GMT

January 18

1258
Mongol army of 150,000, led by Hulagu, grandson of Genghis Khan, arrives at the walls of Baghdad (city falls Feb 13)

1788
First elements of the First Fleet carrying 736 convicts from England to Australia arrives at Botany Bay to set up a penal colony

1778
Captain James Cook discovers the Hawaiian Islands, naming them the 'Sandwich Islands' after the First Lord of the Admiralty, Lord Sandwich.

1836
Jim Bowie arrives at the Alamo to assist its Texas defenders.

1902
The Isthmus Canal Commission in Washington shifts its support from Nicaragua to Panama as a favored canal site.

1942
General MacArthur repels the Japanese in Bataan. The United States takes the lead in the Far East war criminal trials.

1962
The United States begins spraying foliage with herbicides in South Vietnam, in order to reveal the whereabouts of Vietcong guerrillas.

1964
Plans are disclosed for the World Trade Center in New York.

1978
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) isolate the cause of Legionnaire's disease.

1991
Iraq starts firing Scud missiles at Israeli cities.

2013
Former New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin is indicted on corruption charges stemming from post-Hurricane Katrina business contracts and bribes

2021
Brazil begins vaccinations for COVID-19 with the world's second-highest death toll at 209,000


Born on January 18

1904
Cary Grant, U.S. film actor (Gunga Din, Bringing Up Baby, The Philadelphia Story, North by Northwest).



Joke Of The Day

The Perfect Man

A man walks out to the street and catches a taxi just going by. He gets into
the taxi, and the cabbie says, "Perfect timing. You're just like Frank."

Passenger: "Who?"

Cabbie: "Frank Feldman. He's a guy who did everything right all the time.
Like my coming along when you needed a cab; things happened like that to
Frank Feldman every single time."

Passenger: "There are always a few clouds over everybody."

Cabbie: "Not Frank Feldman. He was a terrific athlete. He could have won the
Grand-Slam at tennis. He could golf with the pros. He sang like an opera
baritone and danced like a Broadway star and you should have heard him play
the piano. He was an amazing guy."

Passenger: "Sounds like he was really something special."

Cabbie: "There's more. He had a memory like a computer. He remembered
everybody's birthday. He knew all about wine, which foods to order and which
fork to eat them with. He could fix anything. Not like me. I change a fuse,
and the whole street blacks out. But Frank Feldman could do everything
right"

Passenger: "Wow, what a guy!"

Cabbie: "He always knew the quickest way to go in traffic and avoid traffic
jams. Not like me, I always seem to get stuck in them. But Frank, he never
made a mistake, and he really knew how to treat a woman and make her feel
good. He would never answer her back even if she was in the wrong; and his
clothing was always immaculate, shoes highly polished too. He was the
perfect man! He never made a mistake. No one could ever measure up to Frank
Feldman."

Passenger: "How did you meet him?"

Cabbie:"I never actually met Frank. He died and I married his wife.