Today is Monday, January 19, the 19th day of 2026. There are 346 days left in the year.
Today in history:
On January 19, 2012, Rupert Murdoch’s media empire apologized and agreed to pay cash to 37 people whose phones had been hacked by the tabloids.
Also on this date:
In 1853, Giuseppe Verdi’s opera “Il trovatore” was premiered in Rome.
In 1861, Georgia became the fifth state to secede from the Union; It would join the Confederacy the following month.
In 1937, Howard Hughes set a new transcontinental speed record with his H-1 Racer, flying from Los Angeles to Newark, New Jersey, in seven hours, 28 minutes and 25 seconds.
In 1942, a German submarine sank the Canadian ship RMS Lady Hawkins off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, killing 251 people. 71 survived.
In 1955, President Dwight Eisenhower held the first televised presidential news conference.
In 1966, Indira Gandhi was elected to her first term as Prime Minister of India.
In 1987, H. J. Hunt became the first Republican governor of Alabama since 1874 when he was sworn in as successor to Democrat George C. Wallace.
In 2024, Japan became the fifth country to reach the moon when its unmanned spacecraft landed on the moon’s surface with a precision landing. This achievement placed Japan in the club previously occupied by the United States, the Soviet Union, India, and China.
Birthdays today: Actor Tippi Hedren is 96; actor and singer Michael Crawford is 84; General. 55. Actor Drea Di Matteo, 54 years old. Football Hall of Fame member Walter Jones, 52 years old. Impressionist comedian Frank Caliendo, 52 years old. Actress Jodie Sweetin, 44 years old. Director Damien Chazelle is 41 years old. Olympic gymnastics gold medalist Shawn Johnson is 34 years old. Race car driver Bianca Bustamante, 21 years old. Actor Jackson Dollinger, 19 years old.