Daily Calendar for Wednesday, January 29, 2025

Chinese New Year

The new year is by far the most important festival of the Chinese lunar calendar. It is celebrated on the second new Moon after the winter solstice. The holiday is a time of renewal, with debts cleared, new clothes bought, shops and homes decorated, and families gathered for a reunion dinner. Chinese New Year is marked by fireworks, traditional lion dances, gift giving, and special foods. Learn more about Chinese New Year traditions.

Born

Thomas Paine (patriot) – 1737
William McKinley (25th U.S. president) – 1843
Anton Chekhov (author) – 1860
Whitney Warren (architect) – 1864
Vincente Blasco Ibanez (novelist) – 1867
W.C. Fields (actor) – 1880
Barnett Newman (painter) – 1905
Victor Mature (actor) – 1916
Katharine Ross (actress ) – 1940
Tom Selleck (actor) – 1945
Ann Jillian (actress) – 1951
Oprah Winfrey (television host) – 1954
Judy Norton-Taylor (actress) – 1958
Heather Graham (actress) – 1970
Sara Gilbert (actress) – 1975
Justin Hartley (actor) – 1977
Adam Lambert (singer) – 1982
Gretchen Walsh (Olympic swimmer) – 2003

Died

Robert Frost (poet) – 1963
Jimmy Durante (actor) – 1980
Dick "Night Train" Lane (football player ) – 2002
Harold Russell (received two Oscars for portrayal of wounded veteran in The Best Years of Our Lives, after losing both his hands in WW II) – 2002
Joshua Miner (Outward Bound USA founder) – 2002
Mary-Ellis Bunim (producer who helped bring television into the age of reality with The Real World and Road Rules) – 2004
Larry L. McGraw (founder of Home Orchard Society) – 2005
Rod McKuen (poet) – 2015

Events

Geologist William Edmond Logan became first Canadian-born knight– 1856
Kansas was admitted to the Union as the 34th state– 1861
Charles Steinmetz patented a system of distribution by alternating current.– 1895
U.S. physician Emil H. Grube became the first to use X-ray treatment for breast cancer– 1896
American Baseball League formed in Chicago– 1900
Carl Taylor’s ice cream cone-rolling machine patented– 1924
The Baseball Hall of Fame elected its first members– 1936
Actor Paul Newman married actress Joanne Woodward– 1958
Emily H. Warner became the first female pilot of a U.S. commercial airline– 1973
21-pound 8-ounce bowfin caught in Forest Lake, South Carolina– 1980
Julio Cesar Chavez suffered the first defeat of his pro boxing career, losing his WBC super lightweight crown on a split decision to 32 year-old Frankie Randall in Las Vegas– 1994

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The “Great Olympic Blowdown” windstorm struck the Washington coast, with winds up to 113 mph. Eight billion board feet of timber was destroyed in North Head, Washington.– 1921
62 degrees in Nampa, Idaho– 1954
Fields full of snow rollers were sighted in Weld County, Colorado.– 2001
January 26 to 29: An atmospheric river caused a major West Coast storm – 2021

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