncan Wood, television director/producer, dies at 71
11th - Helen Foster Snow, writer, dies at 89
11th - Joshua William Steward, polymath, dies at 83
11th - Sheldon Leonard, producer/director (Dick Van Dyke), dies at 89
12th - Charles Huggins, surgeon/medical researcher, dies at 95
12th - Jean Writer-Edern Hallier, dies at 60
12th - Jill Summers, actress (Agatha Coronation Street), dies at 86
13th - William Mills, painter, dies at 74
14th - King Hu, film director, dies at 64
14th - Dollard Ménard, French Canadian general (b. 1913)
15th - Jose Ignacio Domecq, wine maker, dies at 82
15th - Kenneth Thimann, botanist, dies at 92
16th - Charlie Alfred Galbraith, jazz trombonist, dies at 76
16th - Innis Cosby, son of Bill Cosby, murdered on LA highway at 29
16th - Jim Kensil, NFL president (NY Jets), dies of heart failure at 66
16th - Stephen Fitz-Simon, entrepreneur, dies at 59
17th - Andrea Fisher, artist, dies at 21
17th - Asfa Wossen, [Amha Selassie], crown emperor of Ethiopia in exile, dies
17th - Clyde William Tombaugh, discoverer (Pluto), dies at 90
17th - Bert Kelly, Australian politician (b. 1912)
18th - Myfanwy Piper, librettist, dies at 85
18th - Neville Crump, racehorse trainer, dies at 86
18th - Paul Tsongas, (Sen-D-Mass), dies at 55
19th - Adriana Caseloti, voice (Snow White), dies at 70
19th - George Armin Goyder, businessman/social philosopher, dies at 88
19th - James Dickey, poet/novelist, dies at 84
20th - Curt Flood, centerfielder (Cards), dies of throat cancer at 59
20th - Edith Haisman, the oldest survivor of Titanic, dies at 100
20th - Vladimir Yamnikov, owner (Kristall vodka), dies of cirrhosis at 56
21st - Colonel Tom Parker, manager (Elvis Presley), dies at 87
21st - Dennis Main Wilson, TV/radio producer, dies at 72
21st - Michael Duane, educationalist, dies at 81
22nd - Ian Arthur Hoyle Munro, medical journalist, dies at 73
22nd - Irwin Levine, composer (Tie a Yellow Ribbon), dies at 58
22nd - Mollie Panter-Downes, writer , dies at 90
22nd - Wally Whyton, musician/broadcaster, dies at 66
22nd - Ron Holden, American singer (b. 1939)
22nd - Billy Mackenzie, Scottish musician (Associates) (b. 1957)
23rd - Charles Craig, opera singer, dies at 77
23rd - David Waller, actor (Lady Jane, Perfect Friday, Hannay), dies at 76
23rd - Jeremy Stephen Maas, writer/art dealer, dies at 68
23rd - Laura "Dinky" Patterson, dies bungee jumping at Superbowl rehearsal at 43
23rd - Randy Greenawalt, convicted killer, executed by injection at 47
23rd - Richard Berry, lyricist (Louie Louie), dies at 61
23rd - Roger John Tayler, astrophysicist, dies at 67
24th - Callum Alexander MacDonald, historian, dies at 49
25th - Herbert Eugene Caen, columnist, dies at 80
25th - Jean Dixon, psychic (Gift of Prophecy), dies of a heart attack at 79
26th - Margaret Hesse, princess of Hesse/the Rhine, dies at 83
26th - Sarah Lucas, theatre Administrator, dies at 53
26th - Jeane Dixon, American astrologer (b. 1904)
27th - Cecil Lewis, airman/writer, dies at 98
27th - Matthew Coady, journalist, dies at 73
27th - Gerald Marks, American songwriter (All of Me) (b. 1900)
28th - James Colin Ross Welch, journalist, dies at 72
28th - Pietro Cavallero, bandit, dies at 68
28th - Vivien Signy, nurse, dies at 80
29th - Eric Schneider, murderer of 2 teachers, executed in MO at 35
29th - Louis Pauwels, writer/editor, dies at 76
29th - Osvaldo Soriano, writer, dies at 54
31st - Eve Lister, actress/singer (No Limit, Hyde Park), dies at 84
31st - John Joseph Scanlan, Irish Catholic prelate (b. 1930)