Today in History 1/10

49 BC: Julius Caesar crosses the Rubicon, starting a civil war.
1645: Archbishop William Laud is beheaded in the Tower of London because of his support for Charles I during the English Civil War.1738: Ethan Allen, Green Mountain Boy, is born.1776: Thomas Paine publishes Common Sense.
1836: Charles Ingalls, father of Laura Ingalls Wilder, is born.
1861: Florida secedes from the Union.

1869: Rasputin is born.

Rasputin is a Braves fan!

1870: John D. Rockefeller incorporates Standard Oil.
1908: Paul Henreid is born. He played Victor Lazlo in Casablanca.
1908: Bernard Lee is born. He played M in many of the James Bond movies.1917: Buffalo Bill Cody dies.
1920: The League of Nations holds its first meeting.
1927: Metropolis by Fritz Lang premieres.
1929: Tintin debuts.1936: Stephen Ambrose is born.
1939: Sal Mineo is born. He played Dr. Milo in Escape From the Planet of the Apes.
1941: Lend-Lease is introduced into the US Congress.
1943: Jim Croce is born.
1944: William Sanderson is born. He played Larry (brother of Daryl and Daryl) in Newhart. He also did the voice of Dr. Karl Rossum in Batman: TAS.
1945: Rod Stewart is born.
1953: Pat Benatar is born.
1961: Dashiell Hammett dies.
1962: NASA announces plans to build the Saturn V rocket.1982: Paul Lynde dies under mysterious circumstances.
1984: The US and the Vatican establish full diplomatic relations after 117 years.
1997: Sheldon Leonard dies. While he had a wide and varied career both in front of and behing the camera, I remember him best as Nick the bartender from It's A Wonderful Life: "Out you two pixies go, through 'da door or out 'da window!"
1999: The Sopranos premieres.
2004: Spalding Gray commits suicide by throwing himself from the Staten Island Ferry,

Today in History elements mostly cribbed from The History Channel, Wikipedia, The New York Times, The Jewish World Review, The Writer's Almanac and anything else I can dig up