GMT

January 22

871
Battle of Basing: Danish invasion army beats Saxon Ethelred of Wessex

1689
England's "Bloodless Revolution" reaches its climax when parliament invites William and Mary to become joint sovereigns.

1807
President Thomas Jefferson exposes a plot by Aaron Burr to form a new republic in the Southwest.

1879
Eighty-two British soldiers hold off attacks by 4,000 Zulu warriors at the Battle of Rorke's Drift in South Africa.

1939
A Nazi order erases the old officer caste, tying the army directly to the Party.

1982
President Ronald Reagan formally links progress in arms control to Soviet repression in Poland.

2002
Kmart Corp becomes the largest retailer in United States history to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection

2018
US government ends three-day shutdown after an agreement in Congress to extend funding

2023
China's northernmost city, Mohe, records record low temperature of -53C (-63F)

Born on January 22

1561
Sir Francis Bacon, English philosopher, statesman, essayist (The Advancement of Learning).


JOTD

A man dies and goes to hell. Once there, he finds that there is a different hell for each country, so he tries to seek out the least painful one.
At the door to German Hell, he is told: "First they put you in an electric chair for an hour. Then they lay you on a bed of nails for another hour. Then the German devil comes in and whips you for the rest of the day."
He does not like the sound of that, so he checks out American Hell, Russian Hell and many more. They are all similarly gruesome. However, at Nigerian Hell a long line of people is waiting to get in. Amazed, he asks, "What do they do here?"
He is told: "First they put you in an electric chair for an hour. Then they lay you on a bed of nails for another hour. Then the Nigerian devil comes in and whips you for the rest of the day."
"But that's the same as the others," says the man. "Why are so many people waiting to get in?"
"Because of the power cuts, the electric chair does not work. The nails were paid for but never supplied, so the bed is comfortable. And the Nigerian devil used to be a civil servant, so he comes in, signs his time sheet and goes back home for private business."