Today in History - History - January 19th

1997Yasser Arafat returns to Hebron after more than 30 years and joins celebrations over the handover of the last Israeli-controlled West Bank city.

1971Beatles' "Helter Skelter" is played at Charles Manson trial

1883The first electric lighting system employing overhead wires, built by Thomas Edison, begins service at Roselle, New Jersey.

1812Peninsular War: After a ten day siege, Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, orders British soldiers of the Light and third divisions to storm Ciudad Rodrigo.

1668King Louis XIV & Emperor Leopold I sign treaty dividing Spain

1833Charles Darwin reaches Straits Ponsonby, Fireland

1977Ernie Banks elected to Hall of Fame

1975Kathy Whitworth wins LPGA Colgate Golf Triple Crown

1989President Reagan pardons George Steinbrenner for illegal funds for Nixon

1906Gerhart Hauptmann's "Und Pippa Tanzt!," premieres in Berlin

1943Janis Joplin, Port Arthur Tx, bluesy rock singer (Down on Me)

1946Dolly Parton, Sevierville Tn, country singer (Dolly, 9 to 5)

1809Edgar Allan Poe, Boston, author (Pit & the Pendulum)

1940Mary Mills, Laurel Mississippi, LPGA golfer

1839Paul Cézanne, Aix-en-Provence Provence, French painter (d. 1906)

1807Robert E. Lee, Stratford Virginia, American Confederate General in Chief during US Civil War, (d. 1870)

1872Physicist Wilhelm Röntgen (26) weds Anna Bertha Ludwig in Apeldoorn, Netherlands

1957Golfer Gary Player (21) weds Bobby Verwey's sister Vivienne Verwey

2000Hedy Lamarr, Austrian-born actress (b. 1913)

2006Wilson Pickett, American singer (b. 1941)