Anniversaries and commemorations come and go daily. Most of us, even the best historians, miss most occasions. If we think of history as events then we are faced with a continually showering in the grains of sand. Nevertheless, we do pick out certain patterns in the remembrance of historical dates. The blog here reminds us of some dates where the local, state, national, and global perspectives entwine.
What Time is It? It is flow of a sandstorm that will on each day compress somewhere into a structure – sandstone, selected and only remembered in the longue durée.
| 20 January1896 | George Burns born, American actor, comedian (d. 1996) |
| 20 January 1896 | Prince Henry of Battenberg died, British royal, married to Princess Beatrice of the United Kingdom (b. 1858) |
| Thursday, 20 January 1921 | British K-class submarine HMS K5 sinks in the English Channel; all 56 on board die. |
| Sunday, 20 January 1946 | Charles de Gaulle resigns as president of France. |
| Sunday, 20 January 1946 | David Lynch born, American film director |
| Friday, 20 January 1961 | [20 January to early March 1961] Disastrous bushfires affect Western Australia, completely destroying a number of towns. |
| Friday, 20 January 1961 | John F. Kennedy is sworn in as the 35th President of the United States. |
| Wednesday, 20 January 1971 | Gary Barlow born, British singer-songwriter |
| Wednesday, 20 January 1971 | Gilbert M. ‘Broncho Billy’ Anderson died, American actor, director, writer, and producer (b. 1880) |
| Tuesday, 20 January 1981 | Brendan Fevola born, footballer |
| Tuesday, 20 January 1981 | Ronald Reagan, 40th President of the United States |
| Tuesday, 20 January 1981 | Iran releases the 52 Americans held for 444 days minutes after Ronald Reagan is sworn in as the 40th President of the United States, ending the Iran hostage crisis. |
| Tuesday, 20 January 1981 | Brendan Fevola born, Australian rules footballer |
| Tuesday, 20 January 1981 | Owen Hargreaves born, Canadian-born English footballer |
| Tuesday, 20 January 1981 | Jason Richardson born, American basketball player |
| Sunday, 20 January 1991 | Ciara Hanna born, American actress and model |
| Sunday, 20 January 1991 | Jolyon Palmer born, British racing driver |
| Saturday, 20 January 1996 | Yasser Arafat is re-elected president of the Palestinian Authority. |
| Saturday, 20 January 1996 | Gerry Mulligan died, American musician (b. 1927) |
| Saturday, 20 January 2001 | George W. Bush is sworn in as the 43rd President of the United States. |
| Saturday, 20 January 2001 | Impeachment proceedings against Philippine President Joseph Estrada, accused of playing Jueteng, end preeminently and trigger the second EDSA People Power Revolution (or People Power II). His Vice-President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo succeeds him as the 14th President of the Republic. |
| Wednesday, 20 January 2016 | The West Australian Government announces an independent investigation into fire that destroyed 90 per cent of the historic town of Yarloop. The former chief of the Victorian Country Fire Authority, Euan Ferguson, will head the investigation. |
| Wednesday, 20 January 2016 | Tasmania turns the Combined Cycle Gas Turbine at the Tamar Valley Power Station back on to cope with hydroelectric power dams at only 20 per cent capacity after record low rainfall. |
Images Citations in Composite: ID 17208541 © Anhong | Dreamstime.com; ID 35001957 © DiversityStudio1 | Dreamstime.com; ID 156394527 © Gerd Zahn | Dreamstime.com
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Neville Buch
Professional Historian at Professional Historians Association (Queensland) Inc.
Neville Buch (Pronounced Book) Ph.D. is a certified member of the Professional Historians Association (Queensland). Since 2010 he has operated a sole trade business in history consultancy. He was a Q ANZAC 100 Fellow 2014-2015 at the State Library of Queensland. Dr Buch was the PHA (Qld) e-Bulletin, the monthly state association’s electronic publication, and was a member of its Management Committee. He is the Managing Director of the Brisbane Southside History Network.
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