SIDE SALAD - Everything crunchy is good.

A DATE WHICH WILL
LIVE IN INFAMY

It's easy to forget, tucked between New Year's and Valentine's Day, that January 20 was the date of many an important event.

"Sure," you undoubtedly said to yourself, "It's Inauguration Day."

But it's much, much more.

Did you know that on this date:

In 1518, Tetzel's theses against Luther were issued at Leipzig.

In 1320, Wladislaw I, also known as Wladislaw the Short, was crowned king of Poland. In defeating the Knights of the Teutonic Order, he created strong foundations for one Polish nation.

In 1327, King Edward II of England was forced to abdicate by powerful barons in favor of his son Edward III.

In 1612, Rudolf II, the Holy Roman Emperor from 1576, died. Suffering from depression, he was unable to reconcile Roman Catholic and Protestant factions which eventually led to the Thirty Years War.



In 1778, Captain James Cook discovered Hawaii when he landed first at Waimea on Kauai Island.

In 1841, after lengthy talks between Britain and China concerning the Opium Wars, the convention of Chuanbi was signed by which Hong Kong island was ceded to the British by China.



In 1936, Britain's King George V died. He was succeeded by his son Edward VIII, who caused a crisis later the same year by abdicating.

In 1945, with his inauguration, Franklin Delano Roosevelt began a record fourth term in office as president of the U.S.



In 1981, fifty-two American hostages seized in their embassy in Tehran were released after 444 days in captivity.

In 1987, Terry Waite, the Archbishop of Canterbury's special envoy in Lebanon, was kidnapped. He was not released until November 1991.

In 1996, Palestinians voted for the first time in elections that consolidated PLO chief Yasser Arafat's rule of the West Bank and Gaza under a peace deal with Israel. He became the first democratically-elected leader of the Palestinian people with 88.1 percent of the vote.

It's also the birthdate of:



Actor DeForest Kelley, 77.



Actress Patricia Neal, 71.



Former astronaut Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin, 67.



Comedian Arte Johnson, 63.



Actress Shelley Fabares, 55.



Director David Lynch, 51.



Actor Lorenzo Lamas, 39.



Me. I'm 39 and sliding fast toward 40.

History has a way of putting it all in perspective, doesn't it?