🌟 Editor's Note

Good morning — it’s Thursday, January 15. Today, we’re diving into the British Museum's birth, Victor Hugo's Notre-Dame de Paris, the Pentagon building, American Pie hit, and much more! It’s going to be quick, sharp, and completely source-clean. Let’s jump in!

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Fatih Taskiran, Editor

🚀 Time Machine

-588 BC

Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon sieged Jerusalem under Zedekiah's reign, lasting until July 23, 586 BC.

-1535

King Henry VIII declared himself Head of the Church in England.

-1559

Elizabeth I was crowned queen of England in Westminster Abbey, London.

-1759

Montague House in London becomes home to the British Museum.

-1831

Victor Hugo completed Notre-Dame de Paris, or The Hunchback of Notre-Dame, in just four months after initially postponing the deadline due to other projects.

-1902

Abdulaziz Ibn Saud leads 40 men over the walls of Riyadh, starting the Third Saudi State.

-1943

The Pentagon, the world's largest office building, was completed to house the US military.

-1972

"American Pie," a landmark musical epic, reaches #1 on the Billboard charts.

-2001

Wikipedia, a free encyclopedia, was founded by Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger.

-2009

Chesley Sullenberger safely lands US Airways Flight 1549 on the Hudson River shortly after takeoff from LaGuardia Airport, with all passengers and crew surviving in the "Miracle on the Hudson."

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📸 Snapshot

KFC advertisement from 1972 (worth $30.55 today)

🗨️ Last Words

“Ease and pleasure quake to hear of death; but my life, full of cares and miseries, desireth to be dissolved.”

Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury

🏆 FlashQuiz

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