On this day...

1520 Christian II of Denmark & Norway defeats the Swedes at Lake Asunde
1644 First UFO sighting in America, by perplexed pilgrims in Boston
1671 Pirate Henry Morgan defeats Spanish defenders, captures Panama
1733 First polar bear exhibited in America (Boston)
1777 San Jose, CA, founded
1778 Captain James Cook stumbles over Sandwich Islands (Hawaiian Islands)
1788 English settlers arrive in Australia's Botany Bay to establish penal colony
1850 British blockade Pireus, Greece to enforce mercantile claims
1862 Confederate Territory of Arizona is formed
1871 German Empire proclaimed by Kaiser Wilhelm I
1896 First demonstration of an x-ray machine in the US, New York NY
1911 First shipboard landing of a plane (Tanforan Park to USS Pennsylvania)
1919 WW I Peace Congress opens in Versailles, France
1922 Irish author Liam O'Flaherty & others occupy the Rotunda in Dublin
1938 Pitcher Grover Cleveland Alexander is elected to the Hall of Fame
1943 Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto begin resistance of Nazis
1943 Pre-sliced bread sale banned to reduce bakery demand for metal parts
1943 Soviets announce they broke the long Nazi siege of Leningrad
1947 Small river steamer sank on Yangtze River, kills 400
1951 NFL rules tackles, guards & centers ineligible for forward pass
1951 NFL takes control of the failing Baltimore Colts
1958 First black in the NHL (William O'Ree, Boston Bruins)
1966 Robert C Weaver, becomes first black cabinet member (HUD)
1967 Yellowknife replaces Ottawa as capital of NW Territories, Canada
1974 "The $6 Million Man" starring Lee Majors premiers on ABC TV
1975 "The Jeffersons," spin-off from "All in the Family," premiers on CBS
1976 Pittsburgh Steelers defeat Dallas Cowboys 21-17 in Super Bowl X
1979 Peter Jenkins finishes "A Walk Across America", Florence, Or
1980 Gold reaches $1,000 an oz
1980 Pink Floyd's "The Wall" hits #1
1981 Iran accepts US offer of $7.9 billion in frozen assets
1981 Wendy O. Williams arrested in Milwaukee for on-stage obscenity
1983 IOC restores Jim Thorpe's Olympic medals 70 years
1985 US renounces jurisdiction of World Court despite previous promise
1988 Airliner crashes in SW China, killing all 108 on board
1989 Astronomers discover pulsar in remnants of Supernova 1987A (LMC)
1989 Candace Thomas marries Steve Garvey
1989 Otis Redding, Dion, Rolling Stones, Temptations & Stevie Wonder inducted into Rock & Roll Hall of Fame
1991 Eastern Airlines goes out of business after 62 years
1991 Iraq launches SCUD missiles against Israel
1991 US acknowledges CIA and US Army paid Noriega $320,000 over his career

Birthdays which occurred on January 18th:

1641 Francois Michel le Tellier, French statesman (Marquis de Louvois)
1779 Peter Roget, thesaurus fame, inventor (slide rule, pocket chessboard)
1782 Daniel Webster, Salisbury NH, orator/politician/lawyer
1813 Joseph Farwell Glidden, inventor (first commercial useable barbed wire)
1849 Sir Edmund Barton, first Prime Minister of Australia (1900-03)
1854 Thomas A. Watson, Bell inventor assistant (Telephone)
1882 Alan Alexander Milne, author (Winnie-the-Pooh)
1892 Oliver Hardy, Harlem GA, comedy team member (Laurel & Hardy)
1904 Cary Grant, actor (Arsenic & Old Lace, North by Northwest)
1905 Chick Chandler, Kingston NY, actor (Barney-One Happy Family)
1912 William Sansom, English writer (The Loving Eye)
1913 Danny Kaye, Brooklyn NY, UNICEF/comedian/actor (Danny Kaye Show)
1922 Constance Moore, Sioux City IA, actress (Window on Main Street)
1933 John Boorman, producer/director (Exorcist II, Deliverance, Zardoz)
1941 Bobby Goldsboro, Marianna FL, singer (Honey)
1941 David Ruffin, Mississippi, vocalist (Temptations-Papa Was a Rolling Stone)
1941 Tom Bailey, rock vocalist (Thompson Twins-Doctor Doctor)
1950 John Hughes, director (Breakfast Club, 16 Candles, Weird Science)
1953 Brett Hudson, Portland Ore, comedians (Bonkers, Hudson Brothers Show)
1955 Kevin Costner, actor (Silverado, Bull Durham)

Deaths which occurred on January 18th:

1862 John Tyler, 10th US President, dies in Richmond VA at 71
1936 Rudyard Kipling, author, dies in Burwash, England
1967 Barney Ross, Welterweight Boxing Champ (1934), dies at 57
1968 Lee Tracy, actor (Martin Kane-Martin Kane Private Eye), dies at 69
1970 David McKay, Mormon president, dies at 96
1978 Carl Betz, actor (Alex Stone-Donna Reed Show), dies at 67