On This Day for January 18 - German Empire established, Cary Grant is featured, and more

This message contains graphics. If you do not see the graphics, click here to view. January 18 FEATURED BIOGRAPHY Cary Grant READ MORE   FEATURED EVENT 1871 German Empire established READ MORE   Advertisement Advertisement   MORE EVENTS ON THIS DAY 2011: American diplomat and administrator R. Sargent Shriver , who served as the first director (1961–66) of the U.S. Peace Corps, died at age 95. [Take our quiz about the United States.] 2002: The civil war in Sierra Leone was officially declared over; more than 50,000 people were estimated to have died in the fighting and some 2,000,000 were displaced. [ Sort fact from fiction in our quiz about Africa.] 1986: Martin Luther King, Jr., Day was first celebrated as a national holiday. [Was Martin Luther King, Jr., a Republican or a Democrat?] 1983: The International Olympic Committee officially reinstated the gold medals of American athlete Jim Thorpe, who had won the decathlon and the pentathlon at the 1912 Olympics in Stockholm but was later deprived of his medals over allegations that he was not an amateur athlete. [Test your knowledge of the world's greatest athletes.] 1967: American criminal Albert DeSalvo, the self-confessed serial killer known as the Boston Strangler , was convicted of sexual assault and various other crimes and sentenced to life; although believed to have killed at least 11 women, he was never tried for murder due to a lack of evidence. [Take our quiz about famous serial killers.] 1944: Australian politician Paul Keating, who was leader of the Australian Labor Party and prime minister of Australia from 1991 to 1996, was born in Sydney. [ Sort fact from fiction in our quiz about Australia.] SEE ALL EVENTS ON THIS DAY ALSO BORN ON THIS DAY 1960 Mark Rylance British actor and director 1904 Cary Grant British-born American actor 1955 Kevin Costner American actor and director 1913 Danny Kaye American actor 1952 Veerappan Indian criminal 1689 Montesquieu French political philosopher SEE ALL BIOS ON THIS DAY   Advertisement   FOLLOW: To unsubscribe from Britannica e-mails, click here. Encyclopædia Britannica 325 N. LaSalle Street, Suite 200 Chicago, Illinois 60654 United States © 2021 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc. Privacy Policy • Help