January 27th

Today's Highlight in History:
On January 27th, 1756, composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born in Salzburg, Austria.

On this date:
In 1832, Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, who wrote "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" under the pen name Lewis Carroll, was born in Cheshire, England.

In 1880, Thomas Edison received a patent for his electric incandescent lamp.

In 1944, the Soviet Union announced the end of the deadly German siege of Leningrad, which had lasted for more than two years.

In 1945, Soviet troops liberated the Nazi concentration camps Auschwitz and Birkenau in Poland.

In 1951, an era of atomic testing in the Nevada desert began as an Air Force plane dropped a one-kiloton bomb on Frenchman Flats.

In 1967, astronauts Virgil I. "Gus" Grissom, Edward H. White and Roger B. Chaffee died in a flash fire during a test aboard their "Apollo One" spacecraft at Cape Kennedy, Florida.

In 1967, more than 60 nations signed a treaty banning the orbiting of nuclear weapons.

In 1973, the Vietnam peace accords were signed in Paris.

In 1977, the Vatican reaffirmed the Roman Catholic Church's ban on female priests.

In 1981, President Reagan greeted the 52 former American hostages released by Iran.

Ten years ago: In Romania, four top associates of executed dictator Nicolae Ceausescu went on trial, charged with abetting genocide.

Five years ago: House Majority Leader Dick Armey apologized for calling Massachusetts Democrat Barney Frank, an acknowledged homosexual, "Barney Fag" during an interview, saying it was an innocent slip of the tongue. About five-thousand mourners gathered at the site of the Nazi death camp Auschwitz to commemorate the 50th anniversary of its liberation.

One year ago: The Republican-controlled Senate blocked dismissal of the impeachment case against President Clinton and then voted for new testimony from Monica Lewinsky and two other witnesses -- but by margins well short of the two-thirds needed to oust the president.

"All history is modern history."

-- Wallace Stevens, American poet and author (1879-1955).