On This Day: January 6

This is the 6th day of the year.

Fact of the Day: Hallmark Hall of Fame

In 1951, the Hallmark Hall of Fame premiered at different times on ABC, CBS, NBC, and PBS as a top-quality dramatic anthology series. Originally titled "Hallmark Television Playhouse," the program was sponsored by Hallmark Cards and hosted by Sarah Churchill until 1955. The first presentation was "Amahl & The Night Visitors." By December 2005, 225 presentations had aired.

Holidays

Epiphany (or Twelfth Day) / Feast of the Epiphany.

Feast day of St. John de Ribera, St. Erminold, St. Wiltrudis, St. Guarinus.

Italy: La Befana.

Events

1540 - England's King Henry VIII married his fourth wife, Anne of Cleves -- which lasted 6 months.

1759 - George Washington and Martha Dandridge Custis were married.

1838 - Samuel Morse first publicly demonstrated his telegraph, in Morristown, New Jersey.

1912 - New Mexico became the 47th state.

1941 - President Franklin D. Roosevelt delivered his "Four Freedoms" speech outlining four goals: freedom of speech and expression; the freedom of people to worship God in their own way; freedom from want; freedom from fear.

1942 - The Pan American Airways Pacific Clipper arrived in New York after making the first round-the-world trip by a commercial airplane.

1945 - The Battle of the Bulge, or Ardennes offensive, ended.

1946 - Ho Chi Minh won in the Vietnamese elections.

1967 - United States and South Vietnamese forces launched a major offensive in Mekong Delta.

1975 - "Wheel of Fortune" game show premiered on TV.

1987 - Astronomers reported sighting a new galaxy 12 billion light years away.

Births

1367 - King Richard II of England.

1412 - Joan of Arc (Jeanne D'Arc), French heroine and martyr.

1822 - Heinrich Schliemann, German-born Greek excavator.

1878 - Carl Sandburg, American poet, author, journalist.

1880 - Tom Mix, American silent movies actor and radio star.

1883 - Kahlil Gibran, Lebanese-born American novelist and poet.

1913 - Loretta Gretchen Young, American Academy Award-winning actress.

1914 - Danny Thomas (Amos Jacobs), American actor, philanthropist.

1916 - Eugene T. Maleska, American crossword puzzle editor.

Deaths

1994 - Tip (Thomas Philip) O'Neill, Jr., US Democratic Party politician.

2006 - Lou Rawls, Chicago-born soul, jazz, and blues singer, who released more than 70 albums, and sold more than 40 million records.