Once Upon A Time – Jan. 21 – 1991 – CBS News Correspondent Bob Simon And Four TV Crew Captured, Held For 40 Days By Iraqis

1525 The Swiss Anabaptist Movement is born when Conrad Grebel, Felix Manz, George Blaurock, and a dozen others baptize each other in the home of Manz’s mother in Zürich, breaking a thousand-year tradition of church-state union

1781 Robert Aitken petitions the U.S. Congress to officially sanction his publication of the first English-language Bible printed in America.

1789 1st American novel, WH Brown’s “Power of Sympathy” is published

1793 Louis XVI of France is executed by guillotine in Paris, following his conviction for “high treason” by the newly created French Parliament (Convention nationale), during the French Revolution

1811 Baptist missionaries John Chamberlain and H. Peacock, with their families and Vrundavun, a baptized Hindu, set out from Serampore to establish a mission work among Hindus in Agra, 800 miles away. Their work will include a successful school.

1901 At the Academy of Music in Kansas City, Charles Parham preaches his first sermon dedicated solely to the experience of the baptism of the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in other tongues.

1952 Jawaharlal Nehru’s Congress party wins general election in India

1968 The Battle of Khe Sanh – one of the most publicized and controversial battles of the Vietnam War – begins at the Khe Sanh Air Base

2008 Black Monday in worldwide stock markets. FTSE 100 had its biggest ever one-day points fall, European stocks closed with their worst result since 9/11, and Asian stocks drop as much as 15%.

Historical Events Today

Today In Film & TV

1991 CBS News correspondent Bob Simon and four TV crew captured and held for 40 days by Iraqis in the Persian Gulf

Today In Music

1978 Bee Gees’ album “Saturday Night Fever” goes #1 for 24 weeks

Today In Sport

1990 John McEnroe becomes 1st ever player to be expelled from the Australian Open

Do You Know This Fact About Today? Did You Know?

1934 Parisian baker and “student of medieval life” Henri Littière appears in court charged with forcing his adulterous wife Juliette to wear a chastity belt. Having committed the same offence in 1932, he was sentenced to three months in prison and fined 50 francs for cruelty to his wife

Would You Believe This Fact About Today? Would You Believe?

1908 “Sullivan Ordinance” is passed in NYC, making it illegal for a woman to smoke in public places. It was vetoed 2 weeks later by mayor George B. McClellan Jr.