January 18
Subject to Britannica's Privacy Policy and Terms of Use
Featured Event
© John/stock.adobe.com
Sliced bread banned in the U.S.
On this day in 1943, the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Claude R. Wickard temporarily declared a ban on the sale of sliced bread as part of the wartime effort. However, the order faced intense backlash from consumers and was consequently struck down by the government by early March. [Read today’s edition of Today in History > >]
Featured Biography
Featured Biography
© 1959 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc.
British American actor Cary Grant, born this day in 1904, was one of Hollywood’s most popular and enduring stars, known for his debonair style and flair for romantic comedy in such classics as His Girl Friday (1940).
Famous Birthdays
More on January 18
© Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images
2023
Jacinda Ardern, New Zealand’s youngest prime minister in more than 150 years, announced that she would be resigning from that role.
Rowland Scherman—Peace Corps/John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston
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.
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
2002
The civil war in Sierra Leone was officially declared over; more than 50,000 people are estimated to have died in the fighting and some 2,000,000 were displaced.
Julian Wasser
1986
Martin Luther King, Jr., Day was first celebrated as a national holiday in the United States. [Was Martin Luther King, Jr., a Republican or a Democrat?]
Harris & Ewing, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. (reproduction no. LC-DIG-hec-13257)
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. [Discover some of the more unusual Olympic sports.]
© Bill Wippert—National Hockey League/ Getty Images
1958
Willie O’Ree became the first Black athlete to play in a National Hockey League game when he debuted with the Boston Bruins against the Montreal Canadiens. [Who are the best hockey players of all time?]
© Rick Rycroft—AP/REX/Shutterstock.com
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.]
Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
1912
British explorer Robert Falcon Scott and four members of his expedition reached the South Pole, only to discover that Roald Amundsen had preceded them by a month; Scott and his men subsequently died trying to return to their base camp. [Test your knowledge of human exploration.]
Image: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
1911
The first aircraft landing on a ship’s flight deck was performed by American pilot Eugene Ely on the battleship Pennsylvania in San Francisco Bay. [Take our quiz about early aviation.]
Hulton Archive/Getty Images
1882
A.A. Milne—who originated the immensely popular stories of Christopher Robin and his toy bear, Winnie-the-Pooh—was born in London.
© Everett Historical/Shutterstock.com
1871
The German Empire was founded by Otto von Bismarck in the aftermath of three successful wars by the state of Prussia.
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; gift of Mrs. Gerard B. Lambert (NPG.67.59)
1782
Orator and politician Daniel Webster was born in New Hampshire. [Take our quiz about the history of American politics.]
The New York Public Library Digital Collections; The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs
1779
Physician, philologist, and thesaurus compiler Peter Mark Roget was born in London.