^B{^#!16!29 January^N! Feast day of St Sainian of Troyes, St Sulpicius 'Severus', and St Gildas the Wise.
^B{1728^B} John Gay's ^I{The Beggar's Opera^I} was first performed at Lincoln's Inn Fields Theatre, London, England. ^B{1848^B} Greenwich Mean Time was adopted by Scotland. ^B{1856^B} Britain's highest military decoration, the Victoria Cross, was founded by Queen Victoria. ^B{1886^B} The first successful gasoline-driven automobile, built by Karl Benz, was patented. ^B{1916^B} Paris was bombed by German zeppelins for the first time. ^B{1942^B} The BBC Radio 4 program 'Desert Island Discs', devised and presented by Roy Plomley, was first broadcast. ^B{1978^B} The use of environmentally damaging aerosol sprays was banned in Sweden. ^B{1991^B} In the Gulf War, Iraq began its first major ground offensive into Saudi Arabia.
^B{^I{^#!14!Born ^N}Thomas Paine, English political writer and reformer, ^B{1737^B}; W C Fields, US film actor and comedian, ^B{1880^B}; Victor Mature, US film actor, ^B{1915^B}; Paddy Chayefsky, US writer, ^B{1923^B}; Germaine Greer, Australian feminist and author, ^B{1939^B}; Katharine Ross, US film actress, ^B{1943^B}.
^B{^I{^#!14!Died ^N}King George III, ^B{1820^B}; Alfred Sisley, English painter, ^B{1899^B}; Douglas Haig, British field marshal, ^B{1928^B}; Fritz Kreisler, US violinist, ^B{1962^B}; Alan Ladd, US film actor, ^B{1964^B}; Jimmy Durante, US comedian, ^B{1980^B}.
