On Jan. 29, 1860 (according to the New Style calendar), Russian author and playwright Anton Chekhov was born in the port city of Taganrog (TAG'-uhn-rahg).
On this date:
1820: 10 years after mental illness forced him to retire from public life, King George III, the British king who lost the American colonies, died at Windsor Castle at the age of 82.
1843: The 25th president of the United States, William McKinley, was born in Niles, Ohio.
1845: Edgar Allan Poe's poem "The Raven" was first published, in the New York Evening Mirror.
1850: Henry Clay introduced in the Senate a compromise bill on slavery that included the admission of California into the Union as a free state.
1861: Kansas became the 34th state of the Union.
1900: The American League, consisting of eight baseball teams, was organized in Philadelphia.
1919: The ratification of the 18th Amendment to the Constitution, which launched Prohibition, was certified by Acting Secretary of State Frank L. Polk.
1929: The Seeing Eye, a New Jersey-based school which trains guide dogs to assist the blind, was incorporated by Dorothy Harrison Eustis and Morris Frank.
1936: The first members of baseball's Hall of Fame, including Ty Cobb and Babe Ruth, were named in Cooperstown, N.Y.
1939: Irish poet-dramatist William Butler Yeats died at age 73.
1963: The first members of pro football's Hall of Fame were named in Canton, Ohio. Poet Robert Frost died at age 88.
1979: President Jimmy Carter formally welcomed Chinese Vice Premier Deng Xiaoping to the White House, following the establishment of diplomatic relations.
1998: A bomb rocked an abortion clinic in Birmingham, Ala., killing security guard Robert Sanderson and critically injuring nurse Emily Lyons. (The bomber, Eric Rudolph, was captured in May 2003 and is serving a life sentence.)
2000: Delegates meeting in Montreal reached an international agreement on the trade of genetically modified food and other products. Joe Montana and Ronnie Lott, architects of San Francisco's Super Bowl dynasty, were among five individuals elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
AP Highlight in History:
On Jan. 29, 2002, in his first State of the Union address, President George W. Bush warned of "an axis of evil" consisting of North Korea, Iran and Iraq.
2005: Jetliners from China landed in rival Taiwan for the first time in 56 years. Serena Williams defeated Lindsay Davenport 2-6, 6-3, 6-0 in the Australian Open final. Ashley McElhiney, the first female coach of a men's pro basketball team, was fired after an on-court dispute with Sally Anthony, co-owner of the Nashville Rhythm of the ABA. Irina Slutskaya won a sixth title at the European Figure Skating Championships.
2006: ABC "World News Tonight" co-anchor Bob Woodruff and a cameraman were seriously injured in a roadside bombing in Iraq.
2008: Margaret Truman, the only child of President Harry S. Truman, died at age 83.
2009: The Illinois Senate voted, 59-0, to convict Gov. Rod Blagojevich of abuse of power and throw him out of office, nearly two months after his arrest on charges of trying to sell Barack Obama's vacant Senate seat. President Barack Obama issued a withering critique of Wall Street corporate behavior, calling it "the height of irresponsibility" for employees to be paid more than $18 billion in bonuses while their crumbling financial sector received a bailout from taxpayers.
Today's Birthdays: Actor John Forsythe is 92. Actor Noel Harrison is 76. Author Germaine Greer is 71. Actress Katharine Ross is 70. Actor Tom Selleck is 65. Rhythm-and-blues singer Bettye LaVette is 64. Actor Marc Singer is 62. Actress Ann Jillian is 60. Rock musician Tommy Ramone (Ramones) is 58. Rock musician Louie Perez (Los Lobos) is 57. Rhythm-and-blues/funk singer Charlie Wilson is 57. Talk show host Oprah Winfrey is 56. Country singer Irlene Mandrell is 54. Actress Diane Delano is 53. Actress Judy Norton Taylor ("The Waltons") is 52. Rock musician Johnny Spampinato (NRBQ) is 51. Olympic gold-medal diver Greg Louganis is 50. Rock musician David Baynton-Power (James) is 49. Rock musician Eddie Jackson (Queensryche) is 49. Actor Nicholas Turturro is 48. Rock singer-musician Roddy Frame (Aztec Camera) is 46. Actor-director Edward Burns is 42. Actress Heather Graham is 40. Actor Sharif Atkins is 35. Actress Sara Gilbert is 35. Actor Andrew Keegan is 31. Actor Jason James Richter is 30. Blues musician Jonny Lang is 29. Pop-rock singer Adam Lambert ("American Idol") is 28.
Those Born On This Date Include: Swedish scientist and philosopher Emanuel Swedenborg (1688); American colonial political philosopher Thomas Paine (1737); businessman John D. Rockefeller Jr. (1874); actor W.C. Fields (1880); dramatist Paddy Chayefsky (1923); actor Victor Mature (1913).
Today In Entertainment History
1958: Actors Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward were married.
1962: Peter, Paul and Mary signed a record deal with Warner Brothers.
1983: Stevie Nicks of Fleetwood Mac married Kim Anderson at her Los Angeles home. They divorced the next year.
1992: Blues great Willie Dixon died of heart failure in Burbank, California. Among his classics are "Back Door Man," "Little Red Rooster" and "Spoonful."
1994: Former Supremes singer Mary Wilson hit a freeway median and flipped the Jeep she was driving while outside of Los Angeles. She was injured and her 14-year-old son was killed.
1996: Garth Brooks refused his American Music Award for favorite overall artist. Brooks said Hootie and the Blowfish did more for music that year than he did.
1998: Paul Simon's musical "The Capeman" premiered in New York, with Marc Anthony in the title role. It opened to poor reviews and closed after 68 performances.
Thought for Today: "Any idiot can face a crisis — it's this day-to-day living that wears you out." — Anton Chekhov (1860-1904).
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