Today is Monday, Jan. 18, the 18th day of 2021. There are 347 days left in the year.
Today's Highlight in History:
On Jan. 18, 1911, the first landing of an aircraft on a ship took place as pilot Eugene B. Ely brought his Curtiss biplane in for a safe landing on the deck of the armored cruiser USS Pennsylvania in San Francisco Harbor.
On this date:
- In 1778, English navigator Captain James Cook reached the present-day Hawaiian Islands, which he named the "Sandwich Islands."
- In 1782, lawyer and statesman Daniel Webster was born in Salisbury, New Hampshire.
- In 1943, during World War II, Jewish insurgents in the Warsaw Ghetto launched their initial armed resistance against Nazi troops, who eventually succeeded in crushing the rebellion.
- In 1957, a trio of B-52s completed the first non-stop, round-the-world flight by jet planes, landing at March Air Force Base in California after more than 45 hours aloft.
- In 1990, a jury in Los Angeles acquitted former preschool operators Raymond Buckey and his mother, Peggy McMartin Buckey, of 52 child molestation charges.
- In 1991, financially strapped Eastern Airlines shut down after more than six decades in business.
- In 1993, the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday was observed in all 50 states for the first time.
- In 1998, the motion picture "Titanic" won four Golden Globes, including best drama and best director for James Cameron; "Ally McBeal" beat out "Seinfeld" as the best TV comedy.
- In 2005, the world's largest commercial jet, the Airbus A380 "superjumbo" capable of flying up to 800 passengers, was unveiled in Toulouse, France.
- In 2019, Jason Van Dyke, the white Chicago police officer who gunned down Black teenager Laquan McDonald in 2014, was sentenced to nearly seven years in prison.
Ten years ago: Chinese President Hu Jintao arrived at Andrews Air Force Base outside Washington for a four-day state visit; President Barack Obama welcomed him with a private dinner in the White House residence.
Five years ago: For the first time in 17 years, civil rights leaders gathered at the South Carolina Statehouse to pay homage to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. without the Confederate flag present; it was one of many rallies throughout the country.
One year ago: The World War I film "1917" took top honors at the Producers Guild Awards in Los Angeles.
Today's Birthdays: Movie director John Boorman is 88. Singer-songwriter Bobby Goldsboro is 80. Comedian-singer-musician Brett Hudson is 68. Actor-director Kevin Costner is 66. Actor Alison Arngrim (TV: "Little House on the Prairie") is 59. Actor Jesse L. Martin is 52. Rapper DJ Quik is 51. Rock singer Jonathan Davis (Korn) is 50. Former NAACP President and CEO Benjamin Todd Jealous is 48. Actor Jason Segel is 41. Actor Samantha Mumba is 38. Actor Devin Kelley is 35. Actor Ashleigh Murray (TV: "Riverdale") is 33. Actor Zeeko Zaki is 31. Tennis player Angelique Kerber is 33. Actor Mateus Ward is 22.
- The Associated Press