Today is Wednesday, January 4, the fourth day of 2012. There are 362 days left in the year.
1493 ― Columbus left new world on return from 1st voyage
1863 ― Four- wheeled roller skates patented by James Plimpton of N.Y.
1887 ― Thomas Stevens is first man to bicycle around the world (San Francisco-San Francisco); 21,700km
1951 ― During Korean conflict, North Korean forces captured Seoul
1954 ― Elvis Presley records a 10-minute demo in Nashville
1957 ― ``Blondie" situation comedy premieres on NBC TV (later on CBS)
1960 ― European Free Trade Association forms in Stockholm
1965 ― LBJ's ``Great Society" State of the Union Address
1980 ― President Carter announces U.S. boycott of Moscow Olympics
1991 ― Fu Mingxia, 12, of China wins World Swimming Championships gold medal